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Streams of Living Water: Lectionary Devotional for Cycle B
Price range: $3.99 through $13.99STREAMS OF LIVING WATER
In addition to offering theological reflections on each of the lectionary passages in Year B, the author also offers five formats for prayer. A pastor or active lay member could make use of this material on retreat. This volume provides a pastor with a disciplined way of opening oneself to the Spirit in preparation for each Sunday’s worship. Active church members will find this volume an excellent way of listening more deeply during each Sunday’s worship or for small group study that is connected to the weekly worship experience.
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The Men of Genesis
Price range: $3.99 through $18.99With so much going on in today’s world, there is no longer greater time than now for preteens and young adults to learn, perhaps for the first time or maybe just to be reminded of, the stories that graced the pages of the book of Genesis. The Men of Genesis brings the young reader into the lives of the men whose faith in the Lord sustained them through various, some unimaginable, hardships. these were men who believed in God, desired to obey His commands, sacrificed much but did so for His glory, not for the satisfaction of or acceptance by their fellow humans. Much can be learned from them.
The Men of Genesis was written for young readers to get acquainted with God’s handiwork in the first six days of earth’s creation. They will read about God’s blessings bestowed on a man named Noah who believed in and obeyed God. And it was that-his faith-that saved him and his family. Following Noah are the stories of Abraham and God’s covenant with him, Abraham’s son Isaac and his wife Rebecca and their struggles with favoritism, the difference that went on between brothers Jacob and Esau, and the beautiful story of Joseph who successfully overcame the betrayal of his brothers nearly two thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ who would also victoriously overcome the betrayal of His own people.
As the reader turns the pages, he or she will be reminded of God’s immense love for His people-His desire to have a relationship with those who truly seek Him, yesterday and today.
The Men of Genesis is a book that details the strength and perseverance of our ancestors and provides the first glimpse of a truly loving God.
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GOLD NUGGETS AND OTHER GEMS FROM THE MINE OF SCRIPTURE: With Answers to Questions You May Never Have Thought to Ask
Price range: $3.99 through $25.99“Considering that the Israelites numbered 600,000 men, plus their families and
livestock, plus all the hangers-on accompanying them, we’re looking at a
company of some two to three million people.”
More than a compendium of the Bible, this book is filled with questions about Scripture within both the Old and New Testaments and provides answers that may leave one more curious than ever to find answers to additional questions they might have. Included are genealogies about notable Bible characters like Moses and his family, when they were born, and how surprisingly old in years they were when they died. Chronologies provide a more concise look at Egypt, the plagues, the flood, and other noteworthy events. Dr. Leland includes several “You Are There” narratives, suggesting what it might have been like to have been there observing the event. He also looks at both Testaments and how they speak to the continuous conflict between God/Christ and Satan and how God’s sovereignty overcomes Satan›s opposition every time.
Dr. Leland has painstakingly calculated, in dollars, the staggering amount of gold it took to build the Temple. He has estimated Solomon’s total wealth, including an outline of where it ended up and the value of many items associated with the Temple. With Dr. Leland’s book as a companion, anyone who reads or studies the Bible will hopefully find a deeper understanding of God›s Word. He has found that questions asked, and questions answered, increase faith and bring about greater spiritual growth. The Appendices contain various charts, instructive quotes, and catchy Biblical phrases that hopefully will inspire deeper thought and provide “seed” material for whoever is presenting God’s Word to others. Dr. Leland applies his knowledge and research to many biblical dilemmas in which the curious will delight.
– The US Review of Books
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Life’s Apologies
Price range: $3.99 through $9.99Carolann Murray is a Florida native, and after graduating from high school, she joined the United States Army and retired with honorable service. She treats writing as a personal hobby that she enjoys. Through her observations and past encounters with others, she took it upon herself to be expressive through her own opinionated views. By putting this new revision into print, she feels it is her own reality and the reality of others that support existence of Life’s Apologies. Furthermore, Life’s Apologies enables Murray to boldly identify situations and allow transparency of everyday situations to her audiences. Murray shows a genuine interest in people and how their actions and experiences affect their emotions. She attempts to reach and convince others that honesty and moral values are critical in today’s society. Murray thinks people should always treat others with dignity and respect, and to forgive and be forgiven.
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The Saga of a Bent Nail Presque
Price range: $3.99 through $11.00“If you’re open to God’s call, and He leads you into missions, you couldn’t be in a better place!”
The Saga of a Bent Nail
Retired missionary, Bob Leland, recounts adventures from his more than thirty years in the mission field in Indonesia (1971-2002). Both he and his wife answered God’s call to missions when they were just children (6 and 8 years old).
Their first posting was to Senggo (church-planting) followed by several changes of duties including house parenting, field administration, Bible College teaching, training missionary appointees, and translating the Greek Lexicon from English into Indonesian.
Bob’s book opens with a moment of deep crisis in the early days of the Senggo mission, is enhanced with Bible verses, black-and-white photos, frank admissions of shortcomings, and a lively sense of humor. The intriguing narrative shows how the couple survived sickness, accidents and unexpected challenges in their ministry. In spite of language and cultural differences, they were encouraged with how the Citak people and their students responded to the Word of God.
Bob and Amber remain active in church work in the U.S. and helpfully offers this memoir as guidance for all Christians, but especially for those contemplating the mission path.
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Sharecropper to Entrepreneur to Pastor
Price range: $3.99 through $14.99There’s an old question about whether a person will be a thermometer or a thermostat in life. A thermometer merely registers the temperature of the surroundings, but a thermostat actually controls the temperature. This inspiring story demonstrates how during the major junctures in his life, John Womack has and continues to be a thermostat.
Growing up in a Virginia sharecropping family in the midst of pernicious racism and economic deprivation, Womack was able to learn how to overcome these obstacles without losing his belief that human beings are basically good and will do right when given the opportunity. Throughout his life, he combined his creative vision not only with the necessary business acumen, but also with moral and ethical responsibility in spite of an environment of greed, egotism, and selfishness. Regardless of his position–whether in the navy or as an entrepreneur, husband, father, student, pastor, board member, and friend–Womack has acquitted himself with a spiritual consciousness that girded him with the capability to overcome the barriers to progress and prosperity.
He never abandoned his fundamentally Christian orientation amid a variety of temptations.
Remaining humble through all these endeavors, Womack longs to share his life work with today’s youth, young adults, and others. He yearns to encourage them to believe–despite surrounding hardships and institutional barriers–that they can transcend their existential circumstances and make something out of their lives. By sharing his life story, Womack hopes to encourage others to confront today’s challenges with wisdom, faith, hope, and love. Certainly, the Rev. Dr. John Womack–sharecropper, veteran, entrepreneur, husband, father of three, pastor, and author–exemplifies this possibility and personifies this truth.
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The Book of Mary: A Commentary on the Protevangelium of James
Price range: $3.99 through $21.99This commentary provides a new paradigm for understanding the Protevangelium of James. It is not an early Christian text but a late Jewish text with prophetic implications for the canonical works of the New Testament. The commentary begins with a study of selected portions of the Gospel of Mark. This indicates that Mark knew of the Protevangelium and encoded it within his gospel. As a result, it can be shown that the Protevangelium dates before any of the canonical works of the New Testament. With this perspective, the author provides a new analysis of the text of the Protevangelium without drawing on any canonical Christian texts. In the process, additional evidence is found that links it to works in the Old Testament. In conclusion, the Protevangelium draws on the Old Testament and has prophetic implications for the New Testament. The Protevangelium belongs to neither the New Testament nor the Old Testament but stands between them. The present analysis yields new information on how Christianity developed from its Jewish roots. It is ‘The Book of Mary’ that is the first link in the chain of development.
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The Search: A Historian’s Search for Historical Jesus
Price range: $3.99 through $30.99The Search is neither predominately scholarly, historical, nor inspirational. Rather, it is a book that seeks to understand why Jesus said what he said and did what he did in light of the fact that he was not only a loyal Galilean Jew but he was also a loyal Roman subject, who was probably educated in Greco-Roman influenced schools, who probably worked under the authority of Roman administrators, who ministered under the protection of Roman officials, and who died as a enemy of Rome as mandated by Roman law. The book is not intended to present Jesus in any lesser light than that of deity. Yet, within the context of known Greco-Roman history, customs, philosophies, and manners of the time in which Jesus lived and ministered. It attempts to show under what circumstances his ministry and popularity grew and flourished in Roman Mare Nostrum and then floundered. The Search is historical in that it portrays the life of Jesus as it was in Roman Mare Nostrum East. It is scholarly in that it confirms each Gospel recorded event with non-biblical authenticating documentation. It is inspirational in that it assumes that the Gospel records are the most accurate records available about the life of Jesus and that the word and deeds recorded in the Gospel narratives have been preserved for two millennia because they were the narratives that God felt would be most spiritually beneficial to this Current generation. This book will attempt to discover Jesus’ life by filling in the empty center between birth and death by reaching beyond the bare bones skeleton of historical Jesus and alighting upon the fully developed historical epic of Jesus-the loyal Jewish Roman
subject of Roman Mare Nostrum East.