Grace Blogs

If your children have been intrigued by the messages and movie clips about Martin Luther and the Protestant reformation over the last two weeks, I highly recommend Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World by Paul Maier. As with all of Maier’s children’s books, this one is historically accurate and beautifully illustrated. 

Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed The World

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We are in the middle of working through a very helpful video training training class called Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes… in You and Your Kids on Wednesday nights. The course centers around the idea of what it means for us to honor one another and how we can train our children to live out Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’”

As good as the course is, I feel

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The ESV Study Bible ships this week. As study Bibles go, this appears to be a good one. If you are planning to order one, you can get it Amazon for $31.49 (as of this posting). If you order it from this link (or the search box on the Library page), Grace Fellowship will get close to $2 as a referral fee.

I haven’t seen a copy, but with features like in-line color maps and figures (see Solomon’s Temple example), extensive background notes and introduction (see Psalms example), it looks like it will set a new standard for study Bibles.  Of course, at 2752 pages, you may need to check with your doctor before making

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During the summer’s ChurchWorks series, Dan mentioned the process we have for recognizing, developing, and appointing gifted leaders within the church. If this has you thinking thoughts like “Is God moving me toward a shepherding role within the church?” or “How would I know if I have the skill and desire to be a pastor?” or “How can I personally develop as a shepherd and pastor to those God has put in my path?” then I commend an excellent resource to you titled They Smell Like Sheep: Spiritual Leadership for the 21st Century by Lynn Anderson.

Ken gave me this book when I

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If you missed getting your free audio copy of C.H. Spurgeon’s All of Grace when it was offered a couple of years ago on ChristianAudio.com, you’ve got a second chance.  I cannot recommend this little book highly enough. This is a great illustration of a preacher who is passionate about reaching people with the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone.

Simply go to the Free Downloads page and follow the directions for the free download.

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I just learned that Google Books are embeddable in blog posts, so I thought I’d give it a try with the title I called out yesterday, Randy Newman’s Questioning Evangelism:

GBS_insertEmbeddedViewer(’StP9vsO7XRQC’,550,800);

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During Sunday’s Gospel Conversations class, I quoted a bit from a great book I read over the summer: Questioning Evangelism. The title does not mean the author questions the value of evangelism — rather, he advocates evangelism that is characterized by asking lots of questions. If you want a smart, fresh take on evangelism, I highly recommend this book. (Also see the review at 9Marks.)

Here’s the quote I read during our class, which focused on the gravity of sin and the fact that we can’t really understand the Gospel

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ChristianAudio.com is having a $9.49 sale on lots of downloadable books from June 13-22.

One notable inclusion in that list is the The Listener’s Bible NIV, narrated by Max McLean. If you don’t have a Bible you can listen to, here’s a great chance to pick one up at almost 90% off. This is no cheesy production — I have McLean’s ESV reading and it’s fantastic. I highly recommend McLean’s work.

Some others:

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The Amazon.com search link was a temporary casualty of the Web site redesign. It is coming back, but in the meantime, you can bookmark this entry. If you are not familiar with the way this works, you simply start your search from the Amazon search box. A percentage of your purchase (usually around 6-7% for books and 4% for electronics) will automatically go to the church.

Search:

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You know that feeling you get when someone says something that nicely articulates something that you have long felt but just didn’t quite know how to say? Os Guinness is one of those authors that, as I read him, I think “Wow! I wish I could have said it like that.”

Justin Taylor dropped one of those Guinness passages on hi blog yesterday. He is quoting from Guinness’ latest book, The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It (pp. 93-94), on Christians playing the victim…

As one who believes that the call of Jesus is to a path of suffering that shuts the door to every form of victim-playing, I am angered by

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