Book Review - Evangelism: How the Whole Church Speaks of Jesus (28/10)

What is one thing that Christians often find most difficult to do? I have a sneaky suspicion that evangelism would be one of the top few. So why is evangelism so difficult? Many reasons could be brought up, but the more important question is how we can remedy this situation.

Here is where this book comes in. Mack Stiles has authored a helpful book to revitalise evangelism for christians.

Stiles first starts by addressing an all too common notion people have about evangelism and conversion — altar calls. He proposes to the readers to discard their pre-notion on such things and seek to see what the bible actually says about evangelism. Here, he also explains the what, how and why of evangelism. His definition of evangelism, and a rather simple one, is ‘Evangelism is teaching the gospel with the aim to persuade.’

And with that he guides readers through what evangelism is. Stiles very helpfully points out that evangelism can never ever happen without the means of words, and hence the first verb in his definition, ’teaching’. Next, he explains what ‘gospel’ is. Showing readers how sometimes we have a too small/large view of the gospel.

In the next chapter, Stiles moves on to the communal aspect side of evangelism. Yes we are each called to evangelise, but we need to evangelise as a church as well. So he talks about how the members must be clear about the priorities they each have. The ministers of the church must stay focus on the proclamation of the Word and not be boggled down with other good or even excellent things. However, the members (christians) must live out the implications of the gospel. this means although the pastor is not championing such causes.  This is not an excuse to not do anything at all! He takes this principle from Acts 6:2-4, where the church saw and distinguishes between the priorities of the apostles and the needs of the windows. Faithful christians were appointed to administer the important task of meeting the needs of the widows rather than having the apostles administering the tasks.

Lastly, Stiles talks about how things would work in a day-to-day context. He gets right down to business and raises important pointers that pastors, ministry leaders need to be concern about, things like how we are never to assume that the church understands the gospel, or assumes that everyone in the church are christians. He has also left words of encouragement to those who are trying or have tried to evangelise. Stiles shows us that he like us, sometimes do not and are not able to present the gospel as how we should. Yet we must not stop, we must continue to improve and preach the Word to others around us. He assures us the God is at work even though it may not seem to be so at times. He remains us to not focus on ourselves, but on God even at times when we are weary or are even tempted to give us.

Within this book, Stiles has also added an appendix which he has a short explanation of what the gospel message is. It’s a relatively short one (a page and a half) which will be helpful for most readers, even those who are at a lost of not knowing what to share with others.

Yes, evangelism is difficult, but all christians are called to share the gospel. This book would therefore be suitable for those who are very new but want to learn, and also for those who have been a christian for some time, and have kinda given up on sharing the gospel. Hopefully this book will help you take the first step to evangelising once again.

Rating: 4.25 / 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.

Book Review - For the Glory of God: Recovering A Biblical Theology of Worship (14/10)

There might never be an end to worship wars this side of heaven, but for a topic that has been so hotly fought over, it is surprising to see not many books on the theology/biblical theology of worship. What comes to my mind immediately about this topic is the book by David Peterson “Engaging with God”. But now, I think there is another solid contribution on this topic.

Daniel Block has written a 400+ page study on the biblical theology of worship. This book according to the author, in contrast to the one by Peterson, is able to present more deeply the topic of worship from the Old Testament, and after i’ve finish this book, I fully agree with him!

Block has done a comprehensive study on worship, he examines all the nooks and crannies of worship, and in my opinion has truly left no stones unturned (maybe other than spiritual gifts bit).

It would make this review far too long to examine every topic within the book. So I will give broad comments on book as a whole. First Block brings the readers to see how the audience in OT and NT first understood worship, giving many valuable insights to this topic that is not often found elsewhere. From it, he derives his definition of worship, which he expands in the chapters that follows.

Block then logically moves from point to point within his definition and covers everything within the topic of worship. He would first examines from the Old Testament (he uses the word First Testament instead) what it says about the topic, discuss about them in their context, and make a quick summary based on what is covered. Then he will move to the new Testament, and examine what has changed/remained, and explaining why these changes have happened. Sometimes, for certain topics, he would also enlarge his findings to the records found in the early churches. Next he moves on to give some of his suggestions or thoughts on the particular topics and what it implies for us today.

Block’s observation from the text has been very detail, showing his depth of research and work put into this book. Block’s suggestions and thoughts often found at the end of each chapters was also very perceptive. Through them he guides readers to think even more deeply about these topics and how that should affect our worship.

One tiny critique to this book, in his definition, Block defines worship only as human acts, however don't the angels in heaven also worship the Lord alongside with us? This lack however will in no way affect the content of the book.

This might not be Block’s magnum opus book for the laymen, but will surely be one of the best reference book on worship for a long time to come. Highly recommended for pastors and worship leaders to think deeply, biblically on this topic. Be warned though, to complete this book will be no walk in the park, but you will be deeply rewards for your efforts, and thankful to God for what Block has done for the christian community.

Rating: 5 / 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 - The Gospel (12/10)

Far too often, christians forgets the gospel is also for them as much as it is for their non-christians counterpart. Too often Christians become bored with the gospel, the gospel no longer thrill us, excites us or awes us. Ray Ortlund has written to remedy the situation, he wants readers to be thrilled again by the beauty of Jesus.

First Ortlund reminds the readers the most important news they should know — that the gospel is for them! Ortlund then highlights that it is only by knowing the gospel doctrines then, and only then can we have a gospel culture. Both are necessary and either can do without each other, but with both of them comes power. Ortlund then re-tells the gospel to the readers so that they will hear again the gospel.  Next Ortlund reminds the readers that the gospel is for the church — the body of believers in Christ, not just for individuals. He shows the readers that christianity is never meant for just individuals, but always for the community of believers.

Next, Ortlund shows the readers that the gospel is ultimately for everyone, for those who are within the church and those without. It is the only way of salvation for the world. Ortlund shows us that when Jesus is on world, he shows us the preview, the preview of what life will be like in the future. And that is where we are going, if we trust in the gospel.

Ortlund then moves to show how it is sometimes difficult for us to believe in the gospel, not only so, it is also difficult have cultures shaped by the gospel. Furthermore, sometimes the prevalent culture is already anti-gospel. He directs readers to think critically about our own culture, because sometimes our culture “denies” the gospel by not showing forth what the gospel entails.

Following which, Ortlund then calls the churches to expect to have fruitful seasons as we bring the gospel to people around us, we would definitely reap some fruit, however, we will also face opposition. Just like Jesus and Paul, whenever they goes there are those who are thankfully for the news they brings, and some are hatefully towards the message they bring. As disciples, we shouldn't expect to receive any less.

Lastly, Ortlund ends by exhorting the churches to be reminded that with the gospel comes 3 things: power, courage and love. It is the gospel that will accomplish God’s work, we must trust, and grow in it. Nothing else must replace or substitute it.

As I read this book, this book has helped me grown to love the gospel and also to think critically about my culture. Thinking practically about how the gospel shapes my life, my church and my culture. Highly recommend if you want to grow in the understanding of the gospel, and also in how you can think practically about the gospel in your life.

Rating: 4.5 / 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 - Am I Called? (28/9)

What would be the first thing you would do if you feel that you have calling to serve God at full-time  capacity? What are some guidelines you would use in making this decision? And how should you evaluate yourself? Should anyone who have this ‘call’ go ahead and serve God?

‘Am I Called?’ by Dave Harvey answers many of these questions and more. The book is divided into 3 parts. First, defining/hearing the call, second, diagnosing the call and third, what to do from the call till the time you actually go in and serve.

First Harvey brings out the importance of everyone who thinks that they’re called to the ministry to be called by God first, that is, that they are firstly christian! This might seem to be a topic that’s unnecessary or superfluous for a book that’s about pastoral calling. But Harvey is right to address the call that Christ’s servant must first have: Christ himself in them! It is quite dangerous to assume that just because you have such a calling that you’re without doubt a christian. But Harvey is right to show that God only calls to ministry, those whom He has fore-known and, fore-called to be His sons.

Next, Harvey moves on to discuss about the different qualification a man must have he if he is called to the ministry. Harvey does not derive these qualifications from experience of from his own wisdom, rather he points the readers to various passages that talks about such qualifications and shows what it means for the individual. I felt the section on the agreement of the community with regards to the call was one that was addressed excellently. Harvey is able to show clearly that although the call is individualised, yet it is never individualistic. God calls us, and we are affirmed about this calling in us, though the community. If no one agrees about your call, it’s probably not a calling from God.

In the last section, Harvey then talks about what a person can do, if he’s truly called but still have some time in between his calling and his service. He gives tips and also general directions on what the person could do during this time to prepare himself for the ministry. I felt that this chapter could have been elaborated and lengthened a little bit more. Some of them were really short advises that should have been addressed at a greater length.

Harvey has also very helpfully, placed stories of different individuals called by God as a start-point for his chapters, though the link is that clear, overall, I thought it was a good start to introduce these preachers to would-be preachers. If it creates a desire to want to dig up more information about into their lives, it would certainty be beneficial to them.

If pastors wants to study this book along with some of their leaders, it would be necessary for him to generate some discussion questions to fully utilise the book. But overall the book is short, clear and extremely helpful for anyone who’s clueless about what to do when he feels ‘called’ by God.a

Rating: 4.25 / 5

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

Book Review - Reformation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (23/9)

What does the modern-day, sophisticated church has to do with the reformation of the (not so) ancient past? Well… Plenty! In this book, Carl Trueman contends that the churches today (and tomorrow) about the need to recover the spirit of the reformers.

In the first chapter, Trueman first gives an analyses of the current status of evangelicals. First, he described how the evangelicals have lost the spirit of the reformers, specially he explained why the reformers saw the desperate need for the church in their time to be reformed to the centrality of the Gospel and the Word, their motivation and their goal. Then, Trueman commented on how the contention within the evangelical with regards to worship often only differ merely with the outward form, which in his view, is only embracing the reformers outwardly, but missing the precise point of why the reformers saw — a need for the congregation to have a vernacular worship.

In the next chapter, Trueman looks at the theology of glory — looking at God from man’s  point of view vs theology of the cross — looking at God from Christ’s point of view. This branches out of how Luther himself saw the dichotomy of these two teaching and found the teachings to the Church then to be akin to those of the theology of glory, which thinks that God values what man values. In contrast to that, Luther responded by proclaiming that the church needs to embrace the theology of the Cross.

Trueman then raises two examples that he finds the current evangelical circle need to consider, first regarding suffer, How do we understand and view suffering? Are we unknowingly embracing the theology of glory by our preoccupation to shun away from suffering or to deem suffering as bad or ‘not according to God’s plan’? In the next example, Trueman talks about the definition of a truly successful church. Is the successful church one that entertains and attracts and gauges it’s success by numbers? Or by how faithful the word is being preached? He calls the church to recover what they have lost, to re-embrace the true marks of the ‘successful’ church.

In the next chapter, Trueman then focuses on the centrality word of God and preaching what it does, what it is for, and what the training preachers be. And in the last chapter, He elaborates on the doctrine of assurance, and how we can you find it? Do we base it on our feelings? Emotions? Experience? Or rather on what God has done for us, definitively and absolutely, through Christ Jesus death and resurrection?

Essentially, this is a call for the reform-ed (i.e. Protestant) to re-examine the importance of the Reformation and recover the spirit of Reformers. Although this may be a thin book, it does pack a punch and Trueman gives many points for the evangelical to consider how far we are away from the reformers, and to recover from it before it’s too late for us. Recommended for all church leaders and preachers who wishes to be faithful to what God’s Word say.

Rating: 4 / 5

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

Book Review - Recovering Redemption (12/9)

Although on the outside this particular book might not look very impressive, you really ought NOT to judge this book by it’s cover. It has been a long time since I've read such a book that has been so clear on the gospel and also on the need for repentance.

Matt Chandler and Michael Snetzer has written such a book that really helps the reader to see their need for the gospel, their need for sanctification and the need to fight for joy in the christian life. Chandler and Snetzer first gives starts at creation and the fall, then they move on to 4 different ways many have tried to salvage the situation and shows plainly why they ultimately fails, then they move on to the one who can solve this situation — Jesus.

The following chapters that follows really are a discipling process where several doctrines are taught and practical issues in the christian lives are considered and discussed. Many of them had very good examples that really brings out what the doctrine mean (I especially liked the illustration the used on sanctification). Practically, the authors also dealt issues like guilt, anxiety, fear, reconciling, forgiving, etc… and were all taught biblically and practically.

After I read this book, I can’t help but think of how I can recommend others to read this book. It’s really a great book. My only complain would be a lack of discussion questions. Although the contents of the book is really excellent, one wonders if those who are not as exciting about their faith would even bother to read it unless someone else was encouraging and discussion with them about what they have learnt. No doubt, it could be argued that everyone with such a burden would have thought about their own discussion questions on their own. Yet, I do think the book would be better served if the readers discusses about what they had learned in each chapters.

This book, I think will be a classical in the future, for it’s practicality and also the faithfulness of biblical teaching. I would recommend anyone who wants to really know about their christian faith or wants to grow in them to read this book.

Rating: 5 / 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.

Here's a video trailer for the book.

Book Review - Churches Partnering Together (2/9)

I come from a small church, but often we think with a big church, ‘we-are-independent’ mentality, so much so we hardly work with other churches. This book is a good start to how my church can start to solve this issue.

It’s a wonder why no such books has been published thus far! For the christian faith that has always  around koinonia and the unity of the church, it is indeed bewildering why churches far too often chooses to work alone rather than in partnership with others and i think that is one of the reason why the churches often has too little effect on the society it’s in (of course, there are many more factors to this).

Bruno and Dirks first defines the terms of what the partnership is and is not. Bruno and Dirks centres partnership around the kingdom mindset. This is a valid point, too many churches are too centred around their own local church and therefore most of the time sees partnership, at worst, as pointless, or problematic, and mutually beneficial, at best. There has been a deep lack of kingdom mindedness in our culture today.

Bruno and Dirks then covers in a step by step format what churches will need in order to form good, well grounded partnership. Although I’m not entirely convinced on some the biblical text they used as foundations on their principles, overall I find them practical and sensible. It covers everything from starting, whilst in the midst of partnership and also how to move on after the partnership has reached it’s goal.

All these finally cumulates into the last chapter when it is all “put together”. This is a book that many church leaders and pastor should first read and then to seriously consider how they can partner with other churches, so that by our working together, we can attempt to do more and bigger stuff and that finally God will be glorified more and more.

Rating: 4/5

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.

Book Review - Same-Sex Marriage: A Thoughtful Approach to God’s Design for Marriage (22/8)

Do you personally think same-sex marriage is permissible? Well… According to the authors, they think it should be, IF marriage is nothing more than just a way we acknowledge our feelings of love and affection between people. And that is the crucial point that Sean McDowell and John Stonestreet talks about in this book.

In the first part, the authors defines what marriage is, and also find supports for it, both within the bible and also from historical and sociological records. What the authors brings across clearly is that marriage is not a social norm that is gradually formed, rather it is instituted all the way in creation and predates any civilisations or governments. And thus far, no civilisation has tried to do what the society is trying to do.

In the second part, the chapters centres about the “so what” aspects since we have a definition of what marriage is from the bible. First, there is a call for chrisitans to be willing to take a bold stand for the truth, there is also a clear call for christians not to mis-represent what is found in the bible, such as by telling others that it is ok for same-sex marriages to happen. The authors also calls the christian community to repent. This is a particular topic that has not been discussed by other books on this topic. It is true that chrisitans have had a hard time trying to show others marriage as defined by God, we’ve been a poor example and representation of it. This is one area that the churches have to work hard on in the future in order for us to show the world that marriages as defined by God, is right, true and beautiful.

Lastly, the book ends off with several suggestions on what to do in various situation, however this book is rather short and many may not find it to be sufficient. (Look out for the upcoming book, ‘Loving My (LGBT) Neighbor’ by Glenn Stanton, which will fill this gap very well) [my review here]. Included in the 2 appendixes are what the churches can and should do in order for churches to be better equipped to support our brothers and sisters who are struggling with homosexuality, and also how Christians can answer honestly to questions that are commonly raised by non-christians. The 2 appendixes are really helpful and in my opinion will prove to be helpful for all christians, and worth the price of the book!

This book is to be praised for their call to christians to take marriage seriously, and for christians not to give up in this fight. It is both a call for christians to take our stand, and also a call for us to recover the biblical definition of marriage. I hope that church leaders will take a serious look into this book and train your congregation to be better equipped to deal with the situation, and to take God’s definition of marriage seriously.

Rating: 4.5/5

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

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

For a similar view about this, read this article by Danny Burk on the impact of same-sex marriage.

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.

Book Review - Yawning At Tigers (5/8)

When was the last time you heard a sermon or read something remotely close to God’s holiness? How about the last time prior to that? I bet that will probably leave you scratching your head for a little while. Now compare that with the love of God, i’m sure that would be an easy question to answer, but wouldn’t it surprise you that God is far more often praised for his holiness in the bible? What’s with this skewness in our churches today?

With this concern in mind, Drew Dyck hopes to remind today’s christians that God is holy, and a untameable God. Dyck introduces God as a being who’s holy, one who’s set apart, one who’s the ‘other’, and fully worthy of praise. He mentions the importance of having the vision, the vision of God’s holiness which no doubt will shape and mould our lives. I agree with him on this point, as the common aphorism states ‘your attitude determines your altitude’, so much of weaknesses in today’s christianity often lies in the low, trifling view of God.

Dyck also brings out the point of the relief of holiness in this book. RELIEF you say? How can holiness be relieving? Well, it can, because you and I are meant to be holy, and by being holiness we will find relief from our greatest enemy: sin. (You have to read the book for this and many more! I shall not reveal too much)

Often as I read, I find my self thinking, have I have too low a view of God? Have I been worshipping a puppet God? And this is the strength of the book, it help us to reflect on what kind of God we’ve been worshipping, is that the same God as the God described in the bible? Far too often we want a tame down version of the God of the bible, but that will only be to our detriment. We need to recover a right of God, and soon, because God is far, far too valuable to be tamed.

This is a great book for all christians, but especially preachers or small group leaders. Ask yourself this, does your church treat God as holy? If not, read, be enthralled and repent.

Rating: 4.5/5

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.

Book Review - For the World (10/7)

For the World is a festschrift for Richard Pratt, esteem educator and president of Third Millennium Ministries, included in this book are 14 essays written in his honour, and these essays do vary from each other to a certain degree.

The essays are separated in 3 aspects, ‘Biblical & Theological Studies’; ‘Ministry & Missions’; Ministry Training & Theological Education’.

The first section ‘Biblical & Theological Studies’ contains the most difficult chapters to comprehend within this book. A knowledge of Greek and Hebrew will be necessary in order to fully appreciate the first 3 chapters, having said that, I do not have a working understanding of greek or hebrew, and will leave the comments of those chapters to those who are more apt to the task. Within this section, Holcomb does write an interesting piece regarding metanarratives, though (in my very limited knowledge) I’ve not heard anyone who has had the same view as him, it remains to be an eye-opening piece that will spur others on in (I hope) the right direction with regards to this topic.

The next section deals with ministry and missions, which were very engaging as they are talk about topics that were more “down to earth”. Each and every of the chapter will be helpful for pastors who are serving in churches and who will undoubtably have to wrestle with these issues one time or another within their ministry and thus this is a good book to start with.

One of the topics that was repeated a number of time includes how Pratt, a professor and a Harvard graduate, is humble and personal with his colleagues and students alike. Included inside was also his ex-students reflection on his (in)famous ‘Introduction to Theological Studies’ (you can get this course on his website for free). Having viewed a couple of videos on this series, I have to say, Pratt’s course was able to challenge both kinds of students, those who are firmly reformed and calvinist, and those who are not. Pratt drives the students to the word of God and often tells the former to be more humble and open-minded, and to the latter, to see if what he teaches is truly what the bible says. After you have finished reading  this section in this book, I’m sure you will be interested to take the course for yourself too.

The last section, talks about the contribution of Pratt within the area of theological education. It is heartening to see how Pratt and others have seen the weakness/lob-sidedness of the current theological educational system, and have made efforts in trying to reform it. This final section would most helpful for those are or intends to go for theological training. The contributors highlight what is lacking and problems that current theological training have and their solutions to resolve it. These are good solutions that would have to be seriously considered by churches and seminaries.

After reading, I do come away with a deeper appreciation of the work done by Richard Pratt and  I do wish Richard Pratt and his team all the success they can have with this endeavour, and may the Lord use his efforts to train up well-equipped pastors for His own church.

Rating: 4.5/5

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

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

China's Reforming Churches (4/6)

This looks like a good book to start if you want to know more about the state and growth of the China churches.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuqR4pchsBE[/embed]

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

Book Review - Know Your Heretics (29/5)

Why would anyone want to write on the guys who go it all wrong? It would be like trying to make a movie on Lex Luthor's Injustice League, but Holcomb gets this book just right. Why? Because these guys would be able to show you how you can go wrong. And so, an alternative title could be “Don’t repeat these mistakes again guys”. Living in an era where innovation and novelty is highly sought after, this book reminds us that sometimes new isn’t always better.

At the forefront, Holcomb defines what he means by heretics and orthodoxy, dealing especially with the “orthodoxy” as defined by Walter Bauer (orthodoxy is that which is defined by the winner), over and against that, Holcomb defines heretics as that which “best follows the Bible and best summaries what it teaches - best accounts for the paradoxes and apparent contradictions, best preserves the mystery of God in places where reason can’t go, and best communicates the story of the forgiveness of the gospel”.

Holcomb also defines what heresy is, and is not. It is not “every potential wrong belief, rather only those beliefs that contradict(s) the essential elements of faith”.

Alongside with clear definitions, the format for each wrong heretic includes the four sub-sections, historical background, the heretic teaching, the orthodox response, and contemporary relevance.

A total of 12 heretics were covered in this book chronologically, starting from the Judaizers all the way to Socinus. The major heretics such as Macion, Sabelius, Arius, Nestorius, such to name a few are covered. Socinus was a surprised, one that was new and I’ve never really heard of him thus far.

One minor complaint that I have with this book was the chapter on Nestorius. It was rather repetitive, parts of the content was already mentioned in Knowing the Creeds and Councils (see my review it) and it felt as if I was re-reading the same arguments as before. For the others however, Holcomb was able to present the false teachers and teaching in greater detail as compared to Know the Creeds. This is no small feat and Holcomb should deserve due credit for his work on this.

Holcomb ends off the book reminding us the importances of getting our doctrines right. And reminds us that not every disagreement is to be deemed as heretical, as long as imperfect humans are studying the Bible, there will bound to be disagreement among us.

If I had to choose between this or Know the Creeds, I would recommend Know the Creeds. As they direct believers to firmer grounds to build their faith. However, I would still recommend the same christians to then read this book, just to let them see the relevance and importances of right doctrine in the christian life, and how they can they might have so easily got their theology wrong.

Ratings: 3.75/5

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.

Credo Magazine (27/5)

Yesterday, I blogged about a need for the churches today to go back to faithful exposition of God's Word.

Came across this the current issue of Credo Mag that talks about the essentials of a Church.

You can get yours free here.

In it, it talks about entertainment vs preaching, the idol of success in our churches, preaching, church discipline, baptism and also the Lord's Supper.

Here's a sneak peek of the definition of preaching by Dennis Johnson.

Preaching is (1) proclamation, explanation, and application (2) of the Word of God written, in relation to its integrating center—Christ, the only Mediator between God and man—(3) by a man called by God, gifted by the Holy Spirit, and growing in Christlikeness, (4) to people made in God’s image but alienated and marred by sin and its toxic byproducts (5) in the presence of God (6) to serve as the Spirit’s means of grace by which he replaces unbelieving hearts of stone with believing hearts of flesh, and then brings immature children of God into conformity to Christ, (7) to the glory of God in his church.

What the Church Needs - Preaching the Whole Counsel of God (26/5)

Read this parable from Charles Spurgeon. HT: Trevin Wax

Does the reason why going to the house of God has become so distasteful to a great many of the population lie in this direction? I believe it does. Have our Lord’s servants been chopping up their own odds and ends and tainted bits to make therewith a potted meat for the millions; and do the millions therefore turn away? Listen to the rest of my parable.

I don't know about your church, but I know mine. And I think each and every church needs good preaching. Good in the sense that the preacher really does preaches God's Word, I've heard far too many sermons that likes to tell stories rather than expounding the text, or preachers who like to show how "innovative" they can be at interpreting a text, often trying to come out with novel interpretations that were never present in text originally.

Our churches are dying, we need faithful preachers, good preachers who will work hard at understanding the text, delivering good application found inside the text and depending heavily on God in prayer for His help through it all. God help us, and raise a generation of faithful preachers.

One good book that taught me what good preaching constitutes is "Why Johnny can't preach" You should get a copy and read this if you're a preacher. One other book I hope to read and do a review soon would be Expository Preaching by David Helm.

What about you? What do you think the Church needs? What books would you recommend on expository preaching?

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What do you look for in a church?

Chance upon this article on whether we expect too much or too little from a church. Good article, But I was also reminded, what do we look for in a church? Most importantly, if an unbeliever comes into your church, what do you want him/her to be aware of?

2 things came to my mind:

1) You guys worship God.

2) This Jesus is really the center of the worship.

Let me explain.

Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church

Is Derrida, Lyotard, Foucault and Post-modernism familiar names and terms to you?

What is the Church's response to them? Can Christianity answer against their claims?
Read on to find out:
Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church



Who's Afraid of Postmodernism?: Taking Derrida, Lyotard, and Foucault to Church