This week
This week
Love the Ones Who Drive You Crazy: Eight Truths for Pursuing Unity in your Church by Jamie DunlopWe all know the familiar texts on the importance of brotherly love and unity in the church. But are we honest with ourselves about our commitment to this? Especially unity with 'those people' - the ones who, whether by personality or personal conduct, actually wind us up. We may not show it, we may…
Sermons by William Gadsby (Gospel Standard Publications, 1991)Many have testified to the Christ exalting nature of William Gadsby's sermons. It is to these that I have turned this week, and this extract from a sermon on 'The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad' (Psalm 126:3) illustrates Gadsby's forthright style. His preaching always directed sinners to Christ as their only…
Through Water & Fire by Matthew Wainwright (Wakeman, 2023).Matthew Wainwright has written another brilliant historical novel! Through Water & Fire is set in the exciting times of Tudor England when Tyndale's translation of the New Testament is being smuggled illegally into the hands of the common man and the truths of the Reformation are becoming more widely understood.Into the…
Evangelical Pharisees by Michael Reeves, (Crossway, 2023)In Evangelical Pharisees Michael Reeves is writing to Christian believers on the theme of hypocrisy. He writes out of a concern to see orthodoxy in doctrine not just remaining as head knowledge, but leading to a change in heart and life. In the first chapter, 'Beware of the Leaven', Reeves reminds us that Jesus was also concerned ab…
Why Everything Matters - The Gospel in Ecclesiastes by Philip G. Ryken (Christian Focus Publications, 2015)Ecclesiastes can be a tricky book to grasp on an immediate reading and this layman's guide (the author has written a fuller commentary for scholars) unpicks the literary style and pinpoints the main themes in short chapters that are applied to the modern reader. This is not a verse by…
The Balanced Pastor by John Benton (Grace Publications, 2023).After many years in pastoral ministry John Benton is now Director for Pastoral Support at the Pastor's Academy, London Seminary. This book is actually an omnibus edition of three recent booklets but is nevertheless slim and concise. The subjects covered are:-Identifying and avoiding spiritual abuse in the church ('Servant S…
The Church of Acts Two - The Scriptural Pattern for the Church Today by Matthew Hyde (Gospel Standard Publications, 2023).This book is made up of five sermons preached at Galeed Chapel, Brighton. They are sermons to a particular church within a particular denomination, but they have relevance to all who are seeking to understand and walk out the foundational pattern for churches described …
Memorable Loss - A Story of Friendship in the Face of Dementia by Karen Martin (Christian Focus Publications, 2023)This is like no other book I have read before! The author, Karen Martin, writes in a narrative non-fiction form which I found compelling. The story of her friendship with an older lady who goes on to develop Alzheimer's disease flows in and around technical descriptions of the…
Clothed with Strength by Sarah Allen (10Publishing, 2023)What a fascinating account of four exceptional women Sarah Allen has written! These are women who are not well known, but who each identified a need in the community they were in and quietly set about trying to make a difference. The way this was done looked different for each woman, sometimes their efforts were very practical, somet…
The Distinctiveness of Baptist Covenant Theology - A Comparison between Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist and Paedobaptist Federalism by Pascal Denault (Solid Ground Christian Books, 2017)Pascal Denault (Eglise Evangelique de St-Jerome, Qc) has performed an excellent service to all Particular/Reformed Baptists today in seeking to approach Covenant Theology from a Baptist viewpoint. Hi…