Vinewood Book Of The Month
While we fully believe in the sufficiency of Scripture alone (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:3; Psalm 19, 119), we also understand that there is value in extrabiblical books, especially those that aim to faithfully explain, exposit, organize, and apply the words of Scripture itself. The book of the month is our attempt to highlight such books that may handle topics that may be especially timely and helpful to our local membership in an effort to complement the preaching and teaching ministry. In the words of Charles Spurgeon, we hope to "visit many good books, but live in the Bible.”
July Book
How many of us have struggled with prayer before? Have we ever prayed asking God to help us pray more and more deeply? Have we ever gone to a prayer meeting only to wake up at the final amen? Well, then this book is for us. Don Whitney lays out a simple problem with a simple solution, teaches us how to pray through the Bible, and challenges us to put it into practice. May our prayer lives be practically strengthened.
June Book
Come to church long enough, and you'll probably hear first, about the importance of sanctification and growing in our walk with Christ, and second, many varied and probably biblical ways to do so. Yet, as David Powlison explains in his book, "How Does Sanctification Work," the various ways like pursuing the means of grace, finding accountability relationships, and serving in the church are not one-size-fits-all. Just as Jesus ministered in a variety of personal ways, so is each person's sanctification a personal walk, albeit with common undertones. Powlison walks us through those common undertones, illustrating through his own personal journey of sanctification and others' how they operate at different times in different ways, all to make us more like Christ and to know and love Him more.
May Book
In our culture today, we are constantly bombarded with various implicit or explicit definitions of love. In his book, "Rule of Love," Jonathan Leeman puts love under a microscope, detailing what love in our culture means, how love has been considered by theologians, and what God's love in the Trinity and for us looks like. He then draws implications for how we live out this love in the church. We hope that this book would help us understand more deeply and clearly what it means to love God and love others, and exhort us to practice it in our local church.
April Book
Conflict is inevitable as fallen people living in a fallen world. But, as Ken and Kevin write in "Resolving Everyday Conflict," conflict doesn't always have to be painful and destructive; it can strengthen relationships and build solutions if we seek to please and honor God through it. To that end, Ken and Kevin provide a helpful practical guide to understanding conflict---its sources and our responses---and walk us through a Gospel response in biblical peacemaking. We hope and pray this book would help us towards healthier, deeper relationships.
March Book
In "Holiness of God," RC Sproul discusses four key yet often misunderstood biblical concepts of holiness, justice, sin, and grace. He does so by encircling the predominant characteristic of God, holiness, through the exposition of Scripture, the testimonies of saints, and playful analogies. By pointing us to God's holiness as being "separate" from us, over and above God's moral goodness, Sproul also challenges us to live our lives before such a holy God and wholly for such a holy God, seeking to be like Him as we see more clearly who He truly is (1 Peter 1:14-16).
February Book
As we seek to encourage our local church unto faithful living in the body of Christ, we've chosen to highlight Thabiti's, "What is a Healthy Church Member?" for the month of February. In it, Thabiti discusses more but certainly no less than local church membership; he talks about different aspects of how Christians who make up the church should live, from listening to preaching expositionally, to faithfully believing and living out the Gospel, to committing to a local church as a member in order to live out the commands and practices of Scripture. We hope it would encourage you to not only consider your own spiritual health, but also that of your neighbor as we strive to be faithful together.
