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Books I Read In May 2018

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Like I mentioned in April, I’m trying to do a better job this year of keeping track of books I’ve completed reading.  As usual, there are some books/things, I’m always working in like the Bible (praying through the Psalms of the Day and doing lots of reading in 1 Peter in different translations), Sonship, as well as Crestview’s Leadership Pipeline material.  In May I also did the He Reads Truth book on Psalms for Prayer.

In May, I was also able to work through the following:

The Gospel Comes with a House Key – Rosaria Butterfield
How To Get Unstuck – Matt Perman
Indestructible Joy for the Next Generations – Edited by David and Sally Michael
No Quick Fix – Andy Naselli
Help for the New Pastor – Charles Wingard
Guidance and the Voice of God – Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne
How The Nations Rage – Jonathan Leeman
Expository Exultation – John Piper
Mom, Dad…What’s Sex – Jessica Thompson and Joel Fitzpatrick
Eat Move Sleep – Tom Rath
Living Life Backward – David Gibson
The Ideas Industry -Daniel Drezner
Habits of Grace – David Mathis
Now the challenge comes to apply what I’ve learned here.  I hope reading is a part of your life and is shaping you.

Books I Read in April 2018

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Like I mentioned in March, I’m trying to do a better job this year of keeping track of books I’ve completed reading.  As usual, there are some books/things, I’m always working in like the Bible (praying through the Psalms of the Day and doing lots of reading in 1 Peter in different translations), Sonship, as well as Crestview’s Leadership Pipeline material.

In April, I was also able to work through the following:

True Spirituality – Alan Chapple
Under Our Skin – Benjamin Watson
Devotional Doctrine – Aaron Armstrong
A Time for Confidence – Stephen Nichols
Biblical Theology – Nick Roark and Robert Cline
Acts: A Visual Guide – Kevin DeYoung and Chris Ranson
Take Heart – Matt Chandler with David Roark
The challenge, always, is to do something with what I’ve read.  Some of this simply encouraged devotional living.  Many of these books had the effect of giving courage and hope.  So, I hope you’re reading, as well, and, more importantly, being shaped by what you read.

Books I Read in March 2018

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Like I mentioned in February, I’m trying to do a better job this year of keeping track of books I’ve completed reading.  As usual, there are some books/things, I’m always working in like the Bible (praying through the Psalms of the Day and doing lots of reading in 1 Peter in different translations), Sonship, as well as Crestview’s Leadership Pipeline material.

In February 2018, I worked through the following:

Expositional Preaching – David Helm
The Good of Giving Up – Aaron Damiani
Church on the Couch – Jim Elliff
Slower month for me (in terms of reading) with Leadership Reno County, a 9Marks conference, family spring break trip, and Passion week, but I really enjoyed these books and the edification they brought me.

Read The Entire Bible in 2016

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Do you want to read the whole Bible?

The average person reads 200 to 250 words per minute; there are about 775,000 words in the Bible; therefore it takes less than 10 minutes a day to read the whole Bible in a year.  

(For those who like details, there’s a webpage devoted to how long it takes to read each book of the Bible. And if you want a simple handout that has every Bible book with a place to put a check next to every chapter, go to Don Whitney’s checklist.)

(Justin Taylor provides a post on reading the Bible each year, and he’s my source for the above information.)

I love using the ESV Daily Reading Bible.  

You might need lots of grace to accomplish this, so maybe you could try to Bible Reading Plan for Shirkers and Slackers.  

There are many Reading Plans Using the ESV.  

I’ve distributed the Navigator’s Discipleship Journal Plan a lot.  

People have also benefitted from the Bible Eater Plan. 

In terms of a newer resource, J.R. Vassar’s Church At The Cross has a Bible Reading Plan that is sensitive to the church calendar (think Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost and Ordinary Times).  They have daily reading bookmarks you can download.   

Tolle Lege! Take up and read!

Summer Reading Docket (Update)

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You might remember a few weeks ago, I wrote about my Summer Reading Docket:

I’ve made some great progress on this:  For instance, I read…

Just Ride: A Practical Guide To Riding Your Bike by Grant Peterson
Just as I hoped, it provided some good, practical tips for riding.  

Side By Side: Walking With Others in Wisdom and Love by Ed Welch
About halfway done with this and reading this as a devotional each morning.  Soul penetrating with good questions towards application. 

The Matheny Manifesto by Mike Matheny
I wish I could give a copy to EVERY PERSON involved in youth sports.  So good.  It’s even affected how I support my kids in summer baseball.  

God Dwells Among Us by Greg Beale
Good, easy to read Biblical Theology.  There are some interesting ideas set forth here, but, when you consider these in light of the Biblical storyline, many resonate with truth.  

The Pastor and Counseling by Jeremy Pierre
Very practical help for allowing to Bible to be wielded in the lives of busy pastors.  

India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha
It’s 800 pages long, roughly, but getting a lot of practical information on the backstory of India.  

What Does The Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung
This is a great, clear, relevant unpacking of the Biblical view of marriage as well as some of the pushback against that vision.  Many will be helped by this.  

Testimony of the Beloved Disciple by Richard Bauckham
Bauckham sees things differently that I do in many areas, but he is a great scholar on John and has given me some good things to think about.  

I’m also (continuing to) work my way through Andrew Fuller’s sermons (I’m using the Logos edition)…

Tony Reinke’s book Newton on the Christian Life emerged, spoke and conquered me.  What a book.  It’s excellent.  I have some copies if you’d like to read this.  I’d be happy to give you one.  I agree with Ray Ortlund, Jr. who said that for some, this may be one of the most important books they ever read.  This is like sitting across for coffee with someone who’s thought about a lot of life and application.  Newton speaks clear through Reinke’s pen.  You’ll love this, I promise.  

I still anticipate Don Whitney’s Praying the Bible for the summer.


I grabbed Keller’s book on Preaching and am working through it.  Vintage Keller.  

Also, I grabbed the NSBT on Trinity in John’s Gospel.  That’s going to be fun. 

I would reiterate, though, I am not allowing this reading to crowd out reading the Bible.  I’m spending a lot of time in 1 John these days.  So if you dig these recommendations, why not dig into 1 John with me this summer.  Just read a chapter each weekday and you’ll be steeping long and with much fruit.  Tolle Lege!  

Some Reading…

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Finished up a few books recently, so here’s some little blurbs about each of them:

God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology by Jim Hamilton
I took my time and plodded through this a few pages at a time each evening for a few months.  I love God’s glory.  I believe it defines what we’re to ultimately be living for.  So, I really resonated with Hamilton and his thorough approach to uncover this theme throughout the Bible.  He even had a chapter that answered some objections of people who don’t see things the way he does.  And, the book ended with a section I loved with what this means to life and ministry.  I would highly recommend this volume to anyone who would like to take the time to see what God is up to in the Bible.

Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Stuff by Stephen Altrogge
This was a very easy read, but a helpful, how do I put it?, kick in the pants to get about living a creative life.  Many excuse their apparent lack of creativity saying, “Well, I’m just not gifted.” And, Stephen takes time to show how not only you are creative, since you are created in the image of a Creative God, but also how this imprint on your creative design is meant to be acted upon.  He gets at motives, excuses we make and how we can take small steps to improve in our creativity.  I was very helped by this short read and benefitted accordingly.

Father Hunger: Why God Calls Men to Love and Lead Their Families by Doug Wilson
Another helpful book by Wilson on manhood.  I had the privilege of hearing Wilson speak on this subject at the Desiring God Conference for Pastors earlier this year.  The big call in this book is for men to take responsibility.  This is the definition of masculinity he gets at in this book: “The joyful accepting of responsibility.”  There are numerous ways Wilson applies this and gets at both the need and application of these kind of men for the good of society and the church.  Again, a helpful read to encourage men to men.

So, these are a few.  Take your time this summer to read through a book and find your soul nourished and your life pointing to God Himself.