What If I’m Discouraged in My Evangelism - Book Review
The little book What If I'm Discouraged in My Evangelism will encourage you with an emphasis on God's power meeting our willingness.
We all face it, and Isaac Adams takes a vulnerable approach to the subject in his short 9Marks title What If I’m Discouraged in My Evangelism. The book is part of a series called Church Questions. I reviewed another title in this series of helpful short books for believers called What If I Don't Desire to Pray.
In this title, Adams tackles evangelism's big problem in modern 21st-century churches with a hopeful approach. Too many believers struggle with evangelism because of fear, inadequacy, or just apathy. Adams tries to encourage believers struggling with sharing their faith by focusing on God's hopeful promises and his character. As he says, the book aims at "those who want to share the gospel message but, for whatever reasons, struggle to do so faithfully."
The Content of What If I’m Discouraged in My Evangelism
The book contains 9 sections discussing the Hope we Christians have in God. There's a great illustration for our reaction to the reaction by others to our message. Too many would-be evangelists avoid telling their story because they fear rejection by the recipient. Adams compares us to a mailman. Does a mailman feel anxious that those on his route will reject the letters, bills, and junk mail she delivers? No! She does her job and faithfully delivers the mail every day between Noon and 2:00 p.m. to the Purcell house.
After this great illustration, Adams begins dealing with the question: “What’s Our Hope?“ Each of the 9 answers comes with biblical support and real-world examples meant to encourage the reader. We read that we should...
- ”...fix your eyes on Jesus.” to avoid discouragement.
- Remember that we are evangelists in the home with our children.
- Be like Paul or Jonah and preach the word, whether you do so with great skill or meager efforts.
- Remember that God is the one who saves, not us or our methods!
- Know that rejection is a cause for celebration because it makes us more like Christ, who was rejected and promised we’d face rejection.
These are a few of the encouragements Adams offers.
One Nitpick Criticism
Under the sixth answer to the question “What’s Our Hope?”, the author uses Jonah as an example of a “reluctant evangelist.” I agree, as we all should, that Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. He ran the opposite way. However, he also returned when God gave him a second chance. That’s a hopeful reminder.
The problem arises when Adams says Jonah then offered “the most pathetic call to repentance in all of Scripture.” He quoted Jonah 3:4, where we’re told Jonah measly said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The argument is that we get no other message or pronouncement. Is that true?
The book of Jonah doesn’t tell us of any other statements by Jonah, but the implication is that Jonah stood up and said nothing else in Nineveh. The converts began pouring down the aisles seeking salvation. Not really, but that’s how it would happen in a modern revivalist era. In Jonah’s day, they believed God and repented.
Did Jonah really never say another thing? I don’t know. Isn’t it possible that Jonah did say other things, but all we get is a brief summary? After all, we’re told in John 21:25 that we don’t get a record of all Jesus did because the world couldn’t hold all the books necessary to tell every detail of his life. Maybe the same holds true for Jonah.
As I said, that's a minor criticism of an otherwise fine work.
Recommendation
Isaac Adams did a good job of offering some simple encouragement with biblical support for the most part. He offers practical explanations of his main points and the practical application of how to move forward in hope.
The short little book won’t take you long to read. You could easily consume it over days with one section per day read devotionally along with your other scripture reading and prayer. You could also sit down and attack it in one or two sittings as I did.
However, you read the book, read it. As a pastor, I’ll possibly take the content and passages used to cover each of the 9 answers and turn them into a sermon series or, more likely, a three-part Bible study for a Wednesday night discipleship time.
40 Questions Series for Accordance Review
The 40 Questions Series for Accordance Bible Software seeks to answer questions about 8 different topics from an evangelical perspective. This review focuses on the content of the series and using them in Accordance Bible Software for various platforms.
The 40 Questions Series from Kregel Publications for Accordance Bible Software puts into digital format 8 of the useful theological series that seeks to answer questions that Bible students might have on a range of topics from Calvinism to Church Membership. The series includes 8 of the 17 books in the set, each with 40 questions about a topic included in the book. Is it a good addition to your Accordance library? We'll take a look at the series itself and at using it in Accordance Bible Software.
For full disclosure Accordance gave me a review copy of the set. They offer a special until October 26 on the series taking $52 off to give you almost a 30% discount. Buyers can also get the individual volumes for a discount. Here's what you get.
- 40 Questions about Creation and Evolution (Keathley, Rooker)
- 40 Questions about the Historical Jesus (Pate)
- 40 Questions about Heaven and Hell (Gomes)
- 40 Questions about Salvation (Barrett)
- 40 Questions about Calvinism (Wright)
- 40 Questions about Christians and Biblical Law (Schreiner)
- 40 Questions about Islam (Bennett)
- 40 Questions about Church Membership and Discipline (Kimble)
The other books in the series are not yet available on Accordance but they will be soon.
40 Questions Series: How the Series Answers Questions in Accordance
Since Accordance gave me a copy to review for their sale, I did not have time to read all 8 books in the series. I started with 40 Questions about Calvinism by Shawn Wright. He's a church historian, pastor and professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
Each book includes 40 questions that introduce and examine the topic of that book. For example, some of the questions from Wright's book on Calvinism asks things like...
- What's the Difference between "Calvinism" and the "Reformed Tradition"?
- What are the Five Points of Calvinism?
- Does God Love All People?
- Is the Arminian Doctrine of Prevenient Grace Biblical?
The book breaks up the 40 questions in to sections on things like general questions, questions about God's character, about salvation, about human responsibility and more. The last section covers more practical questions.
I'm not a Calvinist nor an Arminian. You might call me a Molinist because I affirm free will and eternal security like most traditional Southern Baptists.
The book helped me understand what many Calvinists believe and how they don't really like being put in the box of the TULIP 5 Points. The fact that those points came as a reaction to Arminian theology helps add some depth to what I was pejoratively taught about Calvinism.
In spite of learning more about what Calvinists believe, I was not convinced. However, I would recommend Wright's book for anyone who wants clarity about Calvinism from a Calvinist.
Accordance does a very good job of creating quality digital versions of the books they sell. They're formatted nicely for screens. The book creators do a good job producing mostly error-free copies of their books, so you can trust them.
Installing 40 Questions Series in Accordance Bible Software's Various Platforms
If you purchase the 40 Questions Series for Accordance, you'll want to do a few things to make them more convenient to use. You probably already know how to download new books, but if you don't follow these steps:
- Open Easy Install from the Accordance menu on macOS or from the Utilities menu on Windows.
- Click on the Easy Install tab at the top of the dialog box.
- Click the boxes next to the book name
- Hit the Download button at the bottom of the Easy Install box.
- Let it download the books and when it asks hit the Install button to shut down Accordance and Install the books.
After that the program will restart. You'll find them in the various sections of your library. For example the following five books show up in the Theological section of your Library.
- 40 Questions: Calvinism
- 40 Questions: Christians and Biblical Law
- 40 Questions: Creation and Evolution
- 40 Questions: Heaven and Hell
- 40 Questions: Salvation
You'll find the other 3 in other sections. 40 Questions: Membership and Discipleship shows up in the Practical section. You'll find the last two on Islam and Historical Jesus in the History section.
If you don't see the library on the left hand side of the window, open it from the Library button or the Window menu. You can also use the keyboard shortcut OPTION+COMMAND+1 on Mac or CTRL+ALT+1 on Windows.
To make the new books easier to find you may want to move the books to the top of your Theological section by dragging and dropping them using your mouse or trackpad. Or you can right-click the section name and choose Alphabetize to put them in alphabetical order. We showed you how to do this in our review of the Christi-Centered Exposition Commentary for Accordance.
To install the books on your phone or tablet, tap on the center of the app and then tap your Library icon in the bottom left corner on iPhone or iPad. Then tap on the Download button in the lower left corner and wait for the list to show your books. Hit the select all button in the upper right corner 2nd from the left. Then tap on the download button in the upper left corner.
On Android, tap on the screen to show your menu. Hit the Menu button with 3 lines in the upper left corner. Tap on Easy Install to open the Easy Install box.
If you're not sure which section of the library holds a book, then just start typing in the search box at the top of the Library.
Reading Books in Accordance Bible Software and Apps
Reading and highlighting books in iOS and Android versions of Accordance are a pleasure. As you'll see below, note-taking with Accordance mobile is not possible right now. I hope this changes very soon.
It's pretty easy to simply read books in the Accordance Bible Software on your Mac or Windows computer. Just open them up and read. You'll find them in the various sections of your Accordance Library as seen above.
If you want to add notes or highlights, you can do so easily.
To add notes hover over a section you want to annotate, a plus button will show up to the right of the paragraph. Click it and it opens a notes editor.
Unfortunately, you can't add notes to books in the mobile apps. iOS lets you add notes to Bible verses, but not books like the 40 Questions Series. Android doesn't even let you add notes to Bible verses. If you prefer to read on a mobile device like me, you'll need to open another app and put notes there and then sync that note file to your comptuer and copy and paste to into the desktop versions of Accordance. It's not ideal, but is a way to get around the limitations.
I asked Rick Mansfield of Accordance Bible Software about this and he said that the developers see the importance of notes and want to add them soon.
Adding highlights requires you to select the text you want to highlight and then choose the highlight style from the highlighter tool that pops up or you can open the the Highlight pallette box by hitting the button on the toolbar. Make sure you select the right highlight file from the dropdown box in the pallette box. After that it's easiest to just use the little tool you will see just above your highlighted text. The previously used highlight style shows up on the left (#1 in image above) and the tool pallette box opens if you hit the other button (#2 in image above).
I use My Mobile Highlights, created by default when you install the program. This file syncs with your mobile device using either the built-in syncing feature that requires you to have the computer program open and the mobile device open.
A lot of people own convertible or 2-in-1 Windows computers these days. If you like reading books on yours, then you'll enjoy reading in the Windows version of Accordance. It's not as convenient on a Mac since Apple doesn't make a handheld version of a MacBook.
Syncing Notes and Highlights Between Different Operating Systems
The built-in Wi-Fi syncing in Accordance is not very convenient. I never use it and you shouldn't either unless you have a problem using Dropbox. The Dropbox highlighting is only a little better, but it is better than the Wi-Fi system. You have to connect your installation with Dropbox. See the video below for how to sync using Dropbox.
Accordance needs to improve it's syncing features. That's my biggest complaint regarding Accordance Bible Software's platform. You have to use a third-party service to sync. They need to bring it in house and make it secure. Second, it's not always automatic. You can set the Mac or Windows versions to automatically sync when you open and close the program, but you have to do it manually on iOS or Android. Third, they need to sync settings and library organization between all platforms too. Other Bible software platforms do.
Until they add automatic syncing, you'll want to sync manually. Use the same steps from above on how to install the books on your iOS or Android device and chose the Sync button. Make it a happen to do this each time you open and close the app.
Recommendation
First, I like the 40 Questions Series and look forward to reading the remaining 7 titles after enjoying and learning a lot from Wright's book on Calvinism. Second, Accordance does a nice job and offers them all for a great price right now of $122 for the set. Make sure you get them before the deal ends October 26.
Christ Centered Exposition Commentary for Accordance Review
The Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary went on sale at Accordance recently and they gave me a chance to review it for you. How does this series help pastors and Bible students study the word? We'll let you know and show how to use it inside the Bible study suite.
What is the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary?
Most commentaries come in one of a few categories depending on who will use them. Imagine a spectrum from right to left. Furthest to the left you'd find the most scholarly and technical commentaries that likely make use of original languages and focus a lot on translation, textual critical tools that help scholars at the graduate school or seminary level. You coudl imagine professors and translators using these.
On the far right end you would find what we call a devotional commentary that's meant to be read alongside the Bible for an average Christian whose reading their devotions and just wants a quick paragraph about a chapter or passage. Study Bibles fit in this spot on the spectrum.
The New American Commentary is one of my favorite sets and I own it in every Bible software package I own. It's closer to the center or slightly right of center depending on who you ask.
So where does the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary fit? It's closer to the devotional side than the middle. It doesn't give users a word-for-word or even a verse-by-verse approach to Bible interpretation. Instead it reads a lot like the notes a preacher would make while preparing for a sermon. What if that preacher then chose to release those notes in book form and you get something like this commentary?
Tony Merida describes the series as looking at the text like one would use a magnifying glass to get up close to a subject or using a wide angle lens to get a wide vista. I would say it seems more wide angel than magnifying glass. But that's a good thing for teachers and preachers after they've spent time with the magnifying glass from other tools.
The commentary series includes 25 volumes from both the Old and New Testament. Here's the list of current books included and their authors.
Old Testament
- Exodus by Tony Merida (2014)
- Leviticus by Allan Moseley (2015)
- 1 & 2 Samuel by Heath Thomas and J.D. Greear (2016)
- 1 & 2 Kings by Tony Merida (2015)
- Ezra and Nehemiah by James M. Hamilton (2014)
- Proverbs by Daniel L. Akin and Jonathan Akin (2017)
- Ecclesiastes by Daniel L. Akin and Jonathan Akin (2016)
- Song of Songs by Daniel L. Akin (2015)
- Isaiah by Andrew M. Davis (2017)
- Ezekiel by Landon Dowden (2015)
- Daniel by Daniel L. Akin (2017)
- Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakuk by Eric Redmond, Bill Curtis, and Ken Fentress (2016)
- Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi by Micah Fries, Stephen Rummage, and Robby Gallaty (2015)
New Testament
- Matthew by David Platt (2013)
- Mark by Daniel L. Akin (2014)
- Acts by Tony Merida (2017)
- Galatians by David Platt and Tony Merida (2014)
- Ephesians by Tony Merida (2014)
- Philippians by Tony Merida and Francis Chan (2016)
- 1 & 2 Thessalonians by Mark Howell (2015)
- 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus by David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida (2013)
- Hebrews by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (2017)
- James by David Platt (2014)
- 1, 2, 3 John by Daniel L. Akin (2014)
- Revelation by Daniel L. Akin (2016)
Buyers can rest assured that the series authors hold a high view of the inerrancy and authority of scripture. They also put a strong emphasis on the role of Christ in every passage of the Bible, as the title suggests.
Editors David Platt, Daniel Akin and Tony Merida come from my denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Merida and Platt crafted the series with a pastor's heart while Akin brings a to the series his expertise as the President of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.
Examples of Key Passages
Take the book of Daniel as an example. The commentary starts out with an introduction from this volume's author, Daniel Akin. The section for Daniel 1 begins with the Main Idea as follows:
Even in times of great trial and opposition, Christians must remain faithful to God and his gospel, imitating Christ’s own steadfastness as he endured persecution and death for our sakes.
Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Daniel (chapter 1 Main Idea).
As I've preached through both Ezekiel and Daniel over the last couple of years in my church, I've used this series from another software program. I've always appreciated that it offers thoughtful interpretation, with a scholarly background that doesn't hit you in the face. The authors are sure to show us how this passage offers a Gospel message where appropriate. It truly puts Christ at the center of their expository approach.
Readers will not get high-level discussions of grammar, translation or extensive history background. The authors do give the reader enough information about those sorts of details as they help support their interpretation.
Fast foward to Daniel 11:3-4 we get the following entry from Akin.
God Breaks and Divides as He Chooses (11:3–4)
There is a 150–year gap between verses 2 and 3. What happened in that period is not important for the story God wishes to reveal in this vision. Scholars agree that the “warrior king” (ESV, “mighty king”) of verse 3 is the Greek Alexander the Great (336–323 BC). Historians have written volumes about him. God gives him one verse in this chapter! He was a powerful king who conquered the known world of his day and ruled with absolute power. He indeed did whatever he wanted. But he died at age thirty-three. So, as soon as he is established, his kingdom will be broken up and divided to the four winds of heaven, but not to his descendants; it will not be the same kingdom that he ruled, because his kingdom will be uprooted and will go to others besides them. (v. 4)
This is precisely what happened. Alexander’s sons were murdered, and no part of his vast empire went to his descendants. As we mentioned [Dan, p. 140] earlier, following his death, four of his generals divided up his kingdom into four parts:
• Cassander took Macedonia and Greece.
• Lysimachus took Thrace and portions of Asia Minor.
• Ptolemy took Egypt and Israel.
• Seleucus took Syria and Mesopotamia.However, none of these kingdoms ever came close to matching the power and strength of Alexander’s brief empire. God plucked Alexander’s kingdom up, divided it into four pieces, and gave to others as he saw fit. And with that the great Alexander is finished. He served God’s plan and purposes. Off he goes!
Daniel Akin, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Daniel (chapter 11 Main Idea).
Notice Akin brings out the history following the division of the Greek Empire after the death of Alexander the Great.
Jump forward to the book of Matthew and we read about the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. David Platt writes in a way that reads like a sermon.
Platt introduced the section with a story about the great Billy Sunday, a 19th century evangelist. Sunday addressed vices from his day like dancing and playing cards. I bet few of us today would worry about such "vices" as Sunday called them. Platt uses the idea to illustrate that we should be extreme different than the secular world.
There was to be a clear line of demarcation between believers and unbelievers. These were things that marked off the people of God—things that marked out holiness, godliness, and salvation. He had a certain picture of what it looks like to be a believer in Jesus, and anything outside that didn’t fit.
David Platt, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Matthew, Matthew 5-7
Platt then gives background on the sermon and dives into the text. This could easily be heard as a message in Platt's church. That's a good thing for preachers or Bible study teachers planning to share the message of the Sermon on the Mount. An ethical teacher or preacher could even use the story citing Platt as their own message introduction.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of the Commentary
When you buy the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary, you'll download it using Easy Install in Accordance Bible Software. I recommend going into your Accordance Library and move it up the list towards the top. Even if you don't keep there, put there at first. This reminds you to use it each time you study a passage for a sermon, Bible study or your personal edification.
To promote it towards the top of your commentary list, open the Library from the toolbar button. It looks like an open book and by default sits on the left end of the toolbar.
If you removed the Library button, you can access it using the keyboard shortcut COMMAND+OPTION+1 or CONTROL+ALT+1 on Windows. You can also open it from the Window menu.
Expand your Commentaries section the Library. Look for the two new books added to your Library by Easy Install. They'll probably show up at the very bottom of the section. If you have the two-volume set with one book for OT and one for NT, then look for Jesus in the NT and Jesus in the OT. If you bought the single volume set, then look for Christ-Centered Exposition. I wish they would have titled them more like the original titles with something like "Christ Centered Exposition" still keeping it short so you don't have a really long entry in your Library.
When you find them, drag them to the top or near the top. I put them just below New American Commentary, which is my favorite.
Now, if you use the Info Pane or the Amplify menu, the books will show up where you dragged them, in my case just after NAC.
Recommendation
The Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary serves it's purpose well. God used it to help me better focus my study of the books of Ezekiel and Daniel plus other texts from various books of the Bible over the last several years. I look forward to seeing the missing books of the Bible added. Three volumes that you can get in physical or eBook form still don't show up in the set available from Accordance. You can see the whole list with more detailed information about each book at the commentary's website.
Don't expect in-depth exposition on every detail and word. Do expect a pastor approach to the text.
I used the series after doing my own carful observations, word studies, and reading more scholarly commentaries. But I seldom preached a passage without first reading this work if it had a volume on the book I was preaching. I also, often found the preaching focus useful as I introduced a passage using one of the stories the authors included or driving the main idea home for my audience with concluding illustrations borrowed from the authors.
Learn more about the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series from Accordance. If you think you could use a commentary that more than just a devotional commentary, but also more accessible than more advanced scholarly sets, then hurry over to Accordance to get on sale until October 26. It's on sale for $99.90 or $50 as a crossgrade if you own it in another Bible program.
For full disclosure I was given a free copy of the set in order to write this review. However, I liked it enough to pay for it in another program when it first came out a few years ago.
Note this version of this article was updated to explain that there's a 2-volume version and that the publishers have a few more books available net yet showing up in the Accordance version.
What If I Don’t Desire to Pray - a Book Review
We all know the importance of a healthy prayer relationship with God. Unfortunately, too many believers struggle to maintain one because it feels like a chore, a duty that we must check off on a list of things to do to make God happy. John Onwuchekwa, the pastor of Cornerstone Church in Atlanta, tries to encourage believers, in his short book What If I Don’t Desire to Pray, who feel this way by suggesting we find a new attitude about prayer.
Crossway ($4.99) gave me a digital copy to review. I fired it up on my eBook reader and devoured it in just a couple of days. It took me about four hours over two reading session to breeze through the encouraging book.
The book comes as a part of a series from 9Marks called the Church Questions series. Take a look at those titles over at their site.
What If I Don’t Desire to Pray - Synopsis
The 7 sections takes us from the issue of prayer or a lack of desire to pray to the key to a meaningful prayer relationship. Onwucheckwa writes that the key to meaningful prayer comes from understanding that we get to relate to the Savior who rose from the grave.
Manny books on prayer focus on HOW to pray instead of the WHY we pray. Onwucheckwa’s book focuses on this motivation issue over the mechanical nuts and bolts of a prayer regimen. He doesn’t write as a giant or super hero prayer warrior but a fellow struggler facing the need in his own life.
The author moves through the solution, which is a proper attitude about prayer instead of seeking a proper regimen of prayer. He uses effective and interesting real-world analogies that bring into focus the ideas he presents.
Early on I reacted to the book’s solutions writing in the margin “seems simplistic”. However, as I kept reading I realized that’s the strength, not the problem. Prayer is simple! An effective prayer life is simple too. We make it too complicated looking for better routines or outlines. We want a magic programmatic solution with steps and keys and skills. However, we need Jesus!
We can find the source of a meaningful prayer life in two places - the word of God and the people of God. A focus on the words, actions and attitudes of Jesus can transform our attitude about prayer. Add a connection with fellow believers with the same focus and you can find a powerful impetus to a consistent prayer life.
Now I know what you’re going to say. "I just to read my bible more and go to church more? That's too simplistic and burdensome." Yes and no! We need those things, but instead, the author’s message tells us we can find our motivation in those two sources.
Jesus and the Gospel motivates us to pray. Then as we pray, we will further enjoy the motivation to dig deeper into the person and relationship that comes from a relationship with Jesus.
Recommendation
Seminary professors and scholars seeking to understand all the depths of what God says about prayer or what models of praying works best in the lives of believers shouldn’t pick up What If I Don’t Desire to Pray. That's not the purpose of this little book. However, the average person who wants to get closer to their Creator and Savior will find encouragement in this book.
The book doesn’t cost much in terms of dollars or time. You can knock it out in one setting or over a few short sessions. Then consider sharing it with some others in a small group discussion time.
If I Don’t Desire to Pray reminded me that we find the best motivation to pray the person of Jesus. The author does so in an accessible, interesting and even at times entertaining way.