Tag: Recommended

Book Briefs: “A Better December: Proverbs to Brighten Christmas” by Steven Estes

~ Bob Hayton ~ 5 Comments

A Better December: Proverbs to Brighten Christmas by Steven EstesDon’t look now but December is right around the corner. This time of year can be as stressful and frantic as it is enjoyable and memorable. And as the pace of life quickens for everyone, the stress and panic seem to outweigh the peace and quiet.

Steven Estes has offered us a short but poignant book to help us have A Better December. He looks to the Biblical wisdom expressed by Solomon in Proverbs as a cure for the holiday woes. In just over 80 brief pages, Estes provides an extended meditation on a Christian vision for this time of year. With poetic verse (at times), and personal stories, Estes crafts a masterful tale that is disarming, fresh and inspiring. Each of the brief chapters reads like an essay or reflection and the takeaways are direct yet unscripted.

The book is short, gift-sized, you could say. It would adorn a coffee table if larger. The simple yet alluring sketches from illustrator Sarah Bland Halulko make this small book a joy to look at and page through.

It is the perfect gift book for the non-reader and reader alike. It points the interested to a few additional resources at the end, and encourages us all to find true life in Christ. The book would make for a great evangelistic aid or conversation starter and brings Solomon’s wisdom to bear on the contemporary world with unequaled ease. The writing style will make the book accessible to all and a joy to page through. For those looking for some inspirational reading this Christmas, look no further than this truly unique offering.

Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon, ChristianBook.com, or direct from New Growth Press.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by New Growth Press. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.

Get the ESV Study Bible App for Free

~ Bob Hayton

The ESV Study Bible AppThroughout the month of November, Crossway is offering their ESV Study Bible App for free in honor of their 75th anniversary. The ESV Study Bible App brings the award-winning study tools, maps, charts, and notes of the ESV Study Bible to a mobile device near you. In addition to the app, you’ll get the ESV Study Bible as an ebook too, it looks like.

The app is one of the most user-friendly I”ve seen. Of all the study Bibles out there, this one is surely one of the best. And everyone who knows me, knows I am a big fan of the ESV.

I encourage you to add this free app while you can still get in on the special. And pass the word along to friends and family.

To get the deal, visit the 75th Anniversary page at Crossway, where you can also check out a short video about what it means for them to be a Gospel-Centered publishing company.

“Why Christ Came: 31 Meditations on the Incarnation” by Joel R. Beeke and William Boekestein

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Why Christ Came by Joel Beeke and William BoekesteinBook Details:
  • Authors: Joel R. Beeke and William Boekestein
  • Category: Devotional
  • Book Publisher: Reformation Heritage (2013)
  • Format: softcover
  • Page Count: 108
  • ISBN#: 9781601782687
  • List Price: $10.00
  • Rating: Highly Recommended

Review:
Why? Every young child’s favorite word is “why?” Why do we have to go to bed now? Why can’t we have licorice for dinner? Why do we have to always brush our teeth?

With the hustle and bustle of another Christmas season upon us. It is the grown up children among us who are asking “Why?” Why make such a fuss with wrapping paper, ribbons and bows, when the kids are just going to break the toy in a couple days and complain about it. Why go through with painful family trips to the in-laws, awkward holiday parties at work and endure the rush at the mall?

Christmas ultimately is much more than gifts and toys, we know. It is about a baby in a manger, and a donkey standing in the stable (or is the donkey really part of the picture?). The routine nature of Christmas choirs and holiday schedules threaten to have us asking “Why?” even as we think about the Christ child. We get it, Christ came. Can’t we make more of a fuss over the cross and the empty tomb?

Meditating on the incarnation

Against this backdrop, authors Joel Beeke and William Boekestein present 31 meditations on the incarnation in a little book titled Why Christ Came. Unlike many Christmas devotionals, this book does not recount the Scriptural account of Christ’s birth. It doesn’t play gotcha about the donkey and other extra-Scriptural additions to the Christmas story. Instead this book focuses on the big question: Why.  Why is it so special Christ came?

In thinking about the Scriptural teaching concerning why Jesus came, what purposes he aimed to fulfill, and what reasons compelled him to come, our hearts will be redirected from the contemporary holiday bustle and even from a traditional churchly pursuit to a fuller contemplation of the very nature and work of the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Each of the 31 meditations are short and fit in 3-4 pages (with large font). The entire book can be read in a little more than an hour, if you are a slow reader like me.

Why Christ came

The chapters focus on the reasons for Christ’s incarnation and include some of the following answers:

  • To Save Sinners
  • To Destroy the Devil and His Works
  • To Bring Great Joy
  • To Reveal God’s Love for Sinners
  • To Bring Peace
  • To Bind Up Broken Hearts
  • To Make Us Partakers of the Divine Nature
  • To Be a Merciful and Faithful High Priest
  • To Satisfy Our Deepest Thirst
  • To Reveal God’s Glory

As you can see, these aren’t the typical Christmas devotions. The authors include a Scripture-packed exploration of each theme and often add poems, excerpts from a Psalter, and quotes from the Reformers or other notable Church leaders. As a Baptist, I appreciated the many quotes from the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession and the like. Those documents are not very familiar to me and yet they are rich in Scriptural reflection.

Evaluation

The authors are definitely Reformed, but mostly steer clear of controversial matters. And apart from one or two statements that might seem questionable to some, the large part of the work will meet with approval from any gospel-loving Christian who is hungry for Christ.

This small and readable work has a catchy cover and an inviting tone. I encourage you to pick up a copy and add it to your Christmas reading this year. It would make for a great series of family devotions or for personal devotional reading during the advent season.

About the authors

Joel R. Beeke is president and professor of systematic theology and homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and a pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

William Boekestein is pastor of Covenant Reformed Church in Carbondale, Pennsylvania.

Where to Buy:
  • Westminster Bookstore
  • Amazon.com
  • Christianbook.com
  • Direct from Reformation Heritage

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Reformation Heritage Books. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

Meditation on Isaiah 40:1-11 by Alec Motyer

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation by Alec MotyerI have been making my way through Alec Motyer’s book Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation. This hardcover, wide margin book presents Motyer’s fresh translation of Isaiah and includes textual notes as well as introductory material and a devotional thought for each of the 71 readings in the book. It is very well done. Written with the heart of a pastor and the care of a scholar, this volume brings the book of Isaiah alive, and the devotions help the reader apply the text personally.

I want to share an excerpt from this book, from the passage covering Isaiah 40:1-11 (day #43 in the book). I trust you will be blessed by reading this passage as I was. You may also want to go out and pick up a copy of this book for your own devotional reading in the future.

Day 43 ~ Isaiah 40:1-11

The consolation of the world (40:1-42:17)

Astonishingly, no sooner has Isaiah pronounced judgement on Hezekiah’s sin than he is directed to organise messengers of comfort. But (maybe because exile to Babylon prompts thoughts of the wider world) the comfort-message covers all the earth, Israel and the Gentiles.

Consolation for the Lord’s people: Voices of consolation

40:1. Console, console my people,1
      your God keeps saying.
2.    Speak lovingly to Jerusalem,2
      and call out to her,
      that her time of duress has been fulfilled,
      that the punishment of her iniquity has been accepted,
      that she has received from Yahweh’s hand
      the exact payment for3 all her sins.

The first voice: Yahweh coming; worldwide revelation
3.    A voice!4 Someone is calling out:
      In the desert,
      clear a road for Yahweh,
      make straight through the open plain
      a highway for our God.
4.    Every valley must be raised,
      and every mountain and hill lowered,
      and the rough ground must become flat,
      and the mountain chain a pass.
5.    And the glory of Yahweh will be revealed,
      and all flesh will see it together:
      for it is Yahweh’s mouth that has spoken.

The second voice: Human transicence and the permanent Word
6.    A Voice! Someone is saying, Call out,
      and someone is saying, What am I to call out?
      All flesh is grass,
      and all its reliability like a flower of the field.
7.    Grass withers, flower wilts,
      for Yahweh’s Spirit has breathed on it.
      Ah, surely, the people are grass!
8.    Grass withers, flower wilts,
      and the word of our God rises up5 for ever.

The third voice: Good news for Zion
9.    To a lofty moutain, up with you,
      Zion, bearer of good news!
      With strength raise your voice,
      Jerusalem, bearer of good news.
      Raise your voice: do not fear.
      Say to the cities of Judah:
      Behold! Your God!
10.   Behold —
      as a strong one,
      the Sovereign Yahweh will come,
      his arm6 ruling for him.
      Behold!
      the wage he has earned7 is with him,
      and his work is in front of him.
11.   Like a sheperd who shepherds his flock,
      in his arm he gathers the lambs,
      and in his bosom carries them;
      those with young he guides along.

 1Plural imperatives. Against the background of the dire prediction of exile and loss, the Lord has such a full message of consolation that not just Isaiah but unnamed others are summoned to bring the consoling word. Far from judgment having the last word (39:6-7) consolation has the first word!

2 Lit., ‘Speak to the heart of’ — as of an ardent lover wooing his beloved, Gen. 34:3.

3 Lit., ‘the double’, referring to one thing exactly matching another. The preposition ‘for’ (The Hebrew prefixed preposition be) expresses ‘price/value/payment’.

4 See 13:4.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
5 The literal meaning of qum. Used to express not just the continuance of the Word while all else wilts but its certainty of fulfilment and its capacity for active intervention — ‘so stand up and be counted’.

6 ‘Arm’ symbolises personal strength. cf., 33:2; 52:10. In 51:9-10 (cf. 53:1) the Lord’s arm is personified, and one is therefore tempted to use the upper case here, ‘Arm’.

7 Lit., ‘his wage’, but a pronoun with ‘wage’ always points to the wage-earner. In ways Isaiah has yet to explain the Lord has worked and earned a wage. The ‘work’ he has accomplished lies in front of him, i.e., the people who are his flock.

Thought for the day: Isaiah 40:1-11

The most wonderful thing about these verses is not the beauty of their expression (though that in itself would have been enough), nor the attractiveness of what they reveal (though, again, that would suffice), but the place where they come. Doom has been pronounced on Hezekiah (39:6-7), and with it the death knell seems to have been sounded for all Isaiah’s glittering predictions of a coming king. At this darkest of moments, the call goes out to speak the word of comfort (v. 1), to proclaim hardship finished and sins forgiven (v. 2), to announce that Yahweh himself is on his way with worldwide significance (vv. 3-5), that his word and promises can never fail (vv. 6-8), and that Zion’s people are the flock he has worked for and now holds in his tender care (vv. 9-11). This is the Lord undefeated even by our most grievous sin; the Lord who never calls back the word he has spoken, and who cannot be deflected from its fulfilment! It will all become even more wonderful as Isaiah develops his message in these chapters. We will learn what the Lord’s ‘arm ruling’ means, that it is in truth his ‘arm’ — the Lord Jesus anticipated in his executive might; we will discover what ‘work’ he has done to earn the ‘wages’ he desired — his people, his flock. So much wonder lies ahead, but let us never lose sight of this initial wonder or fail to stand in awe of it. It is what he is towards us as sinners and failures: it is the way his intentions triumph over our frailties. The Sovereign God is never more sovereign than in the work of mercy and salvation, and it is those who know they have most signally erred and strayed from his ways, who, within the blessed arena of salvation, feel most gently the warmth of his shepherding arms around them, and know themselves for sure to be the lambs of his flock.

~ Taken from Isaiah by the Day: A New Devotional Translation, by Alec Motyer, (Christian Focus: 2011), pg. 188-190.

Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Amazon, Westminster Bookstore, ChristianBook.com, or direct from Christian Focus.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Christian Focus. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

Awesome Deal from ChristianAudio.com

~ Bob Hayton

Membership Deal from ChristianAudio.com

I’m always on the lookout for book deals. I’ve tried about every kind of book club you can, and a few membership deals too. This offer from ChristianAudio.com looks fantastic. When you sign up for a 6 month membership, you get $150 dollars worth of free print books to go along with all the audio books you’ll be able to get with your membership.

I’ve been enjoying ChristianAudio books more lately, and find that listening to a Christian book on the way to work and back each day (now that I have a longer commute), is a perfect way to redeem my time and put myself in a good frame of mind.

Check out the offer fron ChristianAudio.com. At the very least check back each month for their free audiobook download.