Strange Fire review

In the book Strange Fire, the author John MacArthur lays the groundwork for challenging the Charismatic church. He has seen the negative impacts the charismatic movement has had on the church. MacArthur argues that the charismatic movement has misrepresented the Holy Spirit. He calls the people to "test the spirits" (1 John 4:1). He focuses on pointing out false teachers.  MacArthur maintains that the supernatural gifts have ceased. The charismatic movement is painted with too broad of a brush in the book. There are some good things that have occurred in the charismatic movement. This is a good book for people to read but like all books the time to process what is said by John MacArthur.

Let Hope In

Let hope in

I have just had the chance to review Let Hope In by Pete Wilson. Wilson has a great way of taking us into our past and how we are shaped. He challenges us to let Christ bring us hope from our past. Out of this hope we can have a Christ-centred future. Pete has four challenges in the book to help us understand our past. Wilson does a great job at bring us into the book though the questions he asks in each chapter. I would encourage you to check out Let Hope In!

An Amish Kitchen

An Amish Kitchen is a collection of three short stories, or novellas of faith, family and love.

“A Taste of Faith”, by Kelly Long is a story of the young local healer in the community, Fern Zook. She lives with her grandmother, because her parents both died from influenza at a young age. She spends her days tending to minor ailments of those in her community. Her world changes when she meets Abram Fisher, a determined bachelor who vows he will never marry. After his grandfather falls ill, his parents leave town, leaving him to care for his brothers and sister. His ideas of marriage change the more time he spends with Fern.

“A Spoonful of Love”, by Amy Clipston, is a story of a young woman, Hannah King, who tends to her family’s bed-and-breakfast. After her father suffers from a stroke, she struggles to keep up with the maintenance, cooking, cleaning, and book-keeping involved in running a successful bed-and-breakfast. Stephen Esh, a broken man haunted by his past, becomes an answer to her prayers. He is hired as the maintenance man for the bed-and-breakfast against Hannah’s mother’s wishes and quickly befriends Hannah.

“A Recipe for Hope”, by Beth Wiseman is a story of the importance of family. Eve Bender and her family must move back to her parent’s house after their house gets destroyed by a fallen tree. Eve and her mother have always had a strained relationship, and both are uneasy about the forced living conditions. Throughout the time spent together secrets are revealed and betrayal within the family comes to light. 

Pete Wilson - Empty Promises

 

I just had the chance to read Pete Wilson's book empty promises. I got this book from the web site book sneeze. I enjoyed reading this book. This book talked about the idols we all face in life. Pete did a great job with bring each one to for front of the reading by adding in questions in different areas of the book questions to make the read think deep about their own life. Pete as did a great job adding in real life stories (some times I wish I got here more about the stories but as he said at one point in the book it is not a tell all book). The whole book can be summed up on page 191 "This book has never been about guilt. It was never my goal to simply point out the fact that we all struggle with idolatry. Quite the opposite. I long for you to find the freedom that comes from living your life wholly seeking God. I long for you to become increasingly aware of empty promises so you won't be distracted from the Source of real power. You need that, because the danger you face is real enough." Pete gives us a message of hope in world of idolatry. Hope that comes from Christ alone!

HMH

God loves broken people

God loves broken people and we need to enter into a personal relationship with Him to be healed from this brokenness. We are all broken people. This book you will hear about people's brokenness and the writers story also.

Not having read or heard of this author before. I did not know how her writing style would. This book will be useful to use in a small group.

If you would like to hear the author speak. You can attend the Women of Faith conferences. Please get the book and read it!

Drip, drip, drip

I have just finished reading the Liturgical Year. I did not grow up in a church that used the liturgical caldenar however the churches I did work at did celebrate Advent by lighting candles and talking about the coming of Christ as a baby. We also celebrated Good Friday and Easter. One church had done an Ash Wednesday service the year before I got there. When I moved to a new city I found out more about Lent as I had friends giving up things for 40 days. After reading this book I see how important the liturgical year can be. The challenge laid out by the author is to allow the liturgical year to drip, drip, drip slowly in the "deepest parts of our psyches." (12) If you want to learn about the liturgical year from a book that is not a "text book" I would tell you to read this book.

Matthew Howden

Risks...

I enjoy getting books. I own a few books. When I moved in 2008 I have 6 Rubbermaid's full of books and only 5 full of clothes. Since 2008 I have added a few more books. Two of them I have read in the last two months. They are: Forgotten God by Francis Chan and small is the new big by Seth Godin. They are two very different books. Chan challenges the readers to live a life that is impacted by the Spirit of God. Godin is getting you thinking about small business as the way of the future. They might be very different but they are have this idea of risk. Chan and Godin what us to live lives that have a risk element in them. To got of the safe and see what could happen. I would encourage to check them and see what happens when you take a risk the time safe seems like the only way to go. Let's live a life of risk it is better then a life of the normal!

Howden Matt Howden

I am reading Wide Awake right now. Just finished the first chapter. Erwin talked about satellite radio. I googled the person he talked about.

True or False Ethiopian Born Noah Samara Invented Satellite Radio?

The answer is true. The same country that has brought the world the likes of the world’s richest person of African descent Mr. Mohammed Al Amoudi has also brought the world Noah Samara.

Mr. Samara is indeed the founder and CEO of WorldSpace, which pioneered the satellite radio technology, thereby being the first to introduce the technology to the market.

Noah Samara was born in Ethiopia and comes from a very diverse background. He was born to an Ethiopian mother and a Sudanese father. At the age of 17, Noah left Ethiopia and the familiar East African coast for America, in search of a better education. He found the education that he was looking for, while in America and his educational sojourn ended with him receiving his law degree from Georgetown University.

The area that he chose to specialise in was satellite communications law. Prior to the launch of World Space, Noah embarked on career that was heavily weighted towards satellite technology. In 1990 he resigned from his job and began working towards the launch of WorldSpace. And $USD 2.5B later World Space was up and running with it’s first satellite-AfriStar. The company has been lauded for it’s ability to reach remote area’s of the world with vital information, via satellite transmission.

Major partners of World Space are NPR Radio, BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg. In addition to starting WorldSpace, Mr. Samara also did other things with his his experience in the satellite industry-one of which was to help bring XM Satellite radio to fruition.

One of the most interesting thing facts about Mr. Samara’s launching of World Space, were the altruistic motives that inspired him to start the company. He cites the need to provide adequate access to radio for populations in rural Asia and Africa that were unable to receive radio signals prior to the arrival of WorldSpace.

In closing, I would like to say that I think Noah represents a very interesting aspect of Ethiopia. That Ethiopia has reached a tipping point (when it comes to business) and that with the right ingredients the future may hold even greater business success in store for this very mature nation. (http://www.beninmwangi.com/2007/05/22/true-or-false-ethiopian-born-noah-samara-invented-satellite-radio/)

People changing the world...

Howden Matt Howden

"I may not know you personally, but this I know about you without question - there is a hero within you waiting to be awakened."

The alarm sounds. Your feet hit the floor and carry you into another day. But what does that day hold for you? Will you be punching your card at work, catching up on TV at home, and crashing into bed before you rinse and repeat the next day? Or will you dare to dig deep and discover the incredible potential lying dormant within you?
In Wide Awake, Erwin Raphael McManus challenges us to put an end to all the sleepwalking and settling, for each of us was created by God for a reason. He has called you to live as Jesus did - a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living wide awake is about realizing that the world desperately needs you to live up to your greatness.
There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber.

It's time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream... Wide Awake.

This is from the back of a book I am starting to read by Erwin McManus.

More posts will be coming from it I am sure of that.

Howden Matt Howden

Church Gives Fresh Meaning to 'Offering' Plate

Most churches have church members put offerings into the collection plate - but one church has decided to do it backwards, CNN reports. Pastor Toby Slough at Cross Timbers Community Church in Texas told his congregation to take what they needed from the plate earlier this year, hoping to ease financial stress. When the church collected the plates again though, they found that the church had had its highest offering ever. Since that Sunday, Slough and his church have given away a half-million dollars to members, non-members, missions and local groups. "In these economic times, we can't be so into church business that we forget what our business is, and that is to help people," Slough told CNN television affiliate KDAF in Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas.