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A La Carte (September 29)

wednesday

May the Lord bless and keep you today.

This week at Westminster Books you’ll find a sale on “memorable stories, delightful characters, gospel help” for kids.

Today’s Kindle deals are headlined by an excellent new book on being the bad guys. There is also a large collection of general market books on sale.

I Searched for the Key to Discipleship

“Discipleship isn’t nice, crisp books or carefully planned mission trips. It’s something altogether more intimate, more demanding, and more sacrificial. And once I realized that the people around me were showing me how discipleship works, I started to see it everywhere.”

What Does it Mean to Pray ‘Your Will Be Done’?

Colin Smith: “If you are confused about the will of God you are not alone. One reason for the confusion is that we speak of God’s will in three different ways. Distinguishing between them will help to clear the confusion and enable us to pray ‘Your will be done,’ with greater meaning and understanding.”

Things Revealed

In a somewhat similar vein: “A lot of us spend our time trying to read that book called ‘The Secret Things’ while all the time the book called ‘The Things Revealed’ is sitting right in front of us. God has given it to us and it belongs to us and to our children so we won’t just read it but also obey it.”

River Cliffs and Reformed Theology

I enjoyed reading this tale of river cliffs and Reformed theology. “The two of us walked, single file, through the coffee gardens. We were seventeen years old, barefoot, wearing swim trunks, and with inflated tire inner-tubes slung over our shoulders. The coffee cherries were ripening and we occasionally reached out, plucked one, and popped it in our mouths. The clear jelly between the red skin and the green coffee bean itself was deliciously sweet. Then the slippery bean itself could be pinched between forefinger and thumb, and launched at distant targets with surprising accuracy.”

5 Biblical Principles for Social Media

Rob Brockman: “Did you realize that you are responsible for your online behaviour as much as you are responsible for your in-person behaviour? There is no distinction between the character of your online avatar and your in-person character. If this is the case, then what can we glean from the scriptures on how we are to behave in the online public square?”

Missionaries, We Are Not Professionals

Dave Hare offers “three warning signs that a missionary might be falling into the trap of professionalism.”

How Changing Your View of Heaven Transforms the Way You Live Today

John Beeson asks, “What are the consequences of getting our view of heaven wrong? Especially when we can’t possibly know who is correct. But what if there are consequences to the way we perceive the afterlife? What would those be?”

Flashback: What’s the Purpose of … the Church?

The local church exists to glorify God through worshipping him, edifying his people, and evangelizing the world.

…the place where the Saviour sees meet to place me must ever be the best place for me.

—Robert Murray M’Cheyne

  • Breath

    A Sudden Stopping of the Breath

    I recently encountered a poem I enjoyed and wanted to share with you. LeRoy Tate Newland was an American pastor, a missionary to Korea, and a poet. Among his poems is this brief reflection on the death of a Christian (which, appropriately, is titled “A Christian’s Death”). I hope you enjoy it as much as…

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    Three Levels of Sermon Introduction

    Though every sermon necessarily needs a beginning, it does not necessarily need a formal introduction. Though it has to begin somewhere, there is no rule that it must begin with some kind of story or illustration. A preacher can jump straight into his text if he so desires. Some do.

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    A La Carte: Never too late to learn how to pray / Walking with those who weep / Rethinking the role of pastor’s wife / What does the Bible mean when it teaches wives to submit? / Does God want some to go to hell? / Kindle deals / and more.