Books Read in 2013*

Happy New Year!

Listed in no particular order here is a list of the best books I read in 2013.


The Hour That Changes The World

This book was first published in 1978 but I was not familiar with the book. The title caught my eye on a vendor's table at the Georgia Home Education Conference in 2013. I downloaded it to my tablet and immediately wondered why I had never heard of the excellent book on prayer.


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And When You Pray: The Deeper Meaning of the Lord's Prayer

A closer look at the prayer Jesus gives in the first 5 verses of Matthew 6 written by Ray Pritchard of Keep Believing Ministries 



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Through The Eyes of C.H. Spurgeon

This book is a collection of powerful quotes from C.H. Spurgeon.



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Ten Indictments Against the Modern Church

This message was preached on October 22, 2008 by Paul Washer who served as a missionary in Peru for ten years. Powerful word for the Church.


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Stop Asking Jesus into Your Heart: How to Know For Sure You Are Saved

Don't let the title fool you, this is an excellent book on the assurance of salvation based on the finished work of Christ not on praying a one time prayer. Easy-believism is a blight on the modern church. This book can help a lot of people: saved and lost.



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Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions Volume 1 & 2

Edited by Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis, has provided Christians with an excellent resource to help equip them be able to "always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you"



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The Insanity of God

Powerful! See how God is working through His Church around the world. Persecution and suffering is a very real and normal part for many around the world. God is faithful. Their faith is strong and vibrant. Would our "faith" here in America stand or would it be exposed as a shallow fake?



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Total Truth

Addresses how Christians have developed a wrong way of looking at life.  In the culture war your worldview does matter.



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The Masculine Mandate

A book that calls men back to biblical manhood - masculinity.  Not very popular in 21st century America but very much needed in a the confused culture of our day.



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Discover the Mystery of Faith

How worship shapes believing.



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Walking East to West: God in the Shadows

Ravi Zacharias, distinguished Christian apologist, tells his story.



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50 People Every Christian Should Know: Learning From Spiritual Giants of the Faith

Warren Wiersbe provides brief biographies from church history.



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*  I am not including the Bible in this list. I strive to read through the Bible every year.  I agree with Tony Reinke (author of Lit!), there are two genres of books:  genre A - The Bible and  genre B - All other books.  The books included in this list are from genre B.

Best Books I Read in 2012*

I was able to read some good books in 2012. In reviewing the books that I read in 2012, I am listing my 10 favorites in this post.  This is the first year that I have read more books in e-format.  Of the 10 books I have listed below I only have paper editions for 3 of them.  The other 7 are nook books. I am not ranking them other than saying these are my top 10. They are listed in the chronological order that I read them.  The topics covered include theology, marriage, parenting, education, leadership,  and government.

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With Mama joining Daddy in Heaven in November of 2011, I started 2012 finding my thoughts more and more on Heaven.  I read Randy Alcorn's book on Heaven and followed it with We Shall See God to start 2012.

Heaven by Randy Alcorn




We Shall See God: Charles Spurgeon's Classic Devotional Thoughts on Heaven by Charles Spurgeon & Randy Alcorn



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As a parent I need this reminder: Give Them Grace.  My kids need grace, I need grace!  God gives grace, I must give grace.

Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids With The Love of Jesus by Elyse Fitzpatrick & Jessica Thompson




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Don't assume the Gospel. We have to get away from the moralistic, therapeutic deism that is so common today. The Gospel: "Don't forget it! You were saved by it, will be sustained by it, and are currently standing in it."

The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler & Jared Wilson




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This past summer my church did a Biographies Summer Teaching Series on Wednesday nights.  Jim Elliott was the biography covered one week.  A few days later I was in the local library returning some books the kids had checked out and on the used book cart for less than a $1 was Through Gates of Splendor.  I took this as the of Providence of God. I bought the book and read this classic. I had been hearing the story  of Jim Elliott since high school but had never actually read the book.  "He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he cannot loose."

Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot


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I think this book should be required reading for all parents, church staff members and educators. This is where we have lost the culture war. To quote Voddie Baucham, "If you send your kids to Caesar for their education don't be surprised when they come back as Romans." It has taken over 150 years of secular education for our culture to get in its current condition.   "Parents must take full responsibility for the education of their children." "Christians must understand the significant influence that education has on a person's life."

Kingdom Education: God's Plan for Educating Future Generations by Glen Schultz



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Written by a real American hero who was a POW for five and  a half years in Vietnam.  Leadership is so important and is so missing in this day and age.

Leading With Honor: Leadership Lessons From the Hanoi Hilton by Lee Ellis



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We lost a giant when God called Charles Colson home on April 21, 2012.  This book was originally published as Kingdoms in Conflict, this revised edition was published in 2007.   I like his original title. As Christians we must remember this world is not our home and while we are here we will have conflict. Although we are only passing through, while we are here we must be "salt and light".

God & Government: An Insider's View on the Boundaries between Faith and Politics by Charles Colson




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Marriage is under attack in today's society. What God has said about marriage has not changed. The Kellers have written a book on marriage that is solidly grounded in Scripture.

The Meaning of Marriage: Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God by Tim & Kathy Keller



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In this book Andy Stanley lays out his philosophy of ministry for North Point Church. "Churches should be theologically sound and culturally relevant."

Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley



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If you are looking for books to read in 2013 I can recommend each of these books to you. Reading them will be a good investment of your time.

Soli Deo Gloria
ah


*  I am not including the Bible in this list. I strive to read through the Bible every year.  I agree with Tony Reinke (author of Lit!), there are two genres of books:  genre A - The Bible and  genre B - All other books.  The books included in this list are from genre B.

The Greatest Story Ever Told - The Biblical Meta-narrative using famous art!

“… the Christian gospel . . .  tells how for the world’s redemption God entered into history, the eternal came into time, the kingdom of heaven invaded the realm of earth, in the great events of the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. ” 

F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? 5^th ed.

(Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 1960), 7-8.

Click here for more information about The Story

Easter: Justified By His Blood

Matt Chandler Nails It:



Matt Chandler is the lead pastor of The Village Church, a multi-campus church in the Dallas metroplex.

The Story of Everything

Don't Be Selfish...Share Christ

If you believe how can you not share?

Video from professed atheist Penn Jillette.

Don't Be Selfish ... Share Christ

Let us not only think of ourselves. Let us also think of others. There are millions in the world who have no spiritual light at all. They are without God, without Christ, and without hope. (Eph. 2:12) Can we do nothing for them? There are thousands around us who are unconverted and dead in sins, seeing nothing and knowing nothing right. Can we do nothing for them? These are questions to which every true Christian ought to find an answer. We should strive, in every way, to spread our religion. The highest form of selfishness is that of the person who is content to go to heaven alone. The truest charity is to endeavor to share with others every spark of religious light we possess ourselves, and so to hold up our own candle that it may give light to every one around us. Happy is that soul, which, as soon as it receives light from heaven, begins to think of others as well as itself! No candle which God lights was ever meant to burn alone.

~ J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1986], 257. {Luke 8:16-21}

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CHRIST

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Soli Deo Gloria
ah

God's Great Story of Salvation

 Enjoying the big snow in Northeast Georgia today. Close to 8 inches on the ground and some snow & sleet still falling.  Brings to mind Isaiah 1:18 where God tells us He will take our scarlet and crimson sins and make them white as snow! What a reminder of God's great story of salvation!!  Though your sins are like scarlet He wants to make them as white as snow.

"Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.

Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)

Watch this animated song presentation of the Gospel from Sovereign Grace Music:

The Gospel Song - An Animation

Holy God in love became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross he took my sin
By his death I live again.

The Bible is most of all a Story. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves His children and comes to rescue them.  It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story.  (from The Jesus Storybook Bible)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE STORY

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Soli Deo Gloria
ah

The Message of Salvation

According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: - Eph 1:4 (KJV)

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.  - Rev 22:17 (KJV)


The famous American Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895–1960) often used an illustration to help people make sense of election. He asked them to imagine a cross like the one on which Jesus died, only so large that it had a door in it. Over the door were these words from Revelation: “Whosoever will may come.” These words represent the free and universal offer of the gospel. By God’s grace, the message of salvation is for everyone. Every man, woman, and child who will come to the cross is invited to believe in Jesus Christ and enter eternal life.

On the other side of the door a happy surprise awaits the one who believes and enters. From the inside, anyone glancing back can see these words from Ephesians written above the door: “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Election is best understood in hindsight, for it is only after coming to Christ that one can know whether one has been chosen in Christ. Those who make a decision for Christ find that God made a decision for them in eternity past.

Phil Ryken : The Message of Salvation

Click Here to Learn More about the Message of Salvation

The Story: How it all began and how it will never end....

"I wonder what sort of tale we've fallen into?"  J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

Life is a story, it unfolds like a drama.  God is the Author of life!

Discover your part in God's Story!   http://Story4.Us/1937

Life is best understood through a story - God's Story.  It begins with "Once upon a time" and ends with "happily ever after."  

CREATION/FALL/RESCUE/RESTORATION

How did it all begin?/What went wrong?/Can anything be done?/How will everything end?

"I had always felt life first as a story - and if a story there is a storyteller." - G. K. Chesterton

"There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. Every Story in the Bible whispers His name." - Sally Lloyd-Jones

"All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: in which every chapter is better than the one before."  C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle

For additional information:
viewthestory.com
Epic; John Eldrege
The Divine Drama; Kurt Bruner
The Jesus Storybook Bible; Sally Lloyd-Jones, Jago
Total Truth; Nancy Pearcey