Monthly Archives: October 2019

Overcomer Movie Books Review

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This is the first book review I have done in a while. The LORD moved me into the ministry of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in 2016 and the ministry has required a lot of travel time, so the opportunity to review books and write about them has not been readily available. However, when the email came in about the opportunity to review the Overcomer movie related resource materials I knew I had to make time. I was already using Priscilla Shirer’s Bible study Defined with my female coaches, coaches wives, and female college athletes so I couldn’t resist the chance to check out the other books.

My heart was led to choose this study because we currently live in a day where the issue of identity is of great importance. How we identify is something that is being intentionally addressed today in every arena of life. There are even policies and procedures being put in place in the workplace and on school campuses across our nation telling us how we can and cannot identify ourselves and others.

Identity is under attack.

How have we come to a day and time that have so many confused and struggling with the core of who they are? I believe the Kendrick brothers and Priscilla Shirer address this very well in these Overcomer resource materials. In the book DEFINED the Kendrick brothers begin with teaching us how before Jesus ever began His three year ministry the Father made sure that He knew who He was. It was in knowing who He was at His very core that would allow Him to withstand the fickleness of humanity. Knowing that He was the Son of God, knowing that He was loved by the Father, knowing that He had a purpose specifically intended for Him would keep Him from being frustrated by the derisions or elevated by the applauses of man.

The Kendrick brothers point out to us that the very first attack Jesus would face after His baptism would be on His identity. In the wilderness Satan attacked with, “If you are the Son of God…” (Luke 4:1-13). If this is how Satan first came after Jesus wouldn’t it be because it was his strongest weapon of destruction? Wouldn’t Satan pull out the big guns for the One who saw him fall like lightening from heaven? It is no coincidence that God the Father reaffirmed the identity of Jesus before He sent Him out to fulfill His purpose. This affirmation would hold Him all the way to the cross and raise Him up from the grave. He would not be swayed by the words of man or the lies of hell because He knew who He was and He knew His Heavenly Father.

What about you? Do you know who your Heavenly Father says you are? Do you know your Heavenly Father? What about your kids? Do they know who they are? Do they know their Heavenly Father? I implore you to find the answers to these questions. Don’t wait. Start now. Order these books.

Wonderful would be great for an elementary age child even into middle school. I promise you could even take it and begin teaching the truths in it to your preschoolers as well. This would be a great book to pile up on the bed with your children and read as a bedtime devotional. Revealed and Radiant would be great for middle school and high school age children. Revealed for your young men and Radiant for your young women. I also recommend piling up on the bed with your teens and going through these books together. Our kids never get too old to have their identity affirmed by us. Let us remember that Jesus was thirty years old when His Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:17). At thirty years old, the Heavenly Father reminded His Son that He was His, that He was His beloved, and that He was well pleased with Him.

In this day of social media and identity attack we need to know who we are. We need to know who our Creator says we are. We need to know we are loved. We need to know that we have purpose. These materials will help us know this, and will help us make sure our kids know it as well. I highly recommend all of the Overcomer movie related resource materials for you and your family.

Wonderful
It’s almost field day, and Webster is worried. He can’t run fast, he trips on the jump rope, and his Frisbee always lands in a tree. How will he help his class get the medal? Webster is sure that God forgot to make anything special about him. 
Join Webster and his class as the whistle blows and he discovers a few God-given skills that just might save field day. This whimsical, illustrated picture book reminds young readers that they were each wonderfully made by God! 

Revealed
Who am I? It’s a question you might ask yourself a lot, and this book for teen guys and young men will lead you through an investigation to find the answers. You’ll learn that your identity is much more than your grades, your looks, or your athletic skills. The only One who truly knows you and defines you is the One who created you. Revealed will give you answers about who you are and where you’re going, leading you to uncover your true Christ- shaped identity.

Radiant
Did you know that God’s light can shine through every facet of your identity? Radiant is an invitation for teen girls and young women to enjoy a candid conversation on identity with bestselling author Priscilla Shirer. You’ll hear reflections on life lessons she’s gathered from her teen years until now. She’ll show you how the light of God’s Word shaped her identity, and she’ll teach you how it can change and shape your life as well. 
The culture will try to define you, but this world is starving for something different that comes only from the creative genius of your God. You were created to reflect His light. . . . You were created to be radiant. 

Defined
At this very moment, what you believe about your own purpose and value affects almost every area of your life—including how you think and feel, the way you react to circumstances, and how you approach God and your relationships. But what is guiding your core beliefs? Are they healthy and founded upon solid truth? Or are they constantly shifting with the opinions of others or your own emotions? Based upon powerful insights from the scriptural book of Ephesians, and seasoned with personal stories and practical wisdom, Defined challenges readers to let the One who knows you best be the One who guides your heart the most.

The Overcomer Movie Resources can be purchased here: https://www.lifeway.com/en/product-family/overcomer

If I Mourn

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As I studied in Hosea 7 – 10 this week the Lord reminded me of how easily we set up idols in our lives. Sometimes we do not recognize these as idols or even make them idols until they are removed and we have to choose what will we mourn? Will we mourn what we have lost to the point that we turn our back on God and forsake Him or will we accept the loss realizing we have all we need in Christ and turn our heart to the Lord and allow Him to turn our mourning into gladness? 

As our family has faced the loss of loved ones and as we have battled cancer up close and personal again and again we have learned that there are so many things in life that we focus on, that we strive for, that we get upset about, that simply flat out don’t matter. This American Dream culture, in addition to this immediate satisfaction and you deserve it mentality, including this day of suffer-not teaching in the church offers us a plethora of idols to worship and we are so easily led astray. We have to be willing to allow the LORD to sift us and sift us often.

In the days of Hosea, Israel had grown in prosperity and military might. They had a booming economy and were reclaiming territory, but they refused to see that these were all the gifts of their merciful God. They took the credit for themselves and even ignorantly and arrogantly contributed their gain to their enlightened acceptance and worship of the false gods of the nations around them. They thought they were living their best lives, but in actuality they were deceived by their idolatry and were walking on the easy path to destruction. They forgot their God and rejected His Word.

Every good and perfect gift comes from God. Let us always be careful to not make the gift our god. I have learned in the past years that we can even be faced with the temptation of turning the loss of a loved one and death itself into an idol. When my Daddy passed I was hit with the reality that the man who had named me, defined me, provided for me, and loved me my entire life was gone. I now had a choice to make. Would I set him, his death, and my grief up as an idol in my heart or would I trust that the LORD my God was enough? Would I believe that He was still with me and that in truth He was the One who named me, defined me, provided for me, and loved me my entire life, He just chose to do so through my Daddy. 

When we lose something or someone and we work through the emotions of that loss let us run to the LORD not away from Him. Let us trust always that He is enough. Let us not mourn and cry over the things of this world. Let us not allow our pursuit of “good things” to turn us away from pursuing the One and Only Good God. Let us not forget even in death and the loss of a loved one that this world is not our home. Let us focus on more on making sure our loved ones today have heard the gospel and have had an opportunity to know the LORD so that they may have victory and life even in death. 

I have learned that there is no need to cry over that which moth and rust can destroy. I have learned that even though I might weep over the death of my loved ones that weeping shall only last for the night if they knew Jesus for death is merely a door into eternity. How can I forever mourn someone who is eternally perfectly alive? Let my mourning always be turned to dancing for I will see them again!

If I mourn, let me mourn those that refuse to hear and refuse to believe in the only name given to us by which we may be saved, the name of Jesus. If I mourn, let me mourn when I catch myself clinging to the things of this world and building treasures on earth instead of in heaven. If I mourn, let me mourn when I forget that but by the grace of God there go I. If I mourn, let me mourn when I allow the pride of life and the lust of the flesh, to tempt me to be unfaithful to my LORD. If I mourn, let me mourn when I fall short to be obedient to the command of Christ to go and make disciples. If I mourn, let me mourn my faithless heart. Yet even in this mourning let it bring me to my LORD because He is able to redeem and restore that which I mourn. He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him.