Review: Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality

Gregory D. Cook. Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, January 16, 2015. 208 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster |Amazon

Are you reading the narratives in Genesis about the life of Abraham?  Also are you looking for a good devotional commentary that also have a redemptive historical awareness and also conscious of biblical theology?  This would be a resource in understanding the portion of the book of Genesis.

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Review: Severe Compassion

Gregory D. Cook. Severe Compassion: The Gospel According to Nahum.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, April 29th 2016. 288 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster |Amazon

How many people have read the book of Nahum in the Bible?  For believers we can’t just dismiss it as an irrelevant book from the past since it is God’s Word for us today.  Yet readers will no doubt have questions since we are quite removed from the historical context.  A good help in understanding the book of Nahum would be this Bible commentary.

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Recommended Books at the Shepherd’s Conference 2019 from Presbyterian & Reformed #ShepCon

Are you are at the Shepherd’s Conference?  I have to go in and out of this conference given my ministry responsibilities.  Its one of our nation’s top conference for those who are biblically minded and rally around sound doctrines of the Gospel.

Need book recommendations to use your 50 dollars gift cards on at the Conference bookstore?  Let us help. =)

My favorite publisher is Presbyterian and Reformed.

Here’s the books I recommend with links to my reviews.  If they are sold out my review also give links to how you can order them online.

Review: Loving Your Friend through Cancer

Short Summary: Among the top book I read last year.

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

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Review: Domestic Abuse: Help for the Sufferer

Pastors, church leaders and biblical counselors, this is a much needed resource you need to get along with Domestic Abuse: Recognize, Respond, Rescue.

Darby A. Strickland. Domestic Abuse: Help for the Sufferer.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, May 31st 2018. 56 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

This is from a biblical counseling series called “Resources for Changing Lives” printed by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing.  The author has written two booklets in this series on domestic abuse and this specific work is addressed to the abused spouse.  I am glad that is the case since the booklet covers a difficult topic that many pastors and churches might not have thought through about seeing the various controversies in recent years with pastors, churches and spiritual leaders and how they addressed or neglected the issue of abuse.

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All My Reviews of Christian Answers to Hard Questions Series (10 Booklet Set)

The publisher Presbyterian and Reformed has done a church a great service with their 10 booklet series titled “Christian Answers to Hard Questions.”  I finally finished all ten and have reviewed them.  Links to the review of each is provided below.

By the way the publisher has made them available as a complete set for ten dollars.  Check it out here.

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Review: Creation, Evolution and Intelligent Design

Guillermo González and Jay W. Richards. Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, August 16^th, 2013. 32 pp.

3 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

In the opening of this work the book noted that the three terms in the title is quite controversial today.  Both authors Guillermo González and Jay W. Richards has written this helpful booklet to help navigate through the issue of God’s creation and evolution.  Both men are aware that they are a lot of heat than light with the subject and they have written in a gracious and informed matter.

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Review: What is True Conversion?

Stephen Smallman. What is True Conversion?  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, February 18th 2005.  32 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

As a Pastor I regularly keep my eye out not only for large academic work but also smaller practical booklets for a lay audience that would be beneficial for discipleship and biblical counseling.  I picked up this booklet, What is True Conversion? with that in mind and I used it as a tool for my pastoral care with those who attend our church that I wanted to discuss assurance of salvation with.  I also used this booklet as something I read along with one of the special needs attendee in our church in which we read through each section very slowly and discussed it together.  The following are my thoughts of the book.

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Review: Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace

David Powlison. Worry: Pursuing a Better Path to Peace.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, March 1st 2004. 30 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

This is a counseling booklet on the topic of worrying.  It is a part of a series published by Presbyterian and Reformed called “Resources for Changing Lives” which feature booklets on various biblical counseling issues.  While some of the booklets in the series could be very specific and tailored for particular individuals going through certain issues such as A.D.D, OCD, self-injury and suicidal thoughts, I thought this booklet on worry would definitely be useful to a larger amount of people since every one of us struggle with worrying in one degree or another about something.

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Review: Depression by Margaret Ashmore

I intend this year of reviewing helpful biblical counseling booklets for the purpose of identifying resources to equip and edify God’s people.

Margaret Ashmore. Depression.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, April 17th 2013. 38 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: P&R Publishing | Amazon

This is a work that is a part of The Gospel for Real Life Series put out by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing written by those who are a part of the Association of Biblical Counselors.  This particular work addresses the topic of depression.  In this review I want to briefly summarize what the author Margaret Ashmore has to say followed by the positives that I found in this book.

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Review: Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down

I plan to review more counseling booklets for the sake of the edification and encouragement of the church.

Edward Welch. Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, October 1^st, 2000. 28 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

This is a counseling booklet that’s part of the series published by Presbyterian and Reformed called “Resources for Changing Lives.”  In this series of 26 booklets biblical counselor Edward Welch wrote this one on the issue of depression.  After reading this booklet myself I thought this was a helpful resource for Pastors to assign as a reading assignment for someone whom they are counseling concerning depression.  And Pastors definitely need resources on depression if they are going to be prepared to minister to people and their problems.

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Review: What Is Vocation? By Stephen J. Nichols

Stephen J. Nichols. What Is Vocation?  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, May 1^st, 2010. 31 pp.

4 out of 5

This is a booklet on a Christian view of vocation as part of the Basics of the Christian faith series published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing.  It was authored by Stephen Nichols who is probably best known by most Reformed Christians as the chief academic officer of Ligonier Ministries.  This book offers readers a concise biblical worldview on the subject of work and vocation.

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Review: Prophet, Priest and King by Richard Belcher

Richard P Belcher. Prophet, Priest, and King: The Roles of Christ in the Bible and Our Roles Today.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, September 30^th, 2016. 224 pp.

5 out of 5

While the theme of Christ being Prophet, Priest and King has been much discussed in systematic theology the author made a good point that there hasn’t been the exploration of these motifs through the discipline of biblical theology; that is, there has not been the exploration of these offices’ as it developed through the unfolding of redemptive history that eventually anticipate and find its fulfillment in Christ.  This book is an attempt to fill in the gap.  I think the book accomplishes its aim of fulfilling this need.  The author was able to do this in such a way that was spiritually enriching, practical and gives readers a greater appreciation for the wisdom of God found in the Scriptures.

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Review: Philosophy by James Spiegel

James Spiegel. Philosophy.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, July 11^th, 2014. 48 pp.

5 out of 5

The author James Spiegel is a Christian and a professor of philosophy and religion at Taylor University.  I’m glad that the editors and publishers for the Faithful Learning Series picked a guy qualified to write this booklet on a Christian view of philosophy as an academic discipline.  Spiegel surveys how the trajectory of philosophy has shifted in recent historical context starting with Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga.  Plantinga and other Christians philosophers like him have contributed not only to the defense of the faith but even in the field of philosophy itself.  The change in the field of philosophy is quite radical as the author noted that not too long ago the philosophy of Positivism was assumed by society at large to be philosophically sound and physicalism was in vogue.  Spiegel’s work gives readers a quick and helpful survey on epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion and moral theory.  In what follows below I will share what I found helpful and then some words of constructive criticisms.

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Review: Stress: Peace Amid Pressure by David Powlison

I plan the next few weeks to look at some practical counseling booklets and post my reviews of them on here.

David Powlison. Stress: Peace Amid Pressure.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, July 1^st, 2004. 28 pp.

4 out of 5

This is a counseling booklet that’s part of the series published by Presbyterian and Reformed called “Resources for Changing Lives.”  I thought this work is a great resource for Pastors to assign as a reading assignment for someone they are counseling on the topic of stress.  I read through this short work for my own edification and also alongside another brother at church.

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Review: The Doctrine of God by John Frame

John Frame. The Doctrine of God.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, June 1^st, 2002. 864 pp.

Rating: 5 out of 5

This book is a great resource on a theology of God.  Those who have read other works by the author John Frame will find him on top of his game here as well.  This is a work that pastors and teachers would turn to as reference even after completing it.  I enjoyed reading this book in two separate instances: once when I was in seminary as something I had to read through rather quickly and the second instance being after seminary at a slower pace as part of my morning routine of devotional-theological readings.  I would recommend the second approach as the best way to read this volume.

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