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A La Carte (December 22)

A La Carte Collection cover image

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

If all goes according to schedule, today’s Kindle deals will include an important book on prayer and several about the person and work of Jesus. Brad Bigney’s Gospel Treason is also worth a look.

The New David Movie and What Makes a Bible-Based Film “Good”

Zak Mellgren writes about the new David movie (which he enjoyed) and discusses some of the marks of a good Bible-based film.

The Ghost of Christmas Never

Samuel James does a good bit of cultural analysis here. “Risk aversion is my generation’s great besetting sin. Notions that millennials or Gen-Z are lazy and entitled are not always false, but they are superficial. Behind what looks like laziness and entitlement is fear: a pathological fear of falling short, of not obtaining what’s sought, of not knowing where to go or who to turn to.”

It Isn’t Night for the Moon

“As I drove home in the light of the moon, it occurred to me that the reason the moon could shine on me at night was because it was not night for the moon—while I was sitting in the dark, the moon was basking in a full and glorious day. The light it gave me was the overflow of the brightness it continued to receive from the sun. Suddenly, I was gripped with powerful aspiration to imitate the full moon above me.”

Should we have an Evangelism Target?

Is it necessary or even wise to set an evangelism target? That’s the subject of this article. “Remember the old adage – if you don’t have a target, you will miss it? Or, if you aim at nothing you will hit nothing? It’s an interesting feature of many contemporary evangelical churches that they have strategies, plans, goals and mission statements. And some have even adopted specific percentage goals.”

What Does It Mean to Be Made in God’s Image?

This relatively brief article explains what it means that we are made in God’s image.

4 Things Jesus Came to Do

Here are four things Jesus came to do.

Flashback: It Is We Who Must Be Bent

We must always pray that we would conform ourselves to the Word rather than conforming the Word to ourselves. We must always pray that we would allow our desires to be changed according to the Bible rather than allowing the Bible to be changed according to our desires. 

How many of us there are who hug our troubles and say to God, “No, we won’t let anybody carry these troubles but ourselves.”

—Theodore Cuyler

  • Weekend A La Carte (November 7)

    The Hutterites’ guide to technology / Searching for jobs, Gen Z feels like it’s staring into ‘the void’ / The gospel according to Peter (Thiel) / Scientism and the allure of control / Can science explain sparkling rivers? / What led to Christianity Today’s crisis?

  • I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I Regret to Inform You That Heaven Tourism Is Back

    I regret to inform you, dear reader, that heaven tourism is back. The genre possibly never went away entirely, but it did at least disappear from the bestseller lists for several years. Sadly, it has returned in Gabe Poirot’s 18 Days in Heaven.

  • A La Carte (November 6)

    Don’t despise the red flags / Your thoughts are shaping your life / Can’t you just love everyone? / Selfies are not the self: forming embodied youth in a disembodied age / Effective altruists and the spreadsheet gospel / 4 Applications for the order of love—from the home to the ends of the earth /…

  • A La Carte (November 5)

    When you feel guilty about your giving / The missing piece in John Mark Comer’s quiet time / A manifesto for phone-free church / The pull of Rome / 4 Misconceptions about spiritual warfare / Slouching toward Narnia / Kindle deals, and more

  • A Daring Suggestion for Netflix

    A Daring Suggestion for Netflix

    Netflix appears to have fallen on hard times and I have some suggestions that I’d like to think would help it: cut the sex, nudity, and profanity, and gain back the viewers it’s long been alienating.

  • A La Carte (November 4)

    Can I love my enemies while addressing wrongs and protecting myself? / Is missions too costly for kids? / Don’t stock the pantry with temptation / Churches face a shortage of worship leaders / AI brought a mathematician to Ecclesiastes / Discerning between godly and worldly grief / Harvest in fearful times / and more.