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A La Carte (9/25)

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Delighting in the Trinity – A few weeks back I reviewed Michael Reeves’ Delighting in the Trinity, easily one of my favorite books of the year (here’s the review). At that time it was not available in Kindle and ebook formats. The Kindle edition has just been added to Amazon, so for those who were waiting, you can now have at it.

Catching Sin Like a Cold – I’ve often told my children that worldiness doesn’t come from the outside but the inside. Barnabas Piper says something similar here: You can’t catch sin like you catch a cold. Yet “so many Christians live in cultural quarantine, shutting themselves off from what they see as sinful influences.”

Just Disconnect – Though I’ve linked to several other articles in the same vein, I really enjoyed Carl Trueman’s take on disconnecting from the digital buzz.

Marching for Allah – This looks like a promising beginning to a series on Islam. “Whatever method they advocate to do it, something every Muslim will hold dear is that Allah, Muhammad and the Islamic religion be seen to be honoured. Islam is an inherently honour based religion. Allah must be seen to win.”

Preaching for the Home Run – Mike McKinley answers a question about preaching: “How does a pastor handle the pressure of preaching every week? If I’m being honest, I feel that I have to hit a home run or I have wasted everyone’s time that week. Does the pastor prepare his sermon so that it’s a base hit or do you swing for the fences every week?”

Preach the Word – Here’s another good preaching article. This one helpfully breaks down the command to “preach the Word” in this way: Preach the content of the word, preach the meaning of the word, preach the focus of the word.

A Wedding – I thought long and hard about whether or not I should post this. I don’t want this to become a gossip blog, but this seems to merit a mention because it involves Brian McLaren who is positioning himself as one of the “Christian” thinkers advocating the acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual marriage. McLaren recently led a commitment ceremony following his son’s gay marriage.

Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer.

—D.L. Moody

  • Support

    Would you Consider Supporting My Work?

    I have been blogging at Challies.com on a daily basis for well over 22 years now. That long commitment has allowed me to write thousands of articles and hundreds of book reviews while also sending millions of visitors to other sites through the daily A La Carte feature. While I’ve also written a number of books, through…

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    A La Carte (November 25)

    A La Carte: Are you still gospel-centered? / Christian liberty / Triumph in trouble / Being faithful in little things / How we choose songs / I’m not sabbatarian / and more.

  • Danger

    The Danger of Defensive Sanctification

    There is a certain kind of sober-mindedness that seems to come over Christians as they age. It can flow from many sources, I’m sure, but I think it often arises from a kind of fear—a fear that they may not finish their race without some kind of a major stumble. After living the Christian life…

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    A La Carte (November 24)

    A La Carte: A wonderful short film / Science confirms a literal, historical Adam and Eve / Go low, aim high / Stop brainstorming / Structured and spontaneous prayers / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Fire prayer

    Trimmed and Set on Fire

    Sometimes humor accomplishes what soberness cannot, as an old quote from D.L. Moody illustrates. “Some people’s prayers need to be cut off at both ends and set on fire in the middle.” After all, we have all had to endure prayers that were a little too long (or perhaps a lot too long) or that…

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    Weekend A La Carte (November 22)

    A La Carte: Keep your well full / No atheists at Nuremberg / On refusing to panic / Sports open surprising doors / Practicing Christian hospitality / Kindle deals / and more.