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A La Carte (July 17)

tuesday

Today’s Kindle deals include a few miscellaneous discounts that may interest you.

If you’re in or near Edinburgh, I’d love to meet you this evening at 7 PM at FM Bookshop on Gilmerton Road.

(Yesterday on the blog: A Sober Warning from the Earliest Christians)

Does the Sermon Sing? Six Classic Piper Lectures on Preaching

“On November 2–3, 1994, John Piper delivered the Bernard H. Rom Preaching Lectures at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Piper had been pastor for fourteen years at Bethlehem Baptist Church, where already he had preached more than 700 sermons.” They are now available online for the first time.

Why Immigrants Like Me Hate Illegal Immigration

Illegal immigration is a hot topic in Canada today. My good friend Sam shares some of his experience (as well as his mother’s).

My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave-Trader

I found this a fascinating article. “In the past decade, I’ve felt a growing sense of unease. African intellectuals tend to blame the West for the slave trade, but I knew that white traders couldn’t have loaded their ships without help from Africans like my great-grandfather.” History is terrible and complicated.

How to Leave Porn Behind

“My older sister sat across from me at the Taco Bell and listened carefully. She knew I was lying, but she was too concerned to be angry. As she questioned me about the double life I had been living, which had been unwillingly exposed to my family and friends, she calmly heard my mistruths and told me that she knew better. For years I had been hiding beneath the identity of being a pastor’s kid in the church worship band while yielding myself totally to pornography. I was broken, but not broken enough, and still trying to put up a crumbling façade.”

Why It’s So Hard for You to Stop Reading Books You Don’t Even Like

It’s a strange but near-universal phenomenon that it’s very difficult to stop reading books even if we don’t like them. Why do we have such trouble letting go?

“Mom, How Will I Know He’s The One?” – 5 Ways to Prepare Them for Marriage

“The question will come. It did for us as she sat on my lap, her baby-soft hand moved my chin to look at her face. Big blue eyes searched mine, ‘Mom, how did you know Dad was the one?’ The question dug into my heart. I knew how important it was to answer right, even though she was far too young to ask it.”

Keep the Altar of Private Prayer Burning

Here’s some Spurgeon to challenge you: “Keep the altar of private prayer burning. This is the very life of all piety. The sanctuary and family altars borrow their fires here, therefore let this burn well. Secret devotion is the very essence, evidence, and barometer, of vital and experimental religion.”

Flashback: Behavior Both Odd and Ugly

I see the world through my own sin and project my sin upon others. I see my sin in them, even where it doesn’t exist. I unfairly and sinfully accuse them of my sin.

If you expose your sin, Jesus will cover it. If you cover your sin, he will expose it.

—J.D. Greear

  • Is Biblical Counseling for You? Let the Goal be the Guide.

    This week’s blog is sponsored by Insight Counseling, providing counsel, care, and training in the grace and power of Christ.  Click here to find out more. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would…

  • Modesty Requires Looking Away

    Modesty Requires Looking Away

    The plane reached the terminal in Recife, Brazil and the ground crew opened the door. I have been through more airports than I can count1 and find they all kind of blur together—jetways, corridors, escalators, luggage belts. But for some reason, I remembered this one from my previous visit. After exiting the secure area, I…

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    A La Carte (December 2)

    A La Carte: Cyber Monday deals / Eleven hindrances to answered prayer / Thinking about Bruce Willis and Jesus / Nearly there, nearly home / Progressive ideology leads to paganism / You already work a Christian job / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Revelation We All Still Await

    Is God’s Revelation Complete?

    If for so many centuries God revealed himself through the inspired writings that make up the Bible, is it possible that he may add more inspired writings today or in the future? It is a fair question and forces us to distinguish between what God can do and what God has said he will do.

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    Weekend A La Carte (November 30)

    A La Carte: Britain votes for death / Is Christianity on the cusp of resurgence? / One year after goodbye / Christmas isn’t in the Bible / Why we gather / Black Friday (Weekend) deals / and more.

  • Free Stuff Fridays (21Five)

    This week the blog is sponsored by 21Five, a Canadian Christian bookstore. In an era of information overload, it can be hard to cut through the noise and find quality Christian titles. This is where 21Five steps in, Canada’s gospel-centred Christian bookstore! 21Five curates the best God-glorifying books and products, with a physical location in…