The Questions of Jesus: Questions Asked by Jesus, Questions other People As (Book) - 7/26/2025 10:29:33 AM
Can you imagine being given the opportunity to ask Jesus any questions you had on your mind. This book, “The Questions of Jesus: Questions Asked by Jesus, Questions People Asked Him” by John Avery ponders these possible questions by looking at some of the questions previously asked of him and more over several short chapters – “thought-provoking “lessons.” Avery has put together the perfect collection to cover many topics and making it an excellent monthly/weekly Bible study or book club selection. Mr. Avery shows knowledge, educated conversations to ponder, and humor, such as, when he suggests “to be reborn & filled with the Holy Spirit, like getting a spiritual oil change. He also made an awesome comparison between Jonah & Jesus… “the belly of the sea monster (whale) three days” and “Jesus knew His vindication would come after three days in the tomb.” Finally, Avery teaches us by declaring “If we stay with Him, in His will and timing, we are safe because He protects us so we can accomplish His will.” The question thrown around freely was: Is God in control or not? “The Questions of Jesus” is a very scripture-heavy, which is always appreciated by a reader, concise, short and to the point great for a morning “get me going” start-up Bible study. Avery’s writing is easy to follow and flows directly from point to point. Highly recommend reading. I am looking forward to reading additional works by John Avery.
The Name Quest (Book) - 8/6/2014 12:22:45 PM
This review is in answer to John Avery’s request for reviews on LinkedIn. He graciously sent me a free paperback copy of his book to facilitate its review. Thank you John.
My first impression as I flipped through the book, was the amazing amount of research that went into it! He’s given each researched tidbit or quote of information a number, which leads to the back of the book where the footnotes take up an entire section to themselves. In addition, he’s put together a handy index at the back so that if you want to check out the meaning of one of God’s names without reading the whole book again, you can simply go to that name’s page(s).
I was impressed with how John wove the names of God into a running narrative that flowed smoothly from name to name or from example to example. Examples ranged from experiences on the hiking trails to experiences of the men and women mentioned in the pages of Scripture.
One bit of information/observation mentioned early on in the book about who Melchizedek worshipped is later very clearly contradicted when discussing another name of God later in the book. This may simply have been a missed comparison in the research archives because the remainder of the book sticks with the second iteration of who we know Melchizedek to be honouring when he met Abram.
John does an amazing job of displaying the commonality behind many terms before they were applied to God, and the drastically changed understandings that developed after their application to God. This lends a more human view to the people, places and situations found in Scripture as they learned of God and grew in their faith-walk with Him.
If I had anything of major note to say against the book, it has nothing to do with the content. The layout of the book made it hard to read at times. The use of sidebars to encapsulate lists of names of God beside their expounding paragraphs worked in most instances throughout the book, but every now and then, the strict adherence to where these sidebars were placed left some paragraphs appearing unfinished until I realized their final sentences trailed between two sidebars. Frequently, paragraph sentences were allowed to have just two or three words trail onto the next page or stay behind on the previous page, a situation known as orphaning. While this did allow for the paragraph to otherwise remain intact, it would have been perfectly ok to either break up the paragraph or simply move the one or two lines left on the previous page over to the next page to avoid orphans. However, in light of the overall content of the book and how well it was written, such formatting issues are largely trivial.
This book gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars! I highly recommend it and it would make a great companion to my new book, “A Year in Prayer With Jesus” as you learn about 365 names, titles and attributes of God in the first point, “Hallowed by Thy Name”.
Well done John! This book was a pleasure to read!
The Name Quest (Book) - 3/16/2014 6:45:40 PM
Please contact me if you are interested in reviewing The Name Quest. The book will be available in May.
