In my experience, people’s approach to daily Bible reading and prayer is quite a personal thing. Some folk prefer to use daily Bible reading notes, and happily use the same notes year after year. Others chop and change for variety, or to find notes that suit them.
In the mornings, I’ve found the Good Book Company’s new ‘God’s Word for You’ series very helpful. I’ve used all three titles so far - Galatians for You, Judges for You and Romans 1-7 for You and plan to read more as they come out.
The series is triple-barrelled: they are for us to Read, Feed and Lead.
Each chapter of the book of the Bible being studied – in this review, Romans – is covered by one chapter in the study book, and is split into two parts. I’ve found one ‘Part’ an ideal length to read for one day’s Bible reading. Be advised that sometimes Part 1 and Part 2 cover different verses from the set chapter, at other times, each Part considers the whole chapter, but from two different angles.... continue reading
“It doesn’t look like a church!” was the comment of a former Catholic coming to our church for the first time. (Admittedly, it was our old wood and asbestos structure, once thought to be a “disused woodyard” by a passer-by. We have re-built it since!). To her, a plain building, with no crucifixes, images of Mary, incense or candles was simply not ‘a church’.
Another Catholic who came to our church recently was very surprised at the Bible-centred preaching. “The Bible is never mentioned at our church”, they said.
We’ve all no doubt had comments from Catholic friends, family or work colleagues along the lines of “I go to confession, but I still feel guilty afterwards for the wrong things I know I’ve done – and I can’t seem to find any peace”, or “I go to Mass, and pray the prayers that are expected, but there’s something different about you and your church. You seem to have a personal relationship with God, and you study the Bible for yourselves”.... continue reading
A great article and review from Timothy Keller of Sam Allberry's book, Is God Anti-Gay?, originally written for Redeemer Report: Renewing the City Socially, Spiritually & Culturally.
Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality
by Wesley Hill
Zondervan, 2010
Is God Anti-Gay? Questions Christians Ask
by Sam Allberry
The Good Book Co., 2013
The relationship of homosexuality to Christianity is without doubt one of the main subjects of cultural conversation today. If you are a Christian in New York City, it is nearly impossible to talk about your faith without this subject being raised. Although it is not central to the gospel message at the heart of Christianity, right now the cultural moment requires that we be prepared to address this issue whenever we are publicly identified as Christians.
A sign of this cultural moment is the wave of new books—from very divergent points of view—that have come out recently treating this topic. People who attend Redeemer will either come across the books themselves, or will have their basic arguments presented to them in shorter forms online. So over the next few months I will be reviewing several of these books. It’s my way as a pastor to point people to those volumes that both fit in with biblical teaching and are pastorally wise and sensitive, as well as those books that, for all their good intentions, are mistaken and unhelpful.... continue reading
Below is an engaging book review from our friends at the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood on Sam Allberry's, "Is God Anti-Gay?" The original review appeared on their blog here and is written by Chris Sarver.
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On campuses across the United States, the number of believing college students who have confided with their friends, pastors, and campus ministers that they struggle with same-sex attraction (SSA) is on the rise. For instance, on a 2013 summer missions project, nearly one in five male and female college students anonymously indicated that they had in the past engaged in “some sort of sexual activity with a person of the same gender.” Likewise, over the course of the last decade, I have seen a distinct rise in the number of students who have cyber-sexed with others of the same gender or viewed homosexual-themed pornography.... continue reading
The Christian life is hard. I'm sure you will have noticed! We are saved from sin and heading for eternal bliss but at this moment in time we're far from perfect and still rubbing shoulders with messed up people in a messed up place. We live in tension. The tension that comes from having a foot in two worlds - the present age and the age to come. And every day brings a struggle of some description.
Of course, we don't like that tension. Most of us would prefer it to disappear. Sometimes we try to make it disappear either by compromising our faith to make life easier or by believing the misinformation that some teachers spout - that we can have wealth, ease, almost complete victory over sickness and temptation in the here and now. If only!
John Chapman's book is to the point. It's real about what life is like. It helps us to gain perspective on this daily tension. It teaches what the Bible says about life between Jesus' first coming and his second. And it spurs us on to live faithfully, in the power of the Spirit, gradually becoming more like Jesus while in the thick of the mess that characterises our world and our hearts. And it does all that in about 75 pages.
As with all books penned by Chapman, it's accessible, engaging, biblical and practical. There are moments which will make you smile and moments that will convict your heart. It's packed with examples from his personal experience which brings great warmth to the writing. But its real strength lies in its simplicity. It's perfect to read in one sitting (though if you want to move more slowly and use the discussion guide at the back, that's fine too). And it simply spurs you to keep persevering in the present and keep rejoicing in the future. No compromise. No false hope. Just a clear call to fix your eyes on the wonder of Jesus and keep putting one foot in front of the other. And, quite frankly, that's message we all need to hear from time to time.
Want to buy a copy of A Foot In Two Worlds? Click HERE.
This is an unusual book. It has daily thoughts, usually just one page, sometimes with a well-chosen Bible text, giving 50 practical ways to care for a loved one with cancer.
The author, June Hunt, is an American who has herself suffered from cancer and experienced the blessing of family and friends rallying around to give specific, practical help, who herself now joins with others to help care for loved ones with cancer.
June is founder of Hope for the Heart, a worldwide biblical counselling ministry and a half-hour radio broadcast of the same name, and is also the author of numerous books and devotionals.
Each day she shares at least one tip from her own experience as to how to express practical care – on pain relief, physical comfort, stimulating the mind and senses, where to seek medical advice etc. There is a tremendous variety of ideas given, many extremely creative - or just simple, but excellent.... continue reading
It was an embarrassing moment. “It’s gone out on Twitter and Facebook” said our blog editor. Having been (I admit it) rude about those who regularly use social media, I was rather astonished to find that my first book review for the Good Book Company blog had also gone out on social media – and had, within a few minutes, been read by folk in South Africa and the U.S.A.!
This led me to a more considered response (!).
Twitter has done much good in exposing what is really happening in Iran, the Arab Spring countries and Syria, for example, and reading Tim Chester’s little book, Will you be my Facebook friend?, has been very helpful in reflecting upon the positive and negative sides of YouTube, emails, Facebook and Twitter etc.... continue reading
I’d been praying for a chance for months. A chance to share my faith with this guy I saw each week after church. But when the opportunity finally arose, I ended up talking about brownies instead of the Bible! And as I left the room I knew I’d blown it. I’d completely messed up.
Ever felt like that? Useless? Utterly unprepared? It’s not pleasant. But at some point in our lives – in school or at home, in relationships or at work – all of us will discover how truly weak we are.
And that’s what Hero (UK and US) is about. Author Jonty Allcock shows how God uses and equips weak people to bring about his great plans with a famous account from the book of Judges.... continue reading
It was after the Sunday evening service. My (then) minister asked me if he could have a chat with me. He sat me down and said, “Richard, I think you have clinical depression”. As he is one of my best friends, this got my attention!
I had been feeling very low for a year, and knew the reason why - but then we all feel like that sometimes, don’t we? –yet, that I had ‘clinical depression’ had never occurred to me.
My pastor told me of two other people at church who were clinically depressed (which was very helpful, as we could compare notes), said that medication had helped them both, and suggested I saw my GP (which I did).
All this led me to start reading Christian books on the subject, to try to understand better what I was experiencing, and how to cope with, and hopefully come through, the depression.... continue reading
Most people sitting in the pews of our churches on a Sunday morning spend more time in the workplace than anywhere else. Yet we can too easily make following Christ a matter of personal devotions and church activity. The nine to five routine becomes irrelevant to my Christian life. The result is a huge hole in our discipleship. It’s this hole that Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, seeks to fill in his latest book, Every Good Endeavour: Connecting Your Work to God’s Plan for the World.
It’s divided into three parts which correspond to creation, fall and redemption. Keller powerfully demonstrates the significance and dignity of work in the Bible story. His exposition of Luther’s understanding of work is a highlight, especially the link between justification by faith and the dignity of work. Work is not incidental to following Christ. He then explores the frustrations of work and its potential dehumanizing effects. He is, as fans of Keller might expect, particularly strong on the idolatries of work. The final part shows how the gospel gives us a new understanding of work. We have both a new story (so our work is shaped by a biblical worldview) and a new power for work. One of the most helpful sections is Keller’s exposition of common grace which enables him to value the contribution of unbelievers and steer us away from life in a ghetto.... continue reading