I would say this is the best book I have read all year, but it is only the second book I have read in 2012 so I will say it is in the top 3 best books I read in 2011 and would be high in my ranking of importance for all books I have read. When Thabiti Anyabwile says in his endorsement “Put this book into the hands of any Christian you wish to give a revolutionizing appreciation of God’s Word in the local church” he hit the nail right on the head. This book will revolutionize your thinking about God’s word, by that I would include all of God’s word spoken in history that brought creation into existence, written in the bible, and Jesus Christ who is the word. This book will also give you a greater appreciation for God’s word reverberated through the pastors’ preaching and Christians sharing the word with others. This book comes in at just under 200 pages, but pack a real punch that will give depth to any motivated reader’s theology.
Leeman divides the book into three main parts first “the word”, second “the sermon”, and thirdly “the reverberation”. In the first he convincingly forms a theology of the word of God that is not mainly concerned with the questions of scriptures inerrancy, infallibility, or historical reliability, although these are assumed. This book deals more with what may fall under the sufficiency of scripture. What is an absolute necessity for a church’s growth, Leeman argues it is the word of God. The second part talks about the method of presenting this word, he argues that God gives us his word in the bible and that we hear God’s word through the faithful preaching of it. He helpfully discusses how pastor should preach the word and how members can know they are hearing God speak through this deliver of the word. In the third and last part of the book Leeman looks at how the local church sings the word, prays the word, and disciples with the word. In the last chapter he looks again at evangelism and how the word scatters the church so that it can gather the church.
This book has a much needed theology of the word for the church today. The content is so great and to make it better it is presented in an easy to consume way, this is a book that doesn’t require a huge amount of former knowledge on this subject. I will recommend this book to younger and older Christians alike. This book will also be helpful to pastors who need this foundation to build there preaching methods upon. As a member of a Southern Baptist Association church it is exciting to see such a helpful book coming from the pen of another Southern Baptist, but don’t let that comment confuse you, this is a book for the church and any who know English I’m convinced would benefit from it.
Publisher: Moody Publishing
Year:2011
Pages:197
Boards: Paperback
Binding: Glue
Scripture Index: No
Subject Index: No
Persons Index: No
Recommended Reading List: Yes given at the end of each chapter corresponding
Buy at WTS Books: $9.95
This book was given to me free of cost as part of a review program by Moody Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review only to give my honest opinion concerning the book.
