Today I accomplished a new goal. Over the course of the quarantine, I got a little lax with my health. I think it truth I was trying to work through my anxiety by working a lot and combined with stress eating and, my weight increased while my health decreased. I needed to do something, then someone in my family introduced me to YesFit. It’s quite a program. YesFit uses virtual races in a variety of lengths. You simply select your race, pay your fee, and using a fitness tracker, (I use AppleFit on. my iPhone) it tracks your progress as you walk to finish your race. Today I finished my second “race” a 155.5 mile trek called Tortoise Creep. I previously did an Alien themed 97.7 mile race. I finished the first one in about 18 days. All along the way, the race sends you images and links featuring interesting things based on your theme. Using this program I’ve logged about 250 miles since June 7. I have lost about 10 pounds (it should have been more but as my wife points out, you can’t out exercise a bad diet). At the end of the race, you receive a pretty impressive medal in the mail, and while they are pretty cool and can be great conversation pieces, I don’t do it for the medal. I do it to try to get in better shape, but the races help by setting a measurable goal and allowing you to track your progress all along the way.
So why do I share this? Because measurable goals are extremely important and helpful for us in a variety of ways. Case in point, I am working on my Masters thesis. Now I really had great intentions of being done with it by now, but to be honest my work load has increased pretty dramatically with COVID and I now spend a considerable amount of time publishing and mailing my sermons as well as producing video content. Further, I have to confess I have been struggling with distraction and frustration as I look at all the things going on in our world, very simply put, I am way off track.
The thing is, my Thesis can be a measurable goal. There is a minimum page count and judging from what I have written and what is left in my outline, I will have very little trouble exceeding that, so I have set an estimated page count, and a time by which I want to be done. I can then divide that out to figure out daily benchmarks. Now life is uncertain, but every time I reach a benchmark, I am another step closer to my goal.
What goals do you have? What would you like to accomplish? Set an end goal and establish a few benchmarks along the way. Then check them off and work to your goal. Measurable goals are a great way to get where you want to be.
I’ve heard many great things about the great evangelist, D.L. Moody, but I had never read anything he had written. I am glad I have changed that. This is an amazing book. Written in the late 19th century, Moody writes with a fire and passion that is sorely lacking in many a pulpit today. We need people like this in the church today. Moody goes deep into this prophetic book with the heart of an evangelist. This book reads like a preaching master class. It’s phenomenal. My prayer is that I will be emboldened to preach with even more Holy Spirit anointed power having read this amazing work. I genuinely hope you read this book, but if I could give you one more incentive, Amazon has it for free! One of the best free books I have ever read.
I was given a review copy of this book from the publisher. It actually ended up being the third book in this series that I have read this year. While I was reading her book on Colossians, I felt led to preach through Ephesians at my church so I purchased that one as well. These are quality books with the plain spoken insights I have come to expect from Joyce Meyer. Galatians has always been an interesting book to me. It shows us the Apostle Paul taking a stand in defense of his church. Mrs. Meyer takes us into these somewhat challenging chapters not just explaining what was happening but helping the reader to see how the book of Galatians applies to our everyday life. She wisely forgoes dense theological language and gives us the simple truth, which I really appreciated. I would highly recommend these books as a resource for someone leading a Bible study or Sunday School class. Mrs. Meyer has done a great job here once again. 
A short time ago I received Joyce Meyer’s Biblical Commentary on Colossians as well as her book on Galatians from the publisher for review. In the process of reviewing the book on Colossians, I felt led to preach through the book of Ephesians at my church, and since I was so pleased with her book on Colossians (I am also working through the book on Galatians as we speak) so I decided to order her book on Ephesians. I am fully aware that Mrs. Meyer gets grief from some people in the church, but I like her and have always found her refreshing. She has a plain spoken, and forgive me for saying it this way, but “No-bull” approach to presenting God’s Word. I have seen her speak “live” several times and have been duly impressed. This is the case in these books as well. She goes through these verses in order by theme and breaks them down concisely and very effectively. I found many great insights in these pages and the book will be very helpful as I go to present this series. What I love about these books, is her style. Often commentaries feel like the author wants to impress me with their huge words and dense theological terminology. Mrs. Meyer takes a different approach. She speaks the truth plainly in ways that can be clearly understood by layman and scholar alike. I would really endorse these books for anyone wanting to lead a Bible study. Each chapter contains a thought provoking reflection question that would help with application and she offers a downloadable study guide besides. 
The publisher offered me a free copy of this book for review purposes and I decided to give it a shot. I’ve always found Ms. Meyer’s no-nonsense approach to the Word of God refreshing and that certainly comes through here. She breaks the book down passage by passage and gives great insights to their meaning. 
This is a fantastic book on the Holy Spirit, combining biblical teaching with testimonies from people who have seen the work in their lives. Cymbala has written a book that is encouraging and convicting at the same time. The book speaks to our need for the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, from His help in prayer and comprehending Scripture, to His power in our lives. 
I was not entirely sure what to expect from this book, but I bought it on the recommendation of a friend, predominantly for two reasons: 1. the reputation of its author and 2. the need of information on this topic as a church leader. The book did not disappoint. Piper struck while the iron was hot as the saying goes, and I mean no disingenuousness in that statement at all. This short but ultra timely book was so amazing and well thought out. It was a real blessing to me. It holds none of the speculation, theories (conspiracy or otherwise) and there is not even a hint of politics in it’s pages. This does not surprise me because it comes from John Piper, but given the rest of the coverage corona has received, it was really refreshing. What Piper does here is what I would expect from him and what I hope people get from me as a pastor. That is, he takes us to God’s Word and shows us the purpose in the pain. He pulls no punches, but this book gives hope, and encouragement along with the tough love. This is a fantastic book. The only change I might have made was to broaden the title, here, because while it does deal with corona virus, it could deal with virtually any of the struggles we face in life. It only took me a few hours to read this book, but it was time well spent. One of the timeliest books I have ever read.
AMOKArts 