Today’s the day! I’m happy to announce that my first published book, A Call to Contentment: Pursuing Godly Satisfaction in a Restless World, is now available! It’s a book on how to find contentment in a fallen world. You’ll learn about what contentment is, how to grow in contentment, and how it applies to areas of your life such as money and possessions, success and work, as well as pain and suffering. I hope the book is a blessing to you.  A Call to Contentment Now Available   Endorsements I was honored to receive endorsements from the following people: It must have been providentia ..read more

Another Apologetics book? Yet one more Systematic Theology book? Do we need another Christian book on marriage? The answer is yes. The answer will always be yes. We will always need more books on every subject. If you read a lot of books, you may become bored or fatigued to discover yet another book on a particular subject. I get it. But the average person doesn’t read as much as you do, nor do they have much knowledge of publishing trends. “Because we already have several good books on subject X, we do not need more books on subject X,” the logic goes. I will push back on this logic for the ..read more

It’s that time of the year again. I’m excited to share with you my top ten books of 2023. Before I give you the list, a couple of comments. For some of the books below, I did not read every word, but I read enough of the book to include it on the list. For example, number four is a 500+ page exegetical commentary on the Gospel of Mark. Did I read every single word? No, but I read the sections when it was my turn to preach on Mark, and it was extremely helpful to me. Not every book was published in 2023. Don’t put too much stock in the ranking. Had I written this post on a different day and in ..read more

I don’t particularly like writing or thinking about hell. It’s been said if you preach on hell, you should do so with a tear in your eye. The topic of hell must be treated with biblical fidelity but also with compassion for neighbor. Nevertheless, we regularly need biblical resources on hell since there are constant attacks to undermine it.  According to Scripture, what is hell like? What follows is not a biblical theology on hell, but rather a description of hell from just two words from Jesus: “Unquenchable fire” (Mark 9:43). From these two words alone, we can extract the following: He ..read more

I don’t read as many blog posts as I used to, but not too long ago, I enjoyed reading 14 Lesser-Known Details about J.I. Packer. Number 9: Packer’s favorite book of the Bible was Ecclesiastes.  Ryken says: What the Preacher “says about life’s best being an enjoyment of the basics—one’s work, meals, marriage” made Packer “want to laugh and cheer” because this is what he had felt all his adult life. The text “that runs most constantly around [his] heart is Ecclesiastes’s exit line—‘Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man,’ meaning everybody.” I love Packer’s ..read more

If someone asked me why legalism is destructive, I might give the following reasons. 1. Because it undermines the cross of Christ. If you can save yourself through rules, what’s the point of that blood-stained tree?  2. Because it produces arrogance on behalf of those who seek rule-keeping as the basis for salvation.  3. Because it produces shame and guilt for the recipients of legalistic oversight.  4. Because it disregards the sufficiency of Scripture, thus making oneself, not Scripture, one’s ultimate authority and guide in life.  5. Because it doesn’t produce the inner ..read more

I’m currently reading a book by a Bible scholar. There are many commendable aspects of the book, but I find myself occasionally irritated by the author’s use of statements like, “The Bible never says . . . “ “In the New Testament . . .” Well and good. But where? Specifically, what Scriptural passages? There is a need for precision when quoting Scripture.   Of course, there is a time to be broad and vague. Most people don’t expect an 800-word blog post to be flooded with footnotes and thoroughly explained Bible texts in its historical and literary context. Billy Graham was famous for sayin ..read more

Recently, I went to a conference for my denomination. I slipped up on my diet, affecting my physical and mental health. The three-hour jet lag made me tired. I spent too much time socializing. I wasn’t intentional. As a result, I found myself showing up late for public worship. My practical missteps hurt my experience of worship.  Some Christians bemoan, “But I just don’t get anything out of the church service.” Maybe so. But often when believers express these kinds of sentiments, it’s because we don’t personally prepare ourselves for worship. We think we can haphazardly enter a worship ..read more

As you’ve likely heard by now, the Lord called Tim Keller home on Friday, May 19th. I feel both sad and grateful. Keller had a profound impact on me. But I’m not the only one. After the news of Keller’s death, many posted tributes to Keller on social media and through blog format. For your edification, I’ve compiled some of them, which you’ll find below. I believe this post is the source of this photo. Jake Meador: Thread on Twitter If you only have time for one, pick this: “After about three days of this, I was feeling very low. Then near the end of the work day I logged into my email and saw ..read more

Book Blurbs is a segment on the blog where I list books I’m reading along with a brief blurb about each book. The aim is to help you identify new authors and potential books of interest. Maybe I didn’t read every word of every page, but I read enough to mention them. I don’t list every book I read. You can find some of the books I read in Janaury-April of 2023 below. You can find all the Book Blurbs posts here. Here’s a list of books I started, finished, skimmed, listened to, or continued reading in 2023. Book Blurbs (January – April 2023) 1. Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfoldin ..read more