Home > Crossway Blog > Archive for January, 2012

Archive for January, 2012

Wake Up! Thoughts on Wilson’s Book + a Giveaway

Gospel Wakefulness was one of our favorite 2011 books – but you don’t have to take our word for it:

“This book is indeed one of the best books I have read this year. In fact, it is going in my top 5 list of books for 2011. I highly recommend this book.” – Chris

“I recommend reading Gospel Wakefulness because  it will surprise you at times and perhaps even shock you with the Gospel, but it will not disappoint you. Reading Gospel Wakefulness will be a breath of fresh air for those who have been in the Church their entire lives and are tired of playing games with God.” —Dave

“I would encourage anyone who embraces the Gospel of Christ to read this book. It will help you fall in love with the Gospel again and help you learn how to live your life in the Gospel. Also, pastors and other church leaders, this is a book that you must read. It will help you be awakened to the Gospel again which will allow you to lead your church with the Gospel as first priority.” – Austin

“I echo the sentiment of Matt Chandler when he says of this book, “My eyes filled with tears and my heart flooded with joy on numerous occasions…God used this book to strengthen and dare I say re-stimulate the sufficiency of the Christ and His gospel in my own heart.  Through reading this book I began to ache for more of Christ.  My heart was truly stirred…At every turn you see Wilson pointing to Jesus and saying “Behold”.  Eventually, it’s gonna click and we’ll catch glimpses—beautiful, brilliant, radiant glimpses—of the beauty of Christ.  Eventually we’ll simply become fixated.” – Mike

“Occasionally I read a book that does more than inform or inspire. Sometimes I read a book that stirs me. A book that hits me in the solar plexus of my soul, and Gospel Wakefulness is such a book.” – Alvin Reid

Gospel Wakefulness was also featured on many “Best of 2011″ lists. Here are a few:

  • Trevin Wax: “Anyone hungry and thirsty for righteousness will be refreshed by the invigorating streams of truth that flow from Gospel Wakefulness. Jared Wilson wants us to delight in the gospel to the point that sin becomes bitter and Christ becomes our supreme treasure…“
  • Aaron Armstrong: “Wilson’s exuberant passion for the gospel is on full display and will leave you further amazed at the grace of God in Christ.”
  • Nick Rynerson: Jared Wilson’s newest book, Gospel Wakefulness is one of the most theologically rich, passionate, well written things that I have read in a long time. If you haven’t checked it out, I highly, highly recommend it.
  • Steve Kroeker – “This was the book I was most anticipating in 2011 and it did not disappoint…Favourite book I read in 2011.”
  • Justin Buzzard – “Now I have better words to explain what started happening to me in my early 20s. Read Wilson’s book and Tullian’s book (Jesus + Nothing = Everything) together. A gospel double-decker.”
  • Todd Gragg – “Wow!  From the first page to the last Wilson never lets up with the Gospel, and I am thankful for that.  I am closing out this year by reading this book for a second time this week.  I imagine I will read it many many more times in the coming years.”

We’d love to give you a copy of Gospel Wakefulness. Simply tweet one of the quotes below and we’ll randomly select winners on 2/3/12.

Tweets:

  • Flavorless salt is only good for walking over. Nobody flocks to a dimly lit city. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • Those who find themselves utterly captivated by the gospel can hardly be entertained by anything else. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • Gospel wakefulness means treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring his power more sweetly. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • To honestly proclaim the greatness of Christ requires honestly confessing the bankruptcy of our own souls. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • Our flesh wants to be rid of guilt, not sin. But gospel-wakened people want to be free of sin itself. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • Is a storm raging? Jesus walks on it. Jesus commands it. Jesus rests in it. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • Brokenness is non-negotiable for gospel wakefulness, but so is joy. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
  • If we ground our hopes for sanctification in our own obedience, we will rush headlong into despair. http://cway.to/yNS6SP #wakeup
January 31, 2012 | Posted in: Spiritual Growth,The Gospel | Author: Lindsay Tully @ 10:16 am | 0 Comments »

Posted in Spiritual Growth, The Gospel | No Comments »

Francis Schaeffer’s 100th Birthday

Today marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Francis Schaeffer. We’re grateful for his life and work here at Crossway, as Schaeffer’s legacy continues to have a significant influence on our publishing ministry. It is a great privilege to publish his complete works.

In honor of this occasion we have put several of his eBooks on sale. If you haven’t had the opportunity to read anything by Schaeffer, now is a great time to download any of these titles for only $3.99. Offer ends 2/3/2012.

Related Posts:

January 30, 2012 | Posted in: Books,Publishing | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 9:21 am | 0 Comments »

Posted in Books, Publishing | No Comments »

Single Column Legacy Bible Interview with Bible Design Blog

Bible Design Blog recently posted an interview with Crossway’s Bible production department on the Single Column Legacy Bible. This is an informative post for those interested in how the Single Column Legacy Bible was produced. Here’s an excerpt:

Q. What is the story behind the Single Column Legacy ESV? How did the idea originate?

The original project was conceived under the working title of “Reader’s Thinline Bible.” The goal was to create a single-column, text-only, reader’s edition that focused on an inviting readable page and beautiful design.

Our Bible typesetter relied heavily on Canadian typesetter Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style as he developed the page design. Essentially, we tried to follow the “Renaissance Ideal” or “perfect page” layout. This layout refers to a set of principles called the “canons of page construction” that all focus around a 2:3 ration of page geometry. Jan Tschichold reintroduced this typographic ideal in the twentieth century, calling it a method “upon which it is impossible to improve” and which produces “the perfect book.” We stuck closely to this design philosophy, although we did have to make a few adjustments for the sake of overall page count.

Read the whole post here.

Mark Bertrand runs Bible Design Blog, a site “dedicated to the physical form of the Good Book.” In his blog Bertrand reviews high-end, quality Bible editions and processes and has much to say about how Bible design and production impact a reader’s experience. If in the past you’ve wondered about the differences in Bible materials (i.e. bonded leather versus genuine leather), check out his guide for beginners. If you’re a skeptic of high-end Bibles, his FAQ page will probably address many of your questions and objections.

January 27, 2012 | Posted in: ESV,Interviews | Author: Andrew Tebbe @ 8:00 am | (3) Comments »

Posted in ESV, Interviews | 3 Comments »

Praying in Response to God’s Word

by Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach from Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God’s Word

Sometimes people say that prayer is a two-way conversation, where God speaks to us and we speak to God. But the Bible never uses the word “prayer” in this way. Prayer is simply when we talk to God.

Others think of reading the Bible as a conversation, in which God speaks to us, and we bring our own meanings to the text so that in some sense we find a voice, too. That’s not right, either.
We have a conversation when we hear God speak to us in the Bible and then we speak to him in prayer.

There’s a vivid description of that dynamic in Nehemiah 8–9. For seven days Ezra the scribe read the words of the Law of God (part of the Old Testament) to the people. As they heard God speaking to them, the people were deeply moved to sadness and to joy; there were tears as well as rejoicing and great feasting. And in response to what they heard, they poured out their hearts in prayer to God.

In our churches, though, the things that we share “for prayer” at the end of an evening’s Bible study are often completely unrelated to the passage we’ve been studying. While it’s true that nothing is too small to bring before our heavenly Father, it’s a shame when the tiny things—the health of someone’s neighbor’s dog, for instance—take over, and we forget the amazing truths that God has been speaking to us minutes before.

Get into the habit of praying these kinds of prayers:

  • “Sorry for X, which your Word has shown to be wrong in my life.”
  • “Thank you for Y, which you have shown us this evening.”
  • “Please, by your Spirit, give me power to change Z in response to what you have been saying.”

Learn more about Dig Deeper.

January 26, 2012 | Posted in: Prayer,Spiritual Growth,The Bible | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 8:00 am | 0 Comments »

Posted in Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Bible | No Comments »

So You Think You Can Understand God’s Word…

These past couple weeks we’ve been focusing on the importance, the motivation, and strategies for reading and meditating on God’s Word. While it is good to have motivation and strategies in place, they cannot be what we ultimately rely on. Nigel Benyon and Andrew Sach give some helpful insight from their book Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God’s Word.

We Can Understand the Word of God Only by the Spirit of God. Consider the following:

But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him—” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. (1 Cor. 2:9–12).

We need to continually express our dependence on God for a right understanding of him and his ways. He is the one who grants insight (2 Tim. 2:7; Phil. 3:15). And so we must pray. Pray before you open the Bible. Pray when you get stuck and don’t understand. Pray again when you do understand it—say thank you! Pray, pray, pray!

Paul’s point is clear: we need God’s Spirit to understand God’s Word. Given that it was the Spirit who inspired it in the first place, that comes as no surprise. There’s another implication, though: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:14). Someone who isn’t a Christian (i.e. the “natural person”) won’t be able fully to understand the Bible, no matter how many qualifications or degrees in theology he or she may have.

So while we may employ strategies to do our part (meditating, praying, using Bible study tools, etc), God is the one enabling us to actually understand. Learn more about Dig Deeper. It’s an excellent resource for Bible study principles.

Related posts:

January 25, 2012 | Posted in: Prayer,Spiritual Growth,The Bible,The Holy Spirit | Author: Angie Cheatham @ 8:00 am | 0 Comments »

Posted in Prayer, Spiritual Growth, The Bible, The Holy Spirit | No Comments »