Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (June 14)

tuesday

Why You Should Care About Theology

David offers three good reasons that you should care about theology. “God has graciously revealed himself through his Word, and every follower of Christ should take pains to know him well. Every Christian, therefore, is a theologian.”

The Gospel: 2016 West Coast Conference

Ligonier has posted the audio and video of the 2016 West Coast Conference. You’ll find a long list of sessions there, including five short ones I did with Nathan Bingham that focus on life in a digital world.

18 Theses on the Father and the Son

Fred Sanders, who has written an excellent book on the Trinity, provides 18 theses on the Father and the Son.

Planned Obsolescence

I’m sure you’ve heard of devices that have planned obsolescence built right into them. This article discusses how it works. “For a fully modern example, consider smartphones. These handsets often get discarded after a mere couple years’ use. Screens or buttons break, batteries die, or their operating systems, apps, and so on can suddenly no longer be upgraded. Yet a solution is always near at hand: brand new handset models, pumped out every year or so, and touted as ‘the best ever’.”

Crafting Expository Sermons

H.B. Charles has a helpful article on crafting an expository sermon. “Expositional preaching gets a bad rap for being dry, boring, and lifeless. But zombie preachers should be indicted, not expository preaching.”

This Day in 1936. 80 years ago today, G.K. Chesterton, an influential Roman Catholic apologist and wit noted for his use of paradox, died at age 62. *

Patience

This guy spent two years shooting timelapses across Europe. In just two minutes he shows off some of his favorites.

No Automatic Holiness

D.A. Carson explains how knowing the Bible does not automatically produce personal holiness.

Flashback: How Should Christians Fast?

Here are six quick guidelines for Christian fasting.

Horton

Evil is not a principle in creation itself but is the willful distortion of good gifts into an arsenal deployed against God’s reign.

—Michael Horton

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…