Review for Twelve Unlikely Heroes by John
MacArthur
"Twelve Unlikely Heroes--How God
Commissioned Unexpected People in the Bible and What He wants to Do with
You" written by John MacArthur, published by Thomas Nelson 2012.
This is the first book written by John
MacArthur that I have read but it won't be the last. "Twelve Unlikely Heroes" is part of
a trilogy written by MacArthur. The first
two titles in this series were: Twelve
Ordinary Men" and "Twelve Extraordinary Women."
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I
learned a lot and was greatly challenged by the stories of these men and women
found in God's Word.
I loved the way MacArthur brought out what
we know from Scripture but I also appreciated his use of the ancient historians
such as Josephus and Eusebius. In addition he brought into play the writings of
the ancient church fathers to help bring further explanation.
One other thing MacArthur does in this book
is to bring to life some of the characters that were involved with these
stories. He gives the crew of Jonah's ship real hearts of compassion; and helps
bring into focus the relationships of these folks and what we can learn from
them. I appreciated the way he dealt with Samson's "faults" and encouraged
us to continue to go after God no matter how often or how colossal our failures
may have been.
I think the author did a great job of
explaining the culture that was present during each "heroes" lifetime
and also how the truth from their lives relates to our lives.
If you enjoy learning from the lives of men
and women found in Scripture, you will definitely enjoy reading this book and
studying these lives from God's Word.
This would be a great source for a Small Group; a Sunday school class;
or even for a sermon series. I have already used portions from the life of
Jonah while preaching a World Missions message. In addition to being a great
text book for studies, it will also serve as a great resource book for
sermon/lesson preparation.
There is also a web site that offers some
resources to go along with the book: http://www.12unlikelyheroes.com
I am grateful to the folks at Book Sneeze
for the complimentary copy and the privilege to read and review the book. I
would highly recommend this book.
