I spoke at PTP a couple of weeks ago on the topic, “Books That Have Blessed My Ministry in 2015,” and I thought that publishing some of that material here might be a helpful resource to other preachers. If you’d like the complete list, please email me. I plan to use this page periodically over the next few months to tell you more about some of the books that have blessed my ministry in 2015.

About a year ago a friend recommended that I listen to a series of sermons that were preached by Jonathan Jones II, the minister for the Maryville Church of Christ in Maryville, Tennessee. The series was called “Grace Changes Everything,” and it was excellent.

Earlier this year I heard that Jonathan was publishing a book that was the result of his study for that sermon series. The book is called A Graceful Uprising: How Grace Changes Everything, and it was published on July 14, 2015.

If you’re preaching through Romans or perhaps just want to understand the book better, I highly recommend you get a copy of Jonathan’s book (available as a paperback, for Kindle, or through Audible).

Jonathan explains his purpose in writing near the beginning of the book:

This book is not really a commentary and makes no attempt to be a scholarly work. Rather, this book is simply designed to be an everyday person’s guide through the book of Romans. The intention of this book is to help the reader trace Paul’s flow of thought through this marvelous book of the Bible. Hopefully, as you follow the message of Romans, you will begin to taste the wonders of God’s grace in your own life.

If you intend to study the text of Romans closely, you’ll want to use reliable commentaries as well, but this is an excellent supplement to more technical works. It helps to summarize and contextualize Paul’s teaching about grace in Romans. I found myself appreciating God’s grace so much more after I worked my way through Jonathan’s material.

There’s some difficult material in Romans (cf. chs. 9-11), and this book doesn’t necessarily address all of the interpretive possibilities, but reading it helped me understand the overall message of Romans better than I ever have. I encourage you to consider reading the book.