Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent and relatively new books from P&R. You’ll find Daniel Doriani’s The Death of the Deadly Sins, Karrie Hahn’s Limping Heavenward, and more. I also added three commentaries from the Preaching the Word series that are selling at more than 50% off. (Some of yesterday’s deals were late to appear, so be sure to scroll down to take a look at them.)
(Yesterday on the blog: A Simple Way To Ensure You Use AI Well (And Not Poorly))
Should Struggling Christians Abstain From Communion?
This question comes up often, and the way you answer reveals a lot about your understanding of grace, ordinances, and much else, so do consider what Sean DeMars says. “When communion is announced, heads drop in solemnity, and a quiet internal interrogation begins: How have I sinned in any way this week? Am I worthy of the table? Should I partake? Many Christians examine themselves in this way because they’ve been taught to do so by well-meaning pastors with sincere concerns over congregants eating ‘in an unworthy manner.’”
Get Married Young
Brad Wilcox, a Roman Catholic professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, offers an interesting and countercultural defense of marrying young. “A recent Pew survey found that nearly nine in ten parents say financial independence and career fulfillment are crucial for their kids. But when it comes to marriage and children? Only one in five think those are extremely or very ‘important’ for their kids when they reach adulthood.”
Last Chance for Early Bird Pricing: 2026 Missionary National Conference
“A missionary church is a spiritually flourishing church” (Alexander Duff). From October 14–16, 2026, join John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Mark Dever, Michael Reeves, and others in Fort Worth, TX, to learn from God’s Word how our churches can recover the call to send. Early bird pricing ends February 28, so register now! (Sponsored)
Standing Firm When the World Shifts Under Your Feet
Mike Judge: “Many believers today are tempted to soften the edges of Scripture in the name of love. But love without truth is flattery. And truth without love is arrogance. Scripture refuses to tear the two apart. We are to speak the truth in love. That combination is explosive. It makes Christianity look too gentle for tyrants and too uncompromising for cowards.”
Eliminating Envy in Christian Ministry
I believe many, if not most, people in ministry struggle with envy. “Christians are called to abhor envy and not be conformed to the worldly influences that stir it up in us. But we are naïve if we think we can wholly escape these influences. We are each given different stations in life as well as places in the church. We may be good at our respective roles, but whether we are content with them is another question.”
Messiah Complex
J.V. Fesko says, “One of the great dangers in the pastorate is that a minister might develop a messiah complex.” He explains what and why that is, and tells how to combat it.
Three Things That Make Temptation Flee
“There are many things that want to steal our joy and affection in Christ. There are sins and temptations that plague us more often than we’d like to admit. But for the Christian, there is a real sense in which these temptations no longer lord over us. We are no longer bound to obey them anymore. Even on this side of heaven we experience real victory over sin and temptation. Those are glorious seasons when our hearts are lifted to heaven and we do the things that we really want to do. What are those things that make sin seem so silly? What is our frame of mind when temptations lose their shimmer? I want to point out three things that make temptations flee.”
Flashback: How To Be Conformed to the World
Worldliness is like gravity, always there, always pushing down on you, always exerting its influence on you. As a Christian you are charged with resisting it day by day. You must and you can.
Sin is not superficial to us, a mere flesh wound. It is a deep distortion, a twisted hostility toward God and his reign over us.
—Sinclair Ferguson
