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A La Carte (August 4)

thursday

Grace and peace to you today, my friends.

There are not quite as many Kindle deals today as in the past couple of days, but there are still a few worth checking out.

(Yesterday on the blog: Once Again Honestly Assessing Our Decision to Public School Our Kids)

Seeking and Following God’s Guidance

Vance Christie: “Recently while seeking God’s direction about quite a significant ministry decision in my own life, I was encouraged by going back and reviewing some of the specific details of how the Lord led George Muller into his great orphan ministry.” That turned out to be a good idea.

Entrusting My Treasure

Jennifer McPhail explains how she came to entrust her treasure to the Lord and his purposes.

Honour & respect are culturally bound

“Honouring one another is most definitely a biblical concept.” But, as Stephen explains here, it’s also a concept that needs to be worked out according to context and culture. (I especially enjoyed his discussion of the difference between American and British/Canadian forms of giving honor.)

This Journal Fought Beside Me

I appreciate Grace sharing this account of throwing away a journal—a particularly significant journal.

Newsletters aren’t news anymore. But they’re not going away.

Here’s an interesting take on the rise (and perhaps settling) of the email newsletter. “The Substack frenzy seems like a thing of the past. But lots of publishers are still leaning into newsletters. ‘They’re a great minimally viable product.’”

The Filthy Will Still Be Filthy

“Sin is filth. It is soul pollution. It makes us vile in the eyes of God, and no matter how much pride we take in our sin now, we will one day even be offensive in our own eyes. As sinners, we may do everything we can to maintain our delusion that we are honorable, but every one of us has fallen short of God’s glory. We cannot roll in the mire without eventually being repulsed by our condition.”

Flashback: Who Gave You The Right?

The sanctified instinct of the Christian heart should not be to discourage but to encourage, not to further demoralize other people but to give them strength, to give them heart, to give them courage.


  • Church Livestream

    Is It Time To Stop Streaming Your Service?

    It always surprises me how quickly an idea can go from introduction to expectation, from mere inquiry to accepted standard. And once an idea has become mainstream in that way, it is difficult to revisit and evaluate it.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (August 28)

    A La Carte: What canoeing can teach us about marriage / What are spiritual gifts and how do I discover mine? / How a troll becomes a troll / The biggest Evangelical divide / When Bible reading doesn’t produce a neat and tidy takeaway / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for August 2024

    We live at a great time to be readers! Christian publishers labor diligently to provide us with good books on every conceivable topic. Once a month I like to sort through all the new releases and put together a list of some of the new and notables. Here are my picks for August, 2024.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (August 27)

    A La Carte: Keith Green, Bill Hybels, steeples, and bells / Did negligence kill my baby? / Rethinking nostalgic postpartum advice / Yes, all things / We can’t be friends / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Nothing Can Separate Us from God

    This week the blog is sponsored by Zondervan Reflective. This excerpt from The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition explains the original meaning of Paul’s words in Romans 8:31-39 and shows how his message can apply to our lives today. We begin with words from the Apostle Paul: 31 What, then, shall we…

  • I Used To Dream Big Dreams

    I Used To Dream Big Dreams

    I used to be a dreamer. I used to lie awake at night thinking of the great man I might be, the great awards I might win, the great deeds I might accomplish for the Lord. I would eventually drift to sleep convinced of my own potential and glimpsing visions of my own grandeur. As…