All posts tagged Books

A Few Good Men

by Hugh on January 24, 2009 in Books, Faith with No comments

A Few Good Men is an encouraging read, designed to spur Christian men on in their faith through the example of Biblical heroes of the faith. Author, Richard Coekin (Co-Mission, London Men’s Convention) takes us to these heroes and applies the good principles of how they lived and applies it to us, here and now. He uses the following 10 examples, drawing on one particular aspect of their character:

Obedient Noah, Sacrificial Abraham, Self-disciplined Joseph, Unworldly Moses, Wholehearted Caleb, Humble Isaiah, Distinctive Daniel, Pastoral Paul, Prayerful Epaphras, and Loyal Onesiphorus.

Each chapter includes the Bible text telling the story of one of these heroes. Coekin then rewrites the story in his own words drawing out the situations and characters in the stories, helping the reader to really grasp what’s going on, after reading that you feel a lot closer to understanding the character. From this point Coekin helps us to apply the principles of godly character into our own situations; at home, at the workplace, at university etc.

The chapters conclude with some extra biblical background information on the character, and then some group discussion questions in light of the applications of the chapter. There is also a concluding 11th chapter conclusion… “Jesus: the perfect man”… Coekin finishes by showing how Jesus is the fulfilment of all these heroes and how he shows perfection in all of these godly characteristics.

The book is an enjoyable read, it’s helped greatly by Coekin’s retelling sections, they help you to understand what’s going on, each chapter is almost like a short commentary/biography on the character – very useful. The book has great story telling, great application and it’s always grounded in and directs the reader to the cross of Christ.

Having said that one of my concerns in the way the book is written is that it may come across as a little bit religious. While the book is aimed to spur Christians on, and it’s made clear that Jesus is the only perfect man, Coekin ignores the massive failures of these men, reading some chapters just made me feel a bit rubbish, I feel the book could be better if it also picked up on these men’s failures and the grace that kept them. So it was great that Coekin always took us to the cross, but I felt it needed the GRACE of God in the cross and in the lives of these men to be emphasised more.

I do highly commend it, great to read, great as a resource looking at Biblical characters, and I’m sure it would be great for a men’s group to read together and discuss. Get your copy from the Good Book Company, only £7.

Spectacular Sins

by Hugh on January 6, 2009 in Books, Faith with No comments

Me and my dad are both reading one of John Piper’s recent books – ‘Spectacular Sins and their global purpose in the glory of Christ’. It’s a book about God being in complete control of EVERYTHING, and not just that it’s about EVERYTHING having one purpose – to give God glory… everything means everything, even the worst sins ever committed in human history!

“At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God’s grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.

Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ. That’s the meaning of evil. In the death of Christ, the powers of darkness did their best to destroy the glory of the Son of God. This is the apex of evil. But instead they found themselves quoting the script of the ancient prophecy and acting the part assigned by God. Precisely in putting Christ to death, they put his glory on display – the very glory they aimed to destroy. The apex of evil achieved the apex of the glory of Christ. The glory of grace.”

John Piper, Spectacular Sins [pg. 12]

When I read this it blew me away, and this is just part of the introduction! I’m going to give a full review when I finish reading it… shouldn’t be long, it’s hard to put down!

Why I like the Prodigal God

by Hugh on December 31, 2008 in Books, Faith with No comments

I finally got round to finishing Tim Keller’s ‘The Prodigal God’, it’s not a long book, I’m just a slow reader and easily distracted! If you want a summary of the book, I would say… Tim Keller through the Parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15) exposes how we look for hope in the world – through the emptiness of sensual living (like the younger son) or through the folly of moral obedience (like the elder son), he shows us how living in these ways cause us to be lost. But he shows us the hope of a third way, the hope of the gospel, the hope that comes only from God’s lavish grace given in Jesus.

Here’s some reasons why I like the book, other than the previous sentence:

It helps you to see things differently – particularly in exposes the true cost of bringing the younger son back and the true heart of the elder brother
There are loads of little mini Bible overviews of themes running throughout; the Father, the true elder brother, Sin, forgiveness, repentance, exile, lostness, Hope, Home, feasts
Keller does faithful exposition, practical, relevant application and Biblical overview all in the same chapter
I don’t really read novels, but it’s great for people who do… Keller seamlessly interweaves the narrative of secular novels by way of illustration into his writing
Keller’s assertions are backed up through the writings of philosophers, it’s intellectually robust

Finally I loved Keller’s concluding acknowledgement to the influence of Edmund Clowney in his ministry:

“He also taught me that it was possible to be theologically sound and completely orthodox and yet unfailing gracious – a rare and precious combination.”

This is a definite must-read, go and get it – £10 from the Good Book Company.

Hopes and Dreams

by Hugh on December 22, 2008 in Faith, Life with 1 Comment

There seems to be a sense, then, in which we are all like the younger brother. We are all exiles, always longing for home. We are all travelling, never arriving. The houses and families we acually inhabit are only inns along the way, but they aren’t home. Home continues to evade us…

…The Bible says that we have been wandering as spiritual exiles ever since. That is, we have been living in a world that no longer fits our deepest longings. Though we long for bodies that “run and are not weary,” we have become subject to disease, aging, and death. Though we need love that lasts, all our relationships are subject to the inevitable entropy of time, and they crumble in our hands. Even people who stay true to us die and leave us, or we die and leave them. Though we long to make a difference in the world through our work, we experience endless frustration. We never fully realise our hopes and dreams. We may work hard to re-create the home that we have lost, but, says the Bible, it only exists in the presence of the heavenly father from which we have fled.

Tim Keller, The Prodigal God [pg 95-96]

Some links…

by Hugh on October 7, 2008 in Random with 2 Comments

Well I may not have blogged that much recently… there’s plenty of posts to come, some are drafted already, but alas no time… however, I have been reading around…

Should you support Christian bookshops rather than Amazon??

I have mixed feelings which I’ve been discussing on Phil Whittall’s blog here and here.

Preaching Notes

I’m trying to work out the best way to do this… I like note form rather than script… Josh Harris has been publishing some well known preachers notes… my favourites are; CJ Mahaney, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll.

Matt Chandler starts blogging

Love this guy. Loving him preaching on Luke, and pleased to hear he’s now got a blog called Dwell Deep.

Desiring God conference – The Power of Words and the Wonder of God

Piper, Driscoll, Ferguson, Kauflin, Tripp etc. check out the audio and video

Driscoll in Syndey and Jensen’s response

18 point critique of Sydney Anglicans (given that British Evangelical Anglicans steal all their ideas from Sydney, they pretty much all apply here too!)… 18 Obstacles to Effective Evangelism

Jensen gives his thoughts in response

….still coming soon will be some book reviews and the finishing off of some old posts

Mark Driscoll on Good Book Company

by Hugh on August 19, 2008 in Books, Faith with No comments

Good news. Not only are the Good Book Company selling Mark Driscoll books, but they are cheaper than Amazon!! The little ‘Book you’ll actually read’ books are selling for just �5!! And I expect there’ll be a little discount on top of that if you have a UCCF student card. On Amazon they’ll cost you �6.29… you fools who bought from Amazon, get them cheap from GBC!!

News to come soonish about some books for men (grrr) and bible reading notes for adults and young people available from the Good Book Company.

Ps. Tom, if you’re reading, I hope you will complete the collection… Radical Reformission and Confessions?? Don’t forget also Death by Love and Vintage Church coming soon. You saw how popular they were at Dwell!!

Pps. Emily, if you’re reading, got the books and study notes (thank you), will review soon! Holiday reading

EMA 2008 (Day 1)

by Hugh on June 25, 2008 in Faith with No comments

EMA 2008

Today I went to the first day of a 3 day conference called the Evangelical Ministry Assembly, it’s run by the Proclamation Trust at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in central London. This is the 25th year of the conference and the theme this year is Preaching – “Him We Proclaim”.

Christopher Ash – Why Preaching?

He gave a defence of preaching, stating that preaching works because it transcends cultural differences – although we can add our own constraints to it. He spoke about the authority of the preacher (a borrowed authority) and the ‘prophetic’ nature of preaching.

Simon Austen – Ephesians

This was an expostion of Ephesians 1 and 2 focusing on the themes of identity and what it means to be Church.

Steve Timmis – ‘Getting in touch with God’s global mission’

This was my choice from the seminar stream, ended up sitting next to the Big Moon Man. Steve started with two underlying principles: Theology – Who is God? and Ecclesiology – What is the Church? He took us to Revelation 4 & 5, revealing that God’s mission is all about his Son. Then to Ephesians, seeing that Christ rules his Church (his body) and that it is called to live as “communities of light”.

He then went through ’10 Top Tips’ answering questions along the way, here are those tips;

Be ravished by Christ
Preach, teach and gossip Christ
Extend your boundaries of application beyond “read Bible, pray more, tell someone about Jesus”
Plant churches among unreached people groups around you
Get your church involved in another part of the world
Work from a realistic, achievable activity to a transforming one
Work from realistic giving, to sacrificial giving
Give away your best
Recognise mutual benefit
Keep it about God’s Kingdom, not yours

John Woodhouse – Colossians

Whoever does the last session has a tough job, it’s pretty stuffy, a lot of people are tired from the day plus travelling to get there… I’ll be gracious and say I was too tired to concentrate.

Packer in Eastbourne

by Hugh on June 25, 2008 in Faith with 5 Comments

Last night I went to Holy Trinity Eastbourne to listen to Dr. J.I. Packer speak, the title of his talk was ‘Lessons to be learned from the Canadian Church Experience’. This comes in response to the rumblings in the Anglican church and the personal experiences of Jim Packer and other Canadian ministers in dealing with their liberal Bishop, Michael Ingham. 3 months ago I blogged about these issues, Packers De-licensing and his response to Ingham.

With that background in mind Packer set out to define 4 terms involved in the current debates:

Orthodoxy - Packer sees this as a synonym for Evangelicalism which focuses on the teaching of the Bible (because it acknowledges the authority of the Bible) and on the message of the Gospel (being based on Faith and Repentance).
Anglicanism - He highlighted two different views, those who saw Anglicanism as being bound up with historical practises (defined by traditions) and those who saw it as being defined by principles, as contained in the Creeds, Prayer Book, 39 Articles etc. Packer made it clear he stood in the 2nd camp – Anglicanism is based on principles. He also stated that he believed Anglicanism is “the richest version of Evangelicalism that the world has seen”.
Liberalism - Dr. Packer used 4 S’s to define liberalism…
- Subordinates Scripture to the culture and individualistic Christian experience
- Sanctifies the Secular
- Scales down the Supernatural
- Sweeps away Biblical Standards
Homosexuality - He basically made it clear that he was talking about the practise and not the temptation. Packer gave examples of temptations and how we should not yield to them and included homosexual temptations in this – we should not yield to the temptations because the actions are defined as sin by the Bible.

Dr. Packer went on to give the basic facts about his situation in the Canadian church, the history, how it happened and how things stand now. He highlighted the changing situation, that Bishops are no longer just theoretical heretics but are heretics in what the practise. He referred to Acts 27:27, Paul in the storm and used this as a metaphor to speak of being faithful through the storm in the hope of reaching land.

Big Jim then addressed 4 questions in conclusion…

What is God doing to the Anglican Communion?
- Purging of liberalism
- Preparing faithful Anglicans for counter-cultural and enterprising mission
What is the pattern of ‘alternative oversight’ doing to the Anglican Communion?
- Drawing together a fellowship of the Orthodox
- Parallel jurisdictions are disrupting the traditional diocese/province model
What are those who have ‘realigned’ to do now?
- Pioneer faithful Christian outreach
- Renewal of teaching, mission and discipleship
How should English Evangelicals react?
- Watch and Pray

The question-time that followed came up with the usual questions from slightly ‘un-balanced’ folk, and a few good ones – “Dr. Packer, if you could have 5 minutes with the Archbishop of Cantebury, what would you say?”…

Packer stated that Rowan Williams’ views about homosexuality (documented before becoming A of C, and not changed since) mean that he is not qualified to lead the Anglican Communion and enforce rules layed down at Lambeth in 1998. Big Jim was clear, “Rowan Williams should resign”!

It so happened that earlier in the day I’d done some computer training with the Holy Trinity office staff, so as payment I got 3 free Packer books – God has Spoken, 18 Words, and Growing in Christ… good times.

Don’t Panic

by Hugh on June 13, 2008 in Books, Faith with No comments

$Don\'t Panic$ You may well be in the middle of exams, you may have finished, either way I need to let you know about a great little resource from the Good Book Company called ‘Don’t Panic!‘. DP is written by Martin Cole and Andrew Roycroft and is essentially a 4-week Bible study guide to help you through exams.

The main ‘feature’ of the booklet is 4 weeks of very short Bible study / devotional times, with the aim of helping us to focus and trust in Christ at difficult times. The studies are simple and help to get our priorities sorted. We start in Nehemiah, go to the Gospels, Psalms, 1 Peter, Colossians and a few other passages here and there. They’re not deep studies going through whole books or chapters, but simple thoughts to get us to put God at the centre when there’s plenty of stressful things competing for our attention.

Each week also includes both a revision timetable and prayer diary to fill in. The booklet is very easy to keep with you during your revision and easy to turn to at any time. There’s also 3 Su Doku, and some word puzzles, the latter were too difficult for me, but it makes for a better revision break than Facebook! There’s also some short articles about how to revise and how to cope with the stress that exams bring, and an interview with a real student, particularly helpful because it’s so honest and down to earth!

Criticisms – I think the cover looks silly, and it would be nice to have the Bible passages printed in the booklet so you can be out revising and not have to carry a big Bible as well. But these are minor things, basically this is a great idea, not one that’s been done before to my knowledge, and it’s been done really well – clear, simple, biblical and God-focused. If you’re a student get it! If you’re a parent, get it for your kids! If you’re a teacher buy it for Christian students you know! If you’re a youth leader, get copies for everyone in your youth group! If you’re involved in running a CU, why not invest in a few copies for your members?

It’s a real bargain at �2.50, and the usual discounts are available if you’re buying in bulk for a group or if you have a UCCF Student Card. I’m hoping there’ll be a new edition out for next year, with new studies perhaps, new puzzles, new articles? News coming soon about some new Bible reading notes from the Good Book Company…

Reason for God

by Hugh on April 1, 2008 in Books, Faith with No comments

So chapter 1 of Reason for God, following the introduction, Keller addresses the issue that he says he hears frequently in his ministry, he sums it up with the word ‘exclusivity’. That is people taking issue with religions that make truth claims and then who try to persuade others of those claims and who refute the truth claims of other religions. The argument put against religions making truth claims is to say, firstly that all religions are basically the same – equally true (or equally false), and also to say that the divisiveness between these exclusive claims is what causes so much of the war and violence in the world.

Keller talks through the 3 main responses to the problem of religion: to outlaw religion, to condemn religion, or to keep religion private. He then goes on to explain why these responses don’t work, and are inconsistent.

Outlaw Religion – take the 20th Century, the regimes that claim religions cause war and violence have suppressed those beliefs with more brutal violence. The belief that as we advance technologically we would evolve out of religious beliefs has been proved untrue. Those countries that have tried to outlaw Christianity have failed, China being the obvious example.

Condemn Religion - that is by argument and education to make religious belief socially unacceptable. There are several objections raised in this section, “All religions are essentially the same“, “Each religion only sees part of the truth“, “Religious beliefs are culturally and historically conditioned“, and that “Religious beliefs are arrogant“. Keller in essence argues that all these criticisms find their root in unprovable, exclusive claims, and in making the objections reveal their own arrogance, and therefore hypocrisy.

Keep Religion Private - I guess this is a big thing at the moment with all the news about voting on embryo research… Keller argues that we all have religious beliefs (a set of beliefs formed to answer life’s big questions), and that whether we’d call ourselves religious or secular these ‘religious beliefs’ affect all areas of our life – the secularist still makes decisions based on religious beliefs.

There are a number of things I like about Keller’s approach here… firstly he doesn’t assume too much, he’s not specifically talking about Christianity or referencing the Bible, he’s dealing with more basic issues, yet at a level which is intellectually and philosophically robust. Secondly he’s well researched, quoting both secular and Christian academics, using the secular philosophers writings to prove his points – clever! Thirdly, he’s gracious, he exposes the folly and hypocrisy of some arguments, but does not then become proud in his writing, but urges engagement with the big questions. Finally, he’s honest, he doesn’t try and get out of the facts, mainly that religions are divisive and do cause problems!

Keller concludes with a well worked in (not just crowbarred in) explanation of the Gospel of Grace, of Jesus Christ the sacrifice for sinful humans, and the example of unity and peace in truth.

You can listen to the talk on Exclusivity from Redeemer.

Remember I said about Tim Keller doing a talk at a Google Authors event… well here’s the video from that…