DiG Recommended Reading for January & February 2012

Earlier this month at the Men's Breakfast at my church, they gave all the men in attendance a book. It is called "Hazards of Being a Man" by Jeffrey E. Miller, Senior Pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Richardson, TX. This has got to be one of the best supplemental reads that I've ever gotten my hands on. Pastor Miller tackles 12 challenges that all men face head-on. Issues like Lust, Unteachability, Partial Obedience, and Misplaced Priorities are all covered in these pages. All 12 of these issues or challenges are paralleled to an Old Testament man and his story. I've never quite seen the Old Testament come so alive in regards to lessons and applications for modern day man. There are so many great examples contained here. From Adam's deflecting responsibility in the Garden to Saul's partial obedience in regards to the Amalekites, to Abraham's manipulation of God's will, all the way down to Samson's infamous lust issues, every one of the 12 hazards in this book shows us just how easy it is to fall into these sins. Pastor Miller in all practicality shows us men ways to build up our defenses towards these dangerous pitfalls. On top of all this, at the end of each chapter, there are Reflection Questions as well as a Memory Verse and a Chapter to read in the Bible. This was great reading on my own but it would really shine in a group setting such as a Men's small study. Either way, I can't recommend this book enough. It is fantastic!


You can pick up your copy by clicking here. Or if you have a Kindle, get your copy here.

Proverbs 13:20

English Standard Version (ESV)

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

February Recommended Reading

I wanted to start something new for the blog. Every month I'm going to recommend a non-fiction christian book for you guys to check out. This is reading in addition to your daily time in the Word, not a replacement for it. All of these titles will hopefully be beneficial to your walk in some way. The book for February is by Ted Dekker and it is called "The Slumber of Christianity: Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth". The book can be purchased at christianbook.com or you can pick it up in iBooks or on Kindle. Let us know if you get it and what you think of it in the comments section. God bless

Contact vs Friendship Evangelism

A while back I wrote a blog article titled, "Are you preparing people for the reality of Judgment Day and Hell or just being nice to them until you go to Heaven?" This was written to get people to share their faith. To share the whole gospel including sin and future judgment, first and foremost whether it be in contact evangelism(strangers) or in the first step of their friendship or lifestyle type witnessing. I'm currently reading a book called, "Evangelism in the New Testament" by Jon Speed and in the back it has listed bible verses that deal with contact evangelism, or witnessing to strangers and also a list of friendship witnessing verses. I am going to share these verses with you now. Note that even in the case of the friendship evangelism in the bible, that the friendship started with the gospel. It didn't end up with the gospel as some sort of right of friendship between a non-believer and a Christian.

Contact Evangelism in the Bible:
Matthew 3:1-17; 4:18-25; 5-7; 8:1-13,18; 9:1-8,9,18-26,27-31,35-38; 10:1-11:1; 12:1-8,9-13,15,22-30,46; 13:1,2,54-58; 14:13-21,34-36; 15:21-28,29-31,32-39; 17:1 4-21; 19:2,16-26; 20:29-34; 21:8; 23:1-39; 27:11-14; 28:18-20
Mark 5:1-20; 7:31-37; 8:22-26; 10:1-12; 16:15
Luke 2:16,36-38; 5:1-11; 7:11-16,24-30,36-39; 8:1-3; 9:10,11,51-56; 10:1-16,25-37; 11;14,29-36; 12:13-21; 13:10-17,22-30; 14:1-6,25-35; 17:11-19; 18:15-17; 19:1-5,28-44; 22:66-71; 23:42,43,47-49; 24:46,47John 1:35-42,43-51; 3:22-36; 4:1-26,39-42; 5:1-9; 6:22-59; &:25-31,32-36; 8:1-11; 9 :1-41; 12:20-26; 18:20,21
Acts 1:8; 2:5-13; 3:1-10,11-26; 4:5-12; 5:12-16,20,21; 6-7; 8:4,5-8,26-40; 9:17-19,32-35; 10:24; 11:19; 13:5,6-12,14-33,44,45; 14:1-5,7-11,19; 20:20; 21:40-22:23; 23:1-11; 24:10-25; 26:1-32; 28:7-15,17-22

Friendship Evangelism Verses
Matthew 8:14-17; 11:19; 25:34-36; 26:6-13
Mark 2:15-17
Luke 7:36:39; 10:38-42; 11:37-44; 15:1-16:13; 19:5-10
John 2:1-10; 11:1-44
Acts 9:20-22; 19:8,9; 20:20; 24:26,27; 27; 28:23,30,31

These are taken from the back of the book. As you can see, the example from scripture is to share our faith to anyone we come in contact with, not just friends. You will find it easier to witness to strangers. Trust me that's from experience, not a book lol. I recommend anyone who's serious about sharing your faith to pick up a copy of the book here.