We started supporting Truth for Life, a ministry of Alistair Begg’s, since December 2018. And we have gained so much more from it than we have given!
For TruthPartners who give US$20 or more a month, you can request for 2 books chosen by Truth for Life and one sermon CD a month, and they ship internationally! (You can cease your membership anytime too, in case you fall on hard times.)
The books are always well-curated, and range from old classics to new books that are all worth their weight in gold.
We have been truly edified by reading the books they send us, and most times, we can’t keep up in finishing the books before the next instalment is sent to us.
Here’s a review of some of our favourites that we have received so far.
We had used the Marty Machowski Advent Family Devotional “Prepare Him Room” for Christmas 2018, and the hubs and I try to pray through “Streams of Mercy”, a wonderful collection of modern Puritan-style prayers, together at night. I learnt a lot from reading “Pray Big” by Alistair Begg, for at times our prayers are so small and self-centred, and not founded upon good theology.
A book that was a real gem was “God’s Timeline – The Big Book of Church History” by Linda Finlayson.
She makes such a huge topic accessible to children, and it was so helpful to me in grasping what matters. It covers an epic sweep of history, yet is written in language that is easy enough for a 10 year old to understand.
Although the style of language is simple, the content is certainly weighty and theologically rich instead of watered down.
I benefitted most from seeing hundreds of years of church history in the context of other inventions, wars and plagues, and was finally able to place each era in a coherent sequence.
The map of Paul’s missionary journeys was also one of the best I’ve ever seen.
I also learnt interesting nuggets like that fact that the Methodist church was only established 130 years after the Presbyterian church, and that all bishops were equal for many, many years before the bishop of Rome became known as the Pope.
There are also in-depth articles in each section of the broad ages of church history, from the Reformed Protestant perspective. I think church history is one of the most neglected areas of Christian education these days, and this does a great work in plugging that gap.
More recently, we received the books shown below. The devotional by Megan Hill titled “Contentment – Seeing God’s Goodness” is one of the best I’ve ever come across, and pondering upon the bite-sized passages has truly enriched my soul.
Christopher Ash’s books are always fantastic, but “The book your pastor wishes you would read” really gives you refreshing insight into the reality of Christian ministry and deep empathy for Christian leaders and their families. I have since purchased two more copies for circulating amongst my friends (since my family members are quite particular about keeping our books in mint condition, heh).
Jonathan Holmes “Counsel for Couples” was such a useful book that was almost like a course in Biblical Counselling. Marriage is hard work (not without its joys of course) and this helped me think through how to improve my marriage and was particularly helpful as I sought wisdom on how to journey with friends who are going through tough times in their marriage. Full of practical advice and solid biblical theology, it made me see how crucial the ministry of biblical counselling is, in this very fallen day and age.
The beautiful edition of Knowing God by J.I. Packer came in handy as a women’s group I’m in decided to read through this together and go through the study guide questions and answers when we meet.
All in all, I’m really grateful for Alistair Begg’s ministry, and we’ve been listening to his monthly sermon CD in the car too. It truly helps to realign one’s perspective of the day, come what may.
So if you would like to support Truth for Life, hop on over to find out more!
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