Book Review - Songs of a Suffering King (10/10)

One of the hardest things for a preacher to do is to find Christ in all of Scripture. This difficulty lies not in the text itself, but in the preachers themselves. As we are reminded from the story of what happened when Jesus walked with the disciples to Emmaus in Luke 24. We see how Jesus had no difficulty in trying to explain how all of scripture concerns him rather it was the disciples who were slow of heart!

The Psalms, in my opinion are one the of the most overlooked books in this aspect. John Fesko has written an excellent book to cover this gap. In this book, Fesko shows the readers exactly what the Psalms are: Songs. Next, Fesko is always careful to exegete the passage in it’s original context and bringing out it’s application from there. Finally, Fesko brings out Christ, not by force but naturally from the text. This is where Fesko really excels in this book. He is able to help readers see how each of the Psalm, from Psalm 1 to 8, is directly link to Jesus!

So within each of the chapters, Fesko expounds of the psalm faithfully and biblically. Although personally I not agree with the flow proposed by Fesko from Psalm 1 to 8, I do see that Fesko is able to link each of them from to the another and each from the context of David, and then to Jesus. Fesko should be applauded from his valiant effort! This is no easy feat to say the least. One can only lament that Fesko has not continued for the next 142 psalm. I highly recommend and anticipate Fesko to carry on this series so the whole of the psalms would be covered. And I recommend pastors to give this a thorough read, see how each and every psalm can preached in context and also be connected to Christ. One of the clearest books on how Christ can be seen in the psalms so far in the market currently, this is truly Christ-centred preaching at its’ finest.

Rating: 4.75 / 5

If you're interested, you can get it here and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Bible Project - Going Through the Bible in 5 mins (6/10)

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEh25pduQ8&feature=youtu.be[/embed]

Book Review - Can I Really Trust the Bible (26/9)

The Bible has come under many attacks through its history. While this is not unexpected, many christians, and some non-christians after they had read the bible for themselves may be driven to put their trust into what the bible say. But they might really be uncertain about it. In our day and age, it is never advised to dive too deeply into anything. So should a christian really put their whole trust in this book? The answer, of course is, definitely we must!

So why should we? Barry Cooper offers 3 answers to why we can put our total trust on the Bible. Furthermore these are not five unrelated answers, rather these are answers flow very well one after another.

First Cooper examines the bible’s claim, does it claim to be God’s word? The answer as will be clear from the book (and from the bible) that it definitely does! Not only does it claim to be God’s word, it has never claims to be anything less than the very word(s) of God. This claim is seen both from what the authors of the individual ‘books’ of the bible says, this is also supported by what Jesus Himself claims it is, the words of God.

Next, Cooper explores to see if the bible seems to be God’s word. In this section, he deals with the archeological and textual support for the bible as a historically accurate document. Showing the readers how if the bible does claim to be the words of God, then these evidences ‘fits’ into it’s claims. If it’s truly God’s Word, wouldn't He, even after 2000 years ensure that we get an accurate message from Him? And He does! What wonderful news is that! He also deals with the questions about the canon of the bible — Why are some books considered to be within the bible, and why are some others excluded? Cooper has also added in a very succinct explanation what evangelical means when we say the bible is without errors and also what it doesn’t mean. I’m sure this will clear up some doubts people have not he inerrancy on scripture.

Lastly, Cooper calls the read to taste and see that the bible is God’s word. I believe that is truly a good way to sum up this book. Far too often, critics of bible do not spend much time actually reading the book they are critiquing. Of course, not everyone who then reads the bible will end up convicted that it is God’s word. But yes, we do believe God’s word is still alive today, if we read His words, He might very well convict us that this book, is no ordinary book, it is rather the very Word of God.

Highly recommend for new believers who are struggling with questions about the bible, those who would like more ‘evidences’ might have to supplement their answers with other materials. But this is a really succinct book that will answer quite a lot of questions that one might have about the Bible. This is the fourth book I’ve read in this series, and have found it extremely helpful! Looking forward to the rest of the series!

Ratings: 4.25 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested you can get it here, and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

And here's the (cheeky) trailer for the book.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPr9jM3ACJ8[/embed]

Book Review - How will the world end? (Questions Christians Ask) (26/8)

Judging by the number of movies that have been released based on world ending events, we are a people who are thoroughly fascinated about how the world will end!  Furthermore, If as a faithful christian you have ever tried to read through the notes on the ESV study bible on the book of revelation, you often go away puzzled. Now you can begin to understand why so many faithful sincere christians can differ so much on this one single book in the New Testament!

So it was with delight to see this book being published. Jeramie Rinne has given us a very easy to read and understand book on an extremely important topic — the return of Jesus! — the day that all christians have been looking forward to. However this topic is often filled with jargons and technicalities that discourages the simple christian from attempting to understand it deeply.

First, Rinne analyses the scene of the common responses people have towards revelation, next Rinne goes through briefly and succinctly about the various issues with regards to the return of Christ, such as,

What will the end of world look like, according to the bible?

What will the world look like when Christ is returning?

How will the return of Christ be like?

Next, Rinne then gives a very short but extremely helpful explanation about the various millennials and also the 4 or 5 main school of thoughts for understanding the book of revelation. I felt that this chapter is exceptionally well written, and worth the price of the book. It is able to doe what many books are unable to do, to explain them simply, but not being simplistic.

In the last 2 chapters, Rinne first very aptly talks about what will happen after Jesus returns — the judgement and the new heavens and new earth that awaits us. Following which, Rinne follows up with a chapter on how we should live now. This chapter is often missing or not seen in the books that tries to explain about the book of revelation. It equips the readers not just to be filled with head knowledge, but also with practical application points of how to live while we wait for Jesus to return.  Included in the book are also very common questions that people often asked such as ‘Why is the return of Christ taking so long? Who is the Anti-christ? Will there be a secret rapture?’ and many more.

I hope this book receives as wide a readership as it deserves. Simply a well written, insightful and sublime book. I’ll be recommending this book for anyone who wants to begin to understand the book of revelation.

Rating: 4.75 /5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested you can get it here, and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

Book Review - Victory through the Lamb (24/8)

When you mention the book of revelation, often people find this book confusing and hard to understand, and for good reason — we’ve been studying this book for the past 2000 years and still haven't come to have a good grip at the book!

However, Mark Wilson has done a great service to the christian community by producing a book that aims to explain this difficult book in plain language, and he does just that with this book. Throughout the book, Wilson wants to the reader to read it through 2 perspectives, one of suffering and the other of victory. On the surface, it does seem to be quite irony/contradictory, why would the victorious be suffering or why would the suffering be victorious?

But Wilson manages to weave through these 2 themes throughout the book as he explains the through the book of revelation. Initially, I found it weird for him to include stories of how Christians have suffered in the early beginning of the church before the reading of the bible passage. But as I read on, I found these stories to be gripping and sets the context of suffering very clearly in my mind as I was reading through the first-half of revelation. Wilson has also made the reading of revelation slightly easier by providing his own translation of the biblical text in the book. What his translation does very well is that it helps the readers to catch the different greek words that are used but often translated with the same word, e.g. stephanos and diadem/diddema, which are often translated as crown, and also a quick explain of the word without the need to refer to a dictionary. Secondly, Wilson refers the readers to what the original readers would be very familiar with — the Old Testament allusions used in the book of revelation and thus help the readers see the need for the importance of being familiar with the Old Testament before he/she attempts to interpret revelation. 

What this book does very well is, it does help you understand the book of revelation according to the classical premillennial interpretation. However, Wilson does not support the popular Left Behind pre-tribulational rapture, instead, Wilson firmly believes that the church will face on-going tribulations until our Saviour’s return. Even if you don’t agree with it, you will appreciate the simplicity of how Wilson explains his view in this book. And, if you really don’t want your congregation to be living on the Left Behind series as the only source of understanding revelation, maybe this will be a better alternative that you can point your congregation to.

Rating: 4.25 / 5

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

If you're interested, you can get it here, and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

Pastors, Preach the Word (18/8)

I have one small word of advice for pastors & preachers: PREACH GOD's WORD (boldly)! (pun intended)

I don't know about you, but when I walk into a church service, I want to hear God's Word being preached, and I'm quite certain I'm not the only one. Sure, there are those who are there who would want their ears tickled by some entertaining stories or less preachy sermons. I'm sure out of your deep desire to want to reach out to them you might are almost certain to be less preachy, more entertaining, more jokes here and there, more stories here and there.

But guess what? For those faithful believers who are there, they are not fed by the Word. And these are those who will stick with the church through thick and thin.... As the saying goes, "when the going gets tough, the disinterested simply goes away...." Why would they stay? If they wanted to have  interesting stories, there are far better storytellers out there. So it looks like you most probably wouldn't keep them.

So why would you want to deprive those who wants to be faithful to God of His Living Word? Why would I want to stay unless the church takes God's Word seriously? And if I see it handled this way, would I want to continue to stay? Why as shepherd are you not taking care of the sheep? Remember what Paul commands Timothy his protegé:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

So preachers & pastors, Preach God's Word boldly. It's the thing we need, and what the disinterested desperately need, nothing else is more important than that. Preach the word, not the world.

Taking a Good Look at the Book (24/7)

Heres's John Piper leading you to have a good look at 2 Tim 3:14-17

http://vimeo.com/101339957

Find out more here.

Book Review - Taking God at His Word (24/6)

Kevin DeYoung aims at this book to get readers to take God’s word seriously. DeYoung does not attempt to do anything new or novel, instead he drives his point clearly from scripture in every chapter. The reader is brought to attention on 4 main points that DeYoung wants to bring across strongly:

1. God’s Word is Enough


2. God’s Word is Clear


3. God’s Word is Final


4. God’s Word is necessary

DeYoung first makes the call for christians to take God’s word not only seriously, but also passionately, desiring to want more of God’s word. Following which, DeYoung makes the points that God’s Word to us in scripture is something that is God’s word, written by man, yet without error.

The following 4 chapters are what I think is the meat of the book. They show convincing how scripture makes this exact 4 points and how preachers and christians should, no must, regain their trust and confidence on the Word of God alone. I felt that the chapter on ‘God’s Word is Enough’ was exceptionally well written and a good reminder for all christians in this generation that is so quick to want to move “beyond” the Word of God.

In the last 2 chapters, DeYoung shows us how we should take God at His Word — just as how Christ took God’s Word. DeYoung shows time and again how Jesus himself shown full confidence in God’s Word, how He has never wavered from it and how we too can emulate Christ in this. DeYoung then encourage the readers to stick on with the simple teaching of Sola Scriptura, inviting readers to think thoughtfully over their own history with God’s word, the ability and origin of the Word of the Lord and the practicality of it.

Lastly, DeYoung ends off with 30 books that he recommends for Christians to continue to pursuit on this topic.

What is good about this book is that it is exceptionally clear, and does not bog you down with needless details, DeYoung does not beat around the bush and drives you straight to scripture allowing you to see for yourself if that’s what is clearly said in Scripture and the appendix provided does point the reader to very good and recent resources that will surely help to deepen the reader’s conviction on the Word of God.

What could be improved though, is perhaps a chapter on cultivating better bible reading habits. Sure the reader most likely be convinced that we must take God at His Word, but how should I do it? Perhaps every a short guide on it, will be good. In the end, the reader is built up in his confidence on God’s Word, but if not applied, it will just remain as an apologetics for the sufficiency of the Word of God, but not sink down to bear fruit in the reader’s life.

Rating: 4/5

Get yours here and here (free international shipping)

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Look at the Book (18/6)

There's nothing more we need in every generation than to really look at the Book.

This sounds like an exciting series that would be worth your time.

http://vimeo.com/98352618

Book Review - The Word of the Lord (31/5)

Two days ago, I posted on the top ten most neglected books of the Bible. This book, I think, would help to reverse this negligence.

This has been one of the best book I’ve read for quite some time. Although the Prophets may take up a substantial portion of the Old Testament, they are often neglected. Many reasons can be attributed to this, first we don’t hear much preaching on them, second, we often don’t really understand the prophets even if we tried to study them. Too often, we’ll just give up thinking it’ll be a futile attempt.

This is where the “The Word of the Lord” comes in. Not only will it help us see the importance of getting us to read and study the Prophets, it also tells us how each of them ultimately point us to Christ.

Nancy first introduces us to the world of the Prophets, one of the reason why we find it so difficult to understand the Prophets is because we do not really know the context of these prophesies. Who are the prophets prophesying to? When they are prophesying? Is it before or after the destruction of Israel/Judah? Is it during the exile? Or is it after they returned from exile? Next, our unfamiliarity with the geography often hinder us from “catching” what would be obvious to the original audiences.

Each of the prophets would then be studied in the following format, “Personal Bible Study, Teaching Chapter, Looking Forward and lastly, Discussion Guide”

In the Personal Bible Study, Nancy slowly brings us to study each of the 9 prophets with some guidance questions. These help us to get a feel of the text itself, we are made to discover each of the prophets, letting us see from the text what the book is about. Often we are led to see that Christ is already present in the prophets, we just need a push in the right direction.

Next comes the Teaching Chapter, this I feel was the gold mine of the book. Nancy is able to do good exegesis, always pointing out what the text is saying and what it meant. Not only so, each and every chapter is immediately applicable for us in our current context. Although they might be written thousands of years ago, they are still relevant to us today. The same struggle they had, is the same struggles we have to deal with everyday.

In Looking Forward, we are made to see how the prophets (often) in their failures points us repeated to the ultimate Prophet - Christ himself. Please do not be mistaken, this is not the only portion that shows us how Christ can be seen in the Prophets, Nancy has sprinkled these like gold nuggets within the teaching chapter itself also. As you read, you will find yourself nodding and wondering why how you managed not to see Christ while reading the prophets.

In the Discussion Guide, Nancy sums up what was learn and often also hits home with simple application points that is equally useful for individuals or groups using the book to study the Prophets.

The book is highly recommend for every christian, especially for preachers. This book would really help preachers see how they can preach the text faithfully, with a Christ-centered focus and also have practical day-to-day application of the text in the believer’s life. Rarely have this been done, but this is a great place to start.

There was only 2 drawbacks for this book. First, not all the Prophets are covered, hopefully one more volume would be published to cover the remaining prophets. Second, this book really helps us have a “Big-picture” view of the 9 prophets, and this book IS the place to start for the preacher. But for the preacher who intends to preach through the whole book, you will have to refer other the other materials reference within the book itself. Notwithstanding these 2 minor points, this is still a really excellent book that deserves to be widely read and I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

As you read this book you will, like the disciples on the Emmaus road feel your heart burning within you while you see the Scriptures opened up (Luke 24:13-32).

Lastly, this is my sentence summary for the nine prophets mentioned in this book.

Jonah - Dealing with those who have no mercy
Hosea - Dealing with the unfaithful wife
Micah - Dealing with the one who trumps the poor
Isaiah - Dealing with unholy people
Habbauk - Dealing with self-righteous people
Jeremiah - Dealing with sinful hearts
Daniel - Living as strangers in another land
Ezekiel - Waiting for the better temple
Malachi - Dealing with a people dull with God

Rating: 5/5

If you're interested you can get it here and here (free international shipping), Kindle.

Disclaimer: I was given this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Men, Read Your Prophets (28/5)

According to Biblegateway.com, these are the ten most unpopular books of the bible.



As you can see, 6 of the 10 actually belongs to the Old Testament Prophets. I fear that this is what also a clear picture of our own bible reading intake.

Currently, I'm reading The Word of the Lord by Nancy Guthrie, It's a 10 week study on the 9 different prophets, and I hope this book does go out to an larger audience, we need to know more from the Prophets, because they belong to the whole counsel of God too.

Will post a review on it soon, when I'm through with the book!

Lastly, what about you? What books of the bible do you not always read or find most difficult to read and study?

Book Review - Knowable Word (14/5)

There seems to be a deluge of books on the word of God recently, first came the "Taking God at His Word" by Kevin DeYoung. Then came "Knowable Word" by Peter Krol. Looking forward for more books in this area. I do seriously think the current generation needs to read  more and more of God's Word.

Knowable Word is a great introduction for anyone to do just that. The main aim of the book is to help people read and understand the bible by themselves.

Krol first begins by telling the audience why we need to study the bible, showing us variously ways people have studied the bible and finally introduces his method, the OIA.

1. Observation


2. Interpretation


3. Application

Krol then goes on to show each and every step, giving clear examples and explanation on the objective of each of the "steps". Although this book is meant really for relatively new christians, Krol also highlights dangers that we might bring into each study before we even begin, this dangers would be very helpful for those who have been studying the bible for quite some time.

What's great about this book is that unlike other OIA methods, this one sticks in and wants you to see and observe how the passage you're studying is related/leading to Christ.

Littered around the book is also helpful excerises that helps the read to see and apply what they learn on the spot, Krol also consistently uses the same, simple passage (Gen 1-2:3) throughout the book to let you have a feel of how everything would be like if you had used this method consistently.

Although this might not be the one and other book you'll ever need to interpret the book carefully (for example genres were not discussed in great depth), this is an excellent start for any Christian, to help them see that they can and should study the bible by themselves and for themselves.

Why not buy a copy, and try these methods out yourself and/or with a friend? I'm sure you'll be able to see that it is possible for us ordinary people to understand bible!

Rating: 4/5

If you're interested you can get it here and here (free international shipping), Kindle.