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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

  • A La Carte (August 26)

    Help! My child is entering puberty / Lindsay Clancy and the problem of therapy culture / What drives parents to frustration / The abortion pioneer who became a pro-life champion / What your church owns is not ultimately yours / Free stuff / and more.

  • A La Carte (August 25)

    US missionary freed after 9 months’ captivity / Sharing suffering / The Lord will keep your children’s lives / The real reason Iran is persecuting Christians / Dinesh D’Souza’s case against Calvinism, answered / Canadian military chaplains can’t mention God in public / Do religious families actually have more kids?

  • Sleep as an Act of Faith

    Every night, lying down to sleep is a small enactment of death and resurrection. Hear from Brett McCracken on what our nightly surrender teaches us about trusting God’s sovereignty in this excerpt from The Wisdom of Sleep, on the blog today.

  • Why Fallen Pastors So Rarely Walk Away

    Why Fallen Pastors So Rarely Walk Away

    Have you ever wondered why pastors who have been disqualified from ministry so rarely concede to the reality of their disqualification and just move on? Have you ever wondered why they so often disappear for a year or so and then turn up at another church or in a different denomination?

  • A La Carte (August 24)

    Making men and women hate each other / Will Christians really judge the world? / Why we never speak to each other / The New Earth / An anti-Pharisee’s prayer / Preaching simply / Kindle deals / and more.