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A La Carte (October 19)

monday

I hope you enjoyed your weekend and are ready to begin another week! Here are a few articles that may make for interesting reading…

(Yesterday on the blog: The Word You Can Use Once a Year (and No More))

Men, Be the Chief Repenters in Your Homes

What’s leadership in the home about? For one thing, it’s about leading in repentance.

“Break the Teeth in Their Mouths, O God”

This is quite a sobering biographical article about the imprecatory psalms.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

As you’d expect, many of the photos in this gallery are nothing short of stunning.

Will We Die To Our Rights?

Lauren Washer asks whether we are willing to die to our rights. “I spent years preparing to live overseas by building friendships with missionaries, going on short term missions trips, and eventually earned a degree in Intercultural Studies. After college I moved to another culture and tried to put all I had learned into practice. I didn’t anticipate the need to apply some of those cross cultural ministry skills to life within my own culture. Yet I find myself constantly confronting the issue of my rights.”

Christian Fragility? Missionary Confidence in the Face of New Critics

Over at DG, Tim Keesee writes about Christian fragility. “To be clear, the church has never been in better hands, and God will lose none of his people. Our Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep (John 10:11), and he did not die in vain. God’s mission is not jeopardized by our country’s current situation. Christians have been through far worse times in the past, and Christians are in far worse situations in other parts of the world today (think of almost any band of believers from North Africa to North Korea).”

Making Observations, Not Laws

There are some helpful observations here about the peculiarities of culture.

Why Was the Reformation Necessary?

“The church is always in need of reform. Even in the New Testament, we see Jesus rebuking Peter, and we see Paul correcting the Corinthians. Since Christians are always sinners, the church will always need reform. The question for us, however, is when does the need become an absolute necessity?”

Flashback: The Missing Elements of Modern Worship

Instead of searching God’s Word to determine what elements should or must be present in a worship service, leaders are judging elements by whether or not they work (according to their own standard of what works).

When we look at Calvary and behold the Savior dying for us, we should see in his death not first our salvation but our damnation being borne and carried away by him!

—Robert Reymond

  • Finn

    I’m a Grandfather!

    Yesterday Abby and Nathan welcomed their first child into the world: Finnegan Safir Nicholas Elfarrah. Because they live just minutes away, Aileen and I were able to be there shortly after his birth to rejoice with them and to meet our first grandchild. We are thrilled beyond measure. And he is cute beyond belief. They…

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  • What Grieves the Heart of God

    What Grieves the Heart of God?

    What pleases God? What delights his heart? And what displeases God? What grieves his heart? If asked, I think most of us would assume that if we ever grieve the heart of God it will be through denying the gospel or committing a grave moral scandal. Or if we do so as a local church,…

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    A La Carte: When God does not need our service / How to forgive and move on / A devotional for depression / Can a speeding ticket change your heart? / Is it I, Lord? / Kindle deals / and more.