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by Harrison Perkins (Author), Jason Helopoulos (Foreword by)
A Reformed guide to understanding the ordinary means of grace
"This should be the go-to book for people who want to understand why the Reformed so prize public worship." --Jonathan Landry Cruse, pastor, Community Presbyterian Church; author, What Happens When We Worship
While many Christians are waiting on God to show up in extraordinary experiences, he is already moving in ordinary ways. These blessings are available to us in the God-appointed practices we find in a good local church--reading the Word, participating in the sacraments, and praying.
With clarity and warmth, Harrison Perkins unpacks how each of these means of grace uniquely draws us into communion with Christ, shaping our worship into a life-giving encounter with God's grace.
Meeting God in His Means of Grace will point you back toward the way to
● know God more intimately
● experience him more intensely
● commune with him more closely
If you've been feeling disconnected, dissatisfied, or stalled out in your spiritual growth, find encouragement here to meet God where he already told us we'd find him: in church, surrounded by other believers, growing in grace together.
Back Jacket
I am delighted to commend this fine and timely exposition of how God uses the ordinary means of grace to build up and establish Christians in their walk with God. In a series of brief but engagingly written chapters, Dr. Perkins shows us how God uses his Word, his sacraments, and the grace of prayer to establish and enrich his children in their relationship with him, a relationship that is at its heart a day by day meeting with him. Each chapter is introduced with a homely illustration that leads the reader into the rich biblical and theological truths embedded in the reading and preaching of Scripture and the believer's participation in the sacraments and prayer. One significant feature of this primer is the author's insistence that meeting with God is preeminently nourished and deepened within the fellowship of the church. Thomas Goodwin, the 'evangelical Puritan, ' captures the essence and appeal of this brief primer: 'Personal communion with God is the end of our graces. . . . And as for duties, the journey's end of them is fellowship with God' (Works 7.193). I am very pleased to commend Dr. Perkins' fine study on meeting with God. --Ian Hamilton, professor of historical theology, Westminster Seminary UK
"Meeting God in His Means of Grace effectively shows that these means--Scripture read and preached, the sacraments, and prayer--often rightly characterized as ordinary are anything but trivial or inconsequential. Through the lens of the Westminster Standards, Perkins makes the case from Scripture that these means are, by God's design and provision, a source of inestimable blessing, primarily where their proper use structures the corporate worship of congregations. Written for a broad audience, this treatment will be particularly helpful for those unfamiliar with the concept of the means of grace or with doubts or questions about their biblical necessity and value for the worship and life of the church. For others it will serve as a useful and edifying refresher." --Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., professor emeritus of biblical and systematic theology, Westminster Theological Seminary
"Christ's self-giving in the Word and the sacraments is far greater than any Disney trip. It's nothing less than an everlasting family with weird people we would never have chosen for our friends. Perkins shows from the Holy Scriptures that the ordinary means of grace are sufficient for carrying us through this difficult pilgrimage. I am a huge fan of Harrison's work, and this work can reorient churches to do the job Jesus gave them." --Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology, Westminster Seminary California
"'Where can I meet with God?' 'How do I grow in Christ?' 'What should I seek in a church?' Your answers to these questions will determine the shape and fruitfulness of your Christian life. In this book, Harrison Perkins shows from Scripture that these important questions all have the same answer: the means of grace (Word, sacraments, and prayer). Saturated with illustrations, Meeting God in His Means of Grace provides accessible, historically rooted, and practical instruction about these means. If you are asking the questions above or want to better understand Scripture's answer, read this book." --David T. Irving, president and assistant professor of church history and pastoral theology, Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson
"In the Bible, we discover that God often shows up for his people in ways they least expect. God is still in the business of doing that--in fact, he does it every Sunday: Through simple Word, sacraments, and prayer, the powers of heaven are unleashed and God's people are strengthened in their faith. How does this work? Open the pages before you and Harrison Perkins will show you. Through clear biblical teaching, vivid illustration, and piercing application, Perkins brings to life for the reader how these ordinary means are used by God unto extraordinary and gracious ends. This should be the go-to book for people who want to understand why the Reformed so prize public worship." --Jonathan Landry Cruse, pastor, Community Presbyterian Church; author, What Happens When We Worship
Author Biography
Harrison Perkins (PhD, Queen's University Belfast) is pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church (OPC), a senior research fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards, associate online instructor in church history at Westminster Theological Seminary, visiting faculty at Birmingham Theological Seminary, and a visiting lecturer in systematic theology at Edinburgh Theological Seminary. He lives in the Detroit metro area with his wife and son.
