Favorite Books of 2024

1. The Liberal Arts Tradition | Kevin Clark & Ravi Jain You will notice a decent number of education related books on this list. That is largely because I am haunted by the question how I can best use the next ten years to equip my seven-year-old for whatever the world looks like in 2035. The …

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A Letter to My Daughters on Books & Reading

Yesterday I finished writing today's sermon a bit earlier than usual, so I sat down to write a letter to my daughters, which is a practice that my wife and I have been doing since she was pregnant with our eldest. Looking at the books on my shelves, I just started writing down some thoughts …

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The Perilous Appeal of Satan

I have recently begun reading Milton's Paradise Lost, which I previously attempted to read a bit of last summer at the beginning of my journey through the major epic poems. But I rightly say that it was merely an attempt because I found its style to be far too difficult to enjoy. Now after a …

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Favorite Books of 2023

1. Providence | John Piper Although I began reading this behemoth of a book last year, I completed it this year. But really the content, more than the page-count, demands that this book be read carefully and prayerfully. Piper tackles deep theological matters with the heart and skill of someone seasoned by decades of pastoral …

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Principles for Interpreting Revelation

Few books of the Bible puzzle Christians as much as Revelation. Max Doner's two volume collection of sermons aims to help believers make sense of Revelation so that it can be read for the book of encouragement and comfort that it is (Doner is also offering it free to pastors!). While I am only about …

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O Come, O Come Emmanuel by Jonathan Gibson

Jonathan Gibson's book of liturgies for daily worship, Be Thou My Vision, was my first experience with bringing elements typically associated with corporate worship into my times of private worship, and I have not looked back since. Although devotional time ought to rightly be viewed as time that is explicitly devoted to the Lord through …

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Why Did Jesus Need to Purify Heaven? | Hebrews 9:23

In last Sunday's sermon, I decided not to make much comment on Hebrews 9:23, except noting that it is the author's transition from speaking of the old covenant to speaking of Christ. However, if we slow down to read that verse carefully, a significant question arises: "Thus it was necessary for the copies of the …

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Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey Part 3

Little Pilgrim’s Big Journey, specifically Part II, has been my eldest daughter’s favorite book since it first came out. Indeed, after reading Part I over and over again while waiting for Christiana’s book to arrive, she hugged us with tears in her eyes whenever she finally held the book in her hands. Of course, this …

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The Sin of Not Knowing God

The following quotation is from Richard Phillips' expository commentary on the book of Hebrews: Complaining is a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem. If we grumble and complain, if we rebel and revolt, it indicates a very poor knowledge of God. Indeed, this was exactly the Lord's diagnosis of Israel, as we see in verse …

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A Ministry Mind-Shift

The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne has been sitting in my Kindle library for many years, likely downloaded from Challies' list of Kindle deals or some other such digital recommendation. While giving my Kindle content a bit more attention lately (e-readers are wonderful for reading one-handed while holding a sleeping …

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