A La Carte (July 31)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include quite a selection of books. I’ve added a few that are on sale for just one more day before they revert to their standard prices.

Westminster Books has a great deal on a neat series of biographies for children.

Recommended Reading

Does God Punish Us for Our Parents’ Sin? I think this is a fair handling of a question that is often asked out of great pain. “There are times when the Bible seems to contradict itself about whether we are punished for our parents’ sin—sometimes even in the same book. … Does God punish children for the sins of their fathers? The answer is yes and no. Let’s get the yes out of the way first.”

Beware What You Believe In. Pierce Taylor Hibbs: “Beware what you believe in. There is a powerful and life-altering difference between believing in God, believing in other people, and believing in the gifts God gives. Many times we confuse these options and end up disenchanted, disgusted, or deflated.”

How a Google Voice Number Transformed My Youth Ministry. Austin Gravley explains how a simple Google Voice number made an outsized difference in his ministry to young people.

When Christians Don’t Get Along. “You’ve felt it before. That thick tension when a disagreement between two ladies at church has spread, and now it feels like every woman in the congregation is being drafted onto teams like some sort of high-stress kickball game. Or that spike of annoyance and adrenaline when you run into someone you were hoping to avoid on your way to the sanctuary—not because you harbor malice toward her, but because she rubs you the wrong way, and you just don’t feel like dealing with it this morning.”

I Was Helped by a Hypocrite. Like many of us, Garrett Kell was once helped by someone who later proved to be a hypocrite. “I’d been a believer for a year when I met Walt. He captivated a crowd when he preached. His counsel was pivotal in my life, and God used him to strengthen my young faith. But Walt turned out to be a hypocrite. After proclaiming God’s glory, he’d visit prostitutes on his way home to his wife. After his divorce, he stole another man’s wife. Walt’s downfall disoriented me. How could I be so helped by a man who was such a hypocrite?”

Freedom Wears a Chain. “The Christian is set free. Set free from the punishment of sin. Set free from the power of sin. A Christian is set free from the law of sin and death. ‘For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery’ (Gal 6:1). Christians are set free from the righteousness that comes by the works of the law. We are free from the fear of death and the devil. But did you know that freedom wears a chain?”

A La Quiz

Did you read the best of this week’s A La Carte? Test yourself:

George Sinclair wrote about a new Anglican liturgy that deliberately inserts a pause for something truly awful. What is that pause for? (See here)

A veteran pastor wrote about one of the helpful consequences of growing older and gaining wisdom. What did he identify? (See here)

Mikey Lynch wondered when it’s time to stop referring to people as something and refer to them instead as adult-adults. What was the term he wants to limit? (See here)

Flashback

Give Me a Faith Like His! When Joseph awoke he remembered the dream, he accepted it as God’s own revelation, and he received it as God’s own instruction. He set aside all thought of divorce, he took Mary as his wife, and he raised her son as his own.