Good morning. May the Lord be with you and bless you on this fine day. Thanks for all the feedback on yesterday’s article on TGC, AI, and the Democratization of Competence. It was great to hear from so many of you. Let’s all continue to discuss the use of AI and, together, make sure we get it right.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include some good books for children, and among them is my new one: God’s Great Big Global Church. You’ll find books for grownups too, of course.
If you’re interested in a Bible for a younger person, Westminster Books has the ESV Teen Study Bible on special this week.
Recommended Reading
What Job’s Meeting With God Can Teach You About Facing Your Worst Nightmare. Paul Sadler offers some encouragement from the book of Job. “More and more about our world feels senseless and unjust. And then when a crisis hits in our own personal circumstances, it only strengthens the doubts: Does God know what He’s doing? Is He asleep at the wheel? Is He there at all? An encounter with God pictured in the Book of Job gives us some truths to hang onto when the pain is deep, and life doesn’t make sense.”
Tackiness Is Not a Sin. I suppose it’s true that much of Evangelicalism has more than its fair share of tackiness. Bonnie Kristian admits that, but insists that tackiness is not a sin. “If we say tackiness is not a sin, they worried, we excuse bad art, ugly church buildings, theologically sloppy worship music, wooden acting and preachy plots in Christian books and movies. If we say tackiness is not a sin, we give tacit approval to flashy, shiny things with nothing of substance inside—the very antithesis of the sober, martyr-proved beauty of the early church. If we say tackiness is not a sin, we consent to our coreligionists reducing Christ victorious, who trampled down death by death, into a stupid, cutesy figurine.”
10 Prayers for Teens This School Year and Beyond. Stacey Pardoe offers prayers that may be useful to parents as they pray for their teens this school year and beyond.
Fostering Community Through Uncomplicated Hospitality. “Being somewhat domestically challenged, I always thought hospitality wasn’t my cup of tea (pun intended). But then I realised that the condition of my living room doesn’t really matter when people feel comfortable in it. Being a friendly host and welcoming people as they are—that doesn’t require a PhD in hospitality!” Sheena Gershom helps uncomplicate hospitality.
No Holy Land: Does Israel Still Have a Biblical Claim on the Middle East? Not everyone will agree with Michael Horton on this, of course, but whether or not you agree, it’s helpful to read a lucid explanation of why he and many others believe that Israel no longer has a biblical claim on the Middle East. “I am Reformed and there is a long history in my tradition of respecting ethnic Jews as special in God’s sight. The history of redemption centers on the people of Israel. Jesus and his disciples were Jews. ‘Salvation is from the Jews’ (John 4:24). Yet, as in the day when Jesus said this, there is a strong reaction against considering Jewish Christians true Jews at all. And there is a deep hostility of radical Israeli Zionists to Christians and Muslims in territories they believe belong to them from biblical times.”
A Call to Fathers in the Church. Writing for Ligonier, Michael G. Brown offers a call to fathers within the church. “Every Christian father feels the weight of many responsibilities. We want to provide for our families, protect our children, guide them wisely, and prepare them for adulthood. Yet among all these callings, none is more important than helping our children live under the ministry of God’s Word in the fellowship of the local church. Fathers cannot save their children. Only God can give new life. But fathers are called to be faithful shepherds in the home, using the ordinary means God has appointed.”
New Books
This week saw the release of a couple of interesting new books, including:
- John (Evangelical Exegetical Commentary) by Andreas J. Köstenberger. This is sure to be a good one! (It’s a good one to buy in Logos format.)
- Happiness by Andrew Wilson. “Andrew Wilson uniquely weaves biblical, theological, philosophical, psychological, and sociological methods to answer 6 major questions about human flourishing in our broken world. Drawing on the greatest thinkers across Scripture and science, readers get a guide that is theologically clear, intellectually robust, and practically helpful.”
Flashback
Learning To Have Conversations with God. I have often spoken to people who struggle to know how to integrate prayer and Scripture in such a way that they can carry on a conversation with the Lord. For those who struggle in that way, I want to give you a tip: Begin with Proverbs.
Society set free from God is its own worst enemy.
—Robert Mounce
