Category: Freebies

Anticipation Builds for The 12 Days Before Christmas Giveaway

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

December starts today, so that means we are only 12 days away from the 4th annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway. The giveaway will run from December 13th through the 24th, with a new contest taking place each day. The contest this year will be running across 3 blogs, including:

Be sure to stop back later in December and try your hand at some of the contests for a chance to win some fabulous prizes. Here is an updated list of the publishers / authors / artists who are sponsoring prizes for this year’s contests:




If you’re a publisher / author / artist and would like to participate in this giveaway, please drop me a note through the contact page.

The 4th Annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway!

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

With Thanksgiving nearly upon us, it’s almost time for the 4th annual 12 Days Before Christmas Book Giveaway. In years past, I’ve participated in this giveaway, hosted at Bible Geek Gone Wild by Shaun Tabatt. This year, I’ve teamed up with Shaun, and the giveaway will be held across three of our websites:

The giveaway will run from December 13th through the 24th, with a new contest taking place each day. Be sure to stop back later in December and try your hand at some of the contests for a chance to win some fabulous prizes.

Here are a few of the publishers who will be sponsoring prizes for this year’s contests:

If you’re a publisher or vendor and would like to participate in this giveaway, please drop me a note through the contact page.

“God With Us:” Jesus, The Temple & The Church

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

Once again, I had the privilege to fill in for our pastor this past Sunday, and deliver the Sunday sermon. With it being Communion Sunday, I was asked to keep the message to around 30 minutes. So I ended up cramming a lot of content into 35 minutes. I apologize in advance for that!

The topic: the Temple and the Church, has been on my heart a lot lately, and was driven home as I recently finished reading a book on this same theme by G.K. Beale The Temple and the Church’s Mission (IVP). I begin the sermon with a romp through the numerous OT texts promising that God would be “God” for His people, and they would be His special people, and that God would make His dwelling place with them. I found this promise some 28 times in the Old Testament with three (or more) reiterations of this in the New Testament. That was the launching point for this brief look at what it means that Jesus Christ is the True Temple, and that we, His Body, are also “being built up” into a spiritual Temple. What does it mean and how should it shape how we live our lives?

I’ve included my notes for the sermon as a .pdf file here. But please download the sermon and ponder these texts with me. At around 14 minutes in, there is a minute or two cut out of the audio as the battery on the microphone died and the sound guy replaced it for me. (Sorry about that too!) Let me know what you think, I’d love some feedback.

Place: Beacon of Hope Church, St. Paul
Date: October 30, 2011
Title: “God With Us:” Jesus, The Temple & The Church
Text: Matthew 1:23 & John 1:1,14
Notes: Download PDF
Audio Link: Listen online or download (right click the link and save it to your computer)

Picture from TempleMount.org

Reformation Day Deals and Discounts

~ Bob Hayton

This Monday marks Reformation Day, the anniversary of the date in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany.

Often there are several blogs promoting special discounts or freebies in honor of the day, and so I wanted to round up some of the best deals and discounts here for my readers.

After taking advantage of these special offers, don’t forget to spend some time reading up on the significance of the day. Credo Magazine’s blog has a special article devoted to remembering Reformation Day, and Justin Taylor rounds up several excellent resources for us too.

Free PDF Download of “The Gospel Centered Life” Curriculum

~ Bob Hayton

Westminster Bookstore has a great deal on a fantastic resource for Sunday Schools and small groups: The Gospel Centered Life. I am already planning on using this curriculum for our college-aged class this Fall at our church. It is an excellent resource from World Harvest Mission.

The message is life-changing and very much in the flavor of some of the Gospel meditations that Tim Keller brings. I’m looking forward to using this with our young people.

For the next two days you can get a Leader’s edition as a free pdf download from Westminster Bookstore. Just click here for the download. The print copy (I have one) from New Growth Press is really sharp and well done. You’ll love this book.

Click the image above for more details on this special offer.