-Lover of the Lord Jesus Christ-
Rex Beck
THE BOOKS
The Bible is a wonderful Book. In its passages are words of life, grace, redemption, and purpose. It unveils the beginning and the end, man and God. It shows forth the purpose of God and the purpose of our life. Most of all, the Bible unveils how God's people can walk with Him and participate in His great salvation. Thus, we are brought into God's eternal purpose. These books are intended to be helps for the believer who is traveling along that pathway of God's salvation.
The Voices of the Prophets
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Each of the minor prophets speaks with a unique, distinct voice. While they all truly speak the words of God, each possesses his own sound. Hosea has a very different sound than Jonah, although both convey God’s speaking. All their voices combine like a symphony, sounding out God’s message. Different sections may resonate with different people. Some listeners may resonate with the “Micah” section. Others may particularly hear the fourth chair of the “Nahum” section. Together, the prophetic symphony projects God’s word to all mankind. Not surprisingly, each voice has been developed with great care by God Himself through a combination of the prophet’s character, history and, most importantly, his interaction with God. God shapes each prophet into a particular instrument as He leads him on his unique pathway. Along his journey, a prophet is by no means a passive conduit of God’s messages. The Apostle Peter describes the prophet’s dynamic, living interaction with God, portraying him as an active seeker of Christ as the Spirit of Christ makes things clear within him. Eventually, each Old Testament prophet realizes he is not serving his own generation but us, the New Testament believers. This book seeks to highlight the pathway of each prophet as God shapes him into His instrument perfectly fit for His glory. Hopefully, seeing these twelve pathways will encourage believers as God leads and shapes their own lives.
Notes on the Minor Prophets
Most people overlook the Minor Prophets. This is sad because few sections of the Bible present so much color, personality, metaphor, romance and excitement as these books. The reason for this variety stems from the many personalities behind the words. Jonah, Hosea, Habakkuk and the others are surely a motley crew! The preciousness of these books comes because each prophet portrays Christ with his unique voice. Together, the Minor Prophets depict, among many other things, His birth in Bethlehem, His entrance to Jerusalem, His death and resurrection and His second coming. The Apostles considered these writings to be a foundation for the New Testament. This is true in regards to their content and the lives of the prophets themselves. Paul appreciates the covenant of Abraham, just as Micah sees it. Paul strove to present people as a bride to Christ, just as Hosea travailed for the same thing. The Prophets plant seeds that grow into the New Testament. This makes them a rich study. It is the purpose of this book to provide notes that emphasize the general flow of thought for each book, the revelations about Christ and the experiences of the prophets. Hopefully, readers will fall in love with the Minor Prophets and will be helped to have deeper, more colorful experiences of Christ, just like the prophets enjoyed.
156 Pictures of Christ from the Old Testament
Drawing pictures of what the Bible is saying can truly make its words come alive. This book contains 156 pencil drawings of Old Testament prophesies about Christ. Each drawing is labeled with the particular fact about Christ that the prophecy illuminates and the corresponding New Testament verses. Christ is announced in almost every Old Testament book. Jesus Himself, after His resurrection, explained to two disciples the details about Himself that were in Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets. As He was speaking, the disciples' hearts were burning inside them. I hope this book will make your heart burn as well, as you look at the pictures and understand how many details of Christ's marvelous person and work are described in the Old Testament.
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The Ministry and Visions of Ezekiel
Ezekiel is the most visionary of all the Old Testament prophets. He writes his visions as lively, vivid pictures. A Bible student would understand the book surprisingly well if he sketched in color each scene that he reads. Ezekiel sees visions of all kinds. Some connect heaven to earth—a man on the throne, four living creatures with whirling wheels on earth. Other are visions of the fallen world—the city of Tyre as a sailing ship, visions displaying God’s character—a shepherd caring for sheep, visions of building—a grand temple, and visions of restoration—dry bones coming to life. Besides these, Ezekiel includes his biography in his writings, showing just what kind of man God made fit to witness these marvelous scenes. God’s fingerprint is eventually expressed in Ezekiel’s dress, house, food, family and lodging. He used his knowledge as priest and much of his understanding of world cultures in order to convey what he saw. He was committed to seeing the exiles return to their land under the encouragement of the visions God showed him. This book seeks to highlight Ezekiel’s visions and Ezekiel the man, who God could use to carry out the ministry that speaks to us today.
Maturity with God Lessons from the life of Jeremiah
​One of the reasons there is little genuine spiritual growth among the members of the body of Christ today is that there are few patterns of Christ’s servants who exhibit real spiritual growth. Today there are few like D. L. Moody, Hudson Taylor, George Mueller, A.B. Simpson or Charles Finney to lead today’s Christians by their example and spiritual life. This makes the need for seeing patterns of people who have grown in their spiritual walk greater now than possibly any time in Christian history. The apostle Paul is a New Testament example of a person who has grown in his service to God. This book seeks to show that the prophet Jeremiah also is a worthy pattern of a servant of God. While the pattern of Paul’s life is relatively known amongst Christians, Jeremiah’s pattern is almost unknown to the vast majority of the Christian public. This book seeks to fill that gap and highlight Jeremiah’s life as a pattern of a down-to-earth person who grows with God and is changed by God to accomplish great things for God. The author hopes Jeremiah’s pattern will help deepen the spiritual roots of today’s members of the body of Christ.
Isaiah's Song
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Isaiah’s writings are some of the most beautiful yet mysterious words in the Old Testament. 2700 years ago Isaiah spoke, wrote, and even sang messages to the people of his time. On the one hand his prophesies were reactions to the conditions he saw in Judah, Israel and beyond. However, within his words hide magnificent portrayals of the Messiah, God’s timeless purpose, and the New Jerusalem. Within his Old Testament setting, Isaiah portrayed the New Testament. One of the biggest barriers keeping people from enjoying the riches of Isaiah is that it is difficult to put the overall story together. "Isaiah’s Song" leads the reader from Isaiah chapter 1 to 66. It divides the book into sections, defines a theme for each, and pieces the themes together into a grand picture involving God’s eternal purpose, Christ, and the New Jerusalem. Along the way, "Isaiah’s Song" highlights aspects of Christ and Christian experience. The hope of this book is that more people will understand Isaiah, love Isaiah, and begin singing to the same melody Isaiah sang. In the end may the song of Isaiah become our worship melody to God!
Shaped by Vision: A biography of T. Austin-Sparks
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This biography of Theodore Austin-Sparks covers his life from childhood to the end of his ministry. It includes many excerpts from his bi-monthly journal, "A Witness and a Testimony" and also includes short summaries of 28 books he published throughout his ministry. The ministry of T. Austin-Sparks portrays a profound picture of Christ and of God's eternal purpose to head up all things in Christ. On the side of personal experience, his ministry opens the door to a deep inward work of the cross of Christ, and inward knowing of the Spirit, and an inward working of God's divine life. He portrays this experience in the context of a local assembly and emphasizes that the church, not merely individual believers, is the unique instrument through which God will gain His eternal goal.
More of Christ: Seeing the heavenly man
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This work is a re-write of T. Austin-Sparks’ book, “The Stewardship of the Mystery,” which could be considered a defining book of Sparks’ ministry. It seeks to put his great work into modern language, editing the original from its verbatim conference form. In simple, accurate language, this book highlights Sparks’ emphases on the vision of God’s persistent purpose, the greatness of Christ, the power of eternal life, the vitality of God’s Word, the application of the Holy Spirit, the purpose of redemption, the inclusiveness of the church, and the experience of the cross.
A Panoramic View of the End Times
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The Bible describes the end times using both momentous outward events and real inward Christian experiences. Outwardly there are signs like earthquakes, Israel, antichrist, Babylon, tribulation, rapture and the great battle around Jerusalem. But these are only part of the story. Inwardly, Jesus is working in His people, granting them spiritual growth and genuine faith experiences, so they might overcome and be ready for the end. As we will see, the outward end time events highlight specific inward experiences for Christians today. A picture of this grand inward and outward scene emerges from the Bible like a jigsaw puzzle as verses, like individual pieces, fit into their place. The awe of events thus unfolded has no rival in even the greatest earthly drama. This book assembles end time verses from Old and New Testaments into a dazzling end time picture, which will enlighten, warn, and inspire. The Bible likens prophecy to a light shining in a dark place. May the picture portrayed in this book shine into our world and hearts.
663 End Times Verses Arranged in Chronological Order
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Anyone who wants to explore the end times should start with the Bible itself. Possibly the greatest challenge to this approach is that no one Bible book paints the complete end times picture. Any student must assemble and arrange verses from different books, just like a puzzle. This book attempts to do just that. It compiles verses from Daniel, Zechariah, Matthew, Revelation and others into one chronological list. It uses little commentary beyond assigning brief identities to major symbols and, of course, the arrangement of the list. A student who reads this book will become familiar with the Bible itself and will get a picture from the text of the great end times events.
