Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (July 27)

wednesday

The Lord be with you and bless you today.

You’ll find a few new Kindle deals at the appropriate page.

The Pilgrim’s Progress

Derek Thomas has written a brief guide to Pilgrim’s Progress. “Many, like C.H. Spurgeon, may boast of having read Pilgrim’s Progress many times, but what might a first-time reader expect?”

Consider Yourself Dead to Sin

“We have already given too much of our lives doing things godless people do. It is time we consider ourselves dead to sin (Romans 6:11).” Doug considers how and why.

Counting Down

“All the rumors are true: time speeds up. I still feel like I used to feel thirty years ago. I don’t know where the time went. I hang around people a generation below me and I think I’m the same age as them, although they never make the same mistake with me.”

20 Jazz Masterpieces You Should Hear

If you’re new to jazz (or still trying to appreciate it, as I am) you may benefit from this introduction by William Edgar.

What Questions Do You Have about Your Faith?

Lauren Whitman considers the kinds of questions we may have about our faith.

Even the Darkness

Meredith Beatty: “It doesn’t matter how you find your way into darkness. You may be suffering with chronic pain. You may have succumbed to the same sin over and over and now realize you’ve backed yourself into a dark corner with no conceivable way out. You may just be under a heavy cloud of despair, unsure where it’s come from. Whatever it is, wherever it’s come from, you can take courage that God sees your situation from a different perspective.”

Flashback: A Few Humble Suggestions for Reformed Worship Services

I want to offer a few humble suggestions to pastors or others involved in planning services that may serve to add an element of freshness to a service, but without adding elements that are desperate, distracting, or flat-out ridiculous.

The world has always measured greatness by the standard a person receives, not by what he gives. But Jesus radically reverses our fallen logic.

—Matt Smethurst

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (December 21)

    A La Carte: Chatbots aren’t a solution to our loneliness epidemic / Struggling with sexual intimacy / Christmas, a day for the suffering / What is total depravity? / The God over geopolitics / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (Thomas Nelson Bibles)

    This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Thomas Nelson Bibles. They are giving away five copies of the Life in Christ Bible.  About the Life in Christ Bible: Identity is all the rage today, and that’s kind of a good thing because when you think about it, identity is foundational to the gospel. The…

  • My Top Songs of 2024

    My 10 Favorite New Songs of 2024

    I have wide-ranging tastes in music and will gladly listen to all kinds of different genres. I recently spent some time considering some of the new songs I enjoyed in 2024 and, focusing on songs by Christian artists, eventually narrowed my favorites down to this list of 10—my 10 favorite new songs of 2024. I’ve…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (December 20)

    A La Carte: From transgender to Christian / Forgive us our debts / Did the Son of God leave heaven to come to earth? / 9 ways to help those who are suffering / Does this prove Mary wasn’t a virgin? / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (December 19)

    A La Carte: The astronaut who left NASA to support healthy churches / The cradle that rocked the world / Are Catholics Christian? / Why we need beautiful churches / On stumbling / and more.

  • 2025

    12 Fresh Ways to Read Your Bible in 2025

    A new year offers a new opportunity—an opportunity to rethink and refresh the way you read your Bible. While some have found a pattern or habit they love and will never deviate from, others like to look for new ways to read, digest, and apply the Word. For those who may be interested in trying…