Book Review: Reforming Joy by Tim Chester

The book of Galatians is one of my favorites in the Bible. Our church recently did a series in that book, which was all about grace. The book of Galatians is also about joy. Galatians 5 says that joy is part of the work of the Spirit in the life of the believe, which is called the fruit of the Spirit.

Tim Chester mentions that the book of Galatians was written to Christian who have lost their joy. He ties it to the same dilemma Christians were facing during the time of the Protestant Reformation. His latest book, Reforming Joy, serves as three way communication with the Apostle Paul, the Reformers, and the church today.

The book is not a lengthy book nor is it an extensive commentary on the book of Galatians. Chester addresses issues such as hearing God's voice, knowing God's approval, enjoying God's love, and knowing God's people, and doing the will of God. He looks at the time of the Reformation as they were dealing with these issues and what the book of Galatians addresses. Keep in mind, this is not a commentary of Galatians. Chester only goes through Galatians 1-5. Not sure why he did not go through Galatians 6.

As the 501st celebration of the Protestant Reformation is coming up, I think this book will be an excellent read as we get ready to celebrate this day in church history. It will also be a good addition to your study on the book of Galatians as well.

Thanks Crossway for letting me review this book.

Around The Web-April 15, 2016

Three Temptations Leaders Must Fight Daily by Eric Geiger

The Bible Joins Fifty Shades Among Top 10 Most Challenged Books

Heath Lambert's new book A Theology of Biblical Counseling is on sale along with other books.

Dave Jenkins talks with David Mathis about his book, Habits of Grace

What Is Faith? The Answer from Hebrews 11 by Richard Phillips

Three Things Pastors Can't Do Too Much by Jared C Wilson

Phil Robertson Prays before NASCAR Event, Calls on Americans to 'Put a Jesus Man in the White House'

Tim Chester announces his new book, Why The Reformation Still Matters

Tim Keller, Michael Horton, and Alan Hirsch speak about the worst gospel misunderstandings.

You Can Change

Many people make New Year's Resolutions to serves as promise to themselves to kick a habit, do something new, or whatever their heart's desire. People will fail at these resolutions, if they have not already.

Whether or not you made a resolution you can find assurance that with the power of the Holy Spirit, you can and will change. The following post is from Crossway which is based on Tim Chester's book, You Can Change: God's Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions:

What Would You Like to Change?

Maybe you’d choose to change your appearance, or find a partner, or have better-behaved children. Perhaps you’re seeking one more step up the career ladder, or maybe just to get onto a career ladder. Maybe you’d like to be more confident and witty, or maybe less angry or depressed, or less controlled by your emotions.

We all want to change in some way. Some of these changes are good, others not so good. But the problem with all of them is that they’re not ambitious enough. God offers us something more—much, much more!

Broken Image Bearers

In the opening chapter of the Bible we read, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him” (Genesis 1:27). We were made to be God’s image on earth: to know him, to share his rule over the world, to reflect his glory.

The problem is that this is now a broken image because humanity has rejected God. So we try to live our lives our way, and we make a mess of things. We struggle to be God’s image on earth. We no longer reflect his glory as we should. God’s verdict on humanity is: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

We’ve failed to be the image of God we were made to be. We can’t be the people we want to be, let alone the people we ought to be.

God’s Agenda for Change

Enter Jesus, “the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4):


He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15) He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. (Hebrews 1:3) And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus shows us God’s agenda for change. God isn’t interested in making us religious.

Think of Jesus, who was hated by religious people. God isn’t interested in making us spiritual if by spiritual we mean detached. Jesus was God getting involved with us. God isn’t interested in making us self-absorbed: Jesus was self-giving personified. God isn’t interested in serenity: Jesus was passionate for God, angry at sin, weeping for the city. The word holy means “set apart” or “consecrated.” For Jesus, holiness meant being set apart from, or different from, our sinful ways. It didn’t mean being set apart from the world, but being consecrated to God in the world. He was God’s glory in and for the world.

Jesus is the perfect person, the true image of God, the glory of the Father. And God’s agenda for change is for us to become like Jesus.


And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30)

Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2; see also 1 Corinthians 11:1; Philippians 2:5; 1 Peter 2:21)

Whoever claims to live in [God] must walk as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6, NIV; see also 3:16–17; 4:10–11)

Making us like Jesus was God’s plan from the beginning.

Too Much for Us

I’d like to play soccer like David Beckham. I could watch videos of him in action. I could study what he does. I might even persuade him to tutor me. All this might lead to a small improvement in my abilities, but it’s not going to turn me into a great soccer player.

I want to be like Jesus. I can observe him in action as I read the Gospels. I can study the life he lived and the love he showed. I could try very hard to imitate him. But at best that would lead only to a small, short-lived improvement, and indeed even that small improvement would probably only make me proud. I need more than an example. I need help. I need someone to change me. Trying to imitate Jesus on its own only leaves me feeling like a failure. I can’t be like him. I can’t match up. I need sorting out. I need rescuing. I need forgiveness.

The great news is that Jesus is not only my example but also my Redeemer. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When you become a Christian, something amazing happens: you are a new creation. The power of God that made the sun and stars is focused down like a laser into your heart. God steps into the world, as it were, and creates all over again. We’re transformed, reborn, made new.

At creation God spoke a word into the darkness, and there was light. He spoke a word into the chaos, and there was beauty. And now again God speaks a word through the gospel. He speaks into the darkness of our hearts, and there is light. He speaks into the chaos of our lives, and there is beauty

Re-Created in God’s Image

What does it mean for us to be a new creation? It means we’re re-created in the image of God. It means we’re given new life so we can grow like Christ. And being like Christ means being like God, reflecting God’s glory as God’s image.


Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:24)

Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven [Jesus]. (1 Corinthians 15:49)

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:9–10)

Jesus came to remake us in God’s image. Jesus took our brokenness, our hatred, and our curse on himself on the cross. He took the penalty of our sin and in its place gave us a new life and new love.

God is in the business of change. He’s interested in making us like Jesus.

My Journey Through 1 Peter

Earlier this summer, I decided to tackle the book of 1 Peter not for the purpose of sermon preparation or leading in a Bible study, but for my own edification and personal growth. After the Supreme Court's decision to legalize Gay Marriage, I felt 1 Peter became a very important book because it is addressed to those who are "elect exiles" (1 Peter 1:1). A couple of weeks ago, Tim Brister issued a challenge to memorize the entire book of 1 Peter in the same manner that a challenge was made to memorize Philippians, which I failed miserably, but by God's grace will strive for again.

Why should a Christian memorize scripture? First, God's word tell us not to let his word depart from our mouths and meditate on it (Joshua 1:8). Second, those who have been blessed by God, let His word be their delight (Psalm 1:1-2). Third, Jesus memorized scripture and used it quite a bit in His earthly ministry. For example, when tempted by the devil, he counteracted the temptation with scripture. Fourth, there will be a time when you won't have a Bible handy. You may have an app on your phone, but there could be no service. You could be on an airplane where cell phones are not allowed to used. You never know when or where you will not access to a Bible, so memorization is important. Finally, having scripture memorized will be good as you meditate on the goodness of God and remind yourself of the gospel.

This past Sunday, I started my journey to memorize 1 Peter which I know will be a challenge but at the same time will be rewarding. I will continue to study through 1 Peter even as I am memorizing it. I will also be revisiting places that I have already to remind myself of the things that I learned in my previous studies. I just found out that the ladies in our church are reading 1 Peter along with Jen Wilkin's book, Women of the Word, which my wife will be involved in. What a great opportunity for my wife and I to grow together as we read God's Word together.

If you wish to join me on this journey or if already have been, praise God. Let me give you a few resources which Tim has already given a couple, but I would like to share what I have been using in my study of 1 Peter.

Wayne Grudem's commentary on 1 Peter

R.C. Sproul's commentary on 1 Peter which also contains 2 Peter

Everyday Church by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, which a study of 1 Peter in the context of being a gospel community.

Greg Gilbert over at Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, recently began a sermon series on 1 Peter. Here are the sermons in the series thus far:

Salvation 101

Be Who You Are

You Belong To God

Fear God, Honor the Emperor

John Piper released a couple teaching videos that covered 1 Peter 1:1-2, which says,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.


The first one is about the letter to the exiles followed by being known by God before we were born.

1 Peter 1:1–2, Part 1 // A Letter to Exiles from Desiring God on Vimeo.

1 Peter 1:1–2, Part 2 // Known by God Before You Were Born from Desiring God on Vimeo.

Church and Mission in Everyday Life

We need to do church and mission in the context of everyday life. We can no longer think of church as a meeting on a Sunday morning. We must think of church as a community of people who share life, ordinary life. And we cannot think of mission as an event that takes place in a ecclesiastical building. Of course, there will continue to be role for special events, but the bedrock of mission will be ordinary life. Mission must be done primarily in the context of everyday life.

An everyday church with an everyday mission.

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, Everyday Church

Recommended Reading:

Total Church by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis

Saturate by Jeff Vanderstelt

Quotes from "You Can Pray" by Tim Chester

One of my favorite books that I have read this year is You Can Pray by Tim Chester. Here are some of the best quotes from the book.

Prayer is a child asking her father for help-nothing more, nothing less (pg. 16).

The Father will no more reject our prayers than he will reject the prayers of his own Son, Jesus (pg. 17).

Unbelievers can pray, but our heavenly Father only guarantees to hear the prayers of his children. When we pray, we need to believe that God is a gracious Father who delights to hear our prayers and a sovereign Father who can answer our prayers (pg. 21).

True faith trusts our sovereign Father and trusts that he will do what is best (pg. 22).

There is nothing we can do to make our prayers more effective before God. Our prayers are only effective and wholly effective through Christ's work (pg. 36).

Prayer is the embodiment or outworking of the gospel (pg. 46).

Prayer is easy. All the hard work was done by Jesus at the cross (pg. 54).

We don't pray because we don't really believe one or both of these two truths: that God is powerful and that God is loving (pg. 56).

We don't enjoy prayer because we misunderstand what it is (pg. 58).

Sin is not always the reason for unanswered prayer (pg. 87).

If you're a Christian, then God is not punishing you. But unanswered prayer may be his discipline, a call to turn back from sin to God (pg. 88).

God is not working on our timescales. He has all the time in the world (pg. 93).

Don Carson says, "Much Praying is not done because we don't plan to pray" (pg. 109).

Other books by Tim Chester:

1 Samuel for You

Titus for You

Good News to the Poor

Total Church with Steve Timmis

Everyday Church with Steve Timmis

A Meal with Jesus

You Can Change

Around The Web-July 24, 2015

Is the Kingdom of God Strictly in the Future? by R.C. Sproul

Why I Don't Do Evangelism by Tim Chester

Getting into the Weeds of Church Membership and Baptism with Bobby Jamieson and Jonathan Leeman

Why I’m Hosting Presidential Candidates by Russell Moore

Today is the last day to purchase Donald Whitney's new book, Praying The Bible

What to Do With 'Some People Are Saying . . .' by Jared C Wilson

Professional surfer fights off a shark during a surfing competition on live TV.



And for your entertaining pleasure, I present to you, Jedi Cats.

Around The Web-December 26, 2014

Top 10 YouTube Videos by Denny Burk

Collin Hansen shares his top 10 theology stories of 2014

These box-office flops will live in 2014 movie infamy

One writer shares his 10 worse movies of the year

It is also that time of year where a Bible reading plan is picked out. Here are a few sites to check out.

Bible Reading Plans for 2015 from Ligonier

Here is a list Justin Taylor made last year.

This year I began year one of a three year Bible reading plan Tim Chester put together. If you want a reading plan that is not so rushed, this would be the one to do. Cannot wait to begin year two.

Denny Burk's post had a great list of videos. I have to admit I have not seen most of them. There were two videos this year that did catch my attention on YouTube that I would like to share.

The first one is a battle that will most likely never happen in the movies. Comic books? Maybe. It is a battle between Batman and Darth Vader. Yes, you read it correctly, the Dark Knight vs. the Dark Lord of the Sith.



This next video was one I thought was real. If you know the rules of soccer, then you know this was not real but one for good laughs. Goalie Scott Sterling shows his mad skills on the field in a shootout something I hope my daughter, who is the goalie on her team, does not have to do. What made this video even more hilarious are the announcers.



And if that wasn't enough, he gets a Christmas present from the announcers. Yeah, I bet you can guess what will happen.

Dangers in Church Planting

Ever since I responded to the leadership of the Holy Spirit to join in planting a gospel-centered in Wichita Falls, I have been reading a lot of material on church planting and church leadership. It has all been very encouraging while at the same time, there is also some danger in church planting. Tim Chester has written a post on the five dangers of church planting that all church planters must avoid:

1. Planting a replica church

This church plant is a clone of your sending church or your own previous experience. This tends to be what happens if you don’t think much about the culture and values of the new church. You default to your past experience. This, of course, may not be an altogether bad thing. But it is a missed opportunity. Church planting is an opportunity to rethink church, creating patterns of church life that are more faithful to Scripture and more relevant to the culture. The other danger is that you try to be a large church with a small church planting team instead of seizing the advantages of being a small church.

What’s good about this: You’re a fool if you disregard 2,000 years of church history. So we need learn for Christian tradition and appreciate the Spirit’s work through the church in the past.

Constructive principle: Be creative.

2. Planting a reactionary church

This, in some ways, is the opposite of a replica church. This is what happens when people have had a bad experience of church. Church planting for some people is a way of running away for church rather than resolving issues or reconciling broken relationships. For other people the church plant is defined primarily in terms of what it’s not. People know exactly what they don’t want church to be like. But without a positive vision, the resulting church tends to have a negative culture or a culture that’s suspicious of other churches or which feels superior to them.

What’s good about this: We don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past and church planting is a opportunity to create something fresh – as long as you have a positive, biblical vision for what you want to be.

Constructive principle: Be positive.

3. Planting a romantic church

Remember all those conversations over a drink on a Sunday evening as you dreamed with your friends of your ideal church? Perhaps you dreamed of meeting in a coffee shop with some mellow jazz music in the background while you discussed faith with your friends over a latte. Perhaps you dreamed of rocking out the Christian classics you grew up with. Perhaps you dreamed of hour-long sermons rich with theology. And now your church plant is a chance to create this church of which you and your friends always dreamed. The problem is that, while you might create a church ideally suited to you, the chances are it will not be missional. Your personal set of favourite features won’t necessarily create an ideal context to invite unbelievers (which also means it won’t be an ideal church for Christians either for healthy Christian living must be missional).

What’s good about this: Church planters are often idealists driven by a vision of what could be. This will help you push towards creating a church that continually attempts to be more biblical and more relevant.

Constructive principle: Be missional.

4. Planting a restorationist church

This church plant is an attempt accurately to recreate what the church was like in the first century, to restore apostolic Christianity. Churches like this tend to spend a lot of time trying to identify precisely the patterns of New Testament practice. Of course it’s vital to be biblical. But replicating apostolic norms can be a futile exercise, not least because there seems to have been quite of bit of diversity within the New Testament. And that diversity existed because the apostolic churches were adapting to their contexts, both to the people within the church and the people they were trying to reach. The real danger with the restorationist mind-set is that you become inward-looking.

You end up having long debates over how exactly the New Testament churches celebrated the Lord’s Supper rather than throwing yourself into evangelism. You become like the people described in 1 Timothy 1 who are more interested in winning converts from within the church than winning converts to Christ.

What’s good about this: We do need to be biblical. One of the joys of church planting is the opportunity to rethink the way we do church to ensure it is faithful to Scripture and relevant to the culture.

Constructive principle: Be contextual.

5. Planting a reductionist church

In some ways this is the opposite of a restorationist church. Here the desire is to plant a church which is ‘incarnational’ or ‘missional’ or ‘contextualized’ (or whatever is your favoured buzz word). But you understand these terms to mean creating a church which closely resembles the surrounding culture. This concern can too easily lead to attempts to minimize the differences and therefore to minimize the confrontation the gospel brings. True contextualization includes identifying what repentance means in a culture. So it’s not about reducing the challenge of the gospel, but understanding the culture well enough so that we heighten or focus the challenge of the gospel. The danger facing such churches is that they reduce the gospel and assimilate to the wider culture. In the end they have nothing to offer. If we’re so like the culture that the differences are marginal, why should the culture bother with us? We will have nothing to add to what they already believe. Beside which, it’s a fool’s errand: we will never be as a ‘cool’ at MTV! What will be attractive to a lost world is the gospel we proclaim and the distinctive community life it creates (remembering that ‘distinctive’ is another word for ‘holy’).

What’s good about this: The desire to be contextual is good. We should try to minimise anything off-putting that is part of our church culture, but not part of the gospel.

Constructive principle: Be biblical.


Books by Tim Chester

1 Samuel for You

Titus for You

Everyday Church with Steve Timmis

Total Church with Steve Timmis

You Can Change

Delighting in the Trinity

Good News to the Poor

A Meal with Jesus

Book Review: 1 Samuel for You by Tim Chester

It was about a year or two ago that I went through the book of 1 Samuel as part of my personal Bible reading. Everytime, I read the book, I kept thinking in my head that Jesus is a better king, which is true. Throughout the Old Testament, we see great kings who followed God with all their heart and some not-so great kings who were just as wicked and evil as the days of Noah.

Of course when studying the Old Testament, one must proceed with caution as to make it a moralistic study which has been the case for many Christians. 1 Samuel is a book that promises a king and even shows us that there is a greater and better King. Tim Chester deals with this writing in the Old Testament in his latest book, 1 Samuel for You. Just as in his previous book, Chester takes the entire book and breaks it down verse by verse where the reader can understand.

As mentioned earlier, there is a tendency to take the Old Testament scripture and turn it into some form of moralistic teaching. The most famous passage in 1 Samuel happens to be David vs. Goliath and it is always attributed to facing your giants. Chester points out the David vs. Goliath is not about that. Chester points to Jesus and shows Him as the true Adam who took down our true giant which is sin. At the end of the book, Chester points out, just as I concluded from my own personal study of 1 Samuel, that Jesus is the better king. He is the King for all people and just one nation. Unlike all the other kings in the Bible, Jesus is a King that will never fail His people.

Pastors and teachers will benefit from this book as they study the Bible. It will also be a benefit to all Christians so they can see that 1 Samuel is not about being a good leader or facing your giants, but points to Jesus as the true and better King.

Thanks Good Book Company for letting me review this book.

Book Review: Titus for You by Tim Chester

I recently spent time in 1 & 2 Timothy as well as the book of Titus which are known as the Pastoral Epistles. Many commentaries have been written about these three books but very rarely will you see on just for the two letters to Timothy or Titus by themselves. I am delighted that Tim Chester has released a commentary on Titus titled, Titus For You.

I must confessed when I first saw the book, I thought it was written by Tim Keller because he has done similar commentaries on Romans 1-7, Galatians, and Judges. Titus For You is written in the same fashion as Keller's three books. This book goes through each verse of Titus as Chester tells his readers why Paul wrote this letter and what it teaches.

The book is written in a user-friendly format that even a young believer can pick up and read without feeling like it is above his/her head. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter which can be used for personal devotional reading or group Bible study. Chester tackles church leadership as the book of Titus mentions it. He also addresses being part of Christ's body and living in godliness.

This book is great for all Christian to use in whatever form they can whether for their personal Bible reading time or one-on-one discipleship. Pastors will benefit from this book as they preach through the book of Titus.

Thanks Good Book Company for letting me review this book.

Book Review: Will You Be My Facebook Friend? by Tim Chester

Social media has been one of the biggest trend for the last few years. It is amazing how sites like MySpace started the whole thing. Today the leading social media site is Facebook, which I am on and I am sure some of you as well. There are now more than 500 million people that access Facebook daily with 200 million accessing their site through some form of mobile device.

In Tim Chester's latest book, Will You Be My Facebook Friend?, it addresses the benefits and dangers of Facebook as well as other social media outlets like Twitter and Google Plus. Chester does list the benefits of social media which getting Jesus to countries that no one else can even get in due to it being a restricted country. Social media is also good to meet people, plan activities, and ability to arrange to meet people face to face when they are in the same city.

While there are benefits of social media, there is also some dangers. Chester is not coming across as an anti-technology guy, but does write, "Technology is good. But it readily gets perverted by our sin, and used for selfish ends." The dangers with social media or any technology is that we spend more time on it than we do with interpersonal relationships. Also when students suffer from a lack of sleep because they are tweeting, texting, or on Facebook.

Chester concludes his book by saying:

I want to reiterate that for many people, using Facebook is not a problem. For many it is all blessing.

But there are dangers in social networking. And to those who face those dangers, the gospel provides a better and richer alternative.

Facebook is the place where I show my face or image...The Gospel is the place where God turns 'his face towards us' (Num. 6:26). It is the place where he recreates us in his image and recreates his world through his words.

This book is only 48 pages long yet it provides great truth on the Gospel relating to the area of social media.

Thanks 10 Publishing for letting me review this book.

The Church is the Chosen Nation

We are chosen from the world by the Father, sanctified for the sake of the world by the Spirit, and called to missional obedience by the sprinkling of Christ's blood.

Peter identifies the church as the new Israel (1 Pet. 1:2, 18-19; 2:9-10). We are recapitulating the story of Israel, and Peter locates us in the story at Mount Sinai. The Israelites at Sinai were strangers going to a homeland or an inheritance they had never seen and kept en route by the pillars of cloud and fire. In the same way we are strangers going to an inheritance we have never seen and kept en route by the Holy Spirit (1:3-5). And like Israel, we are chosen to be distinctive through obedience to God so that the world can see that God is good (1:2, 2:9-10).

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, Everyday Church

Book Review: Delighting in the Trinity by Tim Chester

The Trinity is a doctrine in the Christian faith that has been debated for centuries. It has even caused divisions among Christians. Some have said that God is not one in three persons, but God has revealed Himself in three ways. I believe it was Augustine who said, "If you try to explain the Trinity, you will confuse yourself. If you do not believe in the Trinity, you lose yourself."

Many religions in the world cannot understand the doctrine of the Trinity. This is where Tim Chester tells the story of how his book, Delighting in the Trinity, came to be. Chester was talking with some of his Muslim friends and discussed their many questions on the Trinity. Chester confessed that he was embarrassed by the doctrine on how can Almighty God be a Triune God. Later he realized that God revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is good news.

After the first chapter, the rest of the book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the Biblical foundations of the Trinity. This part talked about the unity of God along his plurality and, finally, His plurality and unity. The second part deals with the historical foundations of the Trinity dating back all the way to second century to the 20th century. The last part deals with the practical foundations of the Trinity. This part was written in four parts dealing with how the Trinity is related to revelation, salvation, humanity, and missions.

This book was written in such a user-friendly format that even a lost person who has no idea of what the Trinity is can understand it. I enjoyed reading this book and drove me to worship because of how great our Triune God is. I know I use this book as a resource for when I am writing and/or teaching on the Trinity.

Thanks to The Good Book Company for letting me review this book.