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Explore October 2011

  • Giveaways / Free Stuff Fridays Collection cover image

    Win John Piper’s “Bloodlines”

    I typically give away free stuff on Fridays, but I’ve got a bonus giveaway this week courtesy of Desiring God–50 copies of John Piper’s new book Bloodlines. The only catch is that they can be shipped only to American and Canadian mailing addresses. Here is a description of the book: Genocide. Terrorism. Hate crimes. In…

  • Book Reviews Collection cover image

    Steve Jobs

    It had not been deliberately planned that Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs would release just days after Jobs died. Not really. Jobs had known for many years that he could not keep his cancer at bay forever and he had specifically asked Isaacson to be his biographer. The book was completed, the publication date…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/31)

    3 Ways to Make the Reformers Proud – This is a good and clever article from The Cripplegate blog. “Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Melanchthon, Bucer, Farel, and countless others lived and died to leave a legacy of passion and proclamation. They showed that when you love Jesus and his word, you would rather die than keep…

  • We Need Not Be Afraid

    Last week I shared a quote from Edward Donnelly’s book Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell. Today I wanted to share another one that stood out to me as a great encouragement. Read it and be blessed on this Lord’s Day! What is … amazing is that our Lord and Saviour will…

  • 8 Years

    One of the unique features of this blog is the little counter down in the bottom right of the site. It’s a little feature that simply increments by 1 number each day. Today it stands at 2,920. What this means is that it was 2,920 days ago that I decided to make this blog an…

  • Westminster Bookstore Canada Shipping Coupon

    A few days ago I wrote up a blog post welcoming Westminster Books to Canada. A lot of people left comments, which means that Westminster Books has now issued a coupon code for 15% off any order to Canada. The code is valid until November 1, so you will want to get shopping ASAP if…

  • Giveaways / Free Stuff Fridays Collection cover image

    Free Stuff Fridays

    This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is themed for Reformation Day and sponsored by Ligonier Ministries. They are offering 1 grand prize and then 4 other prizes (that are grand, but not quite as grand). The grand prize winner will take home this amazing package of prizes: There will be 4 other winners and each of…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/28)

    Guidance – Paul Tautges has been posting a series of articles on the subject of guidance. He goes into subjective and non-subjective means of guidance. If you went through my recent series, you’ll know that my emphasis is a bit different, but I think the series are largely complementary. Church and Technology – “Tyndale University…

  • Book Reviews Collection cover image

    30 Minute Reviews

    Here is another roundup of 30 Minute Reviews. These are noteworthy books that I did not have time or opportunity to read from beginning to end. Instead, I tried to spend at least 30 minutes with each—enough to get a sense of what the book is all about. At the Throne of Grace – At…

  • Self-Understanding and Self-Giving

    Today we draw one week closer to completing John Stott’s The Cross of Christ. After this week’s reading, we’ve got just two remaining before we’ve finished the book and wrapped up another reading project. Thank you for bearing with me last week when I just wasn’t able to get things done on time. Self-Understanding and…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/27)

    The Rules of Publishing – “Amazon.com has taught readers that they do not need bookstores. Now it is encouraging writers to cast aside their publishers. Amazon will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form. It is a striking acceleration of the retailer’s fledging publishing program that…

  • Welcome to Canada, Westminster Bookstore!

    At long last, WTSBooks is beta testing shipping to Canada! They wanted to launch the service sooner rather than later, and I’ve been told that by early 2012 improvements like a shipping calculator and one-screen checkout will be in place. To give a picture of how WTSBooks stacks up to the competition, I went back…

  • Consequence Free

    I had an unusual and unexpected experience on Sunday–one that struck me as rather significant. I have been doing quite a bit of preaching at Grace Fellowship Church and elsewhere and knew that Sunday marked the last time I would have to prepare a fresh sermon until the end of the calendar year. Somehow this…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/26)

    Pastors Who Write Books – Here is some good advice from Barnabas Piper for pastors who want to write books of the sermon series. “When I receive proposals for books or book ideas from pastors I often get something like this as an accompanying comment: “I am the pastor of a X,000-person church, and based…

  • Book Reviews Collection cover image

    Growing Up Amish

    Evangelicalism has a strange obsession with the Amish. The Amish are the theme of countless novels and they also appear in cookbooks, books of moralisms, books on the virtues of the simple life, and on and on. They are held up as models of cultural and theological simplicity, people who can point us to better…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/25)

    The Things He Wanted to Do – John Piper writes about Steve Jobs. “The wisdom Steve Jobs learned, he said, was this: Do a couple things, and do them well. You don’t have time for much. And most of things are not lasting. So do two or three things, and do them amazingly. Not a…

  • Articles Collection cover image

    My Halloween Theory

    It has been fascinating to witness the rise of Halloween in recent years. What was at one time a day for kids to spend a couple of hours going door-to-door to collect candy and coins has morphed into a true holiday where kids and adults alike celebrate. Recent trips to costume stores show that the…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (10/24)

    5 Reasons God Calls Us to Wait – Paul David Tripp on some of the reasons that God may call us to wait. “In ministry you will be both called to wait and also find waiting personally and corporately difficult. So it is important to recognize that there are lots of good reasons why waiting…

  • An Echo of Eternity

    I was looking through Edward Donnelly’s book Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell and came across a really powerful quote about all that we are not able to do and understand and accomplish in this life. Read it and be blessed! The prospect of living forever in a renewed universe answers the…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (10/22)

    Love Wins Companion – Rob Bell is releasing a companion to Love Wins. Here’s some classic publisher hyperbole: “In The Love Wins Companion, Rob Bell offers commentary on the positive and negative attention his groundbreaking book is receiving, delivering a crucial supplement to one of the most important books since the Bible.” The Three Musketeers…