Book Suggestion March 2013

Suggestion from the Pastor

A Lifting up for the Downcast

by: William Bridge

Pastor’s Description

Throughout the ages many of God’s saints have struggled with spiritual depression. Giants of the faith, such as Charles Spurgoen, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Amy Carmichael have had moments when they struggled through the darkness, waiting for the light.

Sensing such times within his own congregation, William Bridge preached a series of thirteen sermons on Psalm 42:11 in order to encourage and uplift his people. Keenly observing the origins of many discouragements, Bridge led his hearers to the solution as well.

These sermons are offered in a short volume published by Banner of Truth that can be read straight through or used as a devotional.. I have found A Lifting up for the Downcast to be of great benefit in my own walk and highly recommend it to all that put their hope in God.

Review/Purchase

 

Book Suggestion February 2013

Suggestion from the Pastor

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy

by: Eric Metaxas

Pastor’s Description

Much has been written about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His works have also been widely circulated for decades. However, this recent biography by Eric Metaxas provides an in-depth view of a Christian leader whose life was changed by current events, thrusting him into a role that he had never envisioned.

Metaxas takes the reader through the early years of  Bonhoeffer, providing an excellent background of an idealistic clergyman who witnesses the compromising decline of the church in Germany as it gave allegiance to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi movement. As he saw the result of the silence of many Christians in his country, Bonhoeffer became convinced that Christ must be brought into every area of life, that Christianity must be lived outside of the walls of a church building and that the Church must never succumb to placing the dictates of the world above the Lordship of Christ.

In this book, the reader will receive a glimpse of the difficult ethical dilemmas that can result when people’s love of country competes with their love of God. He’ll read the fascinating account of a person attempting to carry on with life while facing the uncertainty of a turbulent world, and read how the presence of God can give one peace even in the valley of the shadow of death.

I highly recommend Bonhoeffer as a riveting account of courage, as a challenge to the Christian to give her highest allegiance to Christ, and as a record of a saint that walked by faith and not by sight.

Review/Purchase

 

Book Suggestion January 2013

Suggestion from the Pastor

The Screwtape Letters

by: C.S. Lewis

Pastor’s Description

Since Grace & Peace has been studying the life of C.S. Lewis during Sunday school, I wanted to recommend a book by that author that would challenge, entertain and teach. The Screwtape Letters is one of Lewis’ better known works. Filled with humor, it is a fictional dialogue between a younger devil and his older mentor, dealing with the former’s struggles to tempt his human subject away from following the Lord.

In this satirical work, God is called the enemy and Christian virtue is something to be sneered at as Lewis probes the depraved reasoning of the devil. The satanic weapons of temptation, sin, discouragement and anemic religiosity are examined as the reader is encouraged to recognize and resist temptation.

I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to understand the nature of spiritual warfare, the strategies of the enemy of our souls, and the never-failing grace of our great God.

Review/Purchase

 

WPE