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A La Carte (June 13)

Today’s Kindle deals include quite an extensive list of titles.

(Yesterday on the blog: EPIC: Africa (with Special Guests Voddie Baucham & Conrad Mbewe))

J.D. Greear Elected SBC President

Christianity Today reports: “Greear, a 45-year-old whose North Carolina megachurch has become a missions juggernaut, beat out former seminary head and SBC statesman Ken Hemphill by a margin of 69 percent to 31 percent at the 2018 annual meeting in Dallas, becoming the denomination’s youngest president in 37 years.” (Here is his response to his election.)

Jack Dorsey: Twitter Chicken

Stephen McAlpine comments on an eye-opening event. “Jesus, in Mark 7, jettisons the food laws in favour of grace, without at any stage watering down what the Bible says about sexuality. The Sexular Culture jettisons grace in favour of newly introduced food laws and their sexuality department will police it in a way that would have made the Pharisee proud, or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard for that matter.”

The Magical Birth Canal

Be sure to watch the video. “Abortion advocates divide human beings into two groups: valuable humans and non-valuable humans. Valuable humans have rights. Non-valuable humans have no rights and can be killed with impunity. We must ask the question, what makes some humans valuable and some not valuable? What’s the difference that would allow you to kill the latter but not the former?”

You’d Never Guess What an Acorn Woodpecker Eats (Video)

“OK. Maybe you would. But the lengths they have to go to to stock up for the winter will surprise you. When you see how carefully they arrange each acorn, you might just need to reorganize your pantry.” Neat!

The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men

What does it mean to be a Christian man? For one week only, Ligonier Ministries and Reformation Trust are offering the ebook edition of The Masculine Mandate by Richard Phillips as a free download. (Sponsored Link)

Sex Offenders Groom Churches Too

This is very important to understand. “Deception is the main vehicle sexual offenders use for getting away with their crimes. Unfortunately, not only are they good at it, but most people have unrealistic views of their own perceptive abilities. We think we usually know when people are lying, but a widely cited study evaluating law-enforcement personnel, psychiatrists, college students and working adults has shown that’s not true. We think we would recognize when a predator is grooming a child, but we aren’t very good at that either. We think we know when someone has good character or has truly repented of their past. We can be wrong on all points.”

5 Lessons From Visiting the Ark Encounter

“Perhaps the greatest reminder is that God is Sovereign. He alone can save a soul, and all the evidence in the world can’t cause a person to believe. And yet people believe. The folks at Answers in Genesis aren’t smarter than your average scientist. They simply have been given new hearts by God, love His Word and are unafraid to share the truth with the world. Like Noah, we can confidently stand strong, relying on the Word of God, and faithfully preaching the truth to the world around us. Unlike Noah’s day, when God didn’t save anyone other than Noah and his family, today He is patiently enduring evil and allowing people to come to know Him.” I haven’t been to the Ark yet, but plan to go soon!

Where Is My Answer?

This article answers the age-old question, “Why does God not immediately accomplish our desires?”

Flashback: How to Avoid the Worst Form of Failure

Do you want to succeed at life’s greater things? Then direct your life toward glorifying God by loving others. Take everything you are and everything you’ve got and deliberately direct it at doing good to others so God can receive the glory.

Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship in spirit and in truth. Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.

—Elisabeth Elliot

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

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    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

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    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…