Chalmers' Blog

Saturday Snippets (February 8)

As well as reading a lot of books, I also read a ton of articles every week. Here are some of the articles that I’ve read recently and have found interesting, helpful, challenging and encouraging. I hope that they will be the same for you, my dear readers…

Saturday Snippets (February 1)

Engaging Children’s Books That Point to Jesus

Every now and then I receive a children’s book to review. Obviously, I am not the intended audience and my daughter isn’t even 2 years old. However, I look at these books and still review them. This way, parents, grandparents, friends, and family can know what good books are available. These books will help children be pointed to God. They will learn about Jesus and think about Bible stories. So let me introduce you to five children’s books that have come across my desk recently.

Saturday Snippets (January 25)

Saturday Snippets (January 18)

Rethinking the Rapture: A Biblical Perspective

Some of the most heated theological debates I’ve observed over the years have been about eschatology – the theology of the end times. Some people take their eschatology so seriously. They doubt the salvation of others who disagree with them. Shocking, I know, but I’ve seen it. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been pondering the end times. I’ve focused particularly on the idea of ‘the rapture’. It’s the belief that Christians will suddenly be taken away to be with Christ, leaving everyone else behind. Bold statement from the outset – I do not believe in the rapture.

Enjoying Jesus

The Christian life isn’t always a walk in the park. Sin can cloud our thinking about the things of God. Distractions can rob us of the ability to be in awe of Jesus. Our lack of discipline and devotion can make it seem that the Spirit is not at work in us. I would say most Christians I know would be able to resonate with those sentiments at one point or another in their Christian life. So, how do we combat such a widespread issue in the lives of many Christians? We need to learn to enjoy God more! A few years ago I read Chester’s book ‘Enjoying God’ (check out my review) and I really enjoyed it, I have since given a few copies away and have recommended it too many times to count. Therefore, when I saw ‘Enjoying Jesus’ I knew I had to read it.

Saturday Snippets (January 11)

Effective Sermon Application: Balancing Head, Heart, and Hands

If you’ve been tagging along with the blog for the past week you will have deduced from my posts that I’ve been doing some thinking lately on preaching. Don’t worry, this is the last post on preaching for a little while at least. One of the aspects of preaching that I’ve been contemplating a lot recently is application. How do we rightly apply a Bible text? How exactly can a preacher helpfully apply a text to the life of a church (full of individual believers in their own circumstances)?

Preaching as the Primary Means of Grace

I have lost count of the number of books on preaching that I’ve read over the years, everything on the range from practical ‘how to’ books to academic books on the intricacies of handling Bible texts well in their redemptive historical context. As a Pastor and preacher I love to read about preaching. I regularly read books on preacher to continue to grow and Lord willing hone the task God has given me to proclaim God’s Word. As you can imagine then, when I received a parcel from a new publisher for me to review and I saw a book on preaching, I was thrilled. Let me tell you about it.