Category: Book Reviews

Why Revival Tarries

by Leonard Ravenhill

– We should be busy fishing for men, but too many times we are fishing compliments from them.

– The pastor who is praying is not playing.

– No ministry or minister is greater than his prayer life.

– If we fail in the area of prayer, we fail in every other area.

– We cannot be much for God unless we are much with God.

– The secret of praying is praying in secret.

– Prayer is profoundly simple yet simply profound.

– God does not want partnership with us, He wants ownership.

– Paul was not merely a city-wide preacher but a city-wide shaker.

– There is a vast difference between knowing the Word of God and knowing the God of the Word.

– The Bible is not a book to explain but a book to obey.

– God honors not wisdom or personality but faith.

– It is not what you know but Whom you know.

– If we please God, what does it matter who we displease; and if we displease God, what does it matter who we please.

– Prayer is the secret weapon but seems to be secret from many Christians.

– We never gossip about those we pray for and we never pray for those we gossip about.

– No man can monopolize the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit can monopolize a man.

– God can fill one in a moment, but it may take years to empty a man of himself.

– The primary need for a missionary is not a love for the people but a love for the Savior.

– If tears are lacking in your eyes and converts in your ministry, something is truly wrong.

– The enemy of multiplication is stagnation.

– We suffer from ministers who want their head filled with knowledge instead of their hearts a-fired.

– We say we must pray if we want to live a holy life, but we must live a holy life if we want to pray.

– Does prayer change things? Yes. But prayer changes those who pray.

– The preacher should devote one day a week to prepare his sermons, and another day to prepare the preacher that will preach the sermon.

– Some preachers master a subject and some subjects master a preacher

Teaching Your Children Values

by Linda and Richard Eyre

 

– Teach them to make decisions before they ever confront situations.

– Develop values yourself before you can expect your children to develop them.

– Give them ways to earn money and then give them responsibilities on what they have to buy.

– Too often discipline is more of a choice than a necessity, but it should not be that way.

– Have disciplines of being in certain places at certain times such as dinner together, work, bedtime, etc.

– Work before play — even small children can learn to clean up, push in their chair or other things before going to play.

– Teach your children how to make some goals, no matter how small they are.

– Children need limits, they will feel safer.

– Talk openly to your children about puberty.

– Delay dating until you’ve talked and there’s more maturity in the child’s life. Premature dating leads to bad decisions and hurt.

– When you need to discipline your child, let them know you still love them and are upset at the action, not at them as a person.

– Find time to listen to your children instead of just cutting them off and moving on to the next item or task.

– Learn to say you’re sorry as a parent. It’s hard to say sorry because parents feel they are right, they are the authority and are smarter than the kids, but it is important to learn to apologize when you’re wrong as a parent.

– Remind your children that they can learn something from everyone.

– Remind your children that in order to have friends, they have to be a friend.

– Teach your children that they have to take turns and learn to share

– Care, Fair and Share — teach your children the importance of these

– Teach your children to forgive others, show mercy and do not to be judgmental.

– Your child is not a lump of clay that you can form into whatever you want, they are their own person. But you can teach values that will help form them throughout their lives.

Sexual Detox

By Tim Challies

 

– When we indulge in sexual sins, our actions are saying that we believe the sins are better than our God, that the momentary pleasures are better than God’s blessings and rewards.

– You will never stop looking at porn until you realize that the consequence of the sins so much more horrible than the appeal of the sins.

– Pornography is about self-gratification.

– The external sin of looking at porn is nothing more than the internal sin of the heart.

– We must replace the god on the throne of our life, the unholy practice with a holy practice.

– Do not ignore sin or even fuel it, we must starve it and kill it.

– We must replace lies with truth.

Money Secrets of the Amish

by Lorilee Craker

 

– Motto for possessions: Use it up. Wear it out. Make do. Live without.

– Indulgence now is the sign of our society… it’s a sign of immaturity.

– Instead of buying what you want, save until you have money for better things in the future.

– Pay your debts before their due dates, never be late on a payment.

– Buy useful things for Christmas gifts or you’ll just make your children materialistic by giving so many gifts.

– Pay yourself by setting aside 10–20% monthly for future needs.

– It’s not what you look at that matters but what you see.

– No one has such a good memory as creditors. They go to bed and wake up in a happy mood knowing that you owe them money.

– The Amish believe that debt is a plague to be avoided at all cost.

– There is nothing like others getting rich off of your lack of self-control.

– Learn to shop second hand.

– Buy only what you need.

– You don’t have to buy something new to buy something good.

– Buy in bulk. Not everything in bulk will be the best value, but the majority of things in bulk are better value.

– Don’t forget to check out discount stores where things are recently or almost expired.

– Sell or trade things that you no longer are using or need.

– We are deceived when we believe that money can buy happiness or great memories. Those can be made from such simple ways as playing games and eating popcorn.

– Devoting family time is much greater than material possessions.

Missions

by Andy Johnson

 

– A concern for the lost is a concern that every Christian should have.

– The church has the Gospel and must guard, share and proclaim it.

– If we are convinced that eternal damnation exists, how else could we prioritize anything more important?

– Prioritizing missions should be done out of our love and devotion for Christ.

– Global missions is the responsibility of a local church.

– The church is the bride of Christ. We are the stagehands and He is the star; we must not forget that.

– Do not try to get people excited about missions until they fall in love and appreciate what God has done for them.

– Missions in the most historical and traditional term means crossing geographic, linguistic and cultural bounds. If we consider everything to be missions, then nothing is missions.

– A missionary should not be a self-standing man, he should be supported by and accountable to a church.

– We are not to send just warm bodies, but laborers who gets the job done. Christ told us to pray for laborers, not just anyone. (Mt. 9:38)

 

– What kind of missionaries to send out:

1. Assess their Character – men that are self-starters, honest, spiritual and will get the work done. 1

2. Assess their Fruitfulness – are they taking up space or producing fruit? If they are not producing fruit where they are at, they most likely will not produce fruit on the field where they go.

3. Assess their Bible Knowledge – people who stand out in their knowledge of the Scriptures. They should both know for themselves what they believe and know how to teach the Scriptures to others so that it can be reproduced and lived out in the lives of others.

– People that are not faithful and fruitful members of church will not be good missionaries.

 

– When we support missionaries from our church, our giving should be:

1. Serious

2. Significant

3. Sacrificial

– One of the best things that we can do to encourage the missionaries on the field is to send other missionaries to go work alongside them.

– Evaluate the missionary that you’re going to support by making sure he is still logically sound, has a good work ethic, has the right understanding of the church and has character. Find out their goals and plans on their field.

 

– If a pastor wants to see more laborers for the field, he should:

1. Preaching from the Pulpit – use illustrations, use victories and use stories of all God is doing overseas.

2. Praying from the Pulpit – teach your people to pray for missions, the lost and the need for more laborers.

3. Relationship Based – get to know your missionaries, their needs, their families and their ministries. Help them, go see them and send a group from your church to visit them.

Marriage Matters

by Tony Evans

 

– Some people want to get married because they think it is ideal, but then they find out it is an ordeal very soon they want a new deal.

– Adam was incomplete until God gave him Eve. God did not give him Eve until he realized his need for a helpmeet.

– Your differences are supposed to complement each other, to complete each other. Don’t allow them to drive a wedge between you.

– God told Adam what he could or could not eat and it was Adam‘s job to let his wife know. When the devil came tempting, he went through Eve. There is an order God has placed to operate (1 Corinthians 11:3). But we take things out of the order that God had placed them in, and give Satan and opportunity to cause problems.

– Man wants the woman to be under subjection to his authority but the man is not being subject to his authority, God.

– If you are the right kind of husband that loves his wife, you will not have to demand her to follow and fulfill her position.

– You don’t get God’s blessings without following God‘s rules and you don’t get God’s results without following God‘s guidelines. The problems in your marriage mean we’re not following God’s plans for your marriage.

– We as men are to get an example of what love is from God, because He is the standard for love. Ephesians 5:25-31

– Men are commanded to love and love requires sacrifice. David knew that a sacrifice would have to cost him something (2 Samuel 24:24). Men, what are we sacrificing, giving up, because we love our wives? Adam had to sacrifice for Eve by giving his rib. Jesus sacrificed for us by giving His life.

– Jesus did not only became our means, He became our sanctifier. To Sanctify means to change and make something better. As a husband, you are God’s tool to make your wife a better person.

– We cannot expect for God to make everything perfect in our marriage when He is not on the throne in our lives.

– God made marriage and because of that, marriage matters.

Managing God’s Money

by Randy Alcorn

 

– Money is not a toy to play with but a tool to be used.

– We are managers of God’s money.

– As Martin Luther said, we are managers of the mind, the heart and the purse.

– The issue is not what we would do with $1 million if we had it but what we are doing with the money we currently do have.

– God cares a great deal about the little things. For this reason, if we cannot be faithful with the worldly money, how can we be faithful with that which is eternal?

– If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions, then He is not Lord at all.

– Jesus sat and watched as people gave and then told His disciples that the widow woman gave more than the other people. The Bible does not say that Jesus happened to see, yet He was looking. He pays attention to our giving.

– How we handle our money speaks much about our spiritual lives.

– God owns everything, and even what He has placed in my hands is His and not mine.

– When we realize everything belongs to God, we can then ask God what He wants us to do with what He gave us.

– Money is neutral, but how you use it can be evil or good.

– Materialism does not and cannot bring happiness.

– The lost worry about what they’re going to eat, drink, and wear but God’s children should not worry about that ‘

– Matthew 6

– If you love money, you will never have enough – Ecclesiastes 5:10–11.

– Materialism will blind you from many of God’s big blessings.

– Materialism can blind people from depending on God. Why would you need God if you have everything you need and want? Prosperity can turn people away from God.

– Those that grew up with almost anything that they wanted, later in life have more problems with debt, blaming others, and irresponsibility.

– No money can replace a dad’s presence.

– Take your children to a junkyard and show them that their toys and gadgets will end up there one day.

– Do not believe that just because you love God you will have financial prosperity.

– Prosperity gospel/theology says to “live like a king’s kid,” but how did our God send His Son to live in this world? This philosophy is not fully according to the Bible.

– God does not entrust us with riches so that we can keep them but so that we can give them.

– Giving away money puts us in a financial weakness and we do not like that. Giving helps us depend on God, prepare for future friends that can help us when we’re in need, and fills us with joy.

– Spend your life serving the right Master and investing in the right things.

– People are always looking for safe places to put their money and God gives us the safest place — putting our treasures in heaven.

– Just because God puts money in our hands doesn’t mean it’s supposed to stay there.

– Parting with something we don’t want is not giving, it is just selective discarding.

– God’s money manager should not ask how much he should keep but how much should give.

– Tithing should not be the end of our giving but the beginning of our giving. Tithing teaches us to honor and depend on God.

– Giving to the poor is lending to the Lord.

– We are not to be store houses of money but channels with it.

Listen

by Dale Carnegie

 

– There’s a big difference between listening and hearing. Hearing can be done involuntarily but listening is hearing and understanding.

– You can get people interested in you by being interested in them; learn to listen.

 

– There are seven different kind of listeners:

1. The Preoccupied — worried about everything.

2. The Impatient — they can’t sit still and listen.

3. The Interrupters — they are waiting to jump in and say something whenever you pause.

4. The Whatever’s — they don’t care what you say.

5. The combative’s — they are not listening for understanding but for ammunition to use against you.

6. The Analyst — they are listening to fix whatever you say.

7. The Engager’s — these are the ones that listen with their eyes, ears and heart. Be this kind of listener!

 

– Most people do not listen to learn, they listen to reply.