'Long Story Short: Ten Minute Family Devotions...'by Marty Machowski

 “…easy-to-use family devotional equips parents to share the living gospel story…”Old Story New makes it easy for parents to stay on the life-giving course of sharing the gospel story with their family. This second volume in Marty Machowski's family devotional series continues the gospel story begun in the Old Testament devotional, Long Story Short.Using the same effective ten-minute a day structure, it connects children to living gospel truth through 78 New Testament stories. Simple discussion questions include answers for each day's devotion to help children understand and connect the story of salvation to their own lives.Old Story New, part of the Gospel Story for Kids program, is suitable for children from preschool through high school. Can a Bedtime Story Actually Change Your Life?It is easy to forget Jesus in the midst of frantic schedules, family squabbles, and conflicting priorities. But the truth is that Jesus is the hero of every story, including these ordinary ones. This is why Marty Machowski puts God's plan of salvation in Christ on continuous display in The Gospel Story Bible.The easy-to-read storybook introduces your family to many captivating people, places, and events from the Bible's Old and New Testaments, showing how each one ultimately points to Jesus.As you share these Bible Stories together, you and your family will meet Jesus and learn a new, life-changing way of recognizing Christ as the hero of every story. Vibrant illustrations by A. E. Macha, child-friendly discussion questions, and Scripture references accompany each narrative to help you lead your family in exploring the Bible. You will be delighted to discover how easily even a young child can understand the original text of a story that he or she has already come to love.Ideal as a storybook for your preschooler, a devotional for your grade school student, a refresher for the adult believer, or an introduction for the new one, The Gospel Story Bible is also a companion to Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God and the forthcoming Gospel Story Sunday School curriculum. ~~Transform Your Family with Ten Minutes a Day in the Gospel Story~~Christian parents know the importance of passing the gospel story on to their children, yet we live in a busy world filled with distractions. Schedules collide, there is homework and yard work and dishes and laundry, the car’s oil should be changed, there are phone calls to make...and before you know it, everyone is getting to bed late again.But this easy-to-use family devotional, in just ten minutes a day, five days a week, empowers parents to pass on the most valuable treasure the world has ever known. Each day focuses on highlighting the gospel of grace through the stories of the Old Testament. The gospel is deep enough to keep the oldest and wisest parents learning and growing all their lives, yet simple enough to transform the heart of the first grader who has just begun to read. Long Story Short is suitable for children from preschool through high school.MARTY MACHOWSKI is the Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for twenty-two years. Marty leads Promise Kingdom, the children s ministry of Covenant Fellowship. He and his wife Lois and their six children reside in West Chester Pennsylvania.  View the list »
“…easy-to-use family devotional empowers parents to pass on the most valuable treasure the world has ever known…”

Western Religions newsletter

Marty Machowski, pastor, father, husband and writer penned Long Story Short, a gospel driven, field-tested family devotional that pairs well with The Gospel Story Bible. The easy-to-use devotional features seventy-eight lessons from the Old Testament designed for busy, time-challenged families of preschool, grade school, middle school, high school or homeschooled youngsters.

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Readings and discussions take ten minutes a day, five days a week. Teachings feature biblical truth from the “cross-centered” Old Testament that point to Jesus Christ and salvation. Devotions begin with Genesis and end with Nehemiah and feature a single scripture theme that repeats for one week.

The simple format includes a brief reading, an explanation with three discussion questions and a short prayer. The first two days concern the central teaching, while the third day connects a New Testament scripture to the message and the fourth day completes the story. Readings from Psalms or a prophetical book tie the weeks teaching to the main scripture theme on Friday. Since this book is text without pictures, The Gospel Story Bible I reviewed Monday adds a nice touch for younger children. Review: www.examiner.com/list/the-gospel-story-bible-jesus-the-old-and-new-testaments-by-marty-machowski?cid=db_articles

We live in a busy world of schedules that conflict with work, home and school responsibilities. Parents and children are exhausted by days end with little time for family relationships or fellowship. Still, Christian parents want to teach children God’s Word with a message that transforms their minds instead of adding information that only informs.

This devotional meets that need because it encourages Bible reading, devotions and prayer, equipping Christians to really know God and not just know about God. Such knowledge shapes beliefs anchored in God’s truth that provide Christians a firm foundation to stand on. Otherwise we are like what Alexander Hamilton wrote, "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.”

Our children and families are our primary mission field. If children aren’t taught about God at home, they won’t learn about God in secular schools, media or among secular friends. On a scale of one to ten, Marty’s devotional is a twelve plus.

YouTube—Long Story Short by Marty Machowski—New Growth Press www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2bWw1UVFoQ

‘Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God’ by Marty Machowski, New Growth Press, 2010, 416 Pages, 978-1935273813, $19.99 www.newgrowthpress.com/

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  •  ~~Transform Your Family with Ten Minutes a Day in the Gospel Story~~Christian parents know the importance of passing the gospel story on to their children, yet we live in a busy world filled with distractions. Schedules collide, there is homework and yard work and dishes and laundry, the car’s oil should be changed, there are phone calls to make...and before you know it, everyone is getting to bed late again.But this easy-to-use family devotional, in just ten minutes a day, five days a week, empowers parents to pass on the most valuable treasure the world has ever known. Each day focuses on highlighting the gospel of grace through the stories of the Old Testament. The gospel is deep enough to keep the oldest and wisest parents learning and growing all their lives, yet simple enough to transform the heart of the first grader who has just begun to read. Long Story Short is suitable for children from preschool through high school.MARTY MACHOWSKI is the Family Life Pastor at Covenant Fellowship Church, a Sovereign Grace Ministries church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, where he has served on the pastoral staff for twenty-two years. Marty leads Promise Kingdom, the children s ministry of Covenant Fellowship. He and his wife Lois and their six children reside in West Chester Pennsylvania.  
  •  Can a Bedtime Story Actually Change Your Life?It is easy to forget Jesus in the midst of frantic schedules, family squabbles, and conflicting priorities. But the truth is that Jesus is the hero of every story, including these ordinary ones. This is why Marty Machowski puts God's plan of salvation in Christ on continuous display in The Gospel Story Bible.The easy-to-read storybook introduces your family to many captivating people, places, and events from the Bible's Old and New Testaments, showing how each one ultimately points to Jesus.As you share these Bible Stories together, you and your family will meet Jesus and learn a new, life-changing way of recognizing Christ as the hero of every story. Vibrant illustrations by A. E. Macha, child-friendly discussion questions, and Scripture references accompany each narrative to help you lead your family in exploring the Bible. You will be delighted to discover how easily even a young child can understand the original text of a story that he or she has already come to love.Ideal as a storybook for your preschooler, a devotional for your grade school student, a refresher for the adult believer, or an introduction for the new one, The Gospel Story Bible is also a companion to Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God and the forthcoming Gospel Story Sunday School curriculum.
  •  “…easy-to-use family devotional equips parents to share the living gospel story…”Old Story New makes it easy for parents to stay on the life-giving course of sharing the gospel story with their family. This second volume in Marty Machowski's family devotional series continues the gospel story begun in the Old Testament devotional, Long Story Short.Using the same effective ten-minute a day structure, it connects children to living gospel truth through 78 New Testament stories. Simple discussion questions include answers for each day's devotion to help children understand and connect the story of salvation to their own lives.Old Story New, part of the Gospel Story for Kids program, is suitable for children from preschool through high school.
  • Shame controls far too many of us. Worthless, inferior, rejected, weak, humiliated, failure...it all adds up to wishing we could get away from others and hide. We know what shame feels like. The way out, however, is harder to find.Time doesn't help; neither does confession, because shame is just as often from what others do to you as it is from what you have done. But the Bible is about shame from start to finish, and, if we are willing, God's beautiful words break through. Look at Jesus through the lens of shame and see how the marginalized and worthless are his favorites and become his people. God cares for the shamed. Through Jesus you are covered, adopted, cleansed, and healed. 
  •  ~The Power of Weakness No one likes to feel weak~~Just thinking about our inadequate resources can fill us with fear and hopelessness. But Rose Marie Miller has a different perspective. For her, true weakness is a gift--born out of a deep sense of need, it drives us to Christ and unleashes all the redeeming energy of God's grace in our lives and others'. Rose Marie Miller, a living example of God's power in weakness, weaves together biblical insights and personal experience and shares a new, gospel-driven way of living where the way up is down, the weak become strong, and the dead receive life. God, for whom nothing is impossible, uses weak people to change the world and that includes you! 
  •  ~~Start a Year of Thoughtful Change~~Change that goes deeper than the surface of our lives happens over the long haul as we daily remember and connect the truths of the gospel to our lives. Every day we need to be reminded in different ways that Jesus, God's own Son, came to this world to save us from sin, sorrow, and death. The promises of God, which are all yes in Jesus, change the way we view ourselves, our circumstances, and other people. This devotional gives a daily reminder of these life-changing truths. The 366 selections, anchored in Scripture and saturated with the gospel, will help the reader to:•           Learn how God in his Word addresses a host of life situations•           Focus on how the gospel intersects with life•           Look beyond circumstances to God's purposes•           See how God values relationship with his children•           Learn to value others by speaking truth in love, by not shying away from conflict, by forgiving...•           Grow in wisdom when confronted by life's changes•           Learn how God works change that is effective and visibleTopics covered in the devotional include: love, hope, grace, redemption, faith, contentment, conflict, relationships, prayer, fear, patience, humility, and anger.
  •  Sexual Sanity for Women guides participants through the process of understanding why they struggle with destructive relational and sexual patterns and how the gospel brings change and a new way of living.Twenty lessons guide participants to understand God's good design for sexuality, the underlying reasons they struggle with sexual brokenness, and how the grace and truth of Jesus Christ can be applied to their struggles.Change begins as deeper heart issues are uncovered, and women learn that they are well-loved daughters of God who will find healing and wholeness as they live out God's Word in their relationships.This workbook is ideal for a one-on-one mentoring, college age student groups, and women's groups.
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, Washington Christian Book Review Examiner

Gail's articles and book reviews appear in a variety of national and local publications and on the Internet. She loves to read, and believes God teaches and instructs her in which way to go, according to Jeremiah 29:11. She and her husband live beside the Skagit River in Washington state.

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