Barnabas Piper's Blog, page 4
October 10, 2025
3 Things I Like This Week – October 10
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) Isaiah: God Saves Sinners by Ray Ortlund Jr.
It’s not often that a Bible commentary can rightly be called worshipful. They are more often explanatory, thorough, technical, and substantive in an informational way. Many of them serve to compare views or interpretations, allowing the reader to study deeply and widely. What Ray Ortlund has done in the Isaiah commentary from the Preaching the Word series is to synthesize all that technical information in the background and present the reader with a clear, sermonic interpretation of the text so that the message and meaning are forward. If you need a commentary for a seminary level OT exegesis class, this is not it (although Ortlund could definitely write that too). If you are a student of the Bible who has been puzzled or intimidated by the book of Isaiah then you need this. It is clear. It is rich. It moves the heart to worship and gives verbiage and direction to prayers. I have loved going through this slowly alongside . . .
2) ESV Scripture Journals
These journals are ideal for slow, deep study of a book of the Bible or for sermon note taking as your church walks through a book of the Bible (unless your church does the Martyn Lloyd-Jones or John Piper thing where they preach multiple sermons on each verse; then there just isn’t space). From a quality stand point they are sturdy enough to hold up to backpacks and travel. They are inexpensive, so it isn’t burdensome to buy them as you start a new study or series (or just get a whole set. One of my favorite features is that, along with the blank note-taking page that faces each page of Bible text, there are roomy margins for additional notes. They really are a wonderful resource. And if you are not an ESV user, the CSB has awesome Scripture Notebooks that offer the same features. I love them both.
3) Kevin Johnson on Hakeem Olajuwon
This is for all you old hoop heads out there, and as a lesson for you younger ones. Hakeem was one of the greatest defensive centers of all time, one of the greatest centers of all time period. Kevin Johnson was one of the filthiest, quickest, most explosive guards of the 90s. His career arc didn’t reach hall of fame heights, but his highlights and best games sure did. The Phoenix Suns and Houston Rockets were Western Conference heavy weights, and every matchup was appointment viewing. I loved KJ and those Suns teams for no reason other than A) they were awesome and B) they were not the Bulls. So a dunk like this one was tatooed on my mind from the moment I saw it live.
Kindle Deals for October 10
5 Things to Pray for Your Kids: Prayers That Change Things for the Next Generation by Melissa B. Kruger – $3.99
5 Things to Pray for a Suffering Friend: Prayers That Change Things for Friends or Family Who Are Walking through Trials by Helen Thorne – $5.99
5 Things to Pray for Your Church: Prayers that Change Things for the Life of Your Church by Rachel Jones – $3.99
5 Things to Pray for Your Parents: Prayers that Change Things for an Older Generation by Chelsea Stanley – $3.99
The God of the Garden: Thoughts on Creation, Culture, and the Kingdom by Andrew Peterson – $4.99
How to Read the Bible Like a Seminary Professor: A Practical and Entertaining Exploration of the World’s Most Famous Book by Mark Yarbrough – $2.99
Grace Beyond Salvation: Revealing God’s Love from Genesis to Revelation by Kyle DiRoberts – $4.99
Christian Beliefs, Revised Edition: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know by Wayne Grudem – $3.99
The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith – $4.99
The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix – $2.99
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive by Lucy Adlington – $1.99
Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean – $2.99
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan – $1.99
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter – $2.99
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee – $1.99
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 9, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 9
Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians by Thomas Schreiner – $2.99
Galatians: An Expositional Commentary by R.C. Sproul – $6.99
Psalms: Singing with Jesus: 7-Session Bible Study (Good Book Guides) by Christopher Ash & Alison Mitchell – $2.99
12 Things God Can’t Do: …and How They Can Help You Sleep at Night by Nick Tucker – $2.99
Witness: Loving Your Church by Sharing the Gospel by Jonathan Dodson – $2.99
Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger – $2.99
The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski – $1.99
Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics by Jeremy Schaap – $2.99
The Sweet Science by A.J. Liebling – $2.99
Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments by Joe Posnanski – $5.99
Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot – $6.99
Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth Varon – $3.99
Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America by Mary Stockwell – $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.
October 8, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 8
The Crucified King: Atonement and Kingdom in Biblical and Systematic Theology by Jeremy Treat – $2.99
Christ All in All: What Christ Is Made to Believers by Philip Henry – $2.99
God Does His Best Work with Empty by Nancy Guthrie – $3.99
Praying the Names of Jesus by Ann Spangler – $2.99
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell – $2.99
Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg – $6.99
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction by William Zinsser – $1.99
Writing to Learn: How to Write – and Think – Clearly About Any Subject at All by William Zinsser – $5.99
Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis – $1.99
Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov – $2.99
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink – $1.99
Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip & Dan Heath – $1.99
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 7, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 7
Choose Better: Five Biblical Models for Making Ethical Decisions by T. David Gordon – $4.99
Redeeming Sex in Marriage: How the Gospel Rescues Sex, Transforms Marriage, and Reveals the Glory of God by Scott Mehl – $4.99
The C. S. Lewis Collection: Biographical Works – $1.99
What Barfield Thought: An Introduction to the Work of Owen Barfield by Landon Loftin & Max Leyf – $2.99
Letting Go: Rugged Love for Wayward Souls by Dave Harvey & Paul Gilbert – $.99
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore – $3.99
Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman – $1.99
Red Herrings & White Elephants: The Origins of the Phrases We Use Every Day by Albert Jack – $1.99
The Road: Pulitzer Prize Winner by Cormac McCarthy – $1.99
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon – $1.99
Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon – $1.99
The Cuckoo’s Calling (Cormoran Strike Book 1) by Robert Galbraith – $2.99
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard – $1.99
The Son by Philipp Meyer – $1.99
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 6, 2025
Fear Not
One of the most oft repeated commands in the Bible is “fear not” (right up there with, “remember,” which says a lot about us). Two things stand out about this.
First, the frequency of the command indicates our propensity for worry, anxiety, and fear. We are prone to be like Peter when he tried to walk on water (Matthew 14): we step out in faith and immediately take our eyes off Jesus and look instead at the storms around us. So we fear.
Second, what is nearly always paired with the command “fear not” is a statement of who God is and what He is doing.
Joshua 1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Psalm 118:6 – “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Despite our constant fearfulness and worry, God makes it so clear that he is our perfect loving Father. He gently, firmly reminds us over and over again that he is with us, he is stronger, he is able, he is victorious, and he will always be so for us.
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 6
Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer by Eugene Peterson – $1.99
Open and Unafraid: The Psalms as a Guide to Life by W. David O. Taylor – $1.99
The Psalms: Language for All Seasons of the Soul edited by Andrew Schmutzer & David Howard Jr. – $3.99
The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges – $3.99
Expository Apologetics: Answering Objections with the Power of the Word by Voddie Baucham Jr. – $4.99
The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson – $1.99
The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown – $1.99
Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World by Evan Thomas – $2.99
Being Nixon: A Man Divided by Evan Thomas – $5.99
Anxious People: A Novel by Fredrik Backman – $3.99
A Prayer for Owen Meany: A Novel by John Irving – $1.99
Underworld: A Novel by Don Delillo – $1.99
The Bourbon Thief: A Novel by Tiffany Reisz – $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 3, 2025
3 Things I Like This Week – October 3
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) John Randle HighlightsIf I had to name one football player who is my all time favorite, it would be John Randle. He was a larger-than-life character, a fierce pass rusher, a motor mouth, a mad man, and someone who really loves the Twin Cities community. He was Aaron Donald 1.0. He looked like he might eat opposing QBs instead of sacking them. His mouth never quit. And his face paint was iconic.
2) Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker
Chris Farley is one of the funniest men to ever walk the earth, and this clip is arguable his funniest. Maybe the best part is how these other professional performers and comedians all break; they cannot hold it together. It still resides in my mind and lines flow out of my mouth with regularity all these years later.
3) “Faithful is our God” by Hezekiah Walker
My soul needs this. Your soul needs this. Turn it up and be blessed.
Kindle Deals for October
Each month Amazon runs deals on a TON of ebooks from a variety of genres. You can see the full selection here. The titles below are ones I particularly thought worth highlighting. (Full disclosure: I haven’t read them all, but they are all ones I would like to read if I haven’t.)
FictionUnderworld: A Novel by Don Delillo – $1.99
Empire of Lies by Andrew Klavan – $.99
The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – $.99
The Bourbon Thief: A Novel by Tiffany Reisz – $2.99
Lost in the City: Stories by Edward P. Jones – $2.99
ChristianityKnowing God by J.I. Packer- $4.99
Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know by Wayne Grudem – $3.99
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
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
The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix – $2.99
God Does His Best Work with Empty by Nancy Guthrie – $3.99
Praying the Names of Jesus by Ann Spangler – $2.99
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
Grace Beyond Salvation: Revealing God’s Love from Genesis to Revelation by Kyle DiRoberts – $4.99
Bio/MemoirThe Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Non Drexel – $3.99
Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South by Elizabeth Varon – $3.99
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs – $7.00
The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz – $2.99
Bruce by Peter Ames Carlin – $2.99
All I Did Was Ask: Conversations with Writers, Actors, Musicians, and Artists by Terry Gross – $2.99
Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography by Bear Grylls – $3.99
I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons – $1.99
Baby, Let’s Play House: Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him by Alanna Nash – $2.99
Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger
Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America by Mary Stockwell – $3.99
I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne – $2.99
HistoryThe 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
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan – $1.99
Invisible: The Forgotten Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster by Stephen Carter – $2.99
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
Writing/Creativity
Studies in Words by C.S. Lewis – $1.99
Lectures on Literature by Vladimir Nabokov – $2.99
General Non-FictionThe Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New by Annie Dillard – $1.99
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
Sports
The Baseball 100 by Joe Posnanski – $1.99
Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler’s Olympics by Jeremy Schaap – $2.99
The Sweet Science by A.J. Liebling – $2.99
All links are amazon associate links
October 2, 2025
Kindle Deals for October 2
Grace Beyond Salvation: Revealing God’s Love from Genesis to Revelation by Kyle DiRoberts – $4.99
Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know by Wayne Grudem – $3.99
The Gospel-Driven Church: Uniting Church Growth Dreams with the Metrics of Grace by Jared C. Wilson – $1.99
Friendship with the Friend of Sinners: The Remarkable Possibility of Closeness with Christ by Jared C. Wilson – $4.99
When God Seems Gone: Finding Hope When Nothing Makes Sense by Adam Mabry – $2.99
The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien by John Hendrix – $2.99
In His Hands : Prayers for Your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis by Eric Schumacher & Jessika Sanders – $2.99
The Cry of the Soul: How Our Emotions Reveal Our Deepest Questions about God by Dan Allender & Tremper Longman Jr. – $3.99
Held: 31 Biblical Reflections on God’s Comfort and Care in the Sorrow of Miscarriage by Abbey Wedgeworth – $2.99
Inheritance of Tears: Trusting the Lord of Life When Death Visits the Womb by Jessalyn Hutto – $5.99
The Women with Silver Wings: The Inspiring True Story of the Women Airforce Service Pilots of World War by Katherine Landdeck – $1.99
A Quiet Company of Dangerous Men: The Forgotten British Special Operations Soldiers of World War II by Shannon Monaghan – $1.99
The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw – $1.99
Voices of the Pacific by Adam Makos – $5.99
Legend: The Incredible Story of Green Beret Sergeant Roy Benavidez’s Heroic Mission to Rescue a Special Forces Team Caught Behind Enemy Lines by Eric Blehm – $1.99
Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by James Webb – $1.99
The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes by Bryan Burrough – $1.99
The Fatal Shore: The epic of Australia’s founding by Robert Hughes – $1.99
Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard – $1.99
A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts by Andrew Chaikin – $1.99
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.
