Over ten years ago we set out to provide a resource website that would point believers to the best available resources concerning knowing God and personal godliness. Our intention was to provide a limited and curated list of the best Christian material on as many subjects as would be helpful, and then to offer recommendations for each work, explaining why we recommend it, and for whom we recommend it.
That is a massive project! As incremental progress was made, we were thankful for all that God was allowing us to do—as a small group of believers, we were genuinely helping thousands of Christians every year. Mainly, we were seeking to help others in ways we had been helped, and to save them the time, energy, and error of sifting through what is less than best.
As time marched on, our own lives filled up more and more with the busyness of families and the needs around us. Faithfulness in our immediate sphere meant that our work at Granted Ministries was pushed to second or third place because of other, more immediate and constant demands which God had placed upon us. That is HIS right, and we don't begrudge Him for it!
But for Granted Ministries, this meant that our previous efforts ground to a halt. What remained was an ongoing publishing ministry with an aging website that no longer matched what we were actually doing. We were able to keep up with fulfilling orders, and the routine reprinting of books. But new books worthy of publishing were rare and hard to bring to the finish line. Honestly, we weren't looking for more work! Added to that difficulty, we were continually feeling pulled back to our original intention of being the sort of resource website we had intended. But we now realize that such a project is not something we will reach to in the foreseeable future. We are still convinced that such a website would be immensely profitable for God's people. But it is not for us to do, at least not at this time.
That brings us to our present change in direction and the pruning at hand. We will, for the foreseeable future, be limiting ourselves to the reprinting of proven works (whether books or tracts), and the new publication of a few long-planned titles. We will not do away entirely with our previous work, however. You may still listen to and order CDs if you like, articles are available, and we have a list of recommended books. We aren't trying to undo the work we did, but rather to stop seeking the wider ministry we had previously begun. This limited direction will continue indefinitely.
Thank you for reading, and for your prayers, support, and patronage over the years. We look forward to the days ahead!
]]>Check out the announcement here.
]]>We encourage you to visit bobjenningsjournal.com for Bob's own writings on his battle with cancer.
Send a message to Bob's family or church here.
We will be certain the message is passed along accordingly.
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The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges
Jerry Bridges has taken the title of this book from Heb. 12:14, which says that Christians should “pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” The command appears strange to many Christians, who are accustomed to rejoicing in the finished work of Christ and the great truth of justification by faith alone. Any discussion of human responsibility is often met with suspicion. But if a biblical command seems foreign to us, it is only because we ourselves have strayed from biblical truth.
The Pursuit of Holiness is written to correct this lack of emphasis on the Christian’s duty in sanctification. Its contents can be summarized by noting the major themes of the book: (1) Both God and men have a role to play in the pursuit of holiness. (2) Christians will not become more holy unless they discipline themselves for it and refuse to settle for failure. (3) Personal sanctification is not about victory and defeat, but obedience and disobedience. (4) The Christian can do specific things, in dependence on God, to grow in holiness successfully.
If someone is a Christian, then they need the kind of teaching of this book. None are exempt, unless of course they do not wish to “see the Lord.”
]]>Evangelistic Sermons at Aberavon, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones served as pastor in Sandfields, Aberavon, Wales, from 1927-1938, before he made himself more well-known in London. During that earlier period, Lloyd-Jones believed in writing out his evangelistic messages word-for-word. When a box of such manuscripts was rediscovered in his attic after his death, twenty-one of them were selected for publication, leading to this book.
Lloyd-Jones preached in Aberavon when Europeans generally thought that mankind was greatly improving itself apart from religion, and so Christianity was considered an out-dated, soon-to-be-extinct system. These sermons quite often attack this false notion directly. While westerners are no longer quite so optimistic about humanity’s potential, such attitudes remain in our culture, propped up by the same rickety ideas as before: Darwinism and the basic goodness of mankind. So these sermons remain relevant nearly a century after their initial delivery. The other great theme of this collection is the nature of true salvation in Christ. In Lloyd-Jones’s day, just as now, many considered themselves to be Christians for any number of faulty reasons. Many of these sermons attempt to describe true conversion and Christian living, confronting the same powerless gospel which condemns nominal Christians even to this day. Once more, these messages apply well to our generation.
The Holiness of God, by R. C. Sproul
The holiness of God is the subject of constant proclamation among angels (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). Meanwhile, Christians no longer believe in it. They wear shirts proclaiming “Jesus is my homeboy” and use God as a comic-relief character in tasteless jokes—while God Himself smolders as a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). Whole churches lift up their hands to God, begging Him to come down, heedless that God’s arrival might bring a death toll. To describe the problem more exactly, Christians have stressed having a relationship with God but have forgotten that He “dwells in inapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16).
The solution is a re-examination of God’s holiness and a commitment to honor it. And apart from the Bible itself, likely no book can reveal the holiness of God better than R. C. Sproul’s. At the risk of overusing the term, it’s a “new classic.” No other book has done more to awaken contemporary Christianity to this attribute of God.
The Holiness of God by Sproul combines three commendable elements: (1) He presents a biblical treatment of the topic, either by expositing key passages or by bringing scriptural accounts to bear on the issue. (2) His writing style easily keeps the reader’s attention, oscillating from his own unique humor to potent observations. (3) At no time in these pages does the holiness of God appear as a merely academic issue; it consistently impresses itself upon the reader, requiring his life to reflect the knowledge gained.
If you wish to continue in an ankle-deep knowledge of God, and in a reckless Christian life, then do not read this book. Otherwise, we most eagerly recommend it.
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