Skip to content ↓

A La Carte (January 23)

wednesday

There are a few minor Kindle deals today. We’ll hope for better things tomorrow. Meanwhile, you may want to check out this week’s deals from Westminster Books.

(Yesterday on the blog: How Can I Leave My Church Well?)

Let’s Make Wisdom Great Again

“Fake news. Social media outrage. Political polarization. Ideological bullying. These are just a few of the centralizing characteristics of our current social climate in the US. It should not surprise us, then, that our collective cultural head is spinning as we simultaneously attempt to hold together a persistent insistence on ideological tolerance and a call for radical justice outrage.” Indeed. I appreciate this cry for wisdom! (Also perhaps read Covington Catholic Is the Terrible Sequel to the Kavanaugh Case.)

Welcome To The World’s Largest Gathering Of Humans

How sad is it that the world’s largest gathering of humans is to worship false gods. “The Shukla family were among the first of what’s expected to be 150 million pilgrims all taking a dip in India’s holy river through March 4 as part of the Kumbh Mela, a Hindu religious festival billed as the world’s largest gathering of human beings at one event.”

The Ligonier app puts trustworthy Bible teaching in the palm of your hand. Download it for free and get access to hundreds of discipleship resources, including daily devotionals, video teaching series, and even a biblical and theological chat service. Just visit Ligonier.org/app to download it today.

50 Pastors, 50 Lessons from 50 Years of John MacArthur’s Ministry

Jordan Standridge: “Scores of people have been greatly impacted by this wonderful man of God, and so in honor of his 50 year anniversary of serving as the Teaching-Pastor of Grace Community Church I reached out to 50 pastors who have been greatly influenced by John MacArthur to write a sentence or two about the greatest thing they learned from Him.”

Why Do Missions in the Village?

I love these little glimpses from overseas. “Should you walk into my village one day and hand Patrice a package of Tylenol, he will tell you that it is cyɛti. You would walk away writing in your journal that cyɛti means ‘medicine’. And you would be right, to a degree. The question is, ‘What do you mean by medicine?’”

Grasping at Manhood

Sophia Lee: “Ultimately, here’s the sad truth: Culture has always warred against God-designed masculinity and femininity. This talk about “harmful” traditional masculinity is our culture once again trying to refresh itself. Our world’s cultures are always changing, but their aim has always been the same: to disrupt the natural order and design of God. Ever since Adam and Eve broke the perfect relationship between God and humanity, man’s culture has always set its own standards apart from God’s design. Even so-called “traditional” masculinity can emphasize self-glory and self-honor, power and prestige, and reliance on self rather than reliance on God.”

10 Reasons Racism Is Sin

Kevin DeYoung lays out 10 reasons racism is sin. “Christians ought to reject racism, and do what they can to expose it and bring the gospel to bear upon it, not because we love pats on the back for our moral outrage or are desperate for restored moral authority, but because we love God and submit ourselves to the authority of his Word.”

You Will Die Someday

This is worth reflecting on. “The reality of our death ought to sharpen our focus, it ought to clarify that our activities do not take place in a continuum, but in a closed frame of days, in a narrow isthmus of time bordered by the unknown waters of our birth and the horizonless ocean of eternity. As with my days, so with life – a time may come when the embers are burning low, when the light is dimming, when the end is no longer surreal, and I must live so as not to regret wastage, the wanton expenditure of my life’s choicest commodity.”

Flashback: From Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation (A Video from Grace Fellowship Church)

At the 2018 G3 Conference I spoke on “Discipleship in Diversity.” I told of how we, at Grace Fellowship Church, have learned to be a church that is united in a context of great diversity. I concluded the message with a video of some of the people of Grace Fellowship Church reading Revelation 5 in many different languages. I hope you enjoy it.

When man justifies the wicked, it is a miscarriage of justice which God hates, but when God justifies the ungodly it is a miracle of grace for us to adore.

—J.I. Packer

  • Are We Living in the Last Days

    Are We Living in the Last Days?

    The world is a mess. The world is a mess and seems to be getting messier. I could draw up an inventory of all the wars and conflicts, the diseases and disasters, the rise of immorality and decline of virtue, but that would be to tell you what you have already observed and already know.…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (March 29)

    A La Carte: How to protect your kids from sexual abuse / Talk to God about what hurts / How’s your Bible reading plan going? / Resentment between men and women in the church / and more.

  • A Batch of New Books for Kids

    A Batch of New Books for Kids (and Teens)

    Every month I put together a roundup of new and notable books for grownup readers. But I also receive a lot of books for kids and like to put together the occasional roundup of these books as well. So today I bring you a whole big batch of new books for kids of all ages…

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (March 28)

    A La Carte: The case against the abortion pill / What I’ve learned about grieving with hope / Heartbreaking deception: teen girls, social media, and body image / Could podcasts save the church from stupidity? / Count it all joy / and more.

  • What God Wants You To Forget

    What God Wants You To Forget

    We are never far from reminding God of our credentials, of providing him with a curriculum vitae that lays out all we are, all we have been through, and all we have accomplished for his sake. We are never far from making the subtle turn from grace to merit, from what is freely given to…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 27)

    A La Carte: New music / Millennials and GenZ / Scotland’s new hate crime law / Cate Blanchett, Easter is for you / Why the Reformed pray for revival / What truly happened to Jesus on the cross? / and more.