A La Carte (February 19)

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a few books that will help you be more confident in evangelism.

(Yesterday on the blog: Why Those Who Seem Most Likely to Come, Never Come At All)

Courageous Pastors or Overbearing Leaders: How Do We Tell the Difference?

“We all want to have or be courageous pastors—not overbearing leaders. How do we tell the difference? Some Christian leaders know perfectly well that their behavior is abusive and evil; it’s difficult to sexually assault someone without realizing you are doing so. But I suspect many people become domineering and overbearing without realizing the extent to which they have. That’s partly why they’re so resistant to the charge when it comes—sin almost always involves self-deception.”

Jesus Didn’t Diss the Poor: Making Sense of Matthew 26:11

“You always have the poor with you,” said Jesus. But what did he mean by this?

8 Qualities of True Revival

Michael Haykin outlines eight qualities of true revival. These are “eight common qualities that give us a biblical framework for expectant prayer for revival in our day.”

Westminster Abbey and the Danger of Inhospitality

This is a useful look at the virtue of hospitality (and the danger of inhospitality).

Why Don’t You Talk About The Sermon?

“This is what I find odd. Evangelicals invest huge amounts of capital into sermons. We spend large sums of money training people to preach and then pay them an annual salary to do it as a fulltime job. We set aside at least fifty percent of our weekly church services to sermons and we invest huge amounts of our hope in believing that preaching is one of God’s chief ways of saving and nourishing us, and his way of speaking to the nations. Why are we so reluctant to talk about them?” That’s a good question.

The Idol of Competence

“The idol of competence is the desire to be perceived by others as capable. It springs from the belief that my worth is tied to my output. It’s productivity fueled by shame and fear. But if we want to do our work in a God-honoring manner, have joy while we do it, and truly serve God and man, we must disentangle our conception of productivity from the idol of competence.”

Flashback: An Unexpected, Overlooked Benefit of Friendships

I have learned that I should pursue friendships out of love for my family. I am a better husband to my wife and a better father to my children when I have meaningful friendships with others.