FOUR NEW RELEASES!

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Kim

We have four new book releases today!

1. Loving Your Friend through Cancer: Moving beyond “I’m Sorry” to Meaningful Support by Marissa Henley

264 pages | $15.99 | SAMPLE CHAPTER | Kindle: $9.99 | iTunes/ePub: $9.99

“It’s cancer.”

When you hear the two words you dread most from someone you care about, you know at once that your friend’s life has been turned upside down.

Whether she’s a good friend, a best friend, or just an acquaintance, you want to be supportive. But how can you understand what she’s going through enough to know what she needs? What can you say besides “If you need anything—anything at all . . .”?

Marissa Henley is here to help show you the way. A cancer survivor herself, she lets you in on what having cancer feels like and what your friend truly needs. She prepares you to support your friend with both knowledge and compassion. And she offers specific action steps and practical support resources to help you show love in the day-to-day details.

Cancer is a life-altering challenge—but Marissa will equip and empower you to walk alongside your friend with love and support.

Endorsements

“This will now be the first place I’ll go as I seek to care for people with not only cancer, but any serious illness. Marissa’s practical helps are worth the price of the book.”

—Dave Furman, author, Kiss the Wave: Embracing God in Your Trials

“Our friend’s cancer diagnosis provides an opportunity for us to . . . share the love of Christ by being his hands and feet and entering into their suffering. . . . It is a journey worth taking, and this book is an excellent travel guide.”

—Brian Holt, president and CEO, Hope Cancer Resources

“Anyone who’s been touched by cancer, to any degree, will be helped and comforted by this beautiful book. Marissa addresses a difficult, life- changing battle with eloquence, truth, and intense practicality.”

—Kristen Wetherell, coauthor, Hope When It Hurts

About The Author

Marissa Henley is a cancer survivor who writes and speaks about faith, friendship, God’s character, and suffering. She lives in Arkansas with her husband, three children, and one disobedient dog. She would love to connect with you at www.marissahenley.com.

2. The Life of Moses: God’s First Deliverer of Israel by James Montgomery Boice

472 pages | $29.99 | Hardcover | SAMPLE CHAPTER

“Apart from Jesus Christ, no person in history has made as deep or lasting an impression on the world as Moses.”

So begins this study of the life  of Moses—the renowned lawgiver, prophet, friend of God, and deliverer of his people. The events of his life, spanning four books of the Bible, resound throughout Scripture—and while our own lives may seem to pale in comparison, God wants to grow in us the same character traits that he used in the life of this “servant of God” (Rev. 15:3).

This epic undertaking, composed of never-before-published material from the late James M. Boice, delves fully into the narrative of Moses’ life, uncovering its rich meaning and its gospel application to our lives today. Dr. Boice captures the broad sweep of Israel’s captivity, deliverance, and wanderings, defends the Bible’s historical reliability, and offers wise pastoral advice on many practical topics.

Demonstrating what we can learn from their successes and strengths as well as their sins and failures, Boice also leads us to look beyond Moses and the Israelites to the awesome power of their God and the much needed, final Deliverer of his people to come.

Endorsements

“Dr. James Montgomery Boice was first and foremost a preacher. He preached with authority because he had a profound sense of the binding and compelling truthfulness of God’s Word. And because Scripture is the very word of God, Boice had a profound sense of drama. We see this clearly in these never-before-published lessons on the life of Moses. Here we find astounding moments and breathtaking scenes. Here we find ourselves standing on holy ground. Here we learn from Moses that we must trust God, obey God, and focus on God to the exclusion of all else. And here Dr. Boice continues to teach us of our ultimate calling: to worship God in the splendor of his glory.”

—Stephen J. Nichols, President, Reformation Bible College; Chief Academic Officer, Ligonier Ministries

“Dr. Boice teaches us about more than the life of Moses. He teaches us why we can trust the God of Moses and how we are to hold fast to God’s Word. Through the life of Moses, Boice teaches us about the life of faith in our Redeemer. Once again, Boice’s pastoral care in his writing makes this book a great resource for laypeople to use during their devotional time.”

—Aimee Byrd, Author, Why Can’t We Be Friends? and No Little Women; Cohost, Mortification of Spin podcast

“What a gift to the church are these words from a faithful preacher of the Word who now knows the full presence of the Lord Jesus he served so well. As Dr. Boice unfolds the words and life of Moses in these chapters, he unswervingly points us to the promised prophet—one like Moses, but the very Son of God, the Word made flesh. I’m grateful to Linda Boice and those who with such excellence and love have compiled and edited this volume.”

—Kathleen Nielson, Author, Bible Study: Following the Ways of the Word; Advisor and Editor, The Gospel Coalition

“Dr. Boice had an eye for the many close connections between the Old and New Testaments. With Moses, those connections are especially abundant. The result is an exposition that frequently displays Jesus Christ in his atoning sacrifice and resurrection glory. . . .

Everyone who reads this life of Moses  will have the rare and genuine pleasure of hearing Dr. Boice’s strong voice again. By the grace of God, the message in its pages will bring fresh blessing to the church of Jesus Christ.”

—Philip Graham Ryken, from the foreword

About The Author

James Montgomery Boice (July 7, 1938—June 15, 2000) was pastor of the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for more than three decades. With degrees from Harvard, Princeton Theological Seminary, and the University of Basel, Dr. Boice was well known and well respected as a Bible expositor. He wrote many books and commentaries, including a four-volume commentary on the book of Romans, and his Bible Study Hour radio program can still be heard on air and online.

3. Journeys with Jesus: Every Path in the Bible Leads Us to Christ by Dennis E. Johnson

192 pages | $14.99 | SAMPLE CHAPTER

This is an abridged edition of Walking with Jesus through His Word (P&R, 2015).

The Bible’s sixty-six books form one overarching story—the story of a Hero and his heroic missions. And this story is personal, focusing on the relationship of God and his people in the past, present, and future.

On this eye-opening journey through the Old and New Testaments, Dennis Johnson shows how pervasive, recurring themes are always pointing us to Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all God’s promises and all humanity’s hopes and longings. He shows us how to read on the alert, paying attention to the clues, examining their context, and interpreting them correctly.

The story of Christ is the most important story of all. Meditate on the beautiful unity of God’s redemptive plan, and let your heart be kindled to flame with love for the Lord who came to serve us in love.

Endorsements

“Read this book and you’ll never read the Book the same way again.”

—Michael S. Horton

“An outstandingly helpful book.”

—Sinclair B. Ferguson

“We are in need of . . . a complete reorientation to how to read and understand the Bible with Christ at the center. That’s exactly what Dennis Johnson provides to us in this book.”

—Nancy Guthrie

“Discover the many glorious ways in which the Old Testament points to Jesus as its goal.”

—G. K. Beale

“A great resource that will enable all cultures to learn, and delight in, the grace that threads through the Bible from beginning to end.”

—Bryan Chapell

The Author

Dennis E. Johnson (ThM, Westminster Theological Seminary; PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) taught New Testament and practical theology at Westminster Seminary California for more than thirty-five years. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, the author of Him We Proclaim and of commentaries on Acts, Philippians, Hebrews, and Revelation (Triumph of the Lamb), and a contributor to several study Bibles and other books. He and his wife, Jane, live in Dayton, Tennessee.

4. Free to Be Sons of God by Geoffrey M. Ziegler

360 pages | $49.99 | SAMPLE CHAPTER | Series: Reformed Academic Dissertations

Today, what constitutes freedom is identified in terms of human autonomy. Ziegler instead proposes a previously undeveloped thesis—that freedom is a gift from without, not from within. He proposes that being a son of God is essential to being free and that there is no tension between freedom and human obedience to commands—a relationship exemplified by Jesus. This is a concept previously undeveloped at an exegetical or a theological level.

Endorsements

“I have seldom met such a happy blend! Dr. Ziegler conjoins a deeply original meditation—not at all novelty for novelty’s sake but an insight into the truth of Scripture that has until now received scant attention—with philosophical competence and a sure-footed understanding of contemporary issues.”

—Henri A. G. Blocher, formerly Gunther H. Knoedler Professor of Theology, Wheaton College Graduate School

“Geoff Ziegler’s Free to Be Sons of God is interesting, relevant, and prophetic. . . . I found this superb dissertation both stimulating and sanctifying. If you want to be free, or reminded of what freedom in Christ means, take and read.”

—Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Senior Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Elgin, Illinois

“Dr. Ziegler tackles an issue that is important and contested in current society and culture: freedom. . . . Dr. Ziegler’s work illuminates an important strand of biblical teaching and usefully confronts a false view of freedom that is widespread in our modern culture.”

—Douglas J. Moo, Blanchard Professor of New Testament, Wheaton College Graduate School

“In this important study, Ziegler provides a penetrating biblical, theological, and historical assessment of John Stuart Mill’s conception of human freedom as radical autonomy. In our age drunk on the elixirs of individualism, identity construction, and self-determination, Ziegler’s conclusions are as countercultural as they are compelling.”

—Scott M. Manetsch, Professor of Church History, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

The Author

Geoffrey M. Ziegler (PhD, Wheaton College) is senior pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Hinsdale, Illinois.

BOOK HIGHLIGHT – Where Is God in All of This?: Finding God’s Purpose in Our Suffering by Deborah Howard

Posted on May 30, 2018 by Kim

Where Is God in All of This?: Finding God’s Purpose in Our Suffering by Deborah Howard

$9.99 | 160 pages | Paperback

About

“Why me?” “What did I do to deserve this?” “Where is God in all of this?”

To anyone who has undergone a period of intense suffering, these questions will sound all too familiar. In times of trials and sadness, confusion so often clouds our ability to see God’s hand at work, and our questions can seem impossible to answer.

Where Is God in All of This? provides a godly response to such questions and guides the hurting soul to a place of trusting submission to God’s will. Deborah Howard, an experienced hospice nurse and counselor, draws from her daily experiences with the doubts of anguished and questioning people and reminds us that all things happen for a twofold purpose: our best good and God’s greatest glory.

Endorsements

“With a solid biblical understanding of pain and suffering, a mature mind with years of fruitful ministry to hurting people, and a sincere desire to provide help to those in need, Deborah has given us a resource of lasting spiritual value.”

—Lance Quinn

“Warm, wise, kind, honest, and full of the Word, helpfully applied! Thanks to Deborah for writing it.”

—Bob Lepine

The Author

Deborah Howard divides her time between nursing and writing. A student of the Bible, Deborah finds joy in service to others in the various ministries in which she is involved. She is also the coauthor of It’s Not Fair!

Author Highlight — Edward T. Welch

Posted on May 25, 2018 by Kim

Edward T. Welch (PhD, University of Utah) serves both the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) and Westminster Theological Seminary. At CCEF, he is director of counseling and academic dean, as well as a counselor and faculty member. At Westminster, he is professor of practical theology. He is the author of 3 P&R books and 6 booklets.

1. When People Are Big and God Is Small: Overcoming Peer Pressure, Codependency, and the Fear of Man

Overly concerned about what people think of you?

All experiences of the fear of man share at least one common feature: people are big. They have grown to idolatrous proportions in our lives. They control us. Since there is no room in our hearts to worship both God and people, whenever people are big, God is not. Therefore the first task in escaping the snare of the fear of man is to know that God is awesome and glorious, not other people.

Welch uncovers the spiritual dimension of people-pleasing and points the way through a true knowledge of God, ourselves, and others.

2. Blame It on the Brain?: Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience

Depression. Attention deficit disorder. Alcoholism. Homosexuality.

Research suggests that more and more behaviors are caused by brain function or dysfunction. But is it ever legitimate to blame misbehavior on the brain? How can I know whether “My brain made me do it”?

Viewing brain problems through the lens of Scripture, Edward T. Welch distinguishes genuine brain disorders from problems rooted in the heart. Understanding that distinction will enable pastors, counselors, families, and friends to help others—or themselves—deal with personal struggles and responsibilities. While focusing on a few common disorders, Dr. Welch lays out a series of practical steps adaptable to a wide range of conditions, habits, or addictions.

3. Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave: Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel

Addiction is a worship disorder. Will we worship ourselves and our own desires, or will we worship the true God?

Scripture reveals addicts’ true condition: like guests at a banquet thrown by “the woman Folly,” they are already in the grave. (Prov. 9:13–18) Can we not escape our addictions?

Ed Welch shows us that when we are following Jesus we have “immense hope that God can give power so that we are no longer mastered by the addiction.”

Resources for Changing Lives Booklets

4. ADD: Wandering Minds and Wired Bodies

Easy distractibility or forgetfulness. Mouths, arms, hands, and legs that run ahead of thinking. Impulsive decisions, chronic difficulties meeting deadlines, mistaken notions of one’s own abilities… behaviors often associated with Attention Deficit Disorder.

What is ADD? What are the strengths and weaknesses of ADD children? What can be done about this puzzling disorder? Noting both the challenges and responsibilities of ADD children, Edward T. Welch clarifies the physical and spiritual dimensions of ADD. He offers parents—as well as adults who fit the profile—help, encouragement, and biblical wisdom on how to handle this condition.

5. Depression: The Way Up When You Are Down

Lost ambition. Emotional numbness. Fear and withdrawal. Fatigue. Marks of what is commonly called depression.

If you are one of the many people suffering from depression, there is hope and there is help—a way up when you are down. Even if you don’t feel like doing anything, this booklet provides manageable steps for getting started on the path that leads out of depression.

Edward T. Welch helps us understand the spiritual issues involved, whether one’s depression is caused by physical problems or results in them. Getting to the heart of what depression says and means, Welch guides us through a process of dealing with depression biblically and effectively.

6. Homosexuality: Speaking the Truth in Love

“Homosexuality is the hot issue of the day,” says Edward T. Welch in this booklet. “Even more than abortion, it will confront the church throughout this generation, forcing us to listen, study, and respond wisely.”

How can we answer claims that the Bible does not prohibit committed homosexual relationships? Or that science proves that homosexuality is genetic, not a chosen lifestyle? Welch supplies us with timely biblical and biological insight into homosexuality. Just as importantly, he calls us to examine our attitudes in order to minister to homosexuals truthfully, compassionately, humbly, and persuasively.

7. Just One More: When Desires Don’t Take No for an Answer

I hate it. I love it.

Sometimes our desires can be cruel lovers. We think we should be rid of a particular desire, but we feel stuck. “What’s the use in trying to rid my life of this desire?” we ask ourselves. “I’ve tried, but there’s just no way out for me.”

Or is there?

The problem may be more complicated than just being stuck. Might there be a path to true change? (If so, would you want to take that path?) Edward T. Welch may surprise you with his answer. Along the way he will introduce you to someone with words of comfort and hope you may never have heard before.

8. Motives: Why Do I Do the Things I Do

People are complex. There is behavior that we see and motives that we don’t. Behind the “what we do” of our lives is the “why we do it.”

Edward T. Welch challenges us to peer more closely into the “why.” He insightfully reveals that, according to God’s Word, the heart is the source of all human motivation. Our hearts contain motives such as: Pleasure, Happiness, Meaning, Power, Comfort, Control, Success, Peace, Freedom, Reputation, Respect, Love/Intimacy

Welch encourages us to ask questions to discover some of our deeper motives:

What do we hope for, want, crave?
What do you fear? What do you worry about?
When do you say, “If only…”?

9. Self-Injury: When Pain Feels Good

If you have ever purposely injured yourself, it may seem normal, even right. But if you haven’t, it seems impossible to understand those who have. After all, don’t living creatures avoid pain?

Edward T. Welch writes this eye-opening and encouraging booklet assuming that you feel trapped in a cycle of self-injury or that you love someone who does. Welch helps loved ones to understand the selfinjurer’s world. And if you are the one who feels trapped by this behavior, he lovingly describes a cure that is more attractive than you think. If you want peace and rest, you must look away from yourself. Look to Jesus—the answers reside in him.

Table of Contents — Pride and Humility at War by J. Lanier Burns

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Kim

Here is the table of contents to Pride and Humility at War: A Biblical Perspective by J. Lanier Burns.

Foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

1. Introduction

2. God-Centeredness or Self-Centeredness in the Pentateuch

The Human Condition from Adam through Abraham
Moses as an Example of Humility in Israel
Moses’ Prediction of Pride in Israel
The Foundational Conflict between God and Self

3. The Humiliation of Pride in the Wisdom Literature

Job: Popular Wisdom versus Godly Humility
Psalms: Ungodly Pride versus Humble Faith
Proverbs: Humiliation of Pride versus Exaltation of Humility

4. The Oracles against Pride in the Prophets

Ezekiel’s Oracle against Tyre
Isaiah’s Oracle against Babylon
Daniel’s Account of Nebuchadnezzar’s Humiliation
The Kings’ Lessons for Us

5. The Great Reversal in the Gospels

Being Willing to Become Childlike under God
Being Willing to Be Last for God
Being Willing to Serve All People for God
Being Willing to Follow Christ on the Road to Calvary

6. Humility like Christ in Paul’s Epistles

Pride as the Cause of Philippian Disunity
Humility as the Example of Christ
Humility as the Way of Biblical Greatness
Pride as the Cause of Corinthian Disunity
Humility as Paul’s Response to Corinthian Boasting

7. Conclusion

Summary of the Study
Lessons of the Study

Glossary

Select Bibliography

Index of Scripture

Index of Subjects and Names

Excerpt — Departing in Peace by Bill Davis

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Kim

Here is an excerpt taken from Departing in Peace: Biblical Decision-Making at the End of Life by Bill Davis.

THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE CHOICES

Authority to Direct Our Own Lives

As image-bearers, we each have the authority to make the choices necessary to steward our own talents and opportunities. These choices are not made in isolation from our family and others, but we will be held ultimately responsible for serving Christ well. Our health affects our ability to use our time and talents, so the many choices we make about diet, sleep, exercise, and medical attention are a vital part of our stewardship task. Luke 12:35–48 recounts Jesus’ words about our obligations as servants awaiting his return. All our choices are included. The following biblical principle is foundational to end-of-life decision-making:

Servant Authority to Make Medical Choices: God’s Word teaches that every adult has the authority to accept or decline medical attention as part of his or her responsibility as an image-bearer of God. (The authority does not reside in each of us absolutely. The authority is delegated to us by God as his servants.)

This principle is foundational because it sets limits on the choices that we are authorized to make. We are not authorized to make choices that are contrary to God’s revealed will. Our choices are to serve God’s purposes in the world. Most of the time, our own health needs and God’s purposes overlap: we serve God faithfully by making choices that serve our own needs as well. Living according to God’s law is always what is best for us.*5 At times, though, we can ask questions that God’s Word does not answer with a simple yes or no. When that happens, we are still guided by what the Scriptures teach about God’s priorities for us. Living as faithful servants means eagerly seeking to understand what the Master loves and living to realize his purposes rather than living to please only ourselves.

Even when deciding about medical treatment for ourselves, our authority is not absolute. We have the authority to choose according to God’s values. We are stewards of the lives that he has given us. An important implication of seeing our authority this way is the limit that it places on those who make choices for us when we cannot. At some point in our lives, many of us will be too sick or confused to make choices about our own care. When that happens, someone else will have to step in and make choices for us. That person’s authority to make those choices comes from us, and our authority comes from God as his image-bearers. Using myself as an example, someone who speaks for me in making a medical decision is responsible for saying what I would say if I could understand the question and express an answer. This is what both God’s law and the states’ laws expect if someone is going to speak as a surrogate decision-maker or agent.

Extensive knowledge of what I value and what I hope to gain from medical attention will equip my surrogate decision-makers to choose for me. Years of conversations with me about my health challenges and the choices I have already made will also be helpful. Written instructions that anticipate decisions that are likely to arise will be golden. In order to prepare others to make decisions that carry on my effort to be a faithful steward of all I have, I have been thinking through the decisions that may be coming and have left instructions to inform my surrogates. The Bible teaches that we all have the authority to look ahead and anticipate choices in this way. This is implied in Paul’s instructions in his letters (see, e.g., Col. 4:10). Applied to medical treatment, this is the biblical principle:

Authority to Make Choices in Advance: God’s Word permits us to accept or decline medical treatment in advance, including leaving an advance directive or other instructions. These instructions are binding if they conform to God’s law.

As obvious as this authority may be, it is important to spell it out. Just as the authority to accept or decline treatment is only that of a servant’s authority to pursue his Master’s purposes, our surrogate’s authority is only that of a spokesperson seeking to pursue our purposes. If our values and desires are not known, our surrogates will find it difficult to make choices with confidence. They will have to guess what we would want, sometimes in the midst of a medical crisis when a quick decision is needed. No matter how much time they have, they will also have to wonder whether their own selfish desires and fears are the source of their guesses about what we would say. Genesis 50:25 reports that Joseph gave instructions about taking his bones back to the land of his fathers, and Exodus 13:19 tells us that his instructions were remembered. The value of decisions made in advance is another biblical principle:

Advance Directives Can Be a Blessing: God’s Word encourages us to take steps to remove unnecessary distress from those we love and ought to honor. Legally executed advance directives diminish the burdens of fear and indecision from all those who will have to make medical decisions for us if we cannot make them for ourselves. Advance directives clarify who is to decide if we cannot, and they reduce the need for anyone to guess about our wishes.

Just how great this blessing can be for our loved ones will be illustrated by the situations that are described in the next two chapters. Detailed instructions about completing an advance directive will be given in chapter 5.

As long as we are able to make decisions for ourselves, instructions for our loved ones and agents are not crucial. In the hospital, these instructions start to matter when a doctor or a nurse determines that we lack decisional capacity.

*5. David Clyde Jones, Biblical Christian Ethics (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994); Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995).