August in the Book Nook

I've been working on a bulletin insert today for the Book Nook at church. Thought I'd share some brief highlights with you.

Changed Into His Image

Jim Berg helps us see ourselves as we are, the first step in biblical change. This is practical help on how transforming the mind can change our sinful disposition. Not just any change, but biblical change into the image of Christ. This is not change that we can make on our own, but change that God does hold us responsible to make. It’s about thinking correctly, about heart change.

Joyfully at Home: A Book for Young Ladies on Vision and Hope

Twenty-year-old Jasmine Baucham writes, “I want to encourage young women to shift their focus, to turn their hearts towards the home, to be enthusiastic and vibrant, purposeful and driven, meticulous and passionately focused….I want them to grasp the bigger picture: A vision for the home as hub of ministry and discipleship, as training ground for life ahead, as a place where they can bless those nearest and dearest to them, and as a result, turn that blessing outward toward others in their church and community.”

 

 

Sacred Marriage

Gary Thomas asks, “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”  This is not a book that tells us how to manipulate our words and actions so we can ultimately get what we want out of marriage. It’s a book that provides a biblical basis for how our marriage can help us know God, our spouse, and ourselves in ways that are sanctifying and, ultimately, satisfying.  

 

Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts It’s hardest to trust God when life hurts. Jerry Bridges shows us God’s sovereignty—that He is working all things for His glory and for our good, in tandem.  Always. Not only is He sovereign, but He is wise and loving. "Trust is not a passive state of mind. It is a vigorous act of the soul by which we choose to lay hold on the promises of God and cling to them despite the adversity that at times seeks to overwhelms us."

Transforming Grace

Thought I'd share a few thoughts with you from my daughter Laura on the book Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love by Jerry Bridges.

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Have you ever felt like what God expects of you as a Christian is overwhelming? Do you think that God is continually disappointed in your performance? Or that He doesn't want to hear from you because you aren't pleasing Him like you should be?

In Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love, Jerry Bridges explains why accepting salvation by grace and then trying to live by works is not God's idea. God wants us to live by grace--completely relying on the righteousness of Christ and relating to God based on the performance of Christ, not our own performance.

The truth that Bridges presents in this book is both freeing and inspiring. It frees us to live as God intended--rejoicing in the relationship we have with God through Christ. And it inspires us to live in a way that God describes is grace-filled.

From the back of the book:

Funny how the exceeding riches of God's grace seem to run out the moment we're saved. From then on, we tend to base our relationship with Him on our performance rather than on His grace.

Of course, God continues to deal with us on the basis of His grace, whether or not we understand it. It's just that when we don't, we forgo the abundant freedoms that come from not having to measure up.

The product of over 10 years of Bible study, Transforming Grace is a fountainhead of inspiration and renewal that will show you just how inexhaustible and generous God's grace really is-you'll never be able to ask for too much, need too much, hope for too much, or even sin too much. Like a never-ending stream of ocean waves crashing on the shore, His grace "superabounds" toward you without measure.