I’m so stoked! I had a glimpse of an early copy of one of the books we have been translating for years now. I’ll probably have a copy by next week and I can’t wait to share it on the blog along with some favorite quotes. I will share the physical copies to our church and if possible to a reader if I can do a raffle. Keep on praying for it and more updates coming soon.
Anyways, to jumpstart the weekend, here’s a fresh batch of freebies.
FREE webinar Raising a Generation that Hopes in God – This free webinar is made possible by Truth78 and their speaker is John Piper.
Since I got to rediscover Net Galley, I read some books that I don’t usually get through e-mail. It’s evident in this post that you can read my reviews of other books outside of what I usually dive into. I hope you find this review as a guide on what books you will get for your kids.
A Little More Like Jesus (Zach Williams and Lisa Molloy, Zonderkidz) – This book explores the fruit of the Spirit in a fun and cool way. Hop on board the bus and let the Grammy award winning artist Zach Williams take you for a ride to places (representing the fruit of the Spirit) and guide you to become a little more like Jesus. I love the concept of the artist being in his book and taking kids for a road trip. The art is superb and really blends with all the coolness of this book.
Humorous as it might seem, there are some Baptist groups who seriously believe this teaching :that Jesus Christ is a Baptist. They claim since John the Baptist is “the Baptist” therefore when he baptized Jesus, Jesus is now a Baptist. What was initially a tongue in cheek response to stump another pastor of a different group, turns into a doctrine that some Bible Baptist (or IFB in the Philippines) adhere to. Samples of this kind of preaching are videos like this and this.
This kind of doctrine is problematic and brings lots of questions rather than answers. Here are my five reasons why I don’t affirm this doctrine:
I have to admit, that the theological error that almost duped me in my early days of being a Calvinist, has a specific name, thanks to the title of the book. I was so pumped with the doctrine of grace. However, I stumbled upon Curtis Hudson’s sermon refuting this biblical doctrine. The Sword of the Lord folks (from the IFB group) are debunking Lordship Salvation, by responding with a variant of hyper-grace. By God’s grace and through his faithful teachers like John MacArthur, I found some counter points and didn’t abandoned the doctrine of sovereign grace. Free-grace or hyper grace is the false answer to Lordship Salvation. That happened years ago and it came from the IFB camp. I never knew I would encounter it again through this new book from Pastor Namuco and according to him, it’s alive and well in our place, Batangas City. So I reached out to him and even in his busy schedule, he gave me a very brief interview. If you want more, you can reach him and buy his book, Truth and Grace at the of this article.
Hello Pastor Celso. Kindly tell something about yourself. I was born and raised in Batangas. I am happily married to my better half, Hanny Namuco, and we are blessed to have four children: JC, Eu-La, SJ, and EJ. I am the senior founding pastor and teacher of Christ Stewards Fellowship in Libjo, Batangas City. I also do pioneering church planting work at Taguig City for our Church, CSF.
What is hyper-grace? Like in a movie review, I don’t want to spoil the reader’s desire to study my first published book, Truth and Grace. I can only provide a blurb of the book or a movie teaser so it won’t lose their curiosity about what hyper-grace is. This is the modern term for the old heresy of antinomianism. It simply means anti-law. It lessens the importance of God’s law in a Christian’s life. It is the opposite of its twin heresy, legalism. These two erroneous gospels are two sides of the same coin. They are both enemies of sanctification.
This might be my favorite and easy to write post this January. Favorite because I get to share some of the books that kept me company in that very memorable year that is 2023. Easy because I just copy and paste the link. LOL. Kidding aside, I yearn to always see my readers picking up the best picks of that year.
Now you might ask, why the top 15? Why not 10 or 5? I have two answers to that one question. One, there are lots of great books released in that year and obviously, I would rate it 5. Two, Two, I have this feeling that I haven’t read enough in 2023. Perhaps life happens in my work, family and ministry. But still I enjoy every opportunity to open my phone to read a digital copy of a book.
Happy Monday! I just got word that the author of the book I’m featuring in this post, will be coming to the Philippines, God willing next year (2024). I don’t know the full details but prayers would be appreciated for his upcoming speaking engagement here in our country.
Anyways, here’s some quotes from his book Anchored In Grace published by Cruciform Press. If you like these quotes, consider getting your own copy of this book by clicking here.
“…the Bible makes clear that all true believers have been, are being, and will be saved. Salvation is an experience in three tenses!”
It’s the middle of October and with this new installment of Quick Review, it’s beginning to look like Christmas with two fresh books from The Good Book Company. Also if you don’t want something about Christmas (but a good Christmas gift nonetheless) I have two of them here published by Crossway.
We are on the final stage of editing Risk is Right written by John Piper in conversational Tagalog. Keep us in your prayers for this great news and more exciting news coming soon. Include me also in your prayers for my promotion. Thank you!
Anyways, here’s a fresh batch of freebies that I hope you’ll enjoy in the weekend! Happy Friday!
FREE Christianity Today: The Tim Keller Issue – Grab this free issue of CT featuring the late Tim Keller. You can read it online or download the magazine.
Time for another round of reviews from books I recently finished and currently reading. As always, if you want to buy the book, the links are provided.
“Sanctification of the Sabbath” (Robert Haldane, Reformation Heritage Books) – A book the reinforces the Lord’s Day or Christian Sabbath. I like how the author uses some not so familiar passages in Scripture to point the believer to the importance of the Lord’s Day. Obviously and inevitably the usual Bible verses that come up when tackling this topic shine as the author dives to examine it. This may be a short book but Haldane thoroughly handles the case for Christian Sabbath. There are of course some parts that I feel either the author is being redundant or it’s just me who can’t get through the language. Whatever it is, it’s a good addition to your library when you are compelled to study the subject.
In the book, An Asian Palette, Dr. Isabelo Magalit contributed his own writing journey alongside notable authors from different countries of Asia. His chapter is titled I was a Reluctant Writer, which he tells how he started his craft. Known as a pastor and theologian in the Philippines and his involvement with the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. He wrote books, booklets, essays and articles on various topics with a Filipino context. He went with the Lord in 2018.
Though brief, this seven page story gives us a glimpse of Dr. Magalit’s career and principles that molded him as a writer. Here are six lessons that we can learn from Dr. Isabelo Magalit’s writing journey:
Be a reader– Dr. Magalit was a reader before he became a writer. He was reluctant at first in writing but he is a reader. He reads various books on “..poetry, biographies, science fiction, fairy tales, short stories and science…”. In fact, he (along with his brother) joined a book club in his early teens.
Delighting Grace 