You may have noticed some new books on the shelves of the welcome desk in the foyer. These are resources we would like to highlight to the congregation for a period of time. 

The theme for these resources is Heaven Help Our Worship: Worship and the Christian Life. They have been selected to fall into five categories. Categories and titles include:  

Theology: The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer.  

Sanctification: Look and Live by Matt Papa.  

Christian Biography: The Poetic Wonder of Isaac Watts by Douglas Bond.  

Church History/Cultural Evaluation: Worldly Saints by Leland Ryken.  

The Church: Church Planting: Thinking Through Each Step by 9Marks’ Church Matters Journal.  

The purpose of highlighting these resources is simply to put biblically solid, Christ-exalting, affection-fueling resources in the hands of the members at Summit Woods for their personal growth in the Lord, to equip them to do the work of ministry, and for use in discipleship relationships.   

Perhaps you’ve been looking for a new book for yourself to read in your devotional time, or perhaps you’ve been wanting to get together with a brother or sister in the Lord and desire to encourage them in their walk with the Lord – these resources are there to be readily available for you in addition to the books provided in the resource room.   

Today's highlight is Look and Live by Matt Papa. 

From the introduction: 

This is a book about worship, and I am an expert on worship. I’m not being arrogant. It’s just true. You are an expert on worship, too...It’s all we do. 

We are all facing some deity. Some glory has swept us off our feet, and at this very moment, like a rabid animal, we are pursuing it. That’s what life is. 

My hope in these pages is that I can help you sense what is stirring down there in your soul. To feel what is happening. To remember it...And then, ultimately, to help you know what to do with it. To know where to aim it. To its proper Object. That’s what this book is about. 

The title of this book, Look and Live, comes from a familiar story in the Old Testament in Numbers 21 [of the bronze serpent]...God, the Father and Master-Teacher, orchestrated that moment in history—a true historical parable—to show us what the cross is about and what faith is like.  

Faith is looking. It is the serious looking of sin-stricken, snake-bitten people toward God’s peculiar and radical display of mercy...the crucified, bloody, exalted Son of God. And if we don’t see Him, we die... 

The poison of idolatry will rot our veins until the glory of the crucified God-man permeates our vision. To live is to behold Him. My call is not “Look and get a better life” or “Look and get a warm fuzzy.” From one who bears the fang-shaped scar, my call to you is: Behold the antivenom of the soul...the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Look and live.