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A La Carte (July 8)

thursday

Good morning. May the Lord bless and keep you today.

There is a list of Kindle deals to browse through today.

Just a reminder to Logos users that you will want to check out the great commentary sale they’ve got going on right now. (Also remember that the NICOT/NICNT are on sale as well.)

Why Does Hell Exist?

“Is such punishment too extreme? Does my selfishness or pride really deserve such treatment? How can God be loving and send someone to hell?” James Williams answers these difficult questions.

For Those with Little Faith

“‘O you of little faith…’ The words run through the Gospel of Matthew as a kind of refrain, reminding us of the disciples’ wavering trust. And perhaps of our own. Four times, we hear this rebuke cushioned with tenderness, this tenderness steeled with rebuke.”

Providential Dullness

This is interesting to consider: “The disciples failed to comprehend Jesus’ explicit and repeated predictions of his coming crucifixion and resurrection because, even while he was revealing it to them, it was being “hidden from them” by the Lord Himself. And only the Lord could remove that incomprehension — which is exactly what Luke says happened.”

Turn Your Eyes

“‘Turn your eyes upon Jesus.’ The simplest act. To move my gaze. From the task. Pain. Problems. Ordinary ins and outs of every day. It’s easy. No complicated checklist required. And yet…”

Does Your Prayer Life Need to Change?

“I would like to provide here a list of different methods of prayer that could help some who are struggling maintain a better prayer life. Some of us just need a few practical tips to give us ideas about how to best pray in their specific situation of life. Here we go…”

It Is OK for Christians to Not Be Happy All the Time

“Many of the songs we sing in church are happy songs. We sing of Jesus being Joy to the World, of the wonder of Amazing Grace, and of how great our God is. And yes, of course, these are great things to sing about! But if that is all that we sing, we might be sending the wrong message to those in the congregation. We might be inadvertently saying that Christians should be happy all the time.”

Does God Give Us More than We Can Handle?

He sure does…

Flashback: My Great Daily Challenge As a Christian

The great daily challenge of Christian living is the challenge of simply taking hold of what is mine in Christ. It is the challenge of presenting my whole self as a living sacrifice to God

The spiritual disciplines are not themselves the marks of Christlikeness as much as they are the means to it.

—Donald Whitney

  • Sanctified or Tired

    Am I Sanctified or Am I Tired?

    How much am I actually becoming holier and how much am I just becoming wearier? How much have I really grown in sanctification and how much am I just too tired to be bothered pursuing sin?

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    A La Carte (June 9)

    A La Carte: Hitler and Jesus / Why young women fear dating / The mass trauma of porn / Christian books with unintended consequences/ Pentecostal not provincial / Her name is Sarah / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Praying together

    We Neglect it at Our Peril

    We know that prayer is a crucial discipline for the individual believer, but how often do we consider that it is also a crucial discipline for the assembled church? The Bible prescribes only a few elements for local church worship, but among them is prayer.

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    Weekend A La Carte (June 7)

    A La Carte: The most important quality in church musicians / Don’t make friends with doubt / The midlife spiritual plateau / There’ll be no sighing there / Because Jesus said so / and more.

  • The Tech Exit

    Help Your Family Make a Tech Exit

    We are now several generations into digital living, several generations into learning to live with the constant presence of connected mobile devices. For most of us, it is rare that we are beyond the glow of a screen or outside the influence of an app.