Robert J. Nash

8 Hours or Less: Writing faithful sermons faster by Ryan Huguley.

I have read many books on preaching. Pastor Huguley does a nice job. One takeaway from this book is that Ryan has a small team of people who he bounces his points that need illustration. His small group of people offers many ideas that have been helpful.

This book is published in 2017 by Moody Press, 148 pages, 7 chapters. Ryan argues that his method will help pastors spend more time pastoring and less time studying. I liked and follow many of his points. Chapter three has a hilarious illustration of a weightlifter. Check that out. For me, I find I need to spend about 15-20 hours on a message. Preach every 3-4 weeks and I think I still haven't hit my stride in preparation.

QUOTES
If you've never taken the L, trust me when I say that it's functional but no fun at all. It smells sort of like a urinal and feels like a cage. p. 19 So if Christ isn't in our sermons, we aren't preaching faithful ones. p. 27K…

All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr. This Pulitzer Prize-winning book is masterfully done. The author begins with a sixteen-year-old blind French girl on the upper story of a tall house on the sea on the edge of France. It is August 1944, and she hears planes headed her way. A piece of paper with the smell of gasoline in the window, an empty house. The author jumps to a young eighteen-year-old German private moving through an old hotel as the 88 artillery guns aim their 22.5-pound rounds at the fast-approaching ally targets from that same city. Back and forth, the author goes weaving a tale in and out of time connecting the dots. As a reader, I was held in suspense, reminded of the horrors of war, and yearning for relief for the characters.

This 500-page book has at this time over 28,000 reviews on Amazon with over 4.5 stars. There is some swearing and graphic violence. However, in war, you would expect that. I would want my kids to be 16 or older to read this book. …

Hi, I am pastor Rob, and it is a pleasure to be with you today! Could I have the children 9 and under come up to the front, please? I want your help. What is this? (A: Doorknob) What is this? (A: Key) What is this? (A: Screwdriver) What is this? (A Shoe) What is this? (A: Crowbar) What is this? (A: Ramming tool to break down walls or an ax) Let me tell you a story. I live in an older house. One of my brothers came out and visited with his family a few years back. He and his wife and two kids were having a wonderful time until his daughter had to go to the bathroom. She was maybe three and a spitfire. She closed the door. After a while, we heard a knocking, if I remember correctly. She was trying to come out. She called for help. We turned the knob it wouldn’t open. She had locked the door. We didn’t have a key. We tried to tell her how to open the door. She couldn’t figure it out. What were we going to do? Would we have to break down the door? We could try to kick the door down or us…

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. 

This is what Amazon says, "A gripping portrait of the first president of the United States from the author of Alexander Hamilton, the New York Times bestselling biography that inspired the musical.

Celebrated biographer Ron Chernow provides a richly nuanced portrait of the father of our nation and the first president of the United States. With a breadth and depth matched by no other one volume biography of George Washington, this crisply paced narrative carries the reader through his adventurous early years, his heroic exploits with the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, his presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and his magnificent performance as America's first president. In this groundbreaking work, based on massive research, Chernow shatters forever the stereotype of George Washington as a stolid, unemotional figure and brings to vivid life a dashing, passionate man of fiery opinions and many moods.

Winner of the 2011 Pu…