Emu Music have done a studio recording of the setting of the Apostles’ Creed I co-wrote with them. Click here for more details including the opportunity to get the sheet music. Here’s a YouTube version …
Interview: Praying with the Puritans
New book: Life with Jesus
I’m excited to announce the publication of a new discipleship manual on the 1st of January called Life with Jesus. I feels like 25+ years of experience as a pastor has gone into this book – both in terms of setting out a gospel-centred approach to following Christ, but also how best to present that in an accessible way. It’s been road-tested with my Crosslands students and the Good Book Company have worked hard with me to ensure it works well. It was written with both as a introduction for new Christians and a refresher for older Christians, and was designed so it can be used one-to-one, in small groups or as a training course.
It’s available here from United Kingdom | United States | Australia.
New song: Lord Jesus, build your church today
Here’s a new song that I’ve written with Phil Moore for the centenary of the FIEC. It speaks of Christ’s faithfulness to his church while asking for his help that we might be faithful to the truth, to unity, and to mission. It would make a good response to a sermon on any of these themes or for a church anniversary.
Here’s a lead sheet and full score.
1. Lord Jesus you have built your church:
you are our faithful, living Head.
Across the years the flame has passed,
across the earth the light has spread.
2. Lord Jesus build your church today:
may we be faithful to your word,
delighting in its glorious truth
rejoicing in its gracious Lord
CHORUS
Keep us in the faith,
make us one in Christ,
pressing on in hope to win the prize.
Let the light still shine,
may the flame burn bright,
till the day your glory fills the skies.
3. Lord Jesus build your church today:
may we be faithful to your love,
one body bound by bonds of peace,
one holy bride for Christ our God.
4. Lord Jesus build your church today:
may we be faithful to proclaim,
to go and make your gospel known,
to go and magnify your name.
CCLU Song Number 7208501 (C) 2022 Phil Moore Songs (admin by Song Solutions http://www.songsolutions.org) Tim Chester Publishing (admin by Song Solutions http://www.songsolutions.org) Commissioned and written for the centenary of the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches 1922-2022 (www.fiec.org.uk).
New song: The Apostles’ Creed
I’ve recently co-written a few songs with EMU Music which has been a delight. Here’s a setting of the Apostles’ Creed which they featured at the Keswick Convention this year.
There are more details here, and here are the lyrics:
Verse 1
I believe in God the Father, mighty and eternal Lord
He alone is the Creator, forming all things by his word
I believe in our Lord Jesus, God’s own Son who came to earth
Born a man, by the Spirit, by a virgin given birthChorus
Sing praise to the Father, to the Spirit and the Son
Sing praise to our holy God, forever three in oneVerse 2
I believe that Jesus suffered, on the cross he bore my shame
I believe that he was buried, then triumphant rose again
Glorified, he has ascended, seated at the Father’s side
He will come again in judgement, justice will be satisfiedVerse 3
I believe the Holy Spirit comes to us from Christ above
I believe the church is holy, one communion in God’s love
I believe I am forgiven through the sacrifice of Christ
I believe in resurrection and in everlasting lifeCCLI number 7201504
© 2022 Tim Chester, Liv Chapman, Philip Percival, James McDonald, Alanna Glover
@emumusic @KeswickC #apostlescreed #KesConv22
Coming soon … Into His Presence: Praying with the Puritans
Available for pre-order – Into His Presence: Praying with the Puritans
My new book Into His Presence is published on 1 September, but it available for pre-order from The Good Book Company.
It’s a collection of 80 prayers. About half of updated Puritan prayers and half are adapted from Puritan sermons. While I hope they offer a good introduction to Puritan spirituality, my priority has been to bring together prayers that people will want to pray, either individually or corporately. So they are organised around the occasions when you might want to pray them. All the sources for the prayers of given so you can go back to the sources.
Here’s an extract that gives a good feel of the contents. And here’s what some kind people have said about it …
BOB KAUFLIN, Director, Sovereign Grace Music
“Having read Arthur Bennett’s The Valley of Vision multiple times, I’ve always hoped someone else would mine the writings of the Puritans for more Scripture-drenched, Christ-exalting, God-glorifying, heartfelt prayers. My wait is over. Tim Chester has produced a volume eminently useful for private devotions, public gatherings and personal reflection. I expect his carefully chosen, thoughtfully organized, and beautifully edited prayers will serve the church for many generations to come.”
CHRISTOPHER ASH, Writer in Residence, Tyndale House
“These superb prayers model and teach a rich, deep devotion to God— Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Soaked in Scripture, they are wonderfully realistic about the life of faith. From a prayer for unbelieving children to a prayer with a dying Christian, with every style from the gripping logic of John Owen to the passionate warmth of Samuel Rutherford, these old believers walk with us in deepening our own lives of prayer. Tim Chester has done us a great service in editing and updating them so beautifully and clearly.”
LEE GATISS, Series Editor, The Complete Works of John Owen
“I greatly appreciate the effort Tim Chester has gone to in this beautiful book, not only to organise and translate the biblically and doctrinally rich words of the Puritans into a language I can pray myself today, but also to note where these exquisite treasures can be found in their original settings. Full of arresting images and comforting truths, this is a precious resource to come back to time and again for spiritual refreshment, pastoral challenge, and pure adoration of our gracious and sovereign God.”
SINCLAIR B. FERGUSON, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary
“These pages are a great gift from Dr Tim Chester to help us ‘to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever’ and to experience the love of Christ, as Paul says, ‘together with all the saints’. There is something in Into His Presence to help all of us to experience communion with God in every situation of life. Tim Chester has given us a treasure trove.”
ERIC SCHUMACHER, Pastor, author and songwriter
“The apostle Paul wrote that ‘we do not know what to pray for as we should’. All Christians find themselves, from time to time, knowing they need to pray but not knowing how. These prayers, taken from the writings of our brothers and sisters of the past, are a blessed guide to prayer when we lack words of our own.”
JOEL R. BEEKE, President, Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary
“The Puritans knew their God, not just in their brains, but in the bruises of life’s afflictions, and they sought him with all their hearts. Tim Chester brings us into the Puritans’ prayer closet to learn from their devotion. Some of these selections are Puritan prayers, some are the thoughts and phrases of Puritan teachings freshly woven into prayers, and all are fervent pantings of the soul after the glorious, triune God.”
You can order it here from www.thegoodbook.co.uk (UK), www.thegoodbook.com (USA), www.thegoodbook.com.au (Australia) and www.thegoodbook.co.nz (New Zealand).
Awakening to a World of Need – available here for free
My book Awakening to a World of Need: The Recovery of Evangelical Social Action (IVP) has long been out of print and is now largely out of date. But if you are interested in the history of how evangelicals rediscovered social action during the last third of the 20th century then it is available to download here for free as either a PDF or a Kindle Book.
You can link to this page with the URL: https://smarturl.it/awakeningtoaworld.
The Glory of the Story – free online book
The Glory of the Story is a popular, devotional introduction to biblical theology written by father, Richard Chester. It works through the Old Testament story, all the time showing how it points to Jesus. There are 366 daily readings which are undated so you can start at any time and read at your own pace.
It’s previously been available on Amazon. But we’re now making it available here for free as a PDF or a Kindle Book.
You can link to this page using this ULR: https://smarturl.it/glorystory.
New book: Forgiven: Resurrection Meditations from the Book of Hebrews
I have a new book out from 10Publishing – Forgiven: Resurrection Meditations from the Book of Hebrews. One of the striking things about the book of Hebrews is that, more than other New Testament books, it highlights the finished work of Christ which its repeated phrase “once for all”. And yet at the same time, more than other New Testament books, it highlights the on-going priestly work of Christ as he intercedes for us. This twin emphasis adds up to a powerful message of reassurance.
Forgiven takes the form of 47 short chapters arranged as Lent readings, but suitable for any time of year.
If you enjoyed by book Fixated then you should enjoy Forgiven as well. Fixated was a book of advent meditations based on the opening chapters of Hebrews which focus on the person of Christ. Forgiven picks off from where Fixated ended with Easter meditations based on the remaining chapters of Hebrews which focus on the work of Christ.
Tim Chester 