Here are the books I read and reviewed in 2015. Click a title to read the review…
A Sketch of the Life of George Whitefield
The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis
Here are my book reviews for 2011.
Here are my book reviews for 2012.
Here are my book reviews for 2013.
Here are my book reviews for 2014.
“Ah, what a thing is prayer! The simplest form of speech—such as even a child could utter—yet the highest and divinest of all utterances; such as the Holy Spirit alone can enable us to give fourth.” —Horatius Bonar
“When God feels distant, remember the Christmas story. When you feel alone, unloved, or unlovable, remember that God loves you. And He travelled a great distance to be close to you. Why? Because He loves to be with the ones He loves!” —Max Lucado
“Do you ever take a moment to pray but feel like you stumble out of the gate? Do you have trouble finding the words when it comes time to bow your head? Remember, the One who hears your prayers is your Daddy. You don’t need to wow him with eloquence. Jesus downplayed the importance of words in prayers. We tend to do the opposite. The more words the better. The better words the better. … Just as a happy child cannot mis-hug, the sincere heart cannot mis-pray.” —Max Lucado
J.Warner Wallace answers a good question: Why doesn’t the birth record of Jesus appear in every Gospel?
Dan Reiland has some good words for those in leadership positions in ministry.
Far too many school administrators and teachers think they are limited by the so-called “separation of church and state.” Here’s a post from Eric Buehrer you should share with any of your friends who work in the public school system.
John Stonestreet says, “Remember when people laughed about ‘death panels’?” Check out Who decides to end a life?
Frank Turek asks, “How do we fix a world filled with murder, rape, betrayal, adultery, fraud, theft, sexual exploitation, pornography, bullying, abortion, terrorism, cheating, lying, child abuse, racism, assault, drugs, robbery, and countless other evils?” He says we may not like the answer.
On This Holy Night is a great pre-Christmas read, to help you focus your thoughts for your celebration of the First Advent. I’ve been sharing some of the quotes from this book. David Jeremiah wrote a chapter entitled “Thou Shalt Call His Name Jesus.” Here’s a quote from Pastor Jeremiah, and two poems he shared.
“Did you know that in the Gospels, God’s Son is called by the name Jesus over 500 times? In fact, the word Jesus appears throughout the New Testament 909 times. You get the impression that it’s the favorite and most endearing term for our Lord. Of all of the names and of all the titles that are given to Christ, the one most beloved by His followers is that simple name, Jesus.”
I’ve also shared quotes from this book from John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, and Max Lucado. And you can read my review of On This Holy Night here.
[VIDEO] John Maxwell has a special message for veterans as he talks about heroism—
“God never says ‘no’ to us unless ‘no’ will make us ultimately happier.” —Jon Bloom
“You may remember the Old Testament story of the Israelite spies sent to scout out the Promised Land. They came back saying, ‘Yes, it’s a land flowing with milk and honey. But it’s also full of giants and walled-up cities. We’re not able to go up against these people. Compared to them, we’re mere grasshoppers’ (see Numbers 13). Now, these men didn’t accuse God. They never said, ‘God isn’t able. He isn’t strong enough.’ They dared not voice such unbelief. Instead, they focused on themselves, saying, ‘We’re not able. We’re like little bugs in our enemies’ sight.’ Yet that is not humility. And it isn’t innocent, harmless talk. Rather, it’s an affront to the One who is the Light of the world, who commands us to believe, ‘I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me’ (Philippians 4:13).” —David Wilkerson
“The voice of God indeed daily calls to us; calls to the world to abandon sins and seek the Kingdom of God wholeheartedly.” —C.S. Lewis
J. Warner Wallace uses his skill as a cold-case detective to examine the testimony of the New Testament Gospel writers. Here is his case for why the Gospels were written fairly soon after Christ’s ascension.
Unfortunately, this is true: The First Amendment Is Dying.
[VIDEO] Was Jesus a myth?—
“The experience of being married and bringing up a family cannot have the old bittersweet of first falling in love. But it is futile (and, I think, wicked) to go on trying to get the old thrill again: you must go forward and not backward. Any real advance will in its turn be ushered in by a new thrill, different from the old: doomed in its turn to disappear and to become in its turn a temptation to retrogression.” —C.S. Lewis
“We who trust in Jesus are the happiest of people, not constitutionally, for some of us are much tried and are brought to the utter depths of poverty, but inwardly, truly, our heart’s joy is not to be excelled.” —Charles Spurgeon
Good word: Purity is more than saving sex for marriage.
Live Action shares 10 reasons why women should be pro-life.
John Knight writes very movingly about The Blind Eyes of Abortion. His concluding sentence is brilliant: “The killing ends when heart-eyes are opened and stony hearts, which champion abortion, are turned to flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) and find the practice unthinkable.”
[VIDEO] A very cool look at the authors of the Gospels—
I love reading the “old guys.” I mean the ones who have stood the test of time, and their lives have backed up their writing. Recently I just finished going through the Gospels in my personal Bible reading time, and I did so with the help of Horatius Bonar, a very notable old guy.
Horatius Bonar was a pastor in the mid- to late-1800s in Scotland. He came from a family tree loaded with pastors, and this rich heritage shines brightly in his writings! In Light And Truth, Dr. Bonar doesn’t shine a light on the Scripture, but he points out where the light is already shining brightly.
Light And Truth is not a verse-by-verse commentary on the Scripture, but more of a theme-by-theme commentary. Bonar dives deep into the biblical account of the life of Jesus. Sometimes he elaborates on a well-known Gospel story, and sometimes he turns his attention to an aspect that not many people would notice.
Light And Truth is not meant to be read in place of the Bible (like a devotional book might be), but alongside the Bible. Allowing Dr. Bonar to show you the light and truth he has seen in the Gospels will add a richness and depth to your own Bible reading.
There is a series of book by Horatius Bonar called Light And Truth. I am currently reading one of the books in the series as I read through the New Testament in my personal devotional time. Typically I post a book review after I’ve finished a book (which I will do with Light And Truth [update: the review is posted here]), and then I share some quotes from that book. In this case I’m mixing things up a bit: I’m sharing some quotes from the first half of this book today, and then I’ll post a review and more quotes after I finish the book. Enjoy!
(Note: Scripture references appearing in brackets following the quote reflects the passage or verse on which Bonar was commenting.)
“What is at the bottom of all the persecutions of various ages? It is Christ troubling the world. If He would let it alone, it would let Him alone. What means the outcry, and alarm, and misrepresentation, and anger, in days of revival? It is Christ troubling the world. What means the resistance to a fully preached gospel? It is Christ troubling the world. A fettered gospel, a circuitous gospel, a conditional gospel—a gospel that does not truly represent Christ—troubles no man; for in such cases it is another Christ that is announced, and not the Christ, the King of the Jews, that troubled Jerusalem. But a large, free, happy, unconditional gospel, that fully represents Jesus and His grace, Jesus and His completeness, does trouble men. It troubles all to whom it comes, in some measure. Some it troubles and then converts; some it only troubles. … The world’s only hope is to be ‘troubled’ by Christ. … Yet all this troubling is in love. He sounds His trumpet to awake the sleepers.” [Matthew 2:3]
“The Lord ends speaking and begins working; He comes down from the pulpit and enters the hospital. Such is His whole life: words and deeds intermingled; words of health and deeds of health. His lips breathe fragrance, and in His hand is the balm of Gilead. … [The leper] wants to be made clean, and he casts himself on Christ for this. He is the hyssop, the water, the blood, the ashes, the priest, the physician, all in one. Thus we still come, doubting neither the willingness nor the power, yet casting ourselves on the will of the Lord; not presuming to dictate, yet appealing to His sovereign Grace. As the needy, the sick, the unclean, we come; for the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” [Matthew 8:1-3]
“It is the voice of authority. It reminds us of Genesis 1:2-3. He speaks as one who knew that He could cure. Not hesitatingly. Nor are the words a prayer, but a command. He speaks, and it is done. … Thus love, authority, and power are all conjoined. It is the voice of Omnipotence. … He is the same Christ still; with the same love, and authority, and power. He is still a Healer, and the worst of diseases fly from His touch and voice. Let us go to Him with all that afflicts us. He calls and He will heal us of all. … Be persuaded to present thyself to Him, just as thou art give this divine Healer thy simple confidence. Take Him for what He is, and He will take thee for what thou art. Thus shalt thou meet in love; thou to be healed, and He to heal; thou to have the joy of being healed, and He to have the joy of healing thee, and to announce to heaven, in the presence of the angels of God, that another leper has been healed!” [Matthew 8:1-3]
“And is not this oftentimes the very point of the difficulty we experience in believing? We cling to the visible, the palpable prop—the human rope which we hold in our hand, unwilling to let go. We speak of our inability to believe; but what is this save our tenacity in holding on to the very things which God asks us to quit? We say that we ‘cannot lay hold’; should we not rather say that we ‘cannot let go’? We complain that we have no power to cling and grasp; whereas it should be that we have no will to let go.”
“As iniquity increases, faith decreases. … As iniquity increases, truth decreases. … As iniquity increases, righteousness and holiness decrease. … As iniquity increases, religion decreases. … As iniquity increases, delight in the things of God decreases. … But the special thing of which Our Lord predicts the decrease is love—love to God, love to himself, love to one another.” [Matthew 24:12]
“Our Lord will come! This is one of the great certainties of the unknown future. He may tarry, but He will come at last. Many obstacles made seem to rise up, but He will come. Men may not desire Him, but He will come. The Church may be cold, but He will come. Earth may think she has no need of Him, but He will come! The scoffer may say, where is the promise of His coming? but He will come. satan may do His utmost to oppose; but He will come. This is the great future certainty which Christ and His apostles have proclaimed to us. Our Lord will come! … The hour is, no doubt, fixed in God’s purpose, but the knowledge of that time is kept from us. They do wrong, then, who try to fix the hour, thus seeking to extract a secret from God. They do wrong who neglect the whole subject because this secret is connected with it. They do wrong who scoff at the whole subject because of the rash attempts or wretched failures of some pretended interpreters of prophecy. Thus, ‘we know,’ and ‘we know not’: we know that He will come, we do not when. … Beware of falling under any influences that would make you indifferent to the Lord’s appearing. Beware of worldly arguments; beware of pretended spiritual arguments; beware of confounding death and Christ’s coming; beware of the errors and seductions of the age.” [Matthew 22:42, 44]
“Ah, does not our faith often thus fail just at this point? We can go to Him for a little thing; we cannot go to Him for a great thing. We count it presumption to expect much. Instead of feeling that the worse the case, the greater the glory to His power and love, we stop short, and cease to expect anything from Him at all. I need not trouble the Master, we say, my case is so desperate; instead of saying, because my case is so desperate, I will trouble Him, I will give Him this opportunity of magnifying His skill and grace.” [Mark 5:36]
“Understand what is passing day by day; interpret events; connect them with the coming of the Son of Man. You see false Christs; you hear a Babel of opinions; you mark the new forms of immorality and infidelity; you are startled with the bold assaults made on Scripture, and on the Christ of God, on His blood, and Cross, and righteousness—connect all these with the coming of the Lord; interpret them as signs of the last days; do not treat them as common things; do not close your eyes upon them; do not be indifferent to them; do not admire them as tokens of intellectual development and human progress. Understand them all according to God’s purpose and mind. Examine them in the light of apostolic teachings and warnings. Be not deceived concerning them. Beware of the strong delusion. … Pray, then, for a needy church, that in all these respects God would visit her; raising her up; reviving her; rekindling her light; reinvigorating her strength; re-adorning her with all gifts and graces; reclothing her in apostolic raiment, and sending her forth to do His work with the old power and success of primitive days. Pray for a needy world. It is blind, and knows it not; poor, and thinks itself rich; foolish, and thinks itself wise. It is doubly needy. It is not aware of the extent of its ruin, and alienation, and depravity; not alive to its danger and hopeless prospects; not anticipating its doom. There is a hardening, and searing, and blinding process going on in connection with ‘modern progress.’” [Mark 13:33]
“Why did Saul obey the people instead of God? Because he feared the people instead of God. He feared the human consequences of obedience more than he feared the divine consequences of sin. He feared the displeasure of the people more than the displeasure of God. And that is a great insult to God. … To turn from Him out of fear of what man can do is to discount all that God promises to be for those who fear Him It is a great insult. And in such an insult God can take no pleasure. On the other hand when we hear the promises and trust Him with courage, fearing the reproach brought upon God by our unbelief, then He is greatly honored. And in that He has pleasure.” —John Piper
“In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God’s existence.” —Sir Isaac Newton
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. … We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” —C.S. Lewis
“What, sirs, is your wisdom? Your wisdom dwells in denying what your eyes can see—a God; in denying what your consciences tell you—that you are guilty; in denying what should be your best hope, what your spirit really craves after—redemption in Christ Jesus. Your folly lies in following a perverted nature, instead of obeying the dictates of One Who points you to the right path. You are wise and you drink poison; we are fools and we take the antidote. You are wise and you hunt the shadow; we are fools and we grasp the substance. You are wise, and you labor and put your money into a bag which is full of holes, and spend it for that which is not bread, and which never gives you satisfaction; and we are fools enough to be satisfied, to be happy, to be perfectly content with heaven and God.” —Charles Spurgeon
Seth Godin says, “Those critical choices you made then, they were based on what you knew about the world as it was.” Now check out his post New Times Call For New Decisions.
J. Warner Wallace, a cold-case detective, wrote, “I’ve worked more cases involving witnesses than I can even count. A career in law enforcement will put you in direct contact with eyewitnesses on a daily basis, starting with your very first night on the job. After interviewing literally thousands of witnesses over the course of twenty five years, I think I’ve learned something about reliable eyewitness testimony.” Check out more in his post Why We Should Expect Witnesses To Disagree.
Such a sweet video from a boy with Down Syndrome to his Dad on Fathers Day. I love the ending tag line: “Love doesn’t count chromosomes”—
“Criticism serves to make you harsh, vindictive, and cruel, and leaves you with the soothing and flattering idea that you are somehow superior to others. You must constantly beware of anything that causes you to think of yourself as a superior person. Criticism is one of the ordinary activities of people, but nothing is accomplished by it.” —Oswald Chambers
“The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word ‘love,’ and look on things as if man were the center of them. Man is not the center. God does not exist for the sake of man. Man does not exist for his own sake. ‘Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created’ [Revelation 4:11]. We were made not primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the Divine love may rest ‘well pleased.’ To ask that God’s love should be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God: because He is what He is, His love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled, by certain stains in our present character, and because He already loves us He must labor to make us lovable.” —C.S. Lewis
J. Warner Wallace asks a great question in light of us considering the truthfulness of the Gospels: Can a witness be trusted if he can’t be cross-examined?
A John Hopkins psychiatrist flatly denies that sex change is possible.
Craig T. Owens 
9 Quotes From “Light And Truth in the Gospels”
September 23, 2015 — Craig T. Owens“Man’s love of man is according to merit, on expectation of response; God’s love of man has no reference to deserving or to return. Man’s love of man is contracted, exclusive, and grudging; God’s love to man is as boundless as it is free. He forgives without condition; He loves without reserve; He blesses without measure or end.”
“God takes man as he is, simply a sinner, ‘without strength,’ and without goodness. He does not ask man to meet Him halfway between earth and heaven; He comes down all the way to earth in the Person of His Incarnate Son. He does not resort to half-measures, nor is He content with half-payment. He comes down to man in absolute and unconditional love; without terms or bargains; Himself paying the whole price, and thus leaving nothing for the sinner but to except the frank forgiveness which His boundless love has brought.”
“Our giving depends much on the state of our minds at the moment. When depressed, we have no pleasure in giving; we either refuse, or we give merely to get quit of the applicant. Darkness of mind shrivels us up, makes us selfish, neglectful of others. When full of joy, giving seems our element—our joy overflows in this way; we cannot help giving; we delight in applications; we seek opportunities of giving. So with the blessed God. Being altogether happy, His delight is to give; His perfect blessedness flows out in giving. We can never come wrongly to such an infinitely happy Being.”
“From Genesis to Revelation we hear His voice. It is the voice of love. ‘Come unto Me’ is the burden of the Old Testament as well as of the New. It is not merely that each chapter speaks of Jesus; but in each chapter Jesus speaks to us. And each verse, He is lying in wait for us.”
“Poor wanderer, you need not then try to cover your rags, or to hide your filth, or to try to make yourself more like what you were in order to attract your Father. It is just that which you are which excites His compassion. … God comes up to the sinner with the fullness of reconciliation in His heart. He does not stay to be entreated, or pleaded with, or persuaded. He hastens up to us, and embraces us in the fullness of His heart.”
“We poor prodigals must be gloriously clad! Not sack cloth, nor cast-off raiment, nor a servant’s dress; not Adam’s nor an angels’ righteousness; but something better than all—the robe of Jesus! … The prodigal is not to go in search of it. It must be brought out to him. On the spot; just where he is and as he is, bring it out, bring it to him. … It is not, ‘Give it to him, and let him put it on himself’; but, ‘Put it on.’ He has but to stand still and allow himself to be thus clothed and blessed. He does nothing. He does not need to do anything. Love does it all. The Father does it all.”
“What is the meaning of God sending His own Son, if less than salvation was intended; if less than Incarnation will do, less than blood, less than death, less than resurrection? Oh let us understand the greatness of God’s provision for us, and in that greatness, read at once our death and our life, our condemnation and our deliverance.”
“Yes; any time, any place, will do for Jesus. His grace is not circumscribed by temple walls, nor tied to ceremonies, nor limited to hours. Samaria, Jericho, Tyre, Jerusalem are all the same to Him. The temple, the highway, the hill-side, the sea-beach, the synagogue, the house, the boat, the graveyard, are all alike to Him and to His grace.”
“Over all Scripture the quickening, life-giving fragrance of His name is defused. Christ and life; life in Christ; Christ our life—these form the very essence, the sum and burden, of the Scriptures. ‘These are they that testify of Me.’”
Check out my review of Light And Truth by clicking here.
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