Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 3
November 6, 2025
Kindle Deals for November 6
The Grumbler’s Guide to Giving Thanks: Reclaiming the Gifts of a Lost Spiritual Discipline by Dustin Crowe – $2.99
Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy by Nancy Leigh DeMoss – $2.99
Exalting Jesus in Genesis by Phillip Bethancourt – $4.99
James (N. T. Wright for Everyone Bible Study Guides) by N.T. Wright – $2.99
Experiencing Scripture as a Disciple of Jesus: Reading the Bible like Dallas Willard by Dave Ripper – $3.99
The Christmas We Didn’t Expect: Daily Devotions for Advent by David Mathis – $2.99
Joy To The World: Daily Readings For Advent by Charles Spurgeon – $5.64
The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent by John Piper – $5.33
The Advent of Glory: 24 Devotions for Christmas by R.C. Sproul – $2.99
How to Get Unstuck: Breaking Free from Barriers to Your Productivity by Matt Perman – $1.99
Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem by Kevin DeYoung – $6.60
Darkest Hour: How Churchill Brought England Back from the Brink by Anthony McCrten – $1.99
Churchill by Paul Johnson – $4.99
Napoleon: A Life by Paul Johnson – $5.99
Socrates: A Man for Our Times by Paul Johnson – $4.99
Jesus: A Biography from a Believer by Paul Johnson – $5.99
Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson – $5.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $2.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
November 5, 2025
Kindle Deals for November 5
How to Pray: Reflections and Essays by C.S. Lewis – $1.99
Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life by C.S. Lewis – $1.99
Letters of C. S. Lewis – $1.99
All My Road Before Me: The Diary of C. S. Lewis, 1922-1927 – $1.99
Letters to an American Lady by C.S. Lewis – $1.99
George MacDonald: A Collection edited by C.S. Lewis – $.99
The Hope of the Gospel by George MacDonald – $.99
Colossians & Philemon For You: Rooting you in Christian confidence by Mark Meynell – $2.99
The Meaning of Marriage: A Couple’s Devotional: A Year of Daily Devotions by Tim Keller – $1.99
He Will Hold Me Fast: A Journey with Grace through Cancer by Connie Dever – $2.99
You Will Be My Witnesses: Theology for God’s Church Serving in God’s Mission by Brian DeVries – $2.99
The Case for Civility: And Why Our Future Depends on It by Os Guinness – $1.99
Sea of Tranquility: A novel by Emily St. John Mandel – $2.99
The Garden of Last Days: A Novel by Andre Dubus III – $1.99
The Lord of the Rings Illustrated: A Special Edition of the Classic Fantasy Adventure by J.R.R. Tolkien – $3.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $2.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
October 17, 2025
3 Things I Like This Week – October 17
Each week (give or take one or two here and there) I share three things I like – It could be a book, a movie, a podcast, an album, a photo, an article, a restaurant, a food item, a beverage, or anything else I simply enjoy and think you might too. You can find a whole pile of things, especially books, I like and recommend HERE.
1) The Mark of the Christian by Francis Schaeffer
This little book–and I do mean little–is one of the most profound pieces of Christian teaching I have read. Schaeffer was a deep and incisive thinker, and often his writing and teaching leaned philosophical and complex. He often swam in deep waters of art and culture. But in The Mark of the Christian, Schaeffer is crystal clear and understandable. It is a single essay on John 13:34-35, Jesus’ new commandment in which Schaeffer makes clear that the singular identifying characteristic (or “mark”) of a Christian is his love for his fellow believers. It is uncomfortable to read in a really good and necessary way. And, though it was written in 1970, it is more timely today than ever. I would recommend this book to every professing Christian.
Once upon a time I traveled multiple times a month for work. Most trips were two or three days, so I flew with only a carry-on bag. And I burned through them. Liners ripped out, telescoping handles broke (thanks, American Airlines), wheels fell off. And then one fateful and fortuitous Amazon Prime Day (back when they only did one a year and the deals were actually good) I found this bag at a reasonable price and pulled the trigger. My expectations were low, given that “High Sierra” sounds like the Walmart store brand of suitcases. But as you read this, after 8+ years of trips and travel, I am wheeling this suitcase through a state I do not live in, and it is still going strong. The zippers are intact. The wheels roll. And the liners are attached. It is truly and old reliable.
Vince Gill has one of the best voices to ever grace country music, and this might be his most magnificent song. He wrote it in honor of two men who passed away–Keith Whitley, another wonderful country singer, and his own brother. The original version is great, but the rendition Vince sang, with great emotion, at George Jones’ memorial service is probably my favorite.
Kindle Deals for October 17
The C. S. Lewis Collection: Novels and Stories – $1.99
The C. S. Lewis Collection: Essays and Speeches – $.99
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis – $3.99
The Confessions by Augustine – $2.99
The Army of God: Spurgeon’s Vision for the Church edited by Geoffrey Chang – $2.99
The History of the Church by Eusebius – $.99
Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper – $6.55
Balanced Christianity by John Stott – $5.84
From the Resurrection to His Return by D.A. Carson – $3.99
Essays After Eighty by Donald Hall – $1.99
One Man’s Meat by E.B. White – $2.99
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy – $2.99
The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New by Annie Dillard – $1.99
For the Time Being: Essays by Annie Dillard – $5.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $8.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
October 16, 2025
7 Principles for an Honest Church Leader
It doesn’t matter the size or polity of your church, you cannot have a healthy leadership culture (or church culture) without having an honest leadership culture. Without honesty there is no trust. Without trust there is no relationship, no togetherness, and no risk taking. And while this seems obvious, that doesn’t make it easy. Honesty in itself is a risk, after all.
When I say “honesty” I don’t simply mean “saying true things.” That is the baseline for real honesty, but not the biblical standard and ideal. We can say true things and entirely mislead someone by what we omit. Real honesty is measured by making yourself known and hiding nothing. 1 John 1:7 says. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” This is the standard for honesty we aspire to as Christians, and especially as church leaders. So what does it look like to “walk in the light” as a leader and as a leadership team? Here are 7 principles about honesty and the effect they can have on our churches.
1. A lack of honesty is a lack of humility.Honesty of the sort 1 John 1:7 describes is vulnerable. It requires taking the scary step from the shadows into the light, revealing our hearts and motives and fears and struggles. A refusal to do this is prideful, motivated by self-protection and preservation (while ironically also being self-destructive). Humility is a qualification for pastor and elder because it is a defining aspect of Christ’s character. So if we refuse to be humbly honest, we are on a trajectory of disqualification from ministry.
2.Nobody will be more honest than the leader is gracious.If we want a culture of honesty in our church, and especially among the leaders, we must foster a context of deep grace. We must receive the honesty of others in the same way Jesus did, never dismissing sin and always welcoming sinners to a way of redemption. Of course this depends on our own experience of grace. Have we deeply received and felt the call and kindness of Jesus in our darkest moments and places so that we are able to share the same with others?
3. Nobody will be more honest than the leader.If the culture-setters, the pastors and leaders, will not be boldly humble enough to reveal our hearts, how could we expect anyone else to? It is difficult enough to risk honesty when we are in a context of safety and support and love and grace, but to do so when the culture, represented by leaders, doesn’t invite honesty is absurd and even dangerous. To ask honesty of others without being willing to go there first is hypocrisy. It is antithetical to being good shepherds because it is asking the sheep to take risks we won’t share.
4. True honesty requires total transparency.To “walk in the light” is to move from the perceived safety of isolation and secrecy into the true safety of handing things over to Jesus. Our honesty is not ultimately before other people but before God, so we are both free to be totally transparent and commanded to be. Assuming you aren’t living in outright rebellion against God, ask yourself, what parts of your thought life, faith, or history have you refrained from sharing with anyone? Those are the areas of your life that likely need to be brought into the light lest they become ammo for Satan to use against you with guilt and shame. Of course, as leaders, we must be wise in our manner and timing of transparency. Every member ought not know every sin and every struggle and every fear in your life. But every member must know A) that you have sins, struggles and fears and B) that you are utterly honest about them with some other Christians.
5. The perceived risk of honesty is mostly fake.What holds us back from honesty? If we are living in willful sin then we fear consequences like disqualification from ministry, job loss, shame, relational damage, and more. And rightfully so, because we are living in willful sin we have earned those consequences. It’s not honesty that brings them but our disregard of God and his word. However, if we are faithfully walking with Jesus and serving him our fears about honesty are different and more subtle: loss of reputation, loss of authority or respect, potential leverage for those who oppose or dislike us. In reality, though, those fears are largely amplified by our own sinful inclinations. We create boogeyman out of our insecurities and prideful inclinations and let them frighten us back into isolation and opacity. We miss the reality that, in Christ, honesty sets us free and because we share oneness in Christ with those to whom we are being honest, they are able respond to us with the grace of Jesus.
6. Honesty is freedom and protection.Mark Twain has been credited with saying “if you tell the truth you never have to remember anything.” His point, while amusingly phrased, is spot on. If we are honest we need not be burdened and anxious. We have laid the burden of sin and shame and failure and fear at the feet of Jesus. We have stepped from the captivity of darkness into the freedom of light. A clear conscience before God and man is an unmatched blessing. When we move from hiding and veiling to revealing and confessing, we have moved from danger to safety. Instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop or fearing others may find out our dirty little secret (whatever that may be), we are safe in repentance and acceptance by Jesus and his people. An accuser no longer has anything to hurl at us because already hurled it at the cross. As church leaders, this means we can do the work of ministry and proclaim the gospel of Jesus with freedom and energy and joy with none of the imposter syndrome or shame we once carried. We can seek the Lord and get after his work with abandon instead of trepidation.
7. Honesty among leaders shapes the whole culture.When leaders in a church are deeply, profoundly honest it can shape the culture of the whole church. How could it not? The kind of honesty set forth in 1 John 1:7 puts Jesus first, it relies on Jesus above all, and it welcomes others into a culture marked by the “aroma of Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:15) It is a culture of trust, not because the leaders are so exceptional but because we depend on an exceptional savior and refuse to venture far from him. It is a culture of safety because we recognize our mutual need for Jesus so we aren’t condemning. It is a culture of growth because when we are constantly looking to Jesus we constantly move toward Jesus together.
Kindle Deals for October 16
You Are a Theologian: An Invitation to Know and Love God Well by Jen Wilkin & J.T. English – $4.99
Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin – $6.80
Unbreakable: What the Son of God Said About the Word of God by Andrew Wilson – $2.99
Beholding the Triune God: The Inseparable Work of Father, Son, and Spirit by Matthew Emerson & Brandon Smith – $2.99
Into His Presence: Praying with the Puritans by Tim Chester – $2.99
Faithfully Present: Embracing the Limits of Where and When God Has You by Adam Ramsey – $2.99
Deeper Still: Finding Clear Minds and Full Hearts through Biblical Meditation by Linda Allcock – $2.99
The World’s Greatest Book: The Story of How the Bible Came to Be by Lawrence Schiffman & Jerry Pattengale – $1.99
God’s Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible by Adam Nicolson – $2.99
Capturing the Light: The Birth of Photography, a True Story of Genius and Rivalry by Roger Watson & Helen Rappaport – $2.99
Unshackling America: How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution by Willard Sterne Randall – $2.99
The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City by Stephen Dando-Collins – $1.99
Nero: Matricide, Music, and Murder in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt & Roddy Ashworth – $6.99
Augustus: The Life of Rome’s First Emperor by Anthony Everitt – $5.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $8.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
October 15, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 15
Knowing God by J.I. Packer- $4.99
The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate by John H. Walton – $3.99
Christian History Made Easy by Timothy Paul Jones – $3.99
Church History 101: The Highlights of Twenty Centuries by Sinclair Ferguson, Joel Beeke, & Michael Haykin – $5.99
The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms by Gregg Allison – $3.99
Zondervan Dictionary of Bible and Theology Words by Matthew DeMoss & J. Edward Miller – $4.99
Gospel Eldership: Equipping a New Generation of Servant Leaders by Robert Thune – $3.99
Psalms For You: How to pray, how to feel and how to sing by Christopher Ash – $2.99
The Story of Grace: An Exhibition of God’s Love by Horatius Bonar – $3.99
The Apostolic Fathers in English by Michael W. Holmes – $7.99
Yalta: The Price of Peace by S.M. Plokhy – $1.99
Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass – $5.99
When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning – $3.99
The Buffalo Creek Disaster: How the survivors of one of the worst disasters in coal-mining history brought suit against the coal company–and won by Gerald Stern – $1.99
The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It by Neil Bascomb – $2.99
The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy by Bill Simmons – $6.99
Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever by Jack McCallum – $5.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $8.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
October 14, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 14
My Only Comfort: The Heidelberg Catechism for Devotional Reading by Amanda Martin – $4.99
Escape from Reason: A Penetrating Analysis of Trends in Modern Thought by Francis Schaeffer – $2.99
The Secret of the Abiding Presence by Andrew Murray – $2.99
Holy Ground: Walking with Jesus as a Former Catholic by Chris Costaldo – $1.99
Are We Together?: A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism by R.C. Sproul – $6.99
The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God by Dan Allender & Tremper Longman Jr. – $3.99
The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life by Timothy Jennings, M.D. – $3.99
Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age by Alan Noble – $3.99
God Is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China by Liao Yiwu – $1.99
Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons by Walter Lord – $2.99
Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann – $1.99
Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam by Stephen Sears – $2.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $8.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
October 13, 2025
We Rest on Thee
Many of you will be familiar with the story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youdarian, Pete Fleming, and Ed McCully, the missionaries who lost their lives on January 8, 1956 when they sought to bring the gospel to an unreached people group in Ecuador. They knew it was a great risk, and they entrusted themselves and their mission to God. One of the last things they did was lift their voices together with their families in the magnificent hymn, “We Rest on Thee.” Through the four stanzas it progresses from strength in faith to assurance of salvation to triumph in weakness to peace and joy in death. In short it beautifully expresses Paul’s words, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21)
We rest on thee, our Shield and our Defender!
We go not forth alone against the foe;
strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender,
we rest on thee, and in thy name we go;
strong in thy strength, safe in thy keeping tender,
we rest on thee, and in thy name we go.
Yea, in thy name, O Captain of salvation!
In thy dear name, all other names above:
Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,
our Prince of glory and our King of love,
Jesus our righteousness, our sure foundation,
our Prince of glory and our King of love.
We go in faith, our own great weakness feeling,
and needing more each day thy grace to know:
yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on thee, and in thy name we go”;
yet from our hearts a song of triumph pealing,
“We rest on thee, and in thy name we go.”
We rest on thee, our Shield and our Defender!
Thine is the battle, thine shall be the praise;
when passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
victors, we rest with thee, through endless days;
when passing through the gates of pearly splendor,
victors, we rest with thee, through endless days.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville , in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
Kindle Deals for October 13
God’s Purpose for Your Suffering by Charles Spurgeon – $2.99
O Death, Where Is Your Sting? : Classic Sermons on Dying in Christ and Our Heavenly Hope by Charles Spurgeon – $2.99
Charles Spurgeon on Depression: Classic Sermons for Overcoming Anxiety and Depression – $2.99
Issues Facing Christians Today: 4th Edition by John Stott – $1.99
Truth Over Tribe: Pledging Allegiance to the Lamb, Not the Donkey or the Elephant by Patrick Miller & Keith Simon – $5.81
Purposefooled: Why Chasing Your Dreams, Finding Your Calling, and Reaching for Greatness Will Never Be Enough by Kelly Needham – $1.99
Questioning Evangelism, Third Edition by Randy Newman – $2.99
Becoming Worldly Saints: Can You Serve Jesus and Still Enjoy Your Life? By Michael Wittmer – $5.99
Your Life in Christ: Selected Sermons by George MacDonald – $2.99
Blood and Treasure: Daniel Boone and the Fight for America’s First Frontier by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin – $1.99
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 by Ritchie Robertson – $2.99
Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac by Stephen Sears – $2.99
Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond by Gene Kranz – $1.99
FDR At War: The Mantle of Command, Commander in Chief, and War and Peace by Nigel Hamilton – $4.99
The Boys of ’67: Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam by Andrew Wiest – $3.99
Belong: Loving Your Church by Reflecting Christ to One Another – $8.99
Hoping for Happiness: Turning Life’s most elusive Feeling into Lasting Reality – $8.99
The Pastor’s Kid: What it’s Like and How to Help – $8.99
Help My Unbelief: Why doubt is not the enemy of faith – $8.99
The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life – $4.99
These links are Amazon affiliate links.
