• Home
  • Issues
  • Articles
    • Alan Day
    • Alan Stewart
    • Ed Litton
    • Gary Miller
    • Keith Drury
    • Michael Catt
    • Stephanie Bennett
    • Vance Havner
    • Warren Wiersbe
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Podcasts
  • More
    • Book Reviews
    • Calendar
    • Odds n Ends
    • Web Resources

Calendar

June 2025
S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
« Jul    

Archives

  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019

Categories

  • Alan Day
  • Alan Stewart
  • Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Calendar
  • Ed Litton
  • Gary Miller
  • Issues
  • Keith Drury
  • Michael Catt
  • Odds-n-Ends
  • Podcasts
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Stephanie Bennett
  • Uncategorized
  • Vance Havner
  • Volume 01 | Issue 01
  • Volume 01 | Issue 02
  • Volume 01 | Issue 03
  • Volume 01 | Issue 04
  • Volume 01 | Issue 05
  • Volume 01 | Issue 06
  • Volume 01 | Issue 07
  • Volume 01 | Issue 08
  • Volume 01 | Issue 09
  • Volume 01 | Issue 10
  • Volume 01 | Issue 11
  • Volume 01 | Issue 12
  • Volume 01 | Issue 13
  • Volume 01 | Issue 14
  • Volume 02 | Issue 01
  • Volume 02 | Issue 02
  • Volume 02 | Issue 03
  • Volume 02 | Issue 04
  • Volume 02 | Issue 05
  • Volume 02 | Issue 06
  • Volume 02 | Issue 07
  • Volume 02 | Issue 08
  • Volume 02 | Issue 09
  • Volume 02 | Issue 10
  • Volume 02 | Issue 11
  • Volume 02 | Issue 12
  • Volume 02 | Issue 13
  • Volume 02 | Issue 14
  • Volume 02 | Issue 15
  • Volume 02 | Issue 16
  • Volume 02 | Issue 17
  • Volume 02 | Issue 18
  • Volume 02 | Issue 19
  • Volume 02 | Issue 20
  • Volume 02 | Issue 21
  • Volume 02 | Issue 22
  • Volume 02 | Issue 23
  • Volume 02 | Issue 24
  • Volume 02 | Issue 25
  • Volume 03 | Issue 01
  • Volume 03 | Issue 02
  • Volume 03 | Issue 03
  • Volume 03 | Issue 04
  • Volume 03 | Issue 05
  • Volume 03 | Issue 06
  • Volume 03 | Issue 07
  • Volume 03 | Issue 08
  • Volume 03 | Issue 09
  • Volume 03 | Issue 10
  • Volume 03 | Issue 11
  • Volume 03 | Issue 12
  • Volume 03 | Issue 13
  • Volume 03 | Issue 14
  • Volume 03 | Issue 15
  • Volume 03 | Issue 16
  • Volume 03 | Issue 17
  • Volume 03 | Issue 18
  • Volume 03 | Issue 19
  • Volume 03 | Issue 20
  • Volume 03 | Issue 21
  • Volume 03 | Issue 22
  • Volume 03 | Issue 23
  • Volume 03 | Issue 24
  • Volume 04 | Issue 01
  • Volume 04 | Issue 02
  • Volume 04 | Issue 03
  • Volume 04 | Issue 04
  • Volume 04 | Issue 05
  • Volume 04 | Issue 06
  • Volume 04 | Issue 07
  • Volume 04 | Issue 08
  • Volume 04 | Issue 09
  • Volume 04 | Issue 10
  • Volume 04 | Issue 11
  • Volume 04 | Issue 12
  • Volume 04 | Issue 13
  • Volume 05 | Issue 01
  • Volume 05 | Issue 02
  • Volume 05 | Issue 03
  • Volume 05 | Issue 04
  • Volume 05 | Issue 05
  • Volume 05 | Issue 06
  • Volume 05 | Issue 07
  • Volume 05 | Issue 08
  • Volume 05 | Issue 09
  • Volume 05 | Issue 10
  • Volume 05 | Issue 11
  • Volume 05 | Issue 12
  • Volume 05 | Issue 13
  • Volume 05 | Issue 14
  • Volume 06 | Issue 01
  • Volume 06 | Issue 02
  • Volume 06 | Issue 03
  • Volume 06 | Issue 04
  • Volume 06 | Issue 05
  • Volume 06 | Issue 06
  • Volume 06 | Issue 07
  • Volume 06 | Issue 08
  • Volume 06 | Issue 09
  • Volume 06 | Issue 10
  • Volume 06 | Issue 11
  • Volume 06 | Issue 12
  • Volume 06 | Issue 13
  • Volume 06 | Issue 14
  • Volume 06 | Issue 15
  • Volume 07 | Issue 01
  • Volume 07 | Issue 02
  • Volume 07 | Issue 03
  • Volume 07 | Issue 04
  • Volume 07 | Issue 05
  • Volume 07 | Issue 06
  • Volume 07 | Issue 07
  • Volume 07 | Issue 08
  • Volume 07 | Issue 09
  • Volume 07 | Issue 10
  • Volume 07 | Issue 11
  • Volume 07 | Issue 12
  • Volume 07 | Issue 13
  • Volume 07 | Issue 14
  • Volume 07 | Issue 15
  • Volume 07 | Issue 16
  • Volume 07 | Issue 17
  • Volume 07 | Issue 18
  • Volume 07 | Issue 19
  • Volume 07 | Issue 20
  • Volume 07 | Issue 21
  • Volume 07 | Issue 22
  • Volume 07 | Issue 23
  • Volume 08 | Issue 01
  • Volume 08 | Issue 02
  • Volume 08 | Issue 03
  • Volume 08 | Issue 04
  • Volume 08 | Issue 05
  • Volume 08 | Issue 06
  • Volume 08 | Issue 07
  • Volume 08 | Issue 08
  • Volume 08 | Issue 09
  • Volume 08 | Issue 10
  • Volume 08 | Issue 11
  • Volume 08 | Issue 12
  • Volume 08 | Issue 13
  • Volume 08 | Issue 14
  • Volume 08 | Issue 15
  • Volume 08 | Issue 16
  • Volume 08 | Issue 17
  • Volume 08 | Issue 18
  • Volume 09 | Issue 01
  • Volume 09 | Issue 02
  • Volume 09 | Issue 03
  • Volume 09 | Issue 04
  • Volume 09 | Issue 05
  • Volume 09 | Issue 06
  • Volume 09 | Issue 07
  • Volume 10 | Issue 01
  • Volume 10 | Issue 02
  • Volume 10 | Issue 03
  • Volume 10 | Issue 04
  • Volume 10 | Issue 05
  • Volume 11 | Issue 01
  • Volume 11 | Issue 02
  • Volume 11 | Issue 03
  • Volume 11 | Issue 04
  • Volume 11 | Issue 05
  • Volume 11 | Issue 06
  • Volume 11 | Issue 07
  • Volume 11 | Issue 08
  • Volume 11 | Issue 09
  • Volume 11 | Issue 10
  • Volume 11 | Issue 11
  • Volume 11 | Issue 12
  • Volume 11 | Issue 13
  • Volume 11 | Issue 14
  • Volume 11 | Issue 15
  • Volume 11 | Issue 16
  • Volume 12 | Issue 01
  • Volume 12 | Issue 02
  • Volume 12 | Issue 03
  • Volume 12 | Issue 04
  • Volume 12 | Issue 05
  • Volume 12 | Issue 06
  • Volume 12 | Issue 07
  • Volume 12 | Issue 08
  • Volume 12 | Issue 09
  • Volume 12 | Issue 10
  • Volume 12 | Issue 11
  • Volume 12 | Issue 12
  • Volume 13 | Issue 01
  • Volume 13 | Issue 02
  • Volume 13 | Issue 03
  • Volume 13 | Issue 04
  • Volume 13 | Issue 05
  • Volume 13 | Issue 06
  • Volume 13 | Issue 07
  • Volume 13 | Issue 08
  • Volume 13 | Issue 09
  • Volume 13 | Issue 10
  • Volume 13 | Issue 11
  • Volume 13 | Issue 12
  • Volume 13 | Issue 13
  • Volume 13 | Issue 14
  • Volume 13 | Issue 15
  • Volume 13 | Issue 16
  • Volume 14 | Issue 01
  • Volume 14 | Issue 02
  • Volume 14 | Issue 03
  • Volume 14 | Issue 04
  • Volume 14 | Issue 05
  • Volume 14 | Issue 06
  • Volume 14 | Issue 07
  • Volume 14 | Issue 08
  • Warren Wiersbe
  • Web Resources
2ProphetU
  • Home
  • Issues
  • Articles
    • Alan Day
    • Alan Stewart
    • Ed Litton
    • Gary Miller
    • Keith Drury
    • Michael Catt
    • Stephanie Bennett
    • Vance Havner
    • Warren Wiersbe
  • Quotes
  • Sermon Outlines
  • Podcasts
  • More
    • Book Reviews
    • Calendar
    • Odds n Ends
    • Web Resources
Articles . Michael Catt . Volume 05 | Issue 14

Christmas is Coming…Buy Books!

With the coming of Christmas, we’re all getting our lists together of what we will give to our friends and family. Most of what we will buy will have no eternal value. They will wear out, become boring or break. Some will be out of style before we get the credit card bill. Much of it will be nice, but not necessary.


To be honest, most of us can’t remember what we got for Christmas last year. We tore the paper off, said “thank you” and then went on to the next thing in the pile. We buy toys for our kids, perfume for our wives, tools for our husbands and don’t know what to buy for our parents who have everything they need.


I would like to suggest a new tradition at Christmas. Obviously, you should think about giving to the church, to missions and to others in need during the holidays. You might want to put some money in the Salvation Army kettle. You could (and probably should) think about cutting back on your Christmas spending. Be honest— we all spend too much at Christmas, and giving ‘stuff’ has gotten out of control.


As my friend Jay Strack says, “You will be the same person you are today in five years except for the people you meet, the books you read and the places you go.” He’s right. Whatever I am today, I am because of those three things (obviously I’m not excluding the work of Jesus Christ and His Spirit in my life…you get the point!).


My new tradition would be to give books. Good books to those you love. I have a library with about ten thousand books in it. I have books on theology, doctrine, and hundreds of commentaries on the Bible. I have books on prayer, grace, discipleship, holiness, the church, revival and leadership. I have several hundred biographies as well has over two hundred books on history (if we don’t learn from the past, we will repeat it).


Reading is a lost art. We now spend our money on videos and video games. We play instead of meditate. If our kids spent as much time reading good books as they do watching junk on TV or playing a mindless game they’ve played a thousand times, they wouldn’t be sucked into the culture so easily.


I believe it’s time to have some quiet time in the home where everyone agrees to turn the TV off and read for at least a half hour a day. I believe it’s time for parents to significantly reward their kids for reading.


When Erin was in the 1 st grade, she had a teacher who encouraged reading and challenged children to read 100 books. Erin did it before the half-way point of the second semester. Along the way, when completing ten, twenty-five, fifty and seventy-five, there was a reward from her teacher. I can’t tell you the difference that one teacher made in her life.


With the latest technology, audio books can be downloaded unto a small i-pod. This certainly has more value than listening to a song by Bono or 50 Cent over and over again. We’ve got tunes in our head but no song in our hearts. We know words, but we’ve lost meaning. We know stuff, but it’s not transformational—it’s mostly trivial.


Reading is dangerous because it is so powerful. Books can change you. Books can destroy you or build you up. They can encourage or cause you to doubt. That’s why reading any old book will not do. You need to read good books. Manley Beasley said he tried to focus on books over a hundred years old because much of contemporary literature was just fluff. I’m tired of ‘sermon books’ with 90% illustration and 10% biblical content. I read the old writers like Morrison, MacLaren, Spurgeon, Tozer, Havner and others because they had something to say.
In the early 19 th century, 58% of men and 51% of women were illiterate. By the end of the age, 95% of both men and women were literate. C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were strongly influenced by the writings of George MacDonald, a name most of us are unfamiliar with.


I would dare say most believers aren’t familiar with names like George MacDonald, G. K. Chesterton and others of their literary stature. In 1882, Mark Twain asked Macdonald for a new copy of his book At the Back of the North Wind because Twain’s children had “read and re-read their own copy so many times that it looks as if it had been through the wars.”
I’d like to suggest that you have the following books in your personal or home library. If you don’t have them, give them to someone in the family for Christmas. Better yet, as an adult, make a list of the ones you want you want and let your family buy them for you. You may not find all of them because some are out of print. You can search www.abe.com and find many of these books used but in great condition at a discounted price. I would rather have a great used book than an average new book. This is not an exhaustive list, but it’s a start.


The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer
Your Life in Christ, George MacDonald
The Be Series, Warren Wiersbe (hardback edition of all the ‘Be’ books)
When Heaven is Silent, Ron Dunn
Don’t Just Stand There, Pray Something, Ron Dunn
Not Peace But A Sword, Vance Havner
Repent or Else, Vance Havner
A Hunger for the Holy, Calvin Miller
Listen to the Giants, Walking with the Giants, Warren Wiersbe
Just As I Am, Billy Graham
The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards
Shadow of the Almighty, Elisabeth Elliot
The Life of D. L. Moody, Lyle W. Dorsett
Prophetic Untimeliness, Os Guinness
The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis
The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis
Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire, Jim Cymbala
Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper
The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham, Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley
Thinking for a Change, John Maxwell
Living by the Book, Howard Hendricks
Kingdom Education, Glen Schultz
As Iron Sharpens Iron, Howard and William Hendricks
The Myth of the Greener Grass, J. Allan Petersen
No God but God, Breaking with the Idols of Our Age, Os Guinness & John Seel
When Skeptics Ask, Norman Geisler and Ron Brooks
First Person, Second Person, Third Person (three books), Lehman Strauss
Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey


Any book in the “Leaders in Action” series including books on Theodore Roosevelt, C. S. Lewis, Booker T. Washington, Patrick Henry, Winston Churchill, Robert E. Lee and others.
Various books on prayer by Andrew Murray and E. M. Bounds
At least one biography on great men like John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, C. T. Studd, Winston Churchill, Stonewall Jackson and others.
Hey, I’m into books. I’m looking for people who want to think, not park their brains in neutral in front of the TV and veg out physically and mentally. Who will join the ‘Leaders are Readers’ club this Christmas?

Michael Catt
Dr. Michael Catt has served as senior pastor of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, since 1989, and is the executive producer of the popular films Flywheel, Facing the Giants, Fireproof and Courageous, which originated from the congregation. He has also served as Executive Producer for the Erwin Brothers’ film Woodlawn. He is also the founder of the ReFRESH® revival conferences (ReFRESHconference.org).
Michael is the author of several books, including The Power of Desperation, The Power of Persistence, The Power of Surrender, The Power of Purpose, Prepare for Rain, Upgrade, Courageous Living, Courageous Teens, Fireproof Your Life, Fireproof Your Life for Teens, and the Refinance Bible Study for LifeWay, as well as co-authored the Love Dare Curriculum.

Michael served as the President of the Large Church Roundtable, the Southern Baptist Convention as an IMB Trustee, President of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Preaching Conference, Vice President of the Georgia Baptist Convention, and President of the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference. He has spoken at conferences, colleges, seminaries, rallies, camps, NBA and college chapel services, well as The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove. Michael is the recipient of The Martin Luther King Award, The MLK Unity Award, and a Georgia Senate Resolution in recognition of his work in the community and in racial reconciliation.

Michael and his wife, Terri, have two grown daughters, Erin and Hayley.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Print

Read An Article

  • A Step at a Time
  • Hard Words to Swallow Lead to Revival (Part 1)
  • Day and Night

RSS Warren Wiersbe Podcast

  • The Furnaces of Life - Temptations, Trials and Triumphs (Part 5)
  • How Much is Your Bible Worth? (Psalm 119)
  • Pilgrims and Strangers - Temptations, Trials and Triumphs (Part 4)
  • Blind Man's Bluff (Luke 7:36—50)

RSS Michael Catt Podcast

  • Kill Them with Kindness
  • I Need Patience Now!
  • Peace of Mind
  • Joy to the World

RSS Sherwood Baptist Podcast

  • Prioritizing Prayer in a Busy World
  • The Church in the Last Days
  • Natural Disasters in the Last Days
  • Human Disasters in the Last Days

Verse

A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
Proverbs 10:1

Quotes On

  • Hypocrisy

Search

Links

Michael Catt

Vance Havner

Ron Dunn

Sherwood Church

Copyright 2ProphetU 2021. All righrts reserved.