Skin in the Game: Living an Epic Jesus-Centered Life

Skin in the Game was an interesting concept to me. I found that while I agree that we must be in a full relationship with Jesus.. I found some of his illustrations - Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, The Little Albert Experiment, the indie punk rocker Amanda Palmer, Comic-Con were just not what I was expecting.. It just wasn't for me.. His use of biblical stories did bring out his thoughts clearly that yes.. and I agree, we have to be all in to have a Jesus-Centered Life.. I was gifted a copy for review by the Book Club Network.

Skin in the Game by Rick Lawrence is a powerful, insightful book. A few chapter titlesWill You: Face Your Shame, Receive Grace, Embrace Your True Identity, Control Fears, Risk, Waitlead up to the point of the entire book: Will You Make Jesus Your First and Last Resort? Christians are on earth to be teammates of Christ, to offer their skin in the game in order to reveal the true treasure which is Jesus. Far from perfect, the yielded and all in Christ followers can impact the world.

A wonderful and inspiring (and at the same timeawakening) book that has the ability to change outlook, response, and awareness. I very highly recommend this book (a brief 137 pages packed with truths and purpose). It can be a good reference and a resource to be reread. I received this book through TBCN in exchange for an honest review.

Review Title: Move to Skin Deep (review of Skin in the Game by Rick Lawrence)

Reviewer: Janice S. Garey

***** 5 Stars

The subtitle of this book, "Living an Epic Jesus-Centered Life," gives a clue to what you will experience through reading this excellent book. Why do I say it is excellent? First, the book is clear, concise, and compact. Secondly, the book presents the same leadership style as Jesus who addressed people, both disciples and unbelievers, with questions to bring them to a deeper understanding of where they were in their spiritual footing. Furthermore, the book encourages the reader who may be stuck at some particular level, on the brink as a reluctant risk-taker, to move along by relying on Jesus, by learning to trust Him for all He is worth, and by allowing failure to be a stepping stone to kingdom building success.

The questions forming the chapter titles are all used like a climb up the swimming pool high dive ladder, a thoughtful climb, rung by rung, to a higher level of questioning and pondering, and then there is the jump into the deep waters where Rick Lawrence delivers answers to the questions through real life story examples and explanations of passages of the Bible that I had never heard explored from the same angle. I find his method of teaching to be enlightening. I definitely want to read more of his writing.

I received this book through bookfun.org in exchange for reading it and posting an honest review. This book truly encourages readers to go in deeper with Jesus, to let Him in under the skin and into Your veins and heart, to go with Him to new realms that you may have imagined but thought too risky. This book helps conquer fears when considering how much investment is too much investment.

I thank bookfun.org, the author, and the publisher for giving me this wonderful book. I have several people in mind to share it with. Given the prompt to put 'Skin in the Game,'I expect to see major movement toward greater Kingdom of God building happening here on earth as it is in heaven.

This is a fabulous book. Each chapter takes a look at someone from the Bible and applies the lessons to our lives today, I loved that.

There are a lot of wonderful things in this book but I will only give you a taste of a couple and hope that will whet your appetite for more.

On page 54 the author writes, God is far more interested in naming us then fixing us. This goes back to identity which I personally believe is the root cause of so many of our issues. If we just understood who we really are we could walk in so much more confidence.

Another part that totally spoke to me at a very deep level was this paragraph from page 58: The best way to pinpoint the identity-forming force of the voices that surround you is to study whats going on in your soul after youve had a difficult or dissonance-producing or even uplifting encounter with someone. How is the echo from the encounter describing you?

I could go on about how this resonated with me but I wont in this review.

Overall, a wonderful read that will challenge you to risk more for Jesus.

A copy of this book was given to me through The Book Club Network in exchange for an honest review.

With eight key questions, Rick Lawrence encourages readers of Skin in the Game to step out of indifference and lethargy of spirit into an adventure that only a life lost for Christ can bring. Poignant questions such as will you receive grace instead of trusting karma and our own strength? Are you able to face your shame and be courageous to call Jesus Lord? Can you risk vulnerability to define and own what it is you want? Using examples of individuals from scripture and real life, Lawrence shows the reader a personal God who unmasks and defines one's true identity, who frees one's soul from the destructive lies and fears from the enemy. The challenge to risk, to put skin in the game is put into the perspective of knowing where your skin has come from. The source of our gifts and talents is from Christ and as such is relevant to Him alone and not to be compared to what others may have to offer. As the author concludes this relatively short book, he reminds readers that Christ wants us to be all in in their walk with Hima living sacrifice, willing to be consumed by a God who wants an intimate relationship with the people He has created. Skin in the Game is a powerfully challenging message to live a Christ-centered life.

I received a copy of this book through The Book Club Network (bookfun.org) in exchange for my honest review.