When the introduction of the series started, I was a little leery - mainly because of all the references to Catholic Saints. But it got better from there.
The whole point of "Primal" was to make aware and discuss the Christians leaving of their First Love - the Lord Jesus Christ. The base verse for this study was Mark 12:30 - "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."
I found each episode convicted me in one way or another. In the video Mark said, "If you don't hear God's convicting voice, you won't hear His comforting voice. You cannot have one without the other - it's a package deal." I know I do not love the Lord nearly as much as I ought to.
In the last episode of the video Mark Batterson talked about loving the Lord with all of our strength. He said something about the things that annoy us in ministry, the things that take the hardest work, and cause us to sweat while serving Him are the things that makes God say, "This is music in My ears." God loves it when we break a sweat for a Kingdom cause.
He stated: "Christianity was never intended to be a noun. It was intended to be a verb. It's not "well thought, thou good and faithful servant." It's not "well said, thou good and faithful servant." It's "well done, thou good and faithful servant." Talk is cheap, and we have cheapened the Gospel long enough."
I thought the questions put forth at the end of the each episode were very thought-provoking. Questions such as:
What is your "chapel balcony," and when is the last time you went back to that place?
What daily miracles are you taking for granted?
When was the last time you felt like you gave God every ounce of energy you had?
Every episode was between 5 and 10 minutes long. I think this DVD-based study would be perfect for a Group Bible study based setting. Perhaps by taking and watching one "episode" on the DVD each time the group comes together (whether on a weekly or a monthly bases), reading the chapters in the book that corresponds with the episode, and then individually doing a Bible study on related chapters and verses in the Bible. Each time the group comes together, they could share their answers to the discussion questions each week and share what the Lord is teaching them through the study.
I recommend this DVD study.
For more information on this DVD based study, visit [...] or Mark Batterson's {website}.
A special thank you goes to Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers and Blogging for Books for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest, personal review of it.
Heather Joy
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