40 Days Prayers and Devotions on God's End-Time Church: A Review

40 Days Prayers and Devotions on God’s End-Time Church is Dennis Smith’s 8^th book in his popular 40 Days series.

This 40 Days study and prayer devotional is the eighth in a series of such devotionals. As with the first seven, this devotional is designed to prepare God’s church for Christ’s second coming as well as to reach out to others in preparation for that glorious event.

This preparation begins with church members who are willing to commit to forty days of prayer and devotional study to develop a closer personal relationship with Jesus Christ and to reach out to five individuals whom the Lord has put on their hearts to pray for every day.

To get the most out of this book, it’s best to use it as a valuable resource for group study. However, it can also be read and studied independently or otherwise individually.

The entire series has blessed many people. I  encourage you to  read the first chapter for free on line by clicking here.

Burst the Bubble: A Review

In Burst the Bubble-Finding Your Passion for Community Outreach, author Sung K. Kwon asks a number of deep questions and also makes some good suggestions.

As leading servants, are we making any impact on the communities in which our institutions are located? What about our churches, schools, and hospitals and book stores? Are these neighborhoods better places to live because of our existence in these communities? When was the last time that you heard someone from the community say, “I am a better father today because of your church;” or “I am a better mother because of your hospital;” or “I am a better person because of your school” or “I am a better person because of your book store?”

The problem is not our inability to do this; it is our pride and our lack of concern for people. That is a problem God has observed about His people throughout the ages. Because of institutionalized, corporate “churchianity,” we are often reluctant to be connected with people outside our church, hospital, school or book store.

Growing up Christian we have been taught and trained to sell our brand of religion. We are so intent on convincing people that their lives are messed up, that their faith is wrong, and that their beliefs are incorrect that we overlook the fact that we are unskilled at listening to and engaging people. We often look at these people as prospects for membership, rather than as spiritual beings with the same need for God that we have.

Bill Hybels says that Christ through the church is “the hope of the world,” Sung Kwon in this book teaches us that servants are the hope of the kingdom of God.

God has called us to servanthood; that is nonnegotiable.

We follow Jesus in humble and loving service, as He Himself was the humble Servant. By Christ’s model of compassionate service and love, we can lead people to spiritual transformation, and then transform the world for the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven.

You can read the first chapter on line for free by clicking here.

My Favorite Courage Stories: A Review

My Favorite Courage Stories is the fifth in Joe Wheeler’s “My Favorite” series

Previous titles in this series are;

My Favorite Prayer Stories

My Favorite Life Changing Stories

My Favorite Miracle Stories

My Favorite Angel Stories

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed each one of these books and especially enjoyed this latest one My Favorite Courage Stories. In the introduction to this  volume, its author Joe Wheeler tells us just as it is true with the proverbial “Six Blind Men of Hindustan,” who each approached an elephant from a different angle, the same is true with the word courage.

Indeed, even dictionary editors find the word to be so protean, it takes many words for them to define it.

Since the average person (of any age) finds it so difficult to internalize abstractions, it is far more effective and illuminating to immerse oneself into stories about people who were courageous in one form or another.

For most people, courage is an ideal; a trait that men, women, and children instinctively aspire to and dread discovering that those they admire most consider them to be lacking in it.

This book is filled with amazing true stories of people who exhibited courage in challenging circumstances. It was very hard to put the book down once I started reading it.

You can read the first chapter for free on line by clicking here.

The King Is in Residence: A Review

Charles Bradford, a beloved church leader, shares his vision for the church in this new book The King Is in Residence.

Here’s what he writes in part:

I am black and American and have to remind myself that God is the God of all flesh. “God so loved the world”. I was born and raised in a Seventh-day Adventist pastor’s home. Social scientists would have called us “black puritans.”  Our neighbors called us “those people who keep Saturday for Sunday and they don’t eat pork and don’t go to the movies.” Admittedly, we were somewhat Pharisaical, paying tithe on garden herbs and in some instances neglecting the weightier matters of law and grace. This is an observant criticism, not an indictment. I love these people, my family and my church. In fact I have had a lifelong romance with the Seventh-day Adventist movement-its folklore, idiosyncrasies, jargon, speech patterns, and all. Right or wrong, my church. I am a “company man.” And though my early childhood was in a sheltered situation, we were not hermetically sealed. Some things about my church have been perplexing, but I was never shaken. Was it some seed planted in family worship or Sabbath School? The main issue was solved; God’s church, His family, is a work in progress, “enfeebled and defective though it may be.”

Charles Bradford quotes Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I

 with them.” He brings out that the local church groups of two or three or more is where
Jesus is more palpably experienced than in any other setting. He says it is time to think of church as community the place where Jesus is in residence.

I was blessed by reading this book and encourage you to read it too. As a start, you can click here to read the first chapter on line.

Madison God's Beautiful Farm: A Review

This is an extremely fascinating story of E. A Sutherland and Percy Magan, two men were deeply involved in the development of Seventh-day Adventist college.

The two men worked at Battle Creek College, they started Walla Walla College in Washington State and then Emmanuel Missionary College in Michigan which later became Andrews University. They were very dedicated in their work and sometimes their conservative standards were not appreciated by all the leaders. However they persevered.

An interesting austere policy they followed both at Emmanuel Missionary College and Walla Walla college was no heat provided in the dormitories. E A Sutherland said he wanted the students to be prepared for the difficult circumstances in whatever mission field they would serve in.

Eventually they went to Tennessee and began the Madison School. One of the  policies they had was that both students and faculty would work at manual labor such as farming for half days and do study half days. This actually made it possible for many students to attend college who would not have been able to if there had not been this work/study program.

Madison became very successful and for many years prospered and trained students who became workers for God in many successful programs.

An interesting thing that I learned is that both of these leaders, Sutherland and Magan as older adults studied medicine and received their MD degree. Shortly after that the College of Medical Evangelists, which now is Loma Linda University in California was being established and Dr. Percy Magan was asked to come and help. He, however, did not want to leave his work with Dr. Sutherland but eventually did go and was very instrumental in the success of this school.

Early on they were short of money and Dr. Magan contacted Dr. Sutherland about the need. Dr. Sutherland contacted some people he knew and a group of them went out to California and eventually gave enough money to help the school in this time of crisis.

So, what was a relatively small but very successful school in Tennessee, became instrumental in the Medical School surviving and prospering in California.

God uses many ways to bring His work forward.

I would encourage you to read this book and be inspired with this fascinating story.

For more information and to order this book go to www.TEACHServices.com and type in the title of the book on the search bar.

The Curse: A Review

“By the time I graduated high school in 1976, I was convinced I was living with a ghost. It had taken over my bedroom, which was actually a separate, oval-shaped guesthouse perched on a cliff about fifty yards in front of my parents’ lakeside 1930s home near Malibu. The lakefront was a small, artsy community made up of actors, musicians, and other quirky professionals who spurned conformity. It was a Tinsel Town, hippie haven where the residents agreed to live and let live. Having a resident ghost was not all that unusual there, and it fit right in with my lifelong fascination with the occult. In the Girl Scouts, we frequently indulged in séances during sleepovers, told ghost stories, and levitated each other. I loved watching spooky TV Shows late at night and reading books about ghost towns, haunted houses, and witchcraft, and so I was excited to have a ghost of my own-at least in the beginning.” So the author of this book begins her story.

This is a book that I would recommend for a number of reasons but one of the main being it helps one to understand that ghosts are demons. Best to stay clear of them because as the story develops you realize that it is not easy to get rid of them.

Thank God that through His power and mercy it is possible.

To read more about this story and to read the first chapter on line for free click here.

Books are Tremendous: A Review

Books are Tremendous by Charlie  “Tremendous” Jones brings together an inspiring collection of quotes  from various individuals who have written, read and loved books.

Here are some of my favorites from this book:

“There is nothing that will strengthen the mind, broaden the vision, enrich the soul, like the reading of good books. One can find or make no better friend than a good book.” J. C Penney

“I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books than a king who did not love reading.” Macaulay

“Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books.” Colton

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.” Sir Francis Bacon

“Setting aside just 15 minutes a day will enable you to read up to two dozen books in a year. Keep it up and you will have read 1000 books in your lifetime. That’s the equivalent of going through college five times.” G. Gordan

“The average salesman doesn’t read a book a year. That is why he is the average salesman.”
Anonymous

If I could give young people one piece of advice, it would be read, read, read!

Reading will open up new worlds, real and imagined. Read for information, read for pleasure, read for inspiration.

The person who DOES NOT read has no advantage over the person who CANNOT READ.

I encourage parents to read to their very young children. This loving act will create a bond of closeness between parent and child as well as make the child aware of the buried treasures that can be found in books.

Abigail Van Buren.

The Reading Mother by Strickland Gillilan

“You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be-

I had a mother who read to me”

“Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t new after all.

“This great book (THE BIBLE)… is the best gift God has given man … But for it we could not know right from wrong.

“Take all of this book upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, you will live and die a happier man” Abraham Lincoln.

These are  just a few of the gems from this book, I would encourage you to get a copy and read more.