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A La Carte (July 29)

Today’s Kindle deals include 3 books I highly recommend: The Gospel by Ray Ortlund; Core Christianity by Michael Horton; and Church History 101 by Sinclair Ferguson, Joel Beeke, and Michael Haykin. You can find the deals right here.

On the print book side, Westminster Books has a great sale on the venerable NICNT commentary series. You can build yourself a commentary collection in a hurry with these volumes. (For specific commentary recommendations, you can visit my Best Commentaries page.

Godly Compassion for Hurting People

John MacArthur describes “a wonderful, practical, real-life illustration of God’s compassion.”

The Word of God and the Academy

Tim Grant: “I have noticed that those from the academy give the impression that the Bible belongs to them—that they have a special claim on it and that they have a special claim to understand it, due to their great learning, general smartness, or a PhD they completed at some point in the past. They are, at this point, deeply mistaken.”

The Camera Adds 10 Pounds

You’ve heard it said before that the camera adds 10 pounds. This quite gif shows how that’s the case. It’s all about the lens!

Touched by Biblical Beauty

George Guthrie: “The world may be ‘death impregnated,’ as one of my mentors used to say, and most of us know the bite of suffering in one form or another, but it also is brim-full of beauty because it everywhere bears the mark of his thumbprint, his “It was very good” (Gen. 1:31). The common graces of tastes, sights, touch, sounds, enduring friendship, love, joy, community. And much, much beauty has been squeezed into the world through the funnel of God’s good Word, the Bible.”

This Day in 1775. 241 years ago today, the U.S. Army Chaplaincy was founded, making it the second oldest branch of that service after the Infantry. *

The Attractional Church’s Growing Irrelevance

Jared Wilson does what he does so well: “I find it incredibly interesting, sort of amusing, and more than a bit sad that the attractional church—what we used to call the “seeker church”—hasn’t seemed to grow up at all. Yes, it’s grown big. But growing big and growing up aren’t the same thing.”

The Rearview Mirror

“We see Providence in the rearview mirror. In my experience, it is usually far less clear looking over the dashboard. It’s when we look back that we can see how God was working all things together for his glory and our good.”

Trumped

Despite the title, this is not really an article about Trump. It is, in fact, about the church and a role the church ought to play.

Flashback: Why We Fail at Family Devotions

Here are some common reasons that we fail in our good desire to have family devotions.

Carson

If we harbor bitterness and resentment, praying is little more than wasted time and effort.

—D.A. Carson

  • A Solid Defense of a Very Defensible Position

    Some issues in the church seem to arise once, but then get permanently put to rest. Others, though, seem to arise time and time again, often in slightly different forms. Gender roles are squarely in the latter category.

  • A La Carte (July 17)

    Setting a financial finish line / A manifesto on generative AI writing / What the Bible teaches about karma / Dang it, social media / D.L. Moody’s commitment to God / Playing to not lose / Book reviews / Sales and deals / and more.

  • A La Carte (July 16)

    Gen-Z revival / Devotional material that hinders spiritual growth? / Does the day end in night / When you cannot sing, let the church sing for you / Three prayers for prodigal children / The ordinary and enduring gifts of the Spirit / and more.

  • Harder to Change

    I’m Finding It Harder to Change

    As 2026 began, I decided to change up my devotions. I have followed roughly the same pattern for the last 15 or 20 years and thought it would be nice to freshen things up a little bit. It went poorly.

  • A La Carte (July 15)

    Hell’s evangelistic appeal / Sleepless nights / Was the multiplication of the early church a miraculous movement? / When evangelism is dispiriting / The fiery darts / In praise of a sending church / Preparing for ministry / and more.

  • A La Carte (July 14)

    Should you marry her anyway? / Be sure your sin will find you out / How can we be ready to meet the Lord? / Aging is a series of relinquishments / Making the Christian life more complicated than it needs to be / Happy birthday to you! / Sales and deals / and more.