I get books. I get lots and lots of books. As you well know, once a month or so I like to try and thin the pile a little bit and distill it down to the ones I think may be of most interest to people like you. I hope you find at least some of them worth checking out!
Face to Face with Jesus by Randy Alcorn
Diehard Sins by Rush Witt
Pornography by Deepak Reju
Grief by Bob Kelleman
After an Affair by Michael Scott Gembola
Contentment by Megan Hill
Doubt: Trusting God’s Promises by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Addictive Habits by David Dunham
Last Call for Liberty by Oz Guinness
ESV Expository Commentary Daniel–Malachi
ESV Expository Commentary Ephesians–Philemon
ESV Expository Commentary Hebrews–Revelation
Transcript
The holiday season is just about upon us and that is good news for readers. Why is that good news for readers? Because publishers are ramping up production, they often bring out some of their best books close to the end of the year when they know that people will be shopping for Christmas, shopping for others, looking for some new material. So, I’ve got some new books to tell you about, I’ll do that as soon as we run this quick intro.
Today, we’re talking about some of the new and notable books that have come my way, that perhaps would interest you as you begin to shop for the holiday season or even just as you begin to look for new books for yourself. I’m going to begin with Randy Alcorn, his new book, Face to Face with Jesus . I love Randy Alcorn, read whatever I can by him. This is 200 very short, I guess you could call them devotionals or reflections on Jesus Christ. He wants to help you reflect on who Jesus Christ is and what he’s done for you. So, perhaps that one is of interest to you.
Next up, we’ve got Diehard Sins by Rush Witt. This is a book about sins, but it’s not about those big sins, so it’s not directed at any one particular big sin that people may struggle with. Instead, it’s dedicated to the little sins, those small sins that might nag you over a lifetime. So, I’ll read you what it says on the back. This book is about sins, not the ugly notorious sins we’ve come to know and hate, but the little daily sins, the snail sized sin habits that slither undetected in the shadows and eat up our lives from the inside out. In other words, its a book for you, its a book for me, its a book for all of us. Diehard Sins by Rush Witt.
Then we’ve got this whole series of books that’s new from P&R and they’ve done this with the Biblical Counseling Coalition. There’s six of them to start the series and here’s their strategy. Sometimes change comes slowly, sometimes change can’t come from just reading a little book, so what if we were to spend 31 days on a single topic? And so they’ve got six of these out of the gate. They’ve got Pornography by Deepak Reju, they’ve got Grief with Bob Kellemen, then they’re on to Recovering from an Affair, Contentment, Doubt and Addictive Habits. So, really important subjects, probably not a bad series to pick up for a church and just kind of keep on hand. At some point, you or somebody else will want to read some of these books I’m sure.
We’ll keep going with Os Guinness. I really enjoy reading Os Guinness’s books. There’s always something in them I find, oh, I don’t know about that, but there’s always things I find just good for reflection. So, this is his new one called, Last Call for Liberty. He, of course, moved from the UK to the US and he’s done some interesting writing about America since then. Here’s what he says in this one. The American republic is suffering it’s gravest crisis since the civil war, conflicts, hostility, and incivility now threaten to tear the country apart. I don’t think anyone can deny that. Competing visions have led to a dangerous moment of cultural self-destruction and so he’s going to deal with that and propose the way forward. Maybe something that you’d be interested in reading this holiday season.
Last up, we’ve got this new series from Crossway. This is the ESV Expository Commentary Series. Out of the gate, there are three of these commentaries. It will eventually cover the whole Bible. I think over the next few years they’re going to bring out the whole series. If you think of the ESV Study Bible, this is like that, just more so. Same theological tradition, some of the same writers, same editing team and so on. So, somewhere along those lines, just expanded. So we’ve got three volumes. The first one takes us from Daniel to Malachi. The second one takes us from Ephesians to Philemon. And the last one from Hebrews all the way to the end in Revelation. There are some really good writers, some really good theologians and commentators involved in this series. I’ve looked through some of them, even some that haven’t been published yet. Very excited for this series, I think it will be excellent for pastors, for writers, for, just lay people who are interested in learning more about the Bible, who perhaps don’t want a full, really heavy commentary, but are looking for something that can get them a little deeper than a study Bible. I think these will be absolutely brilliant for that.
So there’s some new books. I hope something here is of interest to you. I’ll see you again real soon.
