Reviews - Servants of Grace

Entrusted with the Gospel: Paul’s Theology in the Pastoral Epistles

Posted by Mike Boling | Nov 11, 2014 | Apologetics, Book Reviews, Christian Living, Church, Featured, Reviews, Theology | 0 |

The discipline known as Pauline studies has certainly had its share of ups and downs over the years. Furthermore, much ink has been spilled on the subject of Paul and the New Testament epistles he wrote. Thus to a certain degree, there can be a sense of confusion as to what Paul was addressing in his letters, how they are to be understood within the greater context of Scripture, and perhaps most importantly, how does one apply the writings of Paul to life in the present tense. Focusing specifically on the Pastoral Epistles, Andreas Kostenberger and Terry Wilder have...

How Will the World End?

Posted by Craig Hurst | Nov 4, 2014 | Reviews | 0 |

How will the world end? is a question people have been asking since before Jesus walked the earth. Answering this question has been the focus of many books and movies throughout the years. Who can resist a good end-of-the-world thriller like Armageddon, The Day After Tomorrowor The Terminator? These movies all give a variation of how the world might come to an end. What is interesting about these movies is not their differences, as to what threatens mankind’s existence, but their similarity, in that mankind always triumphs over its seemingly impending demise. But when the end of the world does come...

Book Review – Preparing Your Teens For College: Faith, Friends, Finances, and Much More

Posted by Dave Jenkins | Aug 11, 2014 | Christian Living, Reviews | 0 |

In my early teens into my twenties I was both a good student and a bad student. In middle school I was almost a straight A student. Then came high school. In high school I hardly showed up to class and when I did I would read a book instead of listening to the teacher. What I lacked was discipline. When I got married my wife put her foot down and said, “Enough is enough, I know you are smart and capable of getting straight A’s.” At first I wasn’t sure but then the results slowly starting to come...

Book Review – Job: The Wisdom of the Cross (Preaching the Word)

Posted by Craig Hurst | Aug 6, 2014 | Reviews | 0 |

If you search for “suffering” on Amazon in the books section you will find almost 11,800 results. If you search for “help for suffering” on Google there are 151 million entries to choose from. Indeed the world is a place full of suffering people looking for help. You cannot read more than four chapters into the book of Genesis without encountering suffering in the lives of the first two people God created and the first family they made. In reading through the pages of Scripture one encounters suffering at almost every turn. Ironically, it is Job, the oldest book in the Bible, which solely addresses the subject of suffering and how god relates to it and the sufferer. Tackling this rich, long and sometimes puzzling book, Christopher Ash has written Job: The Wisdom of the Cross. This is the most recent installment in the Preaching the Word commentary series edited by R. Kent Hughes. Staying true to the series, Ash writes from the heart of a pastor as he seeks to show the reader the glory of God in Christ through suffering in the life of Job. Job, Ash argues, is a book that reveals to us what kind of world we live in – a world full of suffering, and much of it is seemingly pointless. But Ash wants to focus the reader on a smaller aspect of the world – the...

Book Review – China’s Reforming Churches: Mission, Polity, and Ministry in the Next Christendom

Posted by Craig Hurst | Jul 30, 2014 | Reviews | 0 |

It is no secret that Christianity in China is growing. In a country that has been historically hostile to religious diversity, Christianity has been growing and making a mark on the whole of Chinese life. One of the factors that accounts for this growth is the infusion of Protestant missionaries from various denominational affiliations. What might come as a surprise to many is the growing and well documented influence of conservative Reformed missionary influence in various ways throughout China. Through the efforts of a number of Reformed leaders who are involved in the spread of Reformed polity and theology in China, Bruce P. Baugus, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, has edited China’s Reforming Churches: Mission, Polity, and Ministry in the Next Christendom. The contributors to this book include pastors, theologians and Chinese-Americans who believe that Reformed polity and theology possess what is necessary to sustain the future growth of the church in China. China’s Reforming Churches provides a sketch of the history of the conservative Reformed missionary influence in China since the late 1800’s, an assessment of the present state of Christianity in China in general and the Reformed church specifically, and charts a vision for the future of Reformed missionary work in China. Additionally, this book provides theological justification for why the contributors believe that Reformed polity and theology are what Chinese churches needs in order to...