Derek W. H. Thomas

These prayers, written by a pastor for his beloved congregation, remind us of our need for repentance and assure us from Scripture of God’s abounding love. Derek Thomas served First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina as Minister of Preaching and Teaching from 2011, and subsequently as Senior Minister from 2013 until his retirement in 2023. Approaching the Throne of God exemplifies how he reflected God’s love for his congregation, expressed in these prayers of confession and assurances of pardon, a crucial part of a Sunday service. Thomas gives voice to our deepest need for forgiveness and assurance. These prayers display our need and bring a fresh taste of God’s pardoning love. Discover afresh that God’s grace is all–sufficient. Be reminded that in Jesus Christ the heavenly Father has given us a loving Savior, and by his Spirit reassures us that there is forgiveness. This new collection includes a foreword by Sinclair B. Ferguson and an afterword by Dale Ralph Davis. It will be an invaluable addition to an individual’s daily devotion, or for pastors to use with their own congregations.

Why a book about heaven? For all the skepticism that abounds in our time, people still want to know what happens after death. Do you know with any certainty where your conscious, thinking, self–aware, communicative self will be? And does it matter, as long as you are in ‘heaven’? But the importance of ‘heaven’ does not consist only in it being the alternative to ‘hell’. It is not just an abstract future state into which we will slip, it is a physical reality which can give us joy and hope even now as we look toward it. Derek Thomas examines how the Christian can and should think about heaven: 1. We Die … Then what? 2. Are You Ready? 3. Falling Asleep 4. The Trumpet Shall Sound 5. The New Heaven and New Earth 6. What Will Heaven be Like? 7. Like the Angels

Ichthus is the Greek word for a fish. Its five Greek letters form the first letters of the early Christian confession that 'Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Saviour.' To draw a fish sign meant: 'I am a Christian.' To be a Christian, according to the New Testament is to know Christ. But who is he, and what is the meaning of his life? In Ichthus Sinclair Ferguson and Derek Thomas answer these questions by taking us on a tour of nine key events in Jesus' life and ministry. Their aim is to help us both understand and share the confession of those early Christians who drew the fish sign.