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Jared C’s Latest: Gospel-Driven Ministry

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I don’t know how to put into words how grateful I am for Jared Wilson. Over the years, Jared has written books at an amazing pace. But, even more impressive is the content of these books, helping the church to think through issues, as well as ultimately driving us back to the good news which not only is the starting point for our faith but the continuing point for our growth and godliness.

His latest book, Gospel-Driven Ministry, is another book that delivers. When I first started digging into this book, I wondered how it would differ from other things I’ve read from Jared on ministry centered on the good news. But, this book does deliver and help the reader have a sense of what ministry–specifically pastoral ministry–looks like when Jesus is everything to you.

Some things that have stood out to me upon my first time through the book have been: helping pastors to root their identity in Jesus, encouraging pastors to be encountering God in worship as they study, prodding us to lead congregations not merely settle for what shakes down, and to pastor people through our preaching.

This book will certainly serve those who are called to some sort of full-time ministry. But, in a deeper way, it will help those who are curious about what pastors should be and do. In other words, church people will be helped by it. So, I encourage you to take advantage of this book. Take up and read Gospel-Driven Ministry by Jared C. Wilson.

Book Review – Tony Reinke’s 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You

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I loved Tony Reinke’s latest book 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You.  I suppose I should give a caveat or two.  I loved the content and really everything about this book, but it was very convicting.  Some quick things I would point out:

  • This book includes a theology of technology.  Now this might not readily appeal to you.  But, knowing how what we believe about God and how that relates to technology is an invaluable help to those who want to follow Christ and live in this day and age.
  • The book’s title suggests something obvious (and easily ignored): your phone is changing you. When thinking about an elder or deacon when it comes to money I’ve often asked, do you master your money? or does your money master you?  In today’s day and age, we must come to terms with this: do you master your phone/technology?  or does your phone/technology master you?  And, I think this book is a good starting point to gaze on our hearts when it comes to these questions.
  • My favorite part of the book was a middle section called “Calling All Artists.”  This section helped frame some categories and ways of thinking for those of us who are working in content creation.  There were warnings, cautions, and even probing questions dealing with how we wield digital words in ways that honor God. I needed this section and continue to think about it often.
  • Tony’s writing style will serve you well.  How could I put it?  He’s the right mix of technical information (on a subject like technology in this case) and practicality.  He takes it to places that help you think through what it might mean for you.  And, on the other hand, many readers will probably want him to go further or lighter than he did.  It’s a delicate balance that I feel he’s successfully achieved: the right amount of technical content fused with Biblical, God-consumed, heart-wrenching application.
  • The vision of this book, to take our use of phones out for a spin and consider how this activity might help or hinder our love of God and neighbor, is achieved.  I love reading books that don’t major on minors.  And, Tony is consumed with the majors (loving God and neighbor) to such a degree that the reader is nurtured to green pastures of living.  There’s such practicality dripping on every page too, like questions to ask before you tweet something or interacting with whether or not we confornt sin online.
  • Recently, I’ve encouraged those who want to nurture hearts that are fixed on things above and not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-4) to think through their use of phones/technology and recommended this as a tool.  We underestimate the influence these things have on us to our detriment.  Like Tony, I’m not necessarily recommending that you ditch your phone.  However, we have some sort of belief or way of thinking about these techonological benefits we enjoy.

So, I’d recommend this book to you.  For the sake of your soul, your family, and your future, please consider these things.  You can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.  As Tony said at the end, “our greatest need in the digital age is to behold the glory of the unseen Christ in the faint blue glow of our pixelated Bibles, by faith” (p.210).  So, may God grant this.

(Tony has also posted some additional feature articles related to the book’s content, so check those out.)

Book Review – ESV Devotional Psalter

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This past Spring, Crossway released the Devotional Psalter.  I love reading the Psalms everyday.  In seminary, Don Whitney taught me a method of finding the Psalms of the Day (take today’s date and add 30 to it 4x to find the Psalms of the Day, today’s Psalms of the Day would be 19, 49, 79, 109, and 139).  Then, I would take one of those Psalms and read it, using it as a springboard for prayer and helping my heart prepare for the day.

The layout of the text in this volume is splended.  Nice margins, spacing, and typeface help the reader feel like they are a part of something that is special, which is certainly the case when we’re in the Psalms.

But, the reality is that sometimes I’m reading along and the light doesn’t come on very quickly.  While the devotional psalter has an amazing text layout, it also includes a brief devotion to help foster devotional insights, often with a view toward Christ.  Time and again as I’ve used this recently, I’ve been helped by these short content pieces.  Here’s an example of what this looks like on the page:

I was also helped by the video intro from Dane Ortlund:

 

I’d encourage you to grab the Devotional Psalter, especially for your devotions, as a way to warm the affections of your heart around truths that point to Christ and draw you out to worship the One who made you.

 

Gospel Eldership

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gospel_eldershipI’m being helped and want to recommend the book Gospel Eldership by Bob Thune to you.  Having worked through rewriting bylaws nearly 12 years ago and continuing to look for material that serves our Elders well, I’ve continue to look for resources that help us.  I love the vision found in this book.  So, here are some quick things I enjoy and am helped by in this:

  1. Everything is rooted in Gospel realities.  Whether it’s character qualifications or the work that an Elder is to do, many of us are very aware of how we don’t measure up to this high calling.  Thune takes us to Gospel truth and this is encouraging.
  2. The outline is simple.  The book lays out as character and work.  So, there are few helpful chapters on what an elder is to BE, followed by what an elder is to DO.  I like the simplicity of the approach.
  3. The book comes with many exercises designed to get groups talking.  One of the exercises requires that you speak with your spouse about an item and they have to sign that the conversation took place.  Many times, thinking about things like this can become an “out-there” discussion.  But, these exercises keep the learning in our hearts.
  4. It’s easy used with a group.  I’m using it to meet with a small group of men and talk about the elder’s life and work.  The book is helpful.
  5. There’s a chapter on “Mission.”  I’m preparing to write on this in another post, but much of ministry builds into maintenance type work.  But, Elders have to be relentlessly focused on mission.  This curriculum includes this in the elder’s work.  This is helpful to me, challenging, and a healthy vision for the future work of the church.

So, for these reasons, among others, I’m happy to recommend Gospel Eldership to you.

 

God Made All of Me

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Was privileged to get an early release copy and opportunity to review God Made All of Me: A Book To Help Children Protect Their Bodies by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb.

Here’s how the publisher described this important book: 

God Made All of Me is the first children’s book by Rid of My Disgrace authors Justin and Lindsey Holcomb, and its goal is to equip parents to help kids protect their own bodies. It’s a beautifully-illustrated little book with a clear message: your body is designed by God and every part of it is good. It helps parents give their kids language and expectations for appropriate and inappropriate touch and set clear boundaries for how others should treat them. When you read the book yourself, I think you will feel more confident in guiding your kids; when you read it with your kids, you will have already started the important conversation that every family needs to have.


Unfortunately, in the day and age we live in, child abuse is far too common.  At times, I think, people with children almost feel paralyzed in addressing this issue with their kids and we certainly don’t like to discuss it with others.  But, this children’s book is help to not only model some language for these kinds of courageous conversations but give instruction to your children in this matter.  Please consider the importance of this book.  You can see why this book is important.  

On top of the importance and subject matter found in this book, it comes loaded with incentives when you pre-order: over $100 worth of free, related resources. These include the eBook for Rid of My Disgrace, a Journal of Biblical Counseling article, some catechism albums, and a whole lot more!  It would definitely be in your interest to pre-order if you feel drawn to utilize this book.

Recommend this book.  Share this post.  Point people to the book’s site.  Let’s be about the common good of our children by equipping them in this way.   

#Godmadeallofme

Book Review – Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled by D. Martyn Lloyd Jones

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The good Doctor, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, is maybe one of the greatest preachers in the 20th Century.  This collection of sermons was given at the church he served in London, Westminster Chapel, in 1951 with the recent memory of World War 2 fresh in his listeners minds and the raw reality of the Cold War beginning to sprout.  What follows in this book are 8 sermons from John 14:1-12.  
You can imagine the scene, much like today’s world.  It seems like our world is filled with so much uncertainty and doubt.  We don’t know what the right matters are to stand firm on (in some cases) and we wonder what to make of the future.  In comes Lloyd-Jones employing God’s Word as a surgeon for the soul.  Part 1, We Must Believe, gets at three chapters: Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, Believe in God, Believe Also In Me.  Part 2, The Soul and Its Future, includes In My Father’s House, I Go To Prepare a Place for You, and I Will Come Again, and Receive You.  In Part 3, No Other Way, he rounds out this series with I Am The Way, The Truth and The Life and Greater Works Than These Shall He Do.
Today, you may wonder what to do with your life.  What are the areas that are eternal?  And, in deeper ways, how does your heart find a place to live in light of all that’s happening in the world.  I would encourage you to grab this group of sermons to find the comforting words of Jesus used in ways that will sure encourage you.  I highly recommend this book.  

Book Review – Spurgeon’s Sorrows by Zack Eswine

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I had the opportunity to review Spurgeon’s Sorrows by Zack Eswine recently.  I was excited about this for a few reasons.  On the one hand, I’ve benefitted from Eswine’s previous work(s).  Most notably, Sensing Jesus had a profound impact on me.  On the other hand, though, I’ve always been intrigued by Charles Spurgeon.  He was a young, restless, reformed pastor before it was cool.  There’re not too many works that connect Spurgeon, depression and the reader.  So, this volume proved to be an interesting pursuit.
I appreciated the breakdown and opening chapters to orient the reader to the idea of depression.  By the way, the work is laid out in 3 big parts: 1) Trying to Understand Depression, 2) Learning How to Help Those Who Suffer from Depression and 3) Learning Helps to Daily Cope with Depression.  It’s unfortunate to admit, but many in Christian circles don’t know where to begin or how to engage with someone who’s depressed.  We respond in ways like, “Who sinned, this person or their parents?”  And, this opening section unpacking how we understand depression is helpful to see where this comes through, all weaved through the preaching and experience of Spurgeon, a pastor in the 19th century.
The rest of the book is most practical: Learning How to Help Those Who Suffer from Depression (with Chapters entitled Diagnosis Doesn’t Cure, Language for our Sorrows, Helps That Harm and Jesus and Depression) as well as past three, Learning Helps to Daily Cope with Depression (and chapters on Promises and Prayers, Natural Helps, Suicide and Choosing Life and the Benefits of Sorrow).  My big sweeping summary of these final two sections continues on the momentum I built in the first one.  It’s much like this books helps all of us by helping us see that people suffer from depression, it’s not sin and here’s how you can be helped or come along those who need help.  

All in all, what I’d say about this book is that pastors must read it.  We, above all, need to be those who are characterized by grace.  Understanding some of the deep heart hurt of people in new ways would be the benefit of this book (with an eye on practical help).  Others (not pastors) would be helped as well in knowing and applying some help to those battling depression among us.  So many lessons would emerge her for the reader.  I would recommend Spurgeon’s Sorrows for your consideration for the good of others.  

Book Review: Paul Tripp Greatest Hits, Now Available

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“Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh,” so ends one of the most practical books in the Bible, Ecclesiastes.  And, it makes sense, doesn’t it?  Book lovers love all things books.  And, we’ll exhaust ourselves for the sake of a good book.  There are long books, short books, wish we had more books.  Have you ever read an author and thought, “I wish more people could connect with this author?”  That’s my experience with Paul Tripp.  Every single thing he writes is productive and helpful for me.  
His latest book, New Morning Mercies, is another book among many.  Tripp’s written devotional type books before.  He’s written the textbooks, the practical books, the pastoral books.  So, what is New Morning Mercies?  It’s a collection of writings from Tripp.  These are written up in short blips to read each day.  You might view this collection of writings as a Tripp Greatest Hits piece.  It’s really him at his finest: probing the heart with thought-provoking meditations so that we’ll be driven to our need of the good news found in Jesus.
So, if you find that you can’t quite navigate the preponderance of books, grab Paul Tripp’s greatest hits, New Morning Mercies, so that you might be engaged at the heart level and be left to go to your Savior.  

Book Review – Final Days of Jesus

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I had the privilege to read and offer this short review of Crossway’s The Final Days of Jesus earlier this month.  This is a fascinating work and one, quite honestly, that you’ll want to have in your library.  It’s written by Andreas Kostenberger and Justin Taylor (here’s a link to Justin’s blog on this book, which gives you a feel for its visual layout).

The table of contents is simple: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  One week.  This book is about one week, but it’s not just any normal week.  It’s the one week in which the lives of so many people have been changed.  It’s the final week of Jesus Christ.

This book takes this final week, imports all the Biblical texts describing this week, harmonizes them, and gives the reader commentary on what’s happening and why it’s so important.  I read this book when lent began a few weeks ago and remember thinking that it would be an amazing book to work through on the Palm Sunday through Easter week.  Even if that doesn’t work, though, this book would prove profitable in helping readers know what happened in this final week of Jesus Christ.

I know this statement will get my nerd card stamped for another year, but this book is cool for its graphics and charts.  I grew up reading the encyclopedia and love those little stat corners of the USA Today.  There are parts of this book where huge amounts of data are cohesively presented as a picture or chart.  Having these are almost worth the price of the book.

So, I’m happy to recommend this book to you.  Read it and allow what the Bible says about the greatest person who ever lived come into clear focus.  Your life won’t be the same by looking at the Final Days of Jesus.