I don't know how this has happened, but in less than 1 month, I have finished 5 books! Crazy. I know I have gone years without reading that many in the past. Here's the latest 3:
I just devoured this book - Flags of Our Fathers. It's a story about the 6 men pictured raising the flag during the battle of Iwo Jima. I've been to the Memorial at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC and was impressed with this image (we even have pictures of being there!) but had no idea about the story behind it. Tragic, amazing, and very informative all at the same time. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII history.
This book was a freebie from the Desiring God conference. I had never heard of Gordon Cheng who's from Australia. Cheng defines encouragment as speaking the truth in love. He asks a very good question - how is your encouragement Christian? Or are your words basically the same as an atheist's encouragement? He brought up a lot of good thoughts about encouragement.
- "Christians who love to encourage others in a Christian way will be reading their Bibles...praying about them, asking advice, and above all boldly speaking about what they think and why they think it. This is speaking the truth in love."
- "Now when that day of judgement comes we will have reached the goal of all encouragement. That day will likewise spell the end of all discouargement...Judgement, therefore, is the thing that ultimately shapes our encouragement...The other side of this warning is that what we now do and say as Christians will have eternal value."
Cheng does a good job of being very practical. He also emphasizes the need for EVERY Christian to encourage one another and not just the pastors and leaders of the church. It's a pretty light read and yet has both substance and application to it.
D.A. Carson's book was basically an exposition of 1 Cor 1-4 and 9. At its core, it was very simple - the gospel should be at the center of our lives and ministry. But as we know, that simple statement goes far deeper than we realize. Carson warns us who assume this truth in our lives:
- "I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight. Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry."
He also exhorts us to bring the gospel to bear in our hearts and show how that gospel changes lives.
- "Christian leaders today not only must teach the gospel, but also must teach how the gospel works out in daily life and conduct. And that union must be modeled as well as explained."
Simple statements, profound implications.
I just devoured this book - Flags of Our Fathers. It's a story about the 6 men pictured raising the flag during the battle of Iwo Jima. I've been to the Memorial at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC and was impressed with this image (we even have pictures of being there!) but had no idea about the story behind it. Tragic, amazing, and very informative all at the same time. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in WWII history.
This book was a freebie from the Desiring God conference. I had never heard of Gordon Cheng who's from Australia. Cheng defines encouragment as speaking the truth in love. He asks a very good question - how is your encouragement Christian? Or are your words basically the same as an atheist's encouragement? He brought up a lot of good thoughts about encouragement.
D.A. Carson's book was basically an exposition of 1 Cor 1-4 and 9. At its core, it was very simple - the gospel should be at the center of our lives and ministry. But as we know, that simple statement goes far deeper than we realize. Carson warns us who assume this truth in our lives:
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