Book Review: The Jesus Mission

The Jesus Mission by Steven K. Scott is an excellent read from the author of The Greatest Words Ever Spoken.

The idea of the book is that Jesus came to earth and fulfilled 27 missions during His three-year ministry. In turn, he left us with four missions, not just the “Great Commission.”

Scott examines the true Salvation of a Believer as well stating that it is not just a prayer but truly following Christ, His commands, and His ways.

The book is an easy read and most anyone would be able to understand the simple format and style of writing. The stories will captivate you, some will make you laugh, others will make you say “wow” and others will make you cry.

No matter where you are in your walk with Christ this book will encourage, challenge, and strengthen you to become more like Christ, and to become a true follower of Him.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars!

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

The Jesus Inquest by Charles Foster

The Jesus Inquest by Charles Foster was an excellent case for, and against the resurrection of Christ. 

The book felt very much as if you were reading articles of evidence for a court case.  The evidence on both sides is very detailed and extremely deep in content.  Just looking at the footnotes alone you know that Foster did an amazing amount of research for the book.

What was most pleasing about the book is that, though very technical, anyone would be able to read and understand it with ease.  Many scientific and Theological terms are introduced but explained very well.

I have to give The Jesus Inquest 4 out of 5 stars.  It is a must read that will strengthen or convince you of your faith in Christ and what He did on the cross.

Born Again

John 3:2-6

I have been studying a lot as my wife and I have been meeting with a pair of Mormon Missionaries.  One of the things that has caught my attention is their belief that baptism is necessary for Salvation.

I am not trying to downplay baptism, but I cannot find in Scripture where it is mandated before one can get to Heaven.

The Mormon belief comes from John 3:5 where Jesus says you must be born of water, and of the Spirit. 

It is easy to see how this could be misunderstood to mean baptism when you take the verse out of context.  However, when we look at the before, and the after on the context of this verse we see clearly that it is not talking about baptism, but rather, our human, physical birth.

John 3:4 shows Nicodemus asking how can a man be born again when he is old, can he return into his mother’s womb?  The next verse Jesus responds with water, and spirit.  One must assume that Christ was answering the question about physical birth with the term “water.”

In the next verse following Jesus statement, John 3:6, he then talks about flesh being born of flesh, and Spirit being born of Spirit.  Once again we see the reference to a physical birth. 

When we examine the context of the Scripture we clearly see that Christ is not talking about baptism as a requirement for Salvation, He was merely painting a picture of the differences between our natural and spiritual births.

Introduction to the Book of James

James 1:1

James describes himself as a slave, or a bondservant.  The Greek word is Doulos (δοῦλος) and has the idea of  an attitude of a slave.  As Christians, we are not slaves to Christ as though we do not have a choice, but rather we choose to follow and serve Him because of what He did for us on the cross.