Today’s Kindle deals include a pretty solid collection of titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: Now Available: A Visual Theology Guide to the Bible)
Responding to Carl Trueman’s ‘Follow the Money’ Lecture
Carl Trueman recently delivered a very interesting lecture on seminaries. Barry York does a great job responding and reflecting.
Selfies with a Supermodel
I really enjoy Sophia Lee’s column at World. Here she writes about the joy and sadness of meeting a former supermodel, now homeless.
The Jesus Bible: Now Available in ESV, Spanish, and NIV Comfort Print® Editions (Sponsored Link)
Since its launch at The Passion Conference in 2017, The Jesus Bible has over 165,000 copies in circulation, earning top rankings on Amazon Bibles and named one of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s overall bestselling study Bibles in 2017. The Jesus Bible is now serving a wider audience with three new editions: The Jesus Bible NIV in Comfort Print, The Jesus Bible ESV, and the Spanish translation La Biblia Jesús NVI. Spearheaded by Louie Giglio and the team at Passion, this Bible highlights the story of Jesus throughout the whole of Scripture and includes compelling essays from bestselling authors like Max Lucado, John Piper, Ravi Zacharias, and Randy Alcorn.
The Value of Word Ministry
“Though committed to the centrality and importance of word-ministry, it is easy to become despondent in our preaching. We expect the Lord to speak through his Word. As such, we very often expect immediate impact. Sometimes we get it as, from time to time, people come up to you and tell you just how the Lord was pointedly speaking to them through that particular sermon and how they are planning to change as a result. But far more common are the weeks of near silence, when nobody tells you anything, the weeks when the Lord appears (if this is your measure) to have worked less.”
Secularism’s (Misplaced) Confidence
Here’s a statement worth thinking about. “Secularism’s misplaced confidence is most misplaced when it assumes it can have the fruit of the gospel without the root of the gospel. It cannot. To mix the metaphor, the West’s secular car will only run for so long on the gas fumes of the Christian faith it has abandoned. Without a fuel fill up and a lube and oil change, this thing will grind to a halt.”
Spring Liturgies
This is a wonderful bit of writing that celebrates life’s “liturgies.”
Presbyterian Pentecostals?
How interesting! “Douglas Winiarski (Univ. of Richmond) has a remarkable article in the latest William and Mary Quarterly on the history of the jerking exercise, or the ‘jerks,’ in the Second Great Awakening. Religious historians since the 1800s have often alluded to outbreaks of the jerks in the revivals, but until Winiarski, we have only had a vague sense of where the jerks happened, how often, and among what groups.”
The Contours of Grace
“There are two seasons in the Gulf Country. The dry season is as arid as it sounds. Parched and yearning, the land longs for rain as it turns in on itself and looks for solace in solitude. Deep furrows in the dirt are postcards of a previous season yet signposts of what is to come. Then comes ‘The Wet’. Faster than the land can drink, wave after wave of monsoonal troughs sweep across the plains. Rivers long dormant erupt into life, barren shelves of earth and stone sprout rich green and vibrant hues of blossom. Short-lived streams race toward swollen rivers, emptying themselves of all their vigour.”
Flashback: Rule #1: Trust the Means of Grace (8 Rules for Growing in Godliness)
We must take full advantage of the disciplines God provides, and we must ensure we do not lose our confidence that God can and will work through such ordinary means. It is his desire and delight to do so.
If we focus on our actions without addressing our hearts, we may end up merely as better behaved lovers of self.
—Jen Wilkin
