A La Carte (July 3)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include an excellent biography of Eric Liddell, a book for preachers, and quite a few other good picks.

Pastors may be interested in a deal at Westminster Books: a discount on Thomas Murphy’s Pastoral Theology. There’s also a good deal on Crossway Short Classics.

Recommended Reading

If God Meant Everybody, Why Did He Say Neighbour? If God meant for us to love everyone, why didn’t he say that in the first place? That’s a good question, isn’t it? “In Leviticus 19:18, God commands his people to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’. Jesus called this the second greatest commandment, after loving God himself (Mark 12:28-31). When a religious leader asked him to clarify, ‘who is my neighbour?’ Jesus used the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate that your ‘neighbour’ could be anybody—even strangers, foreigners, and natural enemies.”

No Faith Worth Defending. Carl Trueman considers the King of England and the Church of England and the long relationship between them. “Buckingham Palace has updated the official description of the monarch’s role vis-à-vis the Church of England. No longer is the king the ‘Defender of the Faith’; rather, ‘His Majesty is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and protects the space for Faith within the multi-faith nation.’ The description is inspiring in rhetoric but rather empty of dogmatic content.”

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Is This Young Person Ready to Be Baptized? Clarifying Questions and Considerations for Churches. All Baptists need to consider the criteria for determining who is ready to be baptized. This article from Scott Daniel offers three clarifying questions that can help churches evaluate whether or not a young person is, indeed, ready to be baptized.

Your Body Is Not for Sale: Helping Young Men Resist Self-Objectification. We are probably accustomed to reading articles about the objectification of young women’s bodies, but as Harvest USA points out, young men’s bodies are increasingly becoming objectified as well. “‘Chris Pratt welcomes your objectification.'[1] That was the headline in 2017. Once known for playing the lovable, ‘chubby’ Andy Dwyer on NBC’s Parks and Rec, Pratt had transformed his body for a string of Hollywood blockbusters. Now that he was on the cover of GQ, and his abs were all over the internet, reporters wanted to know how he felt about being objectified.”

Your Church’s Seating Chart Isn’t All Bad. Though they tend to be informal, every church does have some kind of seating chart. Ryan insists that this is not necessarily a bad thing. “What’s that you say? My church doesn’t have a seating chart! Don’t be ridiculous! Well, sure, your church doesn’t have an official seating chart. I’m sure no one is required to sit in any one place. But I’d guess your church has a functional seating chart. Just ask one of your pastors or leaders. Bob? Yeah, he sits on the left side near the back. You can find Susan in the aisle seat halfway back on the right.”

How to Lead More Vibrant Prayer Meetings. “Too many churches have taken the prayer meeting back behind the barn and shot it. If those prayer meetings were like some I’ve been to, I’m sympathetic. I’m thinking of prayer meetings: Where much of the time was spent talking and too little of the time was spent praying. Where the focus was more on my name being hallowed, my kingdom coming, and my will being done, instead of God’s name, kingdom, and will. Where someone would start praying and then tediously meander through every topic under the sun. But the solution to such prayer meetings is not a bullet. Quite the opposite. The solution is a resurrection.”

A Third Party

I recently found myself encouraged by this quote from De Witt Talmage (whom I quote often as I make my way through a collection of 500 of his sermons). It celebrates the wonder of Christ, the mediator between God and men.

You know very well that if two be at variance, the third party coming in must be on good terms with both the parties. If you and I are at variance, and a third party comes in to settle the difficulty, and he is my antagonist, I will reject him. If he be your antagonist, you will reject him. The third party coming in for the work of mediation must be on good terms with both of us. Behold Christ’s qualifications. God looks at him and says, “My Son.” We look at him and say, “Elder Brother.” He will look after God’s rights, for he has filial affection. He will be sympathetic with us, for he is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh (Talmage)

Flashback

The Utter Horror of the Smallest Sins. Our sinfulness is expressed not only in our desire to break God’s greatest rules but in our willingness to break even his smallest ones.