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A La Carte (June 24)

monday

Today’s Kindle deals include some books from Crossway and a personal favorite by Richard Rogers.

Wokeness and Legalism

This is a very interesting look at how the secular woke movement is essentially a religion that is fatally flawed by legalism. “What does it mean to ‘become woke?’ It is to gain a special insight, right? How is that different from being born again? We Christians believe that this rebirth allows us to have a new relationship with God. In a sense we gain a new insight that we did not have before. In this way the talk about being woke mimics the talk about being born again. This is yet another way secular ideologies imitate systems of supernatural beliefs.”

The German Failure Teaches Us To Avoid The Danger of Over-Complicating Gospel Ministry

I think John is onto something here. “The vast majority of the work of the gospel in the world today is, as it always has been, done by relatively uneducated church members who love Christ, rely on the power of his Spirit, pray fervently, and have confidence that the simple gospel message declaring Jesus to be Lord is God’s power for salvation. They are the equivalent of the Allied Shermans, less sophisticated but adequate, and they get the job done.”

Mark Dever says “Matthias Media resources are faithful, fresh and of great help.” Some of the most helpful of their resources are on sale this week, including Trellis and Vine and How to Walk into Church. Matthias Media exists to partner with all Christians in making disciples. So, if you have a ministry need or a favorite disciple-making resource that isn’t on sale, call their team. They are very happy to give you ideas and extend the same discount for the resources you need.

How to Be a Better Tourist

Tourism is surging to new heights of popularity and it’s not always leading to good consequences. As you travel this summer, here’s how to be a better tourist.

How Celibacy Developed in the Early Church

How on earth did the early church (and, today, the Catholic Church) get so obsessed with celibacy? Robert Godfrey explains here.

India’s city where people come to die

This article highlights the deep sadness of false and hopeless religion. “Hindu scriptures say that dying here and getting cremated along the banks of the holy Ganges river allows you to break the cycle of rebirth and attain salvation. Funeral pyres burn incessantly at Manikarnika and Harishchandra ghats, the steps leading down to the river, whose water, now grey from industrial and human waste, is believed to wash away the sins of even the worst transgressors.”

Not Pregnant, Just Fat

“The idea that my body had internal wisdom built into its DNA was antithetical to everything I had believed to be true about what it meant to nourish and cherish your body. Trust my bodily intuition when it comes to eating? You might as well ask me to scale Everest. I couldn’t remember a time when I had made eating decisions based on internal cues.”

The invention that saved a million ships

Add this to the list of places I’d love to visit. “The oldest operating lighthouse in France (construction began in the 16th Century, but beacons had existed there hundreds of years prior) and the world’s first to be built in the open sea, this imposing sentinel of white stone is a Renaissance masterpiece. Equal parts cathedral, fort and royal palace, this ‘Versailles of the Sea’ is a monument to history and maritime engineering.”

Flashback: Lessons I’ve Learned From False Teachers

When and where there are teachers of truth, there will necessarily be teachers of error. Perhaps the most surprising thing about false teachers is that we continue to be surprised by them.

We pursue sexual sin not because our hedonism is too strong but because our hunger for pleasure is so small we settle for a cheap imitation of the real thing: porn.

—Benjamin Vrbicek

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    Why We Ask So Little of God

    Most Christians expect little from God, ask little, and therefore receive little, and are content with little. Though the Bible calls us to pray and though it promises that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” we can still have very modest expectations of what God will accomplish through…

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    A Light on the Hill

    In early 2020, CHBC, along with almost every other church in the world, was forced to contend with the opening days of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time Caleb Morell was working as Pastor Mark Dever’s personal assistant. Dever tasked him with finding out how the church had responded to the Spanish flu epidemic a…

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