Sunday, February 14, 2016

From the Pen of Pastor Paul: A Short Review

The opportunity to read and review Daniel Hyde’s new book From the Pen of Pastor Paul was a tremendous blessing to this pastor. I shepherd in a town some call the most isolated in lower forty-eight states, and at times it can be a very lonely and discouraging place. Reading Hyde’s book was like meeting with a fellow pastor and talking about ministry. It was convicting, encouraging and restorative. God used From the Pen of Pastor Paul to reignite my passion for faithful gospel ministry in a hard place. God’s providence and timing are indeed perfect.

From the Pen of Pastor Paul is a book of expositional sermons on First and Second Thessalonians.  It’s chocked full of pastoral theology. The exposition is clear, edifying and challenging. Hyde sometimes strays from the text in his exposition, but always in a way that is faithful to the Scriptures. He handles the most controversial passages in the Thessalonian epistles, those having to do with eschatology, with grace and wisdom.  Some may disagree with Hyde’s interpretation of these passages because he is not a believer in what I call popular eschatology. What is popular eschatology? It is what one finds in books like the Left Behind Series. 

In my opinion, this book will be a blessing to all in the church. It will bless pastors in that it will remind them of their calling and challenge them to faithfulness. It will bless congregants by feeding their souls with sound biblical teaching and motivating them to pursue their sanctification.