Featured Books

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What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s comforting to belong to God because you know he will care for you. The Bible tells you that when you pass through the deep waters and when you walk through the fire, God will be with you.

I Belong is a picture book for ages four to seven that explains each comforting phrase of Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 to young children, in language that they understand. Colorful illustrations of a diverse group of children will capture readers’ imaginations as they learn what it means to belong to their faithful Savior.

This book can be used as a short book of devotions for families with younger children or can be read by older children on their own.

Joyce Holstege teaches kindergarten at Heritage Christian School, located in her hometown of Hudsonville, Michigan. She has taught at Heritage since 1995. Joyce holds a BA in English and Education from Grand Valley State University and is a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches. She enjoys reading, gardening, and all things arts and crafts.

Meagan Krosschell lives in Randolph, Wisconsin. She studies graphic design at Madison College and enjoys drawing, camping, and ice hockey. Meagan is also a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches.

Click here to read the review in the January/February 2022 issue of the Outlook

"Doctrinal Devotions for Little Ones"

A speech given by the author at the annual Association meeting of the Reformed Free Publishing Association on September 22, 2022 at Terra Square in Hudsonville, Michigan.

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The Marriage Between Christ and His Church

What we are told about the relationship of Christ and his church applies to the calling of every one of us. Do you believe? Are you a child of God? Christ is your husband. According to Romans 7:4, we are married to him. To live in that consciousness is the heart of the Christian life, essential also to living joyfully in marriage.

Every Christian’s relationship to Jesus Christ is pictured in the institution of marriage. Using the biblical principles behind this institution, the author provides sound instruction to each one of us on the relationship we have with Christ, our head, and with other members of Christ’s church, the body. Practical instruction on topics such as right communication within marriage and in the church, the biblical roles of husband and of wife, and the calling to walk in the Spirit, will encourage Christians of every station and calling to live joyfully as members of Christ’s body.

Steven Key has been a minister of the gospel for over thirty-five years. This book is based on a series of sermons which he preached in the Protestant Reformed Church in Loveland, Colorado in 2015. Rev. Key married his wife Nancy in 1976, and they have four married daughters and sixteen grandchildren.

• Pages: 240
• Hardcover
• ISBN: 978-1-944555-95-5

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REVIEW:

Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma

On the night before he was betrayed Jesus ate his last meal with his disciples. The heavy weight of the cross bore down on him, yet his focus lay not on his own suffering, but on his imminent departure and what this meant for his disciples.

The Upper Room Discourse of John 14–16 records the words of great comfort Jesus gave his disciples. He must indeed go away from them. But by doing so Jesus would bridge the gap between creature and Creator; between earth and heaven; and between sinners and the holy, just God. Jesus is the way to the Father, and it was only through the way of the cross and his resurrection and ascension that his people could be reconciled to the Father and receive the Comforter and life.

With clear and pastoral applications to the church today, Martyn McGeown leads us into the upper room to hear Jesus’ instruction alongside the disciples. It is in the upper room that we receive Jesus’ exhortations and encouragement, heed his warnings, and appropriate his comfort through faith.

Martyn McGeown is a pastor in the Protestant Reformed Churches. He is the author of Called to Watch for Christ’s Return, Micah: Proclaiming the Incomparable God, Grace and Assurance: The Message of the Canons of Dordt, and Born for Our Salvation: The Nativity and Childhood of Jesus Christ.

  Click the PDF to read an excerpt!

Review by Annemarieke Ryskamp, from The Outlook, Vol. 71, Issue 6

Review by Ken Kolk, retired professor of history

Review by John Van Dyk, from Christian Renewal, February 19, 2022

August 1862. Eighteen-year-old Harm van Wyke finds his quiet life in the Dutch Reformed community of Holland, Michigan, upended by the American Civil War. When it becomes clear the war will not be as easily won as once believed, President Lincoln calls for 300,000 volunteers to defend the Union. Harm’s minister, Rev. Albertus van Raalte, encourages the young men of his community to join the cause. Harm’s father bitterly opposes the idea. Harm hesitates to leave his home, but when his friends portray the war as a grand adventure, he gives in and joins them. Together, some eighty boys and young men from Holland join the 25^th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

As Harm and his friends travel to army camps in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and then Louisville, Kentucky, they face daily temptations to forget God and turn from their faith. Fellow soldiers think nothing of taking the Lord’s name in vain. They gamble, drink, and “forage” from neighboring homes and farms. Harm and his friends gather regularly to sing the old psalms and discuss the Bible, but still, on occasion, they stumble and fall.

As the war progresses, the boys from Holland battle Confederate General John Hunt Morgan in Western Kentucky, and endure an arduous march to Eastern Tennessee where they join the fighting around Knoxville. Later, they take part in General Sherman’s prolonged and bloody Atlanta campaign. Along the way, Harm and his friends face the harsh realities of war—exposure, disease, injury, and death. In the midst of such hardship, Harm’s faith is tried at every turn. His greatest conflict turns out to be spiritual. Will God give Harm the strength to stand for what is right, even if he finds himself opposed by friends?

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P.M. Kuiper is a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches. In his free time he enjoys wandering the great outdoors, writing, reading good literature, and playing guitar. He resides in West Michigan.

Paula Barone is a member of the Protestant Reformed Churches and a former academic support teacher. She enjoys drawing, reading, and indoor rock climbing. She also lives in West Michigan.

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