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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

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    A Batch of New Books for Kids (and Teens)

    Every month I put together a roundup of new and notable books for grownup readers. But I also receive a lot of books for kids and like to put together the occasional roundup of these books as well. So today I bring you a whole big batch of new books for kids of all ages…

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    A La Carte (March 28)

    A La Carte: The case against the abortion pill / What I’ve learned about grieving with hope / Heartbreaking deception: teen girls, social media, and body image / Could podcasts save the church from stupidity? / Count it all joy / and more.

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    What God Wants You To Forget

    We are never far from reminding God of our credentials, of providing him with a curriculum vitae that lays out all we are, all we have been through, and all we have accomplished for his sake. We are never far from making the subtle turn from grace to merit, from what is freely given to…

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    A La Carte (March 27)

    A La Carte: New music / Millennials and GenZ / Scotland’s new hate crime law / Cate Blanchett, Easter is for you / Why the Reformed pray for revival / What truly happened to Jesus on the cross? / and more.

  • New and Notable Books

    New and Notable Christian Books for March 2024

    As you know, I like to do my best to sort through the new Christian books that are released each month to see what stands out as being not only new, but also particularly notable. I received quite a number of new titles in March and narrowed the list down to the ones below. I…

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    A La Carte (March 26)

    A La Carte: God delivers from the suffering he ordains / The beautiful partnership of family and church / The end of religious liberty / On whales, menopause, and thanks to God / Ordinary women, extravagant gifts / and more.