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Explore December 2012

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    Vertical Church

    Harvest Bible Fellowship is a network of churches on the move. It seems as if every week brings a report of a new church plant somewhere in the world. From what I have observed locally, these are solid churches whose pastors love God’s Word and where people are being transformed by the gospel. James MacDonald…

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    A La Carte (12/19)

    God Restrains Evil – Randy Alcorn is working toward an answer to this question: Why doesn’t God do more to restrain evil and suffering. Have you ever considered that God may already been restraining 99.99% of evil and suffering? What Should the Church Expect in 2013? – This is not the kind of article I…

  • The Joy of a Visit

    A couple of weeks ago I was able to dedicate quite a lot of time to studying Zechariah’s song. This is the song Zechariah sang at the birth of his son John (who would, of course, soon be known as John the Baptist), the song he sang after nine months of being mute. At the…

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    A La Carte (12/18)

    Grief – For the time being, and in response to the recent tragedy in Newtown, CCEF’s minibook on grief is available for free online. Also in connection to Newtown you may want to read Douglas Wilson’s article titled That Will Be Soon Enough along with David Murray’s warning about when to stop reading and watching…

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    Lessons Learned on Day 3,335

    If you’re a regular reader of the site, you’ve probably noticed that it has had a lot of problems in recent weeks. It holds steady for a few days, then crashes hard. After some emergency surgery—the virtual equivalent of keeping a car together with Bondo and duct tape—it comes back to life for a while.…

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    A La Carte (12/17)

    Here are a few noteworthy articles that speak to the tragedy in Connecticut. Joey Newton was there in a pastoral capacity and has a first-hand account. Douglas Wilson challenges everyone to “think carefully before speaking or writing. This is not the time to be debating gun control, drone attacks in the Middle East, and it…

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    The Essential: Sanctification

    This is the fifteenth installment in a series on theological terms. See previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, creation, man, Fall, common grace, sin, righteousness, faith, pride, election, revelation, atonement, and adoption. The concept of sanctification is found throughout Scripture and in reference to a variety of subjects. For example, God sanctifies the seventh…

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    Weekend A La Carte (12/15)

    Rachel Weeping for Her Children – Al Mohler responds to yesterday’s unspeakably horrible tragedy in Connecticut. So too do Russell Moore and John Piper among many, many others. The Getty’s song A Mother’s Prayer seems particularly appropriate at this time. The Losing Ticket – Business Week looks at Jack Whittaker who won the lottery and…

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    Free Stuff Fridays

    This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by CBD Reformed, one of the regular sponsors of these giveaways. As they always do, they are offering 5 prize packages, each of which will contain the following 3 items: In addition, CBD Reformed is offering a 4-day sale (December 14 – 17) on the following three products:…

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    A La Carte (12/14)

    What Luke Actually Wrote – An answer to Bart Ehrman’s most recent challenge to biblical accuracy: “The gist of the problem is that Luke claims that the first tax when Quirinius was governor of Syria was at the time of Jesus’ birth – around 4-2 BC. The Jewish historian Josephus, however, records that the first…

  • From Scarcity to Overabundance

    Last year we added a dog to our lives–a dog we named Lucy. Lucy is a chocolate Labrador Retriever (And yes, I know that all of the dog people just shook their heads in compassionate pity). Some people think that Labs are dogs who are loyal and kind and loving toward their owners. These people…

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    A La Carte (12/13)

    Silent Night, Peaceful Day – Matt Heerema shares a story from his family archives. “The following is a recounting of a true story involving my grandfather, Fred Heerema, during World War II.” Read it! Hope for Prodigal Children – Here is some wisdom from Burk Parsons. “My greatest concern is for those parents who are…

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    New & Notable Book Reviews

    I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Or even if I am able to review the book, it’s always good to get a second opinion. So here are…

  • It Changed My Life!

    It is one of my clearest memories of the whole hullabaloo surrounding The Passion of the Christ. I met a man who had just returned from a screening of the movie and with eyes wide he exclaimed, “It changed my life!” It is a phrase we hear all the time. It is a phrase that…

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    A La Carte (12/12)

    Tullian Keeps Digging – David Murray writes about some of his growing concerns with the recent writings of Tullian Tchividjian. I share those concerns and am grateful that David wrote about them carefully and charitably. Note that you can scroll down and read at least one response from Tullian. Tidings of Comfort and Joy –…

  • Believing the Worst of Those Who Love Me Most

    There is a stubbornness to sin that surprises and disappoints. The Christian life is one of increasing triumph over sin, and yet even with the rejoicing there is so much disappointment, even with the victory there is so much failure, even while so much sin is put to death, so much remains. One area of…

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    A La Carte (12/11)

    One of the Ten Thousand Things – This is a sweet, poetic blog post. Tears at Tron – “A Glasgow congregation which is leaving the Church of Scotland because of the Kirk’s stance on gay ministers held its last service in its building yesterday.” This is a congregation formerly pastored by Thomas Chalmers, Eric Alexander…

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    Where Can You Find the Best Prices for Books?

    Last year, I put together a price comparison of 10 books at 4 different online stores: Amazon, Westminster Books, Monergism, and CBD. The purpose was to learn whether or not Amazon truly offers the best prices, as we often think they do. What I learned last year is each of these resellers is quite competitive,…

  • Death and Life and Your Tongue

    Just about every blogger can identify with the frustration. You write an article that is kind and well-reasoned and, at least in your estimation, displays the fruit of the Spirit’s work in your life. With some excitement you share this article with the world and, yet, within minutes, you face a barrage of comments that…

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    A La Carte (12/10)

    Raising Kids the World Will Hate – Here’s something every Christian parent needs to ponder: “if God answers my prayer for my son to be a follower of Christ, people will hate him. People will absolutely, unquestionably be repulsed by my son.” God Doesn’t Love Us Because We’re Lovable – There’s an important truth of…