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A La Carte (July 5)

wednesday

I don’t know if there is anyone who reads my site in Bangkok, but if there is … I am going to be in the city on Wednesday, July 26. If anyone would like to meet up for lunch and to perhaps meander the tourist part of town, let me know!

How a Christian Patriot Might Love His Wayward Country

Denny Burk considers how a patriot might love his country, even when it’s not always easy. “We do not choose our homeland. It is something that we are born into. Thus our acceptance of our home is not like a house that we can leave when we tire of it. It is like the love we have for our family…”

What Happens to Little Ones When They Die?

This is a good explanation of why the majority of Christians have been confident in saying that infants who die go to heaven.

Are you a “Marrow Man?”

Thomas Boston’s emphasis on God’s free offer of grace and Christ’s meritorious work pierced to the very marrow of Christian theology. Read his Complete Works to taste the vibrant Reformed spirituality that has encouraged Christians for more than 200 years. (Sponsored Link)

Learning to Forgive Family

John Piper takes on the matter of forgiving family. “This is utterly crucial. It’s a matter of life and death, and I mean eternal life and death, as we will see in just a moment. So, I take this question really seriously, and I hope this family will take the issue seriously also.”

If You Don’t Believe in Hell

“Beliefs ripple. But we make a concerted effort to ignore that. Especially within the system of Christian faith, people can be tempted to pick and choose which doctrines they are ‘okay with’ and which ones they leave behind. The problem lies in the ripples.” Pierce explains how this works with the doctrine of hell.

When Your Life Feels “Too Small”

We have probably all been told that we ought to dream big or have God-sized dreams. But “have we also been told that God-sized dreams don’t need to be ‘impressive’ by the world’s estimation? Have we also been cheered on that our daily work doesn’t have to be visible in order to be valuable? Have we heard the message that ‘ordinary’ work can be extraordinarily impactful?”

Preaching to the Imagination

“I was struck by how Jesus spoke to the woman’s imagination and how this interaction helps me as a preacher to better understand my calling to preach to the imagination effectively.” Yes! Let’s make sure we attempt to engage the imagination when we preach.

Flashback: Slogging Blogging

All I can do is keep going and trust that the long effort will be rewarded with occasional success—the success of knowing that I’ve been able to bless or encourage or equip another person.

The sinner can no more raise himself from the deadness of sin than Lazarus, who had been dead four days until Jesus came.

—George Whitefield

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    A La Carte (October 14)

    A La Carte: The mother I meant to be / A theology of preaching / Forgiveness / Resist the machine / Evangelists with cheerful confidence / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Paradoxes of Christianity

    Learn how to engage with cultural issues in a deeply countercultural way. When we embrace the paradoxical character preached by Jesus in the Beatitudes, we experience rich and surprising blessing.

  • Foggy future

    On the Far Side of Obedience

    To be human is to be finite—to be limited in our knowledge of past, present, and future. We exist within strict boundaries of time and space, so that we cannot see beyond our present location or beyond our present moment. This is a feature of our humanity and not a bug…

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    A La Carte (October 13)

    A La Carte: I miss the stars / Count the cost / Shame as the vicious trap of sexual sin / Clouds of shame and unbelief / When you’ve been blindsided / Book and commentary sale / and more.

  • For All the Noise We Make…

    We must be as eager to hear the Scripture as to hear the sermon, and we must be as expectant that God will speak to us through the Word as through the message. Rightly do many churches preface their Bible reading with words like, “Listen as I read God’s holy Word.”

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    Weekend A La Carte (October 11)

    A La Carte: Why dads still matter / Character in absurd times / Don’t get baptized in the Jordan / Gen Z is spiritually hungry / Extending hospitality to children / and more.