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A La Carte (January 28)

thursday

Good morning, and may the God of love and peace be with you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a number of selections from Crossway with a few others besides.

(Yesterday on the blog: When We Failed to Count the Cost)

The False Gospel of Assuming the Worst of Others

“One reason conversations about hard topics like social justice tend to generate more heat than light, both within and beyond the church, is a phenomenon we may call ‘the Newman Effect.’” Thaddeus Williams explains the phenomenon and its importance.

Prayer Worrier

“I am, by nature, something of a worrier. In fact, I am the grandson of a worrier, who had a very worried son, who has passed that tendency on to me and which I have nobly engendered in my boy. Four generations of Kneale worry and counting. Telling us to just stop worrying doesn’t really help. It is sometimes impossible – particularly last thing at night – to turn the worries off.”

How To Survive Three Days In The Wild

If this ever comes in handy, I expect you to send me a thank you note.

Returning To Your First Love

Jim Elliff reflects on Revelation’s warning about losing our first love. “Are you and those who are with you dangerously close to experiencing this judgment? Is the Light of God’s presence dim, almost imperceptible? Do you have form without power and activity without fruit? If so, Christ says you must…”

Be Reasonable for the Sake of the Gospel

Melissa says that “hyperbole seems to be the rhetorical strategy of the day in Christian circles.” She warns that “these weird and wild comments do nothing for the spread of the gospel. They are usually indignant, entitled, arrogant, and overly opinionated, and they paint a completely insufficient picture of God’s grace.”

The Radical Incoherence of Biden’s Transgender Policy

Joe Carter points out the radical incoherence of Joe Biden’s transgender policy. “President Biden seems to think that his new policy is a mere reversion to the 2016 status quo, when President Obama allowed transgender people to serve under certain restrictive conditions. What he fails to understand is that the issue of transgenderism has evolved considerably over the past five years. Biden has adopted a policy that is not only radically incoherent but that will have profound effects on both the military and the American people.” (See also Rod Dreher’s The Tyranny Of Tech & Trans.)

An Open Letter to a Sinner

Are you a sinner? I rather suspect you are. Hence you may benefit from this open letter, written for people like you (and me).

Flashback: How Evangelism Is Kind of Like Fishing

Sharing the gospel is about more than just learning and reciting a generic gospel presentation. It’s about knowing people and loving people—about loving them enough to get to know them.

We can’t separate our home life from our Christian life without missing something that is critical to our fellowship with God and our usefulness to His mission in the world.

—Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

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    A La Carte (May 20)

    A La Carte: The foibles and fallibility of Christian leaders / Mental illness / Why didn’t Christ come sooner? / When it’s okay to die / Spiritual formation / and more.

  • Unlock Your Ministry Potential with Microcredentials

    Are you looking for accessible faith-based resources that can help you serve your church community with confidence? Check out Redeemer University’s online church leadership microcredentials—available anytime, anywhere. #Sponsored

  • Discernment

    What Does a Discerning Person Do?

    Some Christians seem to be specially gifted when it comes to spiritual discernment. Others take a special interest in discernment and expend the hard effort of growing in the discipline of it. But they may sometimes wonder: What should I do with this discernment?

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    A La Carte (May 19)

    A La Carte: Dangers of theological controversy / No confidence? No problem! / The goodness of gardening friends / Jeff the low stakes prophet / Hurting people / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Prayer

    The Reward They Longed for They Received

    Jesus, who knew what was in the heart of men, warned of the hypocrisy of those whose prayer life is only ever public. “When you pray,” he said, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen…

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    Weekend A La Carte (May 17)

    A La Carte: Generalizations are not stereotypes / Hospitality and reaching the dechurched / Essential lessons for pastors / The rise of Islam and the resilience of the church / Gossip and godly church / Fear takes you where grace has not yet gone / and more.