I’ve published a book called The Messiah: Eleven Meditations from the Book of Mark.
You can . It’s free.
Some of you might recognize the title. It comes from a series I did last year of the same name.
Bottom line: I decided to pull all those posts together and wrap them up in a PDF–and give it to you for free.
Here’s a small part from the Introduction:
“Something happens when you systematically read through a gospel narrative like the book of Mark: You are confronted with the real Jesus.
“Gone are the pretty pictures of a gentle man lugging a lamb around on his shoulders.
“Instead, you meet a man who is vast in wisdom, terrifying in strength and exceptional in humility. So vast, terrifying and exceptional you begin to wonder if he is God.”
The Man Behind the Design
My long-distance but great friend designed The Messiah for me. He did the cover, the formatting and icons that run throughout the book.
I think it looks amazing.
[For those who are paying attention, he did the logo work for over at . That’s how we met.]
The PDF is actually parked at Scribd, which is a social publishing website, so saying I published it is a bit of a stretch.
But you’ll forgive me, right?
Anyway, you can at Scribd. You can also share it on Twitter or Facebook.
Four Ways to Use The Messiah Book
Want some ideas on how to use The Messiah? Here are four.
1. Book.
Read it and move on. Pretty straightforward. You could take it a bit further and brag [or rag] on it–whether here, Scribd or your social media site of choice.
2. Devotional.
Print the book out and hunker down each morning with a chapter. Meditate on the messages like you might a page from Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest.
3. Tract.
The book is 30 pages of very short chapters, so it’s easy to read. And the content [the identity of Jesus] is perfect for introducing non-believers to the gospel.
4. Study Guide.
Print this book out and walk your study group or Sunday school class through it. Could stretch into an eleven week course.
Did I miss one? Let me know.
One More Thing
Some of you might want to know why I’m giving this book away for free. It basically comes down to this: Your attention is precious to me. I should be paying you.
In a way, with The Messiah, I am. So go .
I hope you enjoy it. And please, let me know what you think. I love hearing from you.
I don’t get tired of coming here and looking at your blog. This site, Demian, is so beautiful. I just love what you’re doing here.
That’s awesome, Joe. Good to hear. I unlocked the document so you don’t have to pay to download it. I didn’t know about it, but after a few months Scribd puts documents into an Archive that forces people to pay for it. I didn’t know that. I wanted it to be free. I may need to find a new place to host it. Or figure out how to do it on my own site.