Category: Book Thoughts

Wine and Wineskins

In the preface to his masterful book on revivals, Dynamics of Spiritual Life, Richard Lovelace says the following:

Concentration on reformation without revival leads to skins without wine; concentration on revival without reformation soon loses the wine for want of skins.

He’s dead on. Spiritual vigor (revival) apart from the truth (reformation) isn’t spiritual. Truth (reformation) apart from spiritual vigor (revival) is dead. Even the demons believe and they tremble. (James 2:19)

I came across …

Our Own Tools

My dad loves working on engines. And, by extension, he loves his tools. I never once saw my dad put a tool away without wiping it off and storing it in its proper place.

In Lectures to My Students, C.H. Spurgeon wrote of ministers:

We are, in a certain sense, our own tools, and therefore must keep ourselves in order.

Ministers can only preach with their own voice. They can only reason with their own …

7 Quotes from You Who? by Rachel Jankovic

Rachel Jankovic is a wife and mother who serves at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho. She’s written You Who? to combat the slitheringly subtle philosophy of existentialism. Put simply, existentialism (defined by Sarte) is the philosophy that your identity and meaning are what you make them. You exist, then you determine  what you are/who you are. Jankovic’s goal is to unveil the soft, and often undetectable inroads existentialism has made into the lives of Christians. …

7 Quotes from The Pastor and Counseling by Jeremy Pierre & Deepak Reju

Counseling is not a strength of mine. But, as a pastor it’s a part of the job and so I want to grow into the counseling ministry. This year I’ll be reading three books on the subject. I just finished this short into by Jeremy Pierre and Deepak Reju: The Pastor and Counseling. The book divides into three sections: Concepts, Process, and Context. I explain those three here but I bring them up to highlight …

7 Quotes from “Just Do Something” by Kevin DeYoung

The first book I have read in 2019 may very well be the best book I read all year. Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung is a no-holds-barred argument for the sufficiency of Scripture as the source for understanding God’s will for your life. For too long evangelical Christians have been mired in the confusing and endless bog of “finding the center of God’s will for my life,” and DeYoung apparently had enough of it. …

Recommended Reading: Theology of the Reformers

51sk2znqgl-_sx342_bo1204203200_A while back a friend and I began sharing the best quotes and thoughts we had from our personal reading. The idea was to give one another greater access to books without having to read as many. If I read a book, my friend could benefit from reading the quotes I pulled out and any thoughts I shared. For 2017, when ever I read a book I’ll share quotes I like, as well as any …

Book Thoughts: Christ and Culture Revisited- D.A. Carson

A new series for this blog in 2017 will be Book Thoughts. A while back a friend and I began sharing the best quotes and thoughts we had from our personal reading. The idea was to give one another greater access to books without having to read as many. If I read a book, my friend could benefit from reading the quotes I pulled out and any thoughts I shared. For 2017, when ever I …