Having heard, and loved, several messages by Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, I was eager to review his latest book By Grace Alone, published by Reformation Trust. The publisher emailed me a e-book version of the book and offered to send me a free copy of the physical book in exchange for a published review, which I am only too happy to give.

The book's motivation is an African hymn published in 1946 "Umbuntu Bg Imana" translated "O How the Grace of God Amazes Me". Several facets of the grace of God in Jesus Christ are depicted in the song. Each chapter in the book focuses on one aspect of grace with studies, meditations, reflections, and praise for the marvelous grace of God. The bondage of sin, the love of God that calls and restores, the cross of Christ, the righteousness of believers in Christ, protection from Satan, rest in God's sovereignty, and freedom to live a holy life for Christ....

Thinking biblically about worry, anxiety, hope, trust, and peace. Bible scriptures to study for family devotion.

Studying God's Word is the core of your family's daily devotional.  Knowing His Word leads to knowing His character and will.  This in turn properly motivates our prayers and songs.  Your family's reading should take you through all elements of the Bible over the weeks, months, and years that you spend together.  You can either read straight through the Bible, read chronologically, or read various sections of the Old or New Testament...

Preparing for baptism. Bible scriptures to study during family devotion over several weeks.

Each Christian family must have a routine time of focusing on the scripture and praying for one another.  Here's what has worked well for us...

Dad should lead the family in prayer, thanking God for what was just studied and asking Him to enable the family to faithfully fulfill what's been learned.  You may want to base your prayers on the Lord's Prayer using this outline...

With regular Bible reading as the centerpiece, other resources can be used to draw together Biblical ideas.

Generations have enjoyed learning Biblical truths with various catechisms. The Children's Catechism is simple enough for the very young, yet contains the most profound truths of the Christian faith. Here are simple suggestions on teaching catechism to your children and family...[More]

Here are several widgets we've developed for bloggers to easily display Proverbs, Words of Jesus Christ, the Shorter Catechism, Children's Catechism, Luther's Small Catechism, Heidelberg Catechism, Baptist Catechism, G.K. Chesterton quotes, George Washington's Rules of Civility, Luther's 95 Theses, the U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, Haiku Poetry, Jonathan Edwards' Resolutions, and quotes from great composers.  My daughter Grace worked on the content of the Composer Quotes widget and we assembled it together.

The widget displays a random item when it first loads and the user can then navigate with simple links. Try them out right here and then "embed" your favorite in your site's sidebar. If you have questions or suggestions for other types of widget, let me know.

Martin Luther's Small Catechism is now available as a widget for your personal website or blog. There are two different styles - wide and narrow. One should work for your site....