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Weekend A La Carte (February 1)

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When Helping Hurts – This month’s free audiobook from ChristianAudio is a good one: When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert. It would be downright ridiculous not to download it! Meanwhile, Logos users will want to grab this month’s free Logos book: Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church by Michael Lawrence.

Pilgrim’s Progress: A Guided Tour – Ligonier has a new course from Derek Thomas: Pilgrim’s Progress: A Guided Tour. If you haven’t ever looked at Ligonier Connect, maybe now’s the time. I think I’m going to take this one before long…

So Many Popes – Michael Horton has a valuable reflection on church leadership. “Even in our circles, there is a tendency to create stars whose models of ‘doing church’ divide the ordered life of local and wider assemblies of mutual accountability. Few actually set out with that purpose.”

Blessings Too Big – When God said that children were a blessing, he wasn’t kidding (Psalm 127:3). I’ve got blessings doing cartwheels in my living room and blessings smeared on my kitchen nook windows. The signs of this shocking blessedness is all over the place. My wife and I spend our evenings mopping up the remnants of this blessing, regrouping, catching our breath, getting ready for another day of drinking this blessing from the fire hose of five insanely cute, creative, and (let’s admit it) slightly crazy people under the age of ten.”

Those Who Doubt Their Faith – Here are eight diagnostic questions to ask of people who doubt their faith.

Outrageous Adolesence of the F-16 – “is is the story of two brothers, who happen to be airplanes. The older brother, the F-15 Eagle, entered the world fully formed, and his doting parents—the U.S. Air Force—nurtured him and quickly forgave minor transgressions. The younger brother, the F-16, was born prematurely, with no name, and scrambled to catch up.”

MLJ

You are always on duty in the Christian life, you can never relax. There is no such thing as a holiday in the spiritual realm.

—Martyn Lloyd-Jones

  • 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.…

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    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…

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    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…