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A La Carte (July 18)

A La Carte Thursday 1

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent picks from The Good Book Co. Among them are Alistair Begg’s Christian Manifesto and both volumes of Tim Keller’s Romans for You. You can’t go wrong!

Book Brief: The Wager by David Grann narrates one of history’s most famous (or perhaps infamous) shipwreck and castaway stories. It’s a fascinating bit of history and Grann tells it well. I read it over the course of a weekend and enjoyed every page. It’s perfect summer reading.

(Yesterday on the blog: Protecting the Family Name)

Does Christian Sex Need Rescuing?

Writing for TGC Australia, Izaac Cowling has a helpful review of Sheila Wray Gregoire’s influential The Great Sex Rescue. “The Great Sex Rescue is, at heart, a protest book: ‘What if our evangelical ‘treatments’ for sex issues make things worse?’. It’s a response to perceived flaws in teaching about sex by popular Christian books and arising from the purity culture of nineties American evangelicalism.” But it has some significant flaws.

15 Resolves for Maintaining Spiritual Balance in Severe Interpersonal Conflicts

Imagine how we, our families, and our churches would be different if we all abided by these 15 resolves.

How Sweet!

Ashley Kim celebrates her favorite Greek word and the joy of sweetness—especially the sweetness of knowing God. “A full response to the Word, then, is more than mere affirmation or belief in propositional truth, more than acquisition of knowledge, and more than conviction and trembling before the Lord.” A full response is to savor its sweetness.

What Can Senior Pastors Do to Help Associate Pastors? (Video)

In this video, several associate pastors discuss things that senior pastors can do to make their calling easier. There’s lots of help to be had there.

It’s OK to Be OK

We live at a time when authenticity is equated with struggle. Does this mean it’s not okay to be okay? “Everyone’s doing it. People type their diagnoses on their social media bio lines. If you don’t struggle with something, you’re the problem. You’re not authentic. We’ve gone from saying, ‘It’s OK to not be OK’ to needing to say, ‘“’It’s OK to be OK.’”

Don’t Be Proud of What You Had No Say In

That’s sound advice, isn’t it? Don’t be proud of what you had no say in.

Flashback: An Army Without Supplies

Behind those missionaries are support-raisers, graphic designers, videographers, accountants, and a host of others. Though these people have far less contact with the “enemy,” they are still crucial. 

Nothing built for the glory of man will survive God’s scrutiny. But what is done for His glory will endure forever.

—R.C. Sproul

  • Why I Believe in Church Membership

    Why I Believe in Church Membership

    I believe in church membership. I believe in membership as a practical matter that allows a church to function well. But even more so, I believe in membership as a biblical matter that allows a church to faithfully follow the Scriptures. I suppose we ought to define our term. While acknowledging that membership can vary…

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    A La Carte (November 25)

    A La Carte: Confessionalism or fundamentalism? / Sexual ethics and the doctrine of God / Does James contradict Paul? / Ways to be kind to someone you disagree with / The increasing value of Christian testimonies / So many Kindle deals / and more.

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    Our Father in heaven, we love you. We have freely proclaimed that here this morning. Yet we also acknowledge that we only love you because you first loved us. On our own, there was nothing in us that was inclined toward you. Our hearts were all turned inward toward ourselves—our own honor, our own glory,…

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    Weekend A La Carte (November 23)

    A La Carte: Gifting is not godliness / The post-Christian morality of “Wicked” / Adult children and their parents / Wanting what I already have / Ashamed of the gospel / The book and Kindle deals continue.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (Zondervan Reflective)

    This week the giveaway is sponsored by Zondervan Reflective. Will technology change what it means to be human? You don’t have to be a computer scientist to have discerning conversations about artificial intelligence and technology. We all wonder where we’re headed. Even now, technological innovations and machine learning have a daily impact on our lives,…

  • Other side of the Wall

    On the Other Side of the Wall

    A story is told of a convalescent woman and the lovely vine that grew in her yard. Confined to her property during her long recovery from an accident, she turned her attention to the little plot of ground behind her home. She planted the vine on a cool spring morning, dreaming of the day when,…