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A La Carte (January 8)

friday

Good morning. The God of peace be with you all today.

Here’s your occasional reminder that at SquareQuotes.church you’ll find a huge collection of the daily quote graphics I share each day. You can download them, print them, share them, and so on.

Today’s Kindle deals include a number of volumes in the John Stott Bible Study series.

A Call for Content Creators to Cultivate Discernment

I hope content creators will heed this call to cultivate true discernment. “Beautiful language, by itself, does not encompass all that it means to write well as a Christian. Christian writers must labor not only to write what is true but also to write in a manner that adorns the truth.”

When Things Look Bleak…

Nick Batzig: “Like many other Christians, I am deeply concerned about the direction in which our country has been moving and the speed at which it continues to move. The murder of the unborn, the celebration of every form of sexual immorality, the increase in public acts of violence, perpetual discrimination, sex trafficking, and a rise in religious intolerance certainly top the list of moral evils over which we should grieve.”

Church Planting in Forgotten Urban Neighborhoods

Gospel-centered church planting has been flourishing for decades—except among the urban poor. New England Urban (NEU) Church Planting aims to bridge that gap and equip church planters to build gospel-rich churches among New England’s poorest urban neighborhoods. Learn more and register for our upcoming online conference: Urban Hope: How Gospel Churches Bring Hope to Forgotten Neighborhoods. Febuary 5-6, 2021. Use the code CHALLIES for a 20% discount. (Sponsored Link)

Closer to Islam than to Liberal Christianity

Even here in Canada I’ve had experiences like this one: “We stood there awkwardly as the laughter died away. I looked at Henry and at my new Egyptian friend, realizing in that moment that we had more in common with one another than we did with all these chuckling church-goers. In fact, we lived in a different world. As a believer, I had more in common with my Muslim friends like this Egyptian than I did with many of my own countrymen who claimed to be Christians. What a strange and tragic thing.”

Isn’t It Cruel to Force a Woman to Keep a Child She Can’t Afford to Raise, or to Give up a Baby for Adoption?

Randy Alcorn answers a common charge made against those who are pro-life.

Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God

David Steele’s review of this new (and really problematic) book is an opportunity to teach and celebrate lots of precious truths.

Why Did God Harden Pharaoh’s Heart? A Case for Divine Ultimacy

If you’re interested in a longer read, perhaps consider this article from Phil Gons.

Flashback: Head Knowledge = Good. Heart Knowledge = Good.

Christianity is and must be a faith that involves the mind just as it is and must be a faith that involves the heart. The problem comes when there is a radical disconnect between the two.

What God takes from me is less than I owe him, and what he leaves me is more than I deserve.

—William Gurnall

  • Talent

    Great Gifts but Little Faithfulness

    God does not distribute his gifts equally among all his children. Rather, to some he gives much and to others he gives little. Some are given great opportunities while others are given minimal opportunities, and some are given massive wealth while others are given paltry wealth or even straight-out poverty. Some have towering intellects while…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (October 14)

    A La Carte: Yesterday and today and forevermore / Elisabeth Elliot, the valiant / Deconstructing one’s faith / Is theology really that important / I talk with Paul Tripp / Kindle and commentary deals / and more.

  • Meditation

    Coming Away Cold

    We live at a time in which we are constantly inundated with information. We live much of our lives within the glow of digital devices that are constantly beeping, buzzing, and flashing to tell us there is new information available to be had—text messages, emails, tweets, headlines.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (October 12)

    A La Carte: When the trees fall / No little people, no little places / Empty nesting / Revisionist history / I asked the Lord that I might grow / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (MBTS)

    This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For the Church Institute is a free online platform from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary designed to provide free and accessible theological training to equip, encourage, and edify local churches. Courses may be taken as a self-paced individual or as a group within your…

  • Daily Doctrine

    A Daily Diet of Doctrine

    A while back I realized I needed to brush up on some of these and began to organize a system of spaced repetition—a way to encounter these doctrines on a regular basis, thus reinforcing them and keeping them fresh in my mind. And it was right then…