The Secret Thoughts of an unlikely Convert, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

My wife read this a few months back and encouraged me to read it.
I know that I am prone to exaggeration when it comes to recommending books. But really, you simply must read this 150 page masterpiece.  I just could not put it down. In fact I did with this book what I rarely do with a paperback - I read it again. Actually I did with this book what I never ever do with a book - I annotated in the margins! There were simply so many lessons that leaped out screaming at me - Take note!
So what were the lessons?
In the forward Ken Smith notes that Rosaria's story was the answer to the prayers of the congregation over many years. It might not seem very significant that one person is converted but this book will be an ongoing answer. Who knows what The Lord might do through the conversion of one person. Church pray on.
The doctrine of conversion so down played these days in the evangelical world is given a high place in his little volume. The author refers to her own conversion as the train wreck and the impact of a God on her life. Slightly different from the easy believing that abounds today.
Ken Smith's warm questioning approach to evangelism is surely a vital method to learn from.  Sadly many Christians would have gone for the harsh newspaper article lambasting any in sight approach . His kind letter of opposition was used of God to open this lady's heart. Stop trying to answer all the questions and start thinking about better questions?
If you really want to reach someone with the gospel be ready for the long term approach. Two years Ken Smith and his wife invested in Rosario's life.
The church that God uses is strong in preaching and strong on compassion. The church that the author attended was able to counsel her an not farm her out to  para church ministry.  The church is competent to counsel.
The author reminds the reader that homosexuality like all sin is symptomatic and not casual.
On worship the writer asks some key questions. If God tells us how to live does that include how to worship? Is God pleased with creativity in worship? How much creativity does God want? So net time I am asked why I sing psalms exclusively I m for asking, why you don't?
A truly must read.

Cruciform, living the cross shaped life

Got this some months back on a kindle deal and thought it was about time that I read it.  This is a short book - just 107 pages on my iPad.  There are 8 chapters.
1. Created to be cruciform
2. Redeemed to be cruciform
3. The elements of being cruciform
4. The cruciform life in action
5. Servants of God
6. Sons of God
7. Embracing the gospel
8. Expressing the gospel
Each chapter is a few pages that can easily be digested at the start of a time of daily devotion.
This little gem punches well above its weight.  The writer has one goal - that each reader will live like the Lord Jesus.  This book is informational and transformational.
Well worth a read, even if you didn't pick it up on a kindle deal.
Any of the booklets at Cruciform press are well worth a look.  Some good stuff. Usually at $5 a book.
Here a few bits I highlighted:

God’s people will not dissuade him from partnering with them as a holy community on his holy mission. God would claim, clean, and craft for himself a people who would live the cruciform life of loving God and others as it is required in his Law. He would forgive them for living a me-first life and give them a new heart and the power of his Spirit to live the you-first life they were made to live. Now that’s good news! 

The most important message we need to hear as believers is the gospel. It is not the only message; we do need to hear the requirements of discipleship. But the gospel is the most important, because it alone provides both the proper motive and the only enduring motivation to respond to our Lord’s call to discipleship.[8]

Hospitality opens its head, heart, and hands to others, offering help, healing, and hope.

And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central [part of you] either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. . . . Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other.

[31]   “For every one look at your sin, take ten looks at Christ” has been attributed to Robert Murray M’Cheyne. Richard Sibbes said, “There is more mercy in Christ than there is sin in me.”

Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices

I am not sure who it was that recommended that every other book that a Christian should read is from a dead saint.  With that in mind and Tim Challies encouragement I downloaded Thomas Boston's classic. In case you aren't aware Brooks was a Puritan preacher from the 1600s.

This godly saint new the enemy's tactics and how to fend him off with the Scripture.  Every young Christian and every mature believer should read in inwardly digest.  Every gospel minister should digest and reword in a lifetime of preaching to help the saints guard their hearts and lives. This is a masterly volume beyond words.  
Here are a few of my highlights:

remember this, that your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all!

It is not he who reads most—but he who meditates most, who will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.

I have known a good man, says Bernard, who, when he heard of any that had committed some notorious sin, he was accustomed to say with himself—he fell today, so may I tomorrow.

Those who do not burn now in zeal against sin must before long burn in hell for sin.

Oh that you were wise, to break off your sins by timely repentance. Repentance is a work that must be timely done, or utterly undone forever.

No man knows either the love or hatred of God—by his outward mercy or misery towards them; for all things come alike to all, to the righteous and to the unrighteous, to the good and to the bad, to the clean and to the unclean.

Luke Volume 2, J.C. Ryle

My journey with Ryle through the gospels marches on. With Matthew, Mark and volume 1 of Luke under the belt that leaves volume 2 of Luke and the three volumes on John. I simply can't recommend these volumes highly enough.  They just drip godly wisdom and sound exegesis.  Volume 1 covers the first ten chapters of Luke.  As with the other volumes the passages of Scripture are bite size portions with a few pages of comment.  The footnotes should not be skipped - a gold mine stuff in there.
If you don't have this new set published by Banner you simply must buy it. No home should be without it. Useful for personal devotions for teenagers, busy middle agers, and OAP's.
Buy it for others for their birthday, engagement present, wedding present - whenever - just get it into the hands of others.
Now for volume 2 of Luke.

Famine in the Land

This useful book on preaching by Steven Lawson is sub titled "A passionate call for expository preaching." The book is divided into four chapters:
1. Feat of famine - the priority of Biblical preaching
2. The need of the hour - the power of Biblical preaching
3. Bring the book - the pattern of Biblical preaching
4. No higher calling - the passion for Biblical preaching
While there is nothing new in this short book there is much here to commend this volume to the reader. Steven Lawson has a clear and easy style of writing.  This volume is well dotted with super quotes from great preachers throughout the centuries.  A useful little volume for any student for the ministry and indeed for ever minister to remind themselves what ministry of the Word is about.
Below are a few of the notable quotes - some of Lawson and then some he quotes.

The typical preacher today aspires to be a motivational speaker rather than an exegete.

“The most urgent need in the Christian Church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and the most urgent need in the Church, it is the greatest need of the world also.”

“The true idea of preaching is that the preacher should become a mouthpiece for his text, opening it up and applying it as a word from God to his hearers, talking only in order that the text itself may speak and be heard.”

Biblical preaching should always lead to bold praying. These go together like the two sides of a coin. As the Word goes out, prayer should go up. A preaching church will be a praying church.

The Scripture itself—not merely books about the Bible—must saturate the minds of pastors if it is to flow from their lives and lips as “bibline.”

A shrinking study time will result in shrinking power in the pulpit. 

D. L. Moody once said, “God did not give us the Scriptures to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.”

“Preaching is the public exposition of Scripture by the man sent from God, in which God himself is present in judgment and in grace.” JOHN CALVIN

“The great object of every minister of the Gospel ought to be to give the services of the pulpit the pre-eminence over every other department of ministerial labor.”

The preacher, as the worship leader, should follow Paul’s instruction to read the Scriptures publicly, and not allow other activities to crowd it out.

Preaching must do more than simply inform the mind; it must grip the heart and challenge the will.Biblical preaching is as much perspiration as it is inspiration.

The rigors of exposition drains the entire man—mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.“The pulpit calls those anointed to it like the sea calls its sailor; and like the sea, it batters and bruises, and does not rest…. To preach, to really preach, is to die naked a little at a time, and to know each time you do it that you must do it again.”

Laughter seems to have replaced repentance as the goal of many preachers. Laughter means people feel good. It means they like you, it means you have moved them. It means you have some measure of power. It seems to have all the marks of successful communication—if the depth of sin and the holiness of God and the danger of hell and need for broken hearts is left out of account.

These three aspects of his Word-oriented ministry—learn it, live it, and let it out.

The Shepherd Leader

Sinclair Ferguson writes of this book on the eldership, "it is as readable as it is interesting."  It is both of those.  The book comprises three sections:
1. Biblical and historical foundations
2. What's a Shepherd to do?
3. Putting it all together.
The opening two sections are the best and the last one more a repetition of all that has gone before.  The central section of the book would be useful material for any team of elders to work through:
Shepherds know the sheep
Shepherds feed the sheep
Shepherds lead the sheep
Shepherds protect the sheep
A good practical manual for students for ministry to work through and discuss.

Life Together

Apparently it is a trendy thing to read Bonhoeffer - honestly I didn't know that.  I read this little classic under duress about ten years ago when I was doing some post grad study.  At that stage I was reluctant as a liberal university prof was recommending it to me.  I don't remember getting much out of it the first time through back then - I guess the filter level was too high.
It is not a long book but each paragraph needs pondered slowly to mine the nuggets just beneath the surface.  For me the massive nugget was the article in a previous post.  But here are a few more:

“We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.” 

“Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.” 

“Christian community is like the Christian's sanctification. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God. Just as the Christian should not be constantly feeling his spiritual pulse, so, too, the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be constantly taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more surely and steadily will fellowship increase and grow from day to day as God pleases.” 

 "The root of all sin is pride, superbia. I want to be my own law, I have a right to my self, my hatred and my desires, my life and my death. The mind and flesh of man are set on fire by pride; for it is precisely in his wickedness that man wants to be as God. Confession in the presence of a brother is the profoundest kind of humiliation. It hurts, it cuts a man down, it is a dreadful blow to pride..."

“A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for one another, or it collapses. I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner.” 

“A pastor should never complain about his congregation, certainly never to other people, but also not to God. A congregation has not been entrusted to him in order that he should become its accuser before God and men.” 

“The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him.” 

Life Together

Reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together at the moment.  What about this for some thinking. Read and ponder.
"Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream. The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves.

By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world. He does not abandon us to those rapturous experiences and lofty moods that come over us like a dream. God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both.

A community which cannot bear and cannot survive such a crisis, which insists upon keeping its illusion when it should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian community. Sooner or later it will collapse. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves this dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.

God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians which his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together.

When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first the accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself."

The Meaning of Marriage, Tim Keller

The Christian book scene is awash with books on marriage.  Some are better left on the shelf as they are filled with self help DIY philosophy, you can do it ideology.  This book on marriage is very different and is a must read not just for everyone who is either married or planning to be married but for single people also.  The subtitle of the book summarises the content well - "Facing the complexities of commitment with the wisdom of God."  It is filled with solid Biblical exegesis and warm clear application of the Biblical principles that are well unpacked.  What this book does that so many books on marriage don't do - is to get you to the cross.
 It is made up of eight readable and thought provoking chapters:
1. The secret of marriage
2. The power for marriage
3. The essence of marriage
4. The mission of marriage
5. Loving the stranger
6. Embracing the other
7. Singleness and marriage
8. Sex and marriage
Every now and then I come across a book that I think - if I had a spare £200 I would buy twenty copies and give this to all my married friends.
I will take the cheaper option and say - if you are reading this and are married - then love your spouse by buying this read it and live it in the grace of God.

JC Ryle Mark

Just finished going through Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark in my daily devotions.   Like the other volumes the text of the gospel is broken down into short portions and a two page warm and devotional comment made.  This is exceptional reading for daily devotions or family worship.  Not sure if the Banner of Truth publisher's offer is still in place for ministers.  I got the whole seven hardback volume set for £15 (minister's rate).  No Christian home should be without a set of Ryle.   In this volume Ryle starts to add just a few footnotes which are well worth the read.

Embracing Obscurity, Anonymous

The subtitle is, Becoming nothing in the light of God's everything.
In a day and age when self and promoting self is of the essence of life this is a needed book to call us back to Christ like humility.  It is a book to remind us to be content with who we are in Christ. Ten short snappy chapters to help you untangle yourself from yourself.  Be ready to be hurt and challenged.
This is a must read for every young Christian and a few older ones too who haven't stopped looking in the mirror.
Perhaps I should wipe this blog?

Right in their own Eyes, George M. Schwab

This 240 plus page commentary is part of a series edited by Tremper Longman III.  The book is an absolute must read if you are preaching through Judges.  It divides up into three main sections.  The opening section comprises three chapters to give the reader the tools to read the book with proper understanding.  The second section goes through the twelve cycles of the judges and the concluding section has two chapters on the conclusion of Judges.
This book has the balance of depth and application.

Judges Resources

Just finished preaching through Judges in 16 sermons and thought I would recommend a few commentaries and resources that I found helpful.
The New American Commentary, Judges, Ruth, Daniel Block, B&H Publishing ****
The NIV Application Commentary, Lawson Younger Jr., Zondervan ***
The Preacher's Commentary, David Jackmann, Thomas Nelson ***
Such Great Salvation, D.R. Davis, Baker *****
Right in their own eyes, George M. Schwab, P&R Publishing *****
Online Sermons
Michael LeFebrve http://www.sermonaudio.com/
Carl Truman http://www.cornerstoneopc.com/audio.php

Spirit Empowered Preaching, Arturo Azurdia

I usually avoid an author who states their name as "someone the III".  But I am glad that I didn't give this volume on preaching a by ball. It is in fact essential reading for anyone who preaches.
The book has three main threads:
Spirit empowered preaching is the principle means of advancing the kingdom of God
Spirit empowered preaching will be evangelical in emphasis
Spirit empowered preaching is the responsibility of the church
Azurdia argues that too much preaching going on today is void of the power of God.  In around 180 pages of packed reasoning the writer sets before the reader the need for the work of the Holy Spirit at every stage of preaching.
Azurdia has Biblical balance in his whole approach to preaching.  It is not pray more to prepare less - but prepare and preach in the power of the Spirit.
Highly recommended

Work Matters

One of the most common pastoral issues that pastors face is seeking to counsel people who are struggling with their work.  Many who are in work suffer the Sunday evening blues and those out of paid work wishing they had the Sunday evening blues.  Many have a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration in work and have a disjointed view of work.  This 2011 publication from Crossway publishers from the pen of Tom Nelson will both equip the pastor to counsel and counsel those who need counselled.  The basic premise of this book is that we need to be able to reconnect what is happening in our lives on the Lord's day and what we do the other six. As you would expect this Christian book on work starts at the start ie Genesis showing why we work and why it is so frustrating. Each of the ten chapters are well thought through and applied.  There is much here that will encourage any believer in their work place.  My only criticism is that although the writer roots our work in the character of God a fuller covenantal view of work is rather lacking.  That said this is a very useful book.  It would be a great book for group discussion.  Much here too for the pastor wanting to do some teaching on work.  The big challenge that I found was teaching people that what they do in their work is valuable and important and not to speak in a way that gives the impression that the only work that is important is the life of the church.  Nelson is basically saying that our daily work is to be an extension of all that we are as the people of God.

What do you think of me?

This volume by Ed Welch has the sub title, Why do I care? As the title and sub title suggest this is a book designed for the young. But this "not so young" minister found it challenging because let's face it we can care too much what others think no matter what our age. Like much of the material published by CCEF staff it is published by New Growth Press. After two introductory chapters identifying the problem and then a further six on getting to the reason why peoples lives are lived looking for approval Welch then plots a path out of the maze by studying who God is, who we are and who everyone else is.  This is a superb book that will help counselling those struggling with peer pressure, low self esteem, co dependency etc. it is designed to be an interactive study though to be honest a briefer accompanying study booklet might be more beneficial.  This book has all the thorough Biblical exegesis and careful pastoral direction that we have come to expect from Ed Welch. A super read and well worth it's place on your counselling shelf.

No dummies in the pulpit please

Jesus cried out is not about the agonising cry of the Lord from the cross but how He preached.  John gives a summary of His preaching in John 12v44-50 and he begins that summary with this profound statement.  His preaching was filled with passion, with emotion, with heart as well as head.  He wasn't simply delivering a message from God but did so in a manner that was in keeping with solemn, serious, eternally weighted message that He was proclaiming.
In the course of preparing to preach I listen to a multitude of preachers and am increasingly surprised at how many can have all the content but appear to be missing any emotion.  I have preached 1000s of times now myself and I have to say with Baxter of old, "I marvel how I can preach slightly and coldly, how I can let men alone in their sins."
Bruce Milne in his commentary on John writes with wisdom and great balance on this matter, "Preachers with cold hearts will never warm and awaken the consciences of their hearers....False emotionalism and unrealistic dramatization of the message do not honour God and tend only to alienate non Christians further.  But there is a true engagement of the heart in preaching... which is stamped with sincerity and which is an authentic reflection of the heart of the God whose gospel we proclaim.  God is looking today for preachers who, like His Son, will cry out."

James Martin, Pioneer Medical Missionary in Antioch

This short and well written missionary biography recounts the life and work of Rev. James Martin a minister and missionary of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland.  His life spanned the 19th and 20th centuries.  While I was reading this book I was preparing to preach on John 12v24 "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit."  James Martin was a 12 24 man. His life was a burning example of what it means to be a radical follower of the great Radical Jesus Christ.
This little bio is well written, concise, clear and full of the life of a man whose heart was devoted to serving his Lord and Master.  The book recounts the witness of a man sent by a small Irish denomination to reach the lost and needy of Syria and Lebanon.  It is a fascinating, challenging and encouraging read.  One question was constantly in my mind - where are the men of this calibre today? Where are the men who will preach to the unreached, plant churches, set up schools and set up dispensaries displaying the mercy of the Lord?  James Martin could have been an exceptional pastor in the home church or a leading medic - but his heart was in tune with God's plan for the world - to reach those who had not been reached.  O that the Lord would put the same mindset into the hearts of 21st century pastors to go where His great name has not been heard or little known.
Any theological students reading this blog - you simply must read this.  Any young person reading this blog - you must take up and read and pray that the Lord of the ends of the earth might raise up more men with such a love for the Lord Jesus.  Read and fall into the earth yourself and die so that there might be some fruit from your short life.

Radical Together, David Platt

Having read the rave reviews I had to buy and decide for myself.  Even the subtitle gets you going in the direction of the slim volume, "unleashing the people of God for the purpose of God."  While written  primarily for a North American audience the point of the book transfers well this side of the pond.  This is obviously a follow on from Platt's best seller, "Radical."  In the book Platt sets out six key ideas to spur the Christian on to live a radical life together in the church.  These are all good and helpful in themselves and well summarised in the titles and subtitles of the chapters:
1. Tyranny of the good - One of the worst enemies of Christians can be good things in the church.
2. The gospel misunderstood - The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work.
3. God is saying something - The word does the work.
4. The genius of wrong - Building the right church depends on using all the wrong people.
5. Our unmistakable task - We are living and longing for the end of the world.
6. The God who exalts God - We are selfless followers of the self centred God.
The book has a helpful study guide at the end which would assist the reader not only for personal study but in discussing with others.
While I enjoyed the book and found it challenging I had that sense that something was missing - God's covenant with God's covenant people binding us to Himself and each other - that is the key truth that makes us radical together.

The Gospel and Sexual Orientation

Well what could you get packed into 67 pages on such a subject?  Basically everything you need to know on the matter of sexual orientation and the Bible.  At least that is what Michael Lefebvre the editor of this masterly volume has managed.  The booklet is the work of the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America as they attempted to give guidance to the congregations they served.  "Compassionate scholarship" is the style of this booklet that should be in every Christian home in the western world.  The booklet comprises six main chapters.  The first chapter helpfully sets out the terminology stating clearly where all the words come from. In chapter two the writers set out clearly what the Bible says about the doctrine of man.  The third chapter deals sensitively and sensibly with present day pattern of speaking of gender patterns. The matter of principles for handling the Bible texts is addressed in chapter four before the main chapter five where the various passages are clearly and accurately expounded.  The book ends with a sixth chapter offering pastoral counsel and an extended bibliography.
For too long too many Reformed Christians have been in the dark on this matter.  That need no longer be the case.  Buy in bulk and give to your congregation.