Read THE BOOK & Read a Book (or two) in 2019

Recently, I observed that it takes, on average, a person only 70 hours to read the Bible from cover to cover.  Amazing.  I gave four different plans to read the Book in 2019.  Those plans just might represent the “70 Most Crucial Hours of 2019” for your life.

In addition to the Bible, let me encourage you to pick up a book (or two or a few) in 2019:

If you want to read along with the current sermon series The Art of Neighboring, let me suggest you pick up The Simplest Way to Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life which is brimming with practical ideas of how to implement biblical hospitality in your everyday life.

If you want to read along with the next sermon series GO! Becoming a Great Commission Church, I would suggest you pick up Let the Nations Be Glad by John Piper to find out what it means to follow Jesus’ instruction to go into all the world and make disciples of all the nations (Mt. 28).

For reading the Bible with kids, let me suggest four books: (1) The Jesus Storybook Bible, (2) The Ology: Ancient Truths Ever New, (3) The Action Bible, and (4) The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden.

If you plan on going to the Marriage Retreat, we will be challenging couples to read Paul Tripp’s What Did You Expect: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage.  Make it a goal to read one book on marriage this year with your spouse.  Larry Crabb’s Marriage Builder would also be worth your time and investment in your marriage this year. 

If you are new to the Christian faith or find yourself on the fence, let me suggest the simple but profound book (and a very quick read) What is the Gospel? by Greg Gilbert or The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity by Lee Strobel. 

For moms who are stressed out and busy, pick up Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living.  For men who are wanting to deepen their walk with God in all areas of their lives, let me recommend Disciplines of a Godly Man. 

If you’ve never read C.S. Lewis or Henri Nouwen, two classic 20th century authors, you could start with either C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity or The Screwtape Letters or Henri Nouwen’s Return of the Prodigal Son. All three books are a feast for your soul. 

If you are struggling with prayer or simply want to be more effective at prayer, you would be encouraged and challenged by Richard Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home.

If you want to deepen your theology with some accessible works, let me recommend Saved by Grace by Anthony Hoekema or The Cross of Christ by John Stott.  Both works would deepen your appreciation and understanding of the Lenten season leading up to Easter.

Finally, if you are struggling, you’d find a fellow struggler who lost his mother, wife, and daughter all in one day in a car accident in A Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser. 

The TWC bookstore sells all of these books at amazon prices (or better).

Be a reader in 2019 – both of THE book and of good Christians books that help you grow in your faith. Remember, a growing Christian is a reading Christian.

Be encouraged,

Jason Carter