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A La Carte (August 16)

A La Carte Friday 2

The God of peace be with you on this fine day.

Continue to check in for new Kindle deals and I’ll keep scouring Amazon for them. Today we’ve got books by Jerry Bridges, John Piper, and others.

Book Brief: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson is a fast-paced, popular-level telling of the lead-up to the Civil War. He focuses especially on the Southern notion of honor and the fear of slave uprisings as among the keys that led to war. Recommended!

Believer, You Can’t. But Christ Can.

“Silently, your heart cries out to God in wordless groans that only He understands (Romans 8:26). Maybe it has already burst out from your heart like a powerful jet of water. Words erupt right up and out of your mouth in desperation, ‘I can’t do this Lord!’ It aches when you find that you are at the end of yourself. Strength gone. Self-sufficiency unmasked as the mirage that it has always been.”

From Orphanage to the Classroom: A Story of God’s Grace

This is such a neat story of God’s grace.

Growing Your Church Through Evangelism and Outreach

Learn six principles from J.A. Medders and Doug Logan in their new book, The Soul-Winning Church, to excite your church members about evangelism. Get 25% off with code SOULWIN. (Sponsored)

When Spiritual Disciplines Took Over My Life

Having spent time with Christians who deal with spiritual scrupulosity, I appreciate this article that describes the symptoms and some steps forward.

The Importance of Not Caring About Mark Driscoll

“50 years from now vanishingly few people will have any idea who Mark Driscoll was. They’ll also almost certainly have no clue who Andy Stanley was. Indeed, they will be wholly ignorant of virtually every celebrity pastor or evangelical influencer you can name, with perhaps one or two exceptions, but no more. So unless you have some very specific situation in which proper pastoral care requires caring about a certain celebrity, you should just stop caring.”

How God Used Suffering to Teach Me It’s a Blessing to Give and Receive

“It is paramount that we acknowledge everything we have is a gift from God. The job we hold, the home we live in, the money in our bank account, and even our able bodies. They are all given to us by a gracious God. He did not prosper us in this way so we could clutch tightly to the things we have, selfishly wanting more, unwilling to share. He has lavished us abundantly so we can bless others.”

3 Questions I Ask During Every Bible Study

These are good and helpful questions to ask when studying the Bible.

Flashback: Success Beyond What We Can Handle

When they gained the thing they had longed for, they lost the progress they had labored for. I have seen far more people ruined by success than by failure.

A god who is all love, all grace, all mercy, no sovereignty, no justice, no holiness, and no wrath is an idol.

—R.C. Sproul

  • Pleasure Obligation

    A Pleasure More Than An Obligation

    Christians are often portrayed as downcast and dour, as people who are trapped in a system of beliefs that robs them of joy and life. And with a bit of honest self-examination, we can probably think of times when we have fit the cliché.

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 14)

    A La Carte: The West’s strange genius / Healing the way women hurt each other / AI skeptics / The world after reading / What about the children? / What caregivers should know about dementia / and much more.

  • Sex and Self-Forgetfulness

    Sex, Self-Forgetfulness, and the Joy of Serving Your Spouse

    I often think there is a kind of paradoxical quality to sex within marriage. It’s paradoxical in that few things have greater ability to bring blessing (through its right use) or to bring cursing (through its misuse). Not only that, but few things bring greater joy to a marriage, and also, in so many cases,…

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    A La Carte (March 13)

    What happened to our pastor? / Youth ministry needs seasoned saints / God’s sovereignty when things don’t go as planned / Preach sermons that algorithms don’t reward / A pastor remains in Beirut / and more.

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    A La Carte (March 12)

    The grief ambush / Forgotten, and that’s good / The foibles and fallibility of Christian leaders / Welcome back, church planting / Weakness is not the enemy / Bad reasons to read the Bible / Bible and book sales.