Read the Bible But Don't JUST Read the Bible #1Book1Week October 2021

“When people refer to a man as 'a man of one book’, meaning the Bible, he is generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur,” said Oswald Chambers, a preacher, teacher, and writer of a well-known devotion My Utmost for His Highest. “The man who reads only the Bible does not, as a rule, know it or human life.” I agree wholeheartedly! Mr. Oswald loves for books came in part from his sitting at the feet of the Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte, who taught a series of classes that Oswald attended as a young man. Many times Oswald saw Whyte hold up a battered old book, telling the students, “Sell your beds and buy it.”

Afterward, Oswald never went anywhere without a book. Once, while traveling, he wrote to his sister Florence saying: “My box has at last arrived. My books! I cannot tell you what they mean to me – silent, wealthy, loyal lovers. To look at them, to handle them, and to re-read them! I do thank God for my books with every fiber of my being. Why, I could have almost cried to an excess of joy when I got hold of them again. I see them all just at my elbow now – Plato, Wordsworth, Myers, Bradley, Halyburton, St. Augustine, Browning, Tennyson, Amiel, etc. I know them. I wish you could see how they look at me, a quiet, calm look of certain acquaintance" (quote taken from David McCasland's Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God).

As Christ-followers, the Bible is our one and only chief Book that we all need to read, study and meditate daily. But this doesn’t mean that it is the only book that we need to read. Broaden your mind, enlarge your visions and uplift your spirit by reading other types or genres of books too. If I need to be inspired to walk in the faith, I read biographies like those of William Carrey, John Calvin, Hudson Taylor, Martin Luther, Charles H. Spurgeon, John Sung, etc. If I want to learn about the Scripture and theology, I turn to John McArthur, J.I. Packer, David Pawson, John Stott, etc. If I want to improve my leadership, I read John C. Maxwell and J. Oswald Sanders. To improve my critical thinking skills, I read Tony Buzan and Edward de Bono. So many subjects, so many choices, so little time! Read widely. Read more. Read daily.

#ServeToLead #GrowingLeaders #LeadersAreReaders #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read my October 2021 #1Book1Week reviews - obviously, my reading theme was on preaching this month - CLICK TITLES below ���

1) The Supremacy of God In Preaching (1990, 2004) by John Piper
2) Preaching & Preachers (1971, 1997) by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
3) Charles Spurgeon: The Prince of Preachers (1988) by J. C. Carlile,

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The Supremacy of God In Preaching (1990, 2004) by John Piper, Book Review

The Supremacy of God In Preaching (1990, 2004) by John Piper

 

“There are always two parts to true worship,” writes John Piper, one of the role models who taught me to delight in God, to love the Scriptures, and to proclaim the truth with passion, “There is seeing God, and there is savoring God. You can’t separate these. You must see him to savor him. And if you don’t savor him when you see him, you insult him. In true worship, there is always understanding with the mind, and there is always feeling in the heart. Understanding must always be the foundation of feeling, or all we have is baseless emotionalism. But the understanding of God that doesn’t give rise to feeling for God becomes mere intellectualism and deadness. This is why the Bible continually calls us to think and consider and meditate, on the other hand, and to rejoice and fear and mourn and delight and hope and be glad, on the other hand. Both are essential for worship.” This is one of the most critical passages in the book. If you get this - especially the preachers - you will see why the work of preaching is not just informing but also transforming the mind and the heart of the (listening) hearers to look Godward. Piper continues by saying that the reason that preaching is so essential is that “it is uniquely suited to waken seeing God and savoring God… with the exposition of the Word of God and exultation in the God of the Word.”

Few people like John Piper understand the real goal, purpose, and high calling of preaching today. Perhaps the other preacher is the late Martyn Lloyd-Jones (I’m currently reading Preaching & Preachers by Dr Lloyd), who said: “To me, the work of preaching is the highest and greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” It is always dangerous, in my opinion, to compare previous faithful preachers with contemporary preachers because times have changed. But if the truth is unchanged, then the means to declare the truth is unchanged too, namely, through preaching. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). But many of the so-called preachings nowadays is nothing more than just a motivational talk or an inspirational sharing or a psychological counselling session. Sprinkling Bible verses here and there, exciting the audiences with music and dramatic actions, delivering TED talks-style man-centred teachings, which people call preaching today. Far from the truth! As much as the judgment of God goes to the modern-day false preachers, the people also play the role and are held responsible for lifting them to celebrity status (read 2 Timothy 4:3). Preachers must teach the truth, and the people must hunger for the truth. How do you know if the preacher is teaching the truth? He will point you to SEE God. How do you know if you are hunger for the truth? You will be longing to SAVOR God.

Read what Pastor John said about the supremacy of God in preaching: “The dominant note of preaching be the freedom of God’s sovereign grace, that the unifying theme be the zeal that God has for his own glory, that the grand object of preaching be the infinite and inexhaustible being of God, and that the pervasive atmosphere of preaching be the holiness of God.” It is God from beginning to end. God reign! There are many gems in this book, and I highly recommend it to every pastor, teacher, preacher, and growing Christian. Although I’m not particularly called to be a preacher but a staff worker, I find this book helps me to remind myself that the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. [Note: The Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the chief end of man by using the word “and” to connect the two statements, but John Piper has suggested that the word “by” would be more consistent]. I have read this book for the third time. The first time I was in the FES Penang office during my visit many years ago, the second time I moved back to FES Sarawak, and again this year. Read it!

#ServeToLead #GrowingLeaders #LeadersAreReaders #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain #JohnPiper #TheSupremacyOfGodInPreaching

To read my previous #1Book1Week book reviews, CLICK HERE  

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Reading Christians Are Growing Christians #1Book1Week September 2021

“Reading Christians are growing Christians,” said John Wesley, “When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow.” How true! In the past, I used to give three books per month through my blog (this was before I entered the full-time ministry. Cash is king!). There were three main reasons why I giveaway books for free: 1) So that my readers can gain godly wisdom, get inspired, and be motivated to live a Christian life through Christian’s literature; 2) To give them a tool to stir, exercise, and polish the edge of their God-given mind; and 3) To cultivate their passion for reading. Although I’m not giving away books anymore, the reason number 3) is still part of my purpose why I write book reviews and this kind of post.

In my opinion, reading is essential for Christians to grow mentally and spiritually. I venture to say that today, reading is one of the main ways God effectively speaking to us on a daily basis (Have you ever wonder why God give us The Book - a.k.a. The Bible - as the medium for us to know His will, His works, and His sovereignty?). On reading, the apostle Paul’s counsel to young Timothy to “focus on reading the Scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13), which in context referred to the public reading of the Old Testament. J. Oswald Sanders, in his classic book Spiritual Leadership, comments on 2 Timothy 4:13: “Paul’s advice is appropriate for other areas of reading as well. Paul’s books – the one he wanted Timothy to bring along – were probably words of Jewish history, explanations of the law and prophets, and perhaps some of the heathen poets Paul quoted in his sermons and lectures. A student to the end, Paul wanted to spend time in study.” If Paul, who God used to write half of the New Testament and was in prison waiting for his death sentence when he wrote letters to Timothy, continues his study by [wanted to] reading books, do you think reading is not important for Christians?

Read to “fill the wells of inspiration,” advise Harold Ockenga, an evangelist and avid reader himself. I say read for spiritual benefit, read for intellectual growth, read to cultivate speaking and writing style, read to acquire new information and knowledge, read to keep current with the time and read to polishes the edge of your God-given mind. Aldous Huxley, an English writer and philosopher, reminds us: “Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant and interesting.”

#ServeToLead #GrowingLeaders #LeadersAreReaders #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain

To read my previous #1Book1Week book reviews, CLICK HERE  

1) Unveiling the End Times In Our Time (2004) by Adrian Rogers, READ HERE

2) A Word to Fellow Pastors and Other Christian Leaders (1875, 2019) by Horatius Bonar, READ HERE

3) How To Think Like Einstein (2000, 2015) by Scott Thorpe, READ HERE

4) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy (1954) by Clive Staples Lewis, READ HERE

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#1Book1Week Lists May 2020

Jorge Luis Borges imagines hope for me, "I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." Three of God's most important creations: humanity, coffee, and books. I praise Him for books! Here are my #1Book1Week Booklists for May 2020 📖😉⚡

1) Coronavirus and Christ (2020) by John Piper. Here Piper offers six biblical answers to the question, "What is God doing through the coronavirus?" He draws us back to the sovereignty of God. You can download eBooks and audiobooks for FREE. Visit the webpage Desiring God.

2) No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline (2010) by Brian Tracy. What we need to do to achieve self-success is self-discipline. But our enemies are within - laziness and immediate gratification. So, Brian says, "No excuses!" This book is a bit cliché and old school... and yet, gold.

3) The Essence of The Law of Success: 17 Magic Principles to Get What You Want In Life (2009) by Napoleon Hill. This book presents - in a greatly condensed form - the entire seventeen factors out of which the Hill's Law of Success philosophy was evolved. Read with discernment.

4) One Minute Mentoring: How to Find and Work With a Mentor--And Why You'll Benefit from Being One (2017) by Ken Blanchard & Claire Diaz-Ortiz. Using their own mentor/mentee relationship insights, this book provides a good guide into the power and influence of mentoring and encourages readers to pursue their own mentoring relationships. Why, What, and How mentoring in the form of a parable.

5) Tortured For Christ (1987) by Richard Wurmbrand. After years of imprisonment and solitary confinement, enduring inhumane torture, Wurmbrand emerges with a powerful testimony of courageous faith. Even today, believers are suffering and dying for Christ, yet their faith will not falter under the most unthinkable persecutions. At the end of my reading, I asked myself, "Have I been persecuted for Christ?

To see previous month lists, go to > https://instagram.com/legasi.tv/

#ServeToLead #LeadersAreReaders #GrowingLeader #LetsMakeReadingCoolAgain #CoronavirusAndChrist #PersecutedForChrist #BrianTracy #KenBlanchard #NapoleonHill

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THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Read & Listen To This Book: John Piper's Coronavirus and Christ

I was a John-Piperian. I read half a dozen books and listened to hours of sermons & conference talks (oh, I love biographical sermons!) by John, and one book that I value the most is Don't Waste Your Life. After that, I move on to other authors. This strategy helped me to not 'worship' pastor's teachings but only the God that they faithfully preached

Recently, John published a short book entitled Coronavirus and Christ. What a timely, needful, and helpful encouragement. In uncertainty, John delivers the Message clearly. In doubt, he calls us to remain faithful in Him, and Him alone. In confusion, he invites us to see God's sovereignty. He writes, "This is a time when the fragile form of this world is felt. The seemingly solid foundations are shaking. The question we should be asking is, Do we have a Rock under our feet? A Rock that cannot be shaken— ever?”

This book is very Calvinistic (in defend, some will respond "very Biblical"), and like any other books by human authors, you should apply critical thinking and prayer. I love this book because of its Christ-centeredness and careful handling of the Word of God in regard to the reality of the world today

You can download this book in pdf and/or audiobook mp3 for FREE (although if you can buy it will be helpful to the ministry) at Desiring God Website, HERE > https://www.desiringgod.org/books/coronavirus-and-christ

#ServeToLead #JohnPiper #DesiringGod #LeadersAreReaders #CoronavirusAndChrist #1Book1Week

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THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Book Review: Spurgeon on Leadership (2010) by Larry J. Michael

Spurgeon on Leadership: Key Insights for Christian Leaders from the Prince of Preachers
(2003, 2010) by Larry J. Michael

Reading biographies – Christian biographies, especially – is one of the best decision I ever made and habit that I will keep for a lifetime. Philip Brooks, preacher, and author, said, "A biography is, indeed, a book; but far more than a book, it is a man… Never lay the biography down until the man is a living, breathing, acting person to you." We who are in the ministry – of all people – ought to read biographies. We minister to real people, and the better we understand great men and their times, the better we can minister to our people in our times. A truly good biography of a great person "has a universal quality about it that makes it touch life at many points," observed Warren W. Wiersbe.

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), well-known British’s 19th-century preacher, though I never met him, is my spiritual mentor. Since I read two of his awesome biographies Spurgeon: A New Biography (1984) by Arnold Dallimore and Charles Spurgeon: The Prince of Preacher (1997) edited by Dan Harmon, my respect, and admiration for him ever increases. It was intensified by my reading of Spurgeon Gold (2005) collection of quotes compiled by Ray Comfort and a huge volume of The Essential Works of Charles Spurgeon: Selected Books, Sermons and Other Writings (2009) edited by Daniel Partner which is over 1,391 pages! Many great preachers today also admire Spurgeon, men like John MacArthur [in his book Ashamed of the Gospel, MacArthur warned the church today not to be like the world. He uses the life of Spurgeon as an example of a faithful preacher of Christ] and John Piper for examples [he preached and wrote a book entitled Charles Spurgeon: Preaching Through Adversity]. Spurgeon is my spiritual mentor and his life is an inspiration for me. I never dream of becoming like him – far from it – because as Philip Brooks advice, "The object of reading biography… is not imitation but inspiration." Oh yes, an inspiration indeed!

Because of this, I rejoice gladly and read with great interest this book by Larry J. Michael. You can't separate Charles Spurgeon, pastor of the first megachurch in church history, from his excellent leadership. Beside pastored a megachurch, he also began a college to train pastors, founded an orphanage, instituted countless charitable organizations, sending missionaries, and bless other churches through his preaching, publishing books and book ministry for not-well-to-do pastors. No doubt among churches today this type of leader is in high demand, and Spurgeon's leadership style and innovations provide a challenging model. Rich Warren writes, "Spurgeon's model of leadership has profoundly influenced my life and ministry." Tom. S. Rainer agrees, "In every generation as few leaders emerge to set the pace and established the standards for leadership. [C.H. Spurgeon] was definitely one of these great leaders." John C. Maxwell simply says, "I highly recommend this book to all serious students of leadership!"

Here Michael points out not merely the insights of what it means to be an influential leader but also important fundamentals such as Christian commitment and moral character. Moreover, he shows how Spurgeon demonstrated extreme courage and conviction for those principles and how, in the various controversies that surrounded his ministry, he rose to meet them with a genuine sense of Christian maturity and Biblical constancy. Michael also stresses important characteristics such as grasping a vision for the task and prioritizing one's ministry in both the setting and the context of pastoral compassion and leadership. He also highlights Spurgeon as Christian model for both his staff, church members, and – especially for his family. Here too Michael does not exclude the fact that leadership often entails suffering and that was where Spurgeon truly ascended to the heights of leadership (besides physical illnesses, he also suffered depression). This book officially becomes my favorite leadership book!

It is divided into 3 parts and each cover leadership insights that are both historical in its context and practical for today's applications:

Part 1: The Leader for All Seasons

#1 Competence: Developing and Demonstrating Leadership

#2 Confidence: Balancing Faith, Attitude, Initiative, and Humility

#3 Context: Spurgeon in Victorian England

#4 Calling: Conversion and Growth

#5 Character: An Example of Integrity

Part 2: Leading Through the Seasons

#6 Casting Vision: Spurgeon's Goals and Planning

#7 Courage: Standing for Righteousness, Scripture, and Sound Teaching

#8 Commitment: Teaching and Modelling Devotion to Family

#9 Creativity: Preaching, Methods, and Ministry Innovations

#10 Compassion: Personal Toughness and Pastoral Tenderness

#11 Compass: Leading Despite Criticism and Conflict

#12 Coping: Dealing with Illness and Depression

Part 3: Applying the Lessons of a Leader

#13 A Leader for the World in Crisis

#14 A Leader for the Daily Challenge

Do you know why Spurgeon was such a great leader? For your information, he didn't go to any theological school (huh, I’m glad). Humanly speaking, he was self-taught. This is his theology and how he became a great man of God: "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is my Lord!" he exclaimed. With Lord Jesus Christ as his Master, only Master, everyone including Spurgeon is nothing but the humble servant of God. He first a follower of Jesus, then only he is a leader of men. Keep this in mind.

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

God created Us for His Glory (The Crystal-Clear Reason for Living)

John Piper, my all-time favourite preacher, wrote in his book, my all-time favourite and life-changing book, Don’t Waste Your Life (2007, 2009), “The Bible is crystal-clear: God created us for his glory. Thus says the Lord, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory” (Isaiah 43:6-7). Life is wasted when we do not live for the glory of God. And I mean all of life. It is all for his glory. That is why the Bible gets down into the details of eating and drinking. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We waste our lives when we do not weave God into our eating and drinking and every other part by enjoying and displaying him.

What does it mean to glorify God? It may get a dangerous twist if we are not careful. Glorify is like a word beautify. But beautify usually means “make something more beautiful than it is,” improve its beauty. That is emphatically not what we mean by glorify in relation to God. God cannot be made more glorious or more beautiful than he is. He cannot be improved, “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Glorify does not mean add more glory to God.

It is more like the word magnify. But here too we can go wrong. Magnify has two distinct meanings. In relation to God, one is worship and one is wickedness. You can magnify like a telescope or like a microscope. When you magnify like a microscope, you make something tiny look bigger than it is. A dust mite can look like a monster. Pretending to magnify God like that is wickedness. But when you magnify like a telescope, you make something unimaginably great look like what it really is. With the Hubble Space Telescope, pinprick galaxies in the sky are revealed for the billion-star giants that they are. Magnifying God like that is worship.

We waste our lives when we do not pray and think and dream and plan and work toward magnifying God is all spheres of life. God created us for this: to live our lives in a way that makes him look more like the greatness and the beauty and the infinite worth that he really is. In the night sky of this world God appears to most people, if at all, like a pinprick of light in a heaven of darkness. But he created us and called us to make him look like what he really is. This is what it means to be created in the image of God. We are meant to image forth in the world what he is really like” (page 32-33).

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Prisoners Smiled in Peace Before Choke to Death

“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:12-14)

Charles Wesley gives us an example of how one might obey Hebrews 13:13 and go “out the camp” and bear the abuse he endured. On July 18, 1738, two months after his conversion, Charles Wesley did an amazing thing. He had spent the week witnessing to inmates at the Newgate prison with a friend named “Bray,” whom he described as “a poor ignorant mechanic.” One of the men they spoke to was “a black [slave] that had robbed his master.” He was sick with a fever and was condemned to die.

On Tuesday, Wesley and Bray asked if they could be locked in overnight with the prisoners who were to be executed the next day [this is outside the camp!]. That night they spoke the gospel. They told the men that “One came down from heaven to save lost sinners.” They described the sufferings of the Son of God, his sorrows, agony, and death.

The next day the men were loaded onto a cart and taken to Tyburn. Wesley went with them. Ropes were fastened around their necks so that the cart could be driven off, leaving them swinging in the air to choke to death. The fruit of Wesley and Bray’s nightlong labour was astonishing. Here is what Wesley wrote:

“They were all cheerful; full of comfort, peace and triumph; assuredly persuaded Christ had died for them, and waited to receive them into paradise… The black [slave]… saluted me with his looks. As often as his eyes met mine, he smiled with the most composed, delightful countenance I ever saw.

            We left them going to meet their Lord, ready for the Bridegroom. When the cart drew off, not one stirred, or struggle for life, but meekly gave up their spirits. Exactly at twelve they were turned off. I spoke a few suitable words to the crowds; and returned, full of peace and confidence in our friends’ happiness. That hour under the gallows was the most blessed hour of my life.”

Two things in this story amaze and inspire me. One is the astonishing power of Wesley’s message about the truth and love of Christ. All the condemned prisoners were converted, and they were so deeply converted that they could look death in the face (without a long period of “follow up” or “discipling”) and give up their lives with confidence that Christ would receive them. Their suffering was not for righteousness’ sake, but the same dynamics were at work to sustain them. They looked on their suffering as something they must pass through on the way to heaven, and the hope of glory was so real that they died in peace. Oh, for such power in witness!

The other thing that amazes me is the sheer fact that Wesley went to the prison and asked to be locked up all night with condemned criminals who had nothing more to lose if they killed another person. Wesley had no supervisor telling him that this was his job. He was not a professional prison minister. It would have been comfortable and pleasant to spend the evening at home conversing with friends. Then why did he go?

God put it in his heart to go. And Wesley yielded. There are hundreds of strange and radical things God is calling his people to do in the cause of world missions. Not everyone will hear the same call. Yours will be unique. It may be something you never dreamed of doing. But I urge you to listen to the leading of the Spirit to see where “outside the camp” he may be taking you “to bear the reproach he endured.”

[Quote from Let the Nation Be Glad! The Supremacy of God in Missions by John Piper (Inter-Varsity Press, 1993, 2007), Page 81-82. Title mine]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

Jesus is Worth Losing Everything For.

In Matthew 13:44 Jesus tells his disciples, “The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

I love this picture. Imagine walking in a field and stumbling upon a treasure that is more valuable than anything else you could work for or find in this life. It is more valuable than all you have now or will ever have in the future. You look around and notice that no one else realises the treasure is here, so you cover it up quickly and walk away, pretending you haven’t seen anything. You go into town and begin to sell off all your possessions to have enough money to buy that field. The world thinks you’re crazy.

“What are you thinking?” your friends and family ask you.

You tell them, “I’m buying that field over there.”

They look at you in disbelief. “That’s foolish,” they say. “Why are you giving away everything you have to buy that field?”

You respond, “I have a hunch,” and you smile to yourself as you walk away. You smile because you know that in the end any risk that others perceive is nothing compared to the reward you will receive. So with joy – with joy! – you sell it all. Why? Because you have found something worth losing everything else for.

This is the picture of Jesus in the gospel. He is something – someone – worth losing everything for. When we really believe this, then risking everything we are and everything we have, to know and obey Christ is no longer a matter of sacrifice. It’s just common sense. To let go of the pursuits, possessions, pleasures, safety, and security of this world in order to follow Jesus wherever he leads, not matter what it costs, is not sacrificial as much as it is smart. In the words of Jim Elliot, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

[Taken from David Platt forward for John Piper’s Risk is Right: Better to Lose Your Life Than to Waste It (Crossway: Wheaton, Illinois, 2013) page 9-10.]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

The Reading Diet

Major John Skidmore, one of Oswald Chamber’s closest friends, came to see Chambers, complaining of being drained. Oswald asked what he had been reading, to which Skidmore said, “Only the Bible and books directly associated with it.” “That’s the trouble,” said Oswald. “You have allowed part of your brain to stagnate for want of use.”

Reaching a nearby pen and paper, Oswald began listing more than fifty books dealing with philosophy, psychology, theology, and every phase of current life. “When people refer to a man as ‘a man of one book’, meaning the Bible, he is generally found to be a man of multitudinous books, which simply isolates the one Book to its proper grandeur,” said Oswald. “The man who reads only the Bible does not, as a rule, know it or human life.”

Oswald Chambers love for books came in part from his sitting at the feet of the Scottish preacher Alexander Whyte, who taught a series of classes that Oswald attended as a young man. Many times, Oswald saw Whyte hold up a battered old book, telling the students, “Sell your beds and buy it.”

Afterward, Oswald never went anywhere without a book. Once, while travelling, he wrote to his sister Florence saying:

“My box has at last arrived. My books! I cannot tell you what they mean to me – silent, wealthy, loyal lovers. To look at them, to handle them, and to re-read them! I do thank God for my books with every fiber of my being. Why, I could have almost cried to excess of joy when I got hold of them again. I see them all just at my elbow now – Plato, Wordsworth, Myers, Bradley, Halyburton, St. Augustine, Browning, Tennyson, Amiel, etc. I know them. I wish you could see how they look at me, a quiet, calm look of certain acquaintance*.”

To me, we as Christians – the Bible – is our one and only chief Book that we all need to read, to study daily and to meditate day-by-day. But this doesn’t mean that it is the only book that we need to read. Broaden your mind, enlarge your visions and uplift your spirit by reading other books (too). If I want to get inspirations in my Christian life I read biographies like those of William Carrey, John Calvin, C.S. Lewis, Hudson Taylor, A.W. Tozer, Charles H. Spurgeon, Watchman Nee, etc. If I want to learn about theology I turn to John Piper, John McArthur, J.I. Packer, David Pawson, John Stott, etc. For missions I seek Oswald J. Smith, K.P. Yohannan, J. Oswald Sanders, etc.  If I want to be motivated and learn leadership I read Anthony Robbins, John Maxwell, Zig Ziglar, etc. For personal development I read Tony Buzan and Edward de Bono. Psychology… philosophy… I could go on… you get my point, right?

Ruth Bell Graham said, “Read, read, read! Use the Bible as home base,

but vary your diet. I usually have several books going at once,

tucked around here and there for easy access.” Read my friends!

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

               

Reference:
*David McCasland, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God (Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd., 1993), 156-157, 108-109.

"Risk is Right": Book for Christians who Don't Want to Waste their Lives

Bildo in 'The Hobbit' is taking risk... and that is right!

“There are a thousand ways to magnify Christ in life and death. None should be scorned. All are important. But none makes the worth of Christ shine more brightly than sacrificial love for other people in the name of Jesus. If Christ is so valuable that the hope of his immediate and eternal fellowship after death frees us from the self-serving fear of dying and enables us to lay down our lives for the good of others, such love magnifies the glory of Christ like nothing else in the world” (John Piper, in Risk is Right. Page 15)

About the Book

A choice lies before you: Either waste your life or live with risk. Either sit on the sidelines or get in the game. After all, life was no cakewalk for Jesus, and he didn’t promise it would be any easier for his followers. We shouldn’t be surprised by resistance and persecution. Yet most of us play it safe. We pursue comfort. We spend ourselves to get more stuff. And we prefer to be entertained.

We are all tempted by the idea of security, the possibility of a cozy Christianity with no hell at the end. But what kind of life is that really? It’s a far cry from adventurous and abundant, from truly rich and really full, and it’s certainly not the heights and the depths Jesus calls us to.

Discover in these pages a foundation for fearlessness. Hear God’s promise to go with you into the unknown. And let Risk Is Right help you see the joys of a faith-filled and seriously rewarding life of Jesus-dependent abandon!

[About the Book is taken from: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/books/risk-is-right]

“For whosoever would save his life shall lose it:

and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matthew 16:25, ERV)

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.

FREE BOOKS!

This month of December 2013, I would like to offer my readers 5 BOOKS (ONLY) entitled ‘Risk is Right’ by John Piper.

You are welcome to get a copy of this book for yourself by simply do these 2 things:

1. First, comment below “Rich, give me one copy (Your name). I hope that through this book I can/may… [Not less than 10 words]”
    
2. Then, E-mail me at Motivates4life@hotmail.com or send message to my Facebook account your real name, phone no. and your postal address. Thank you.