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A La Carte (March 11)

monday

As is typical for Mondays, there’s a nice little group of Kindle deals to work through, most of which are from Crossway.

(Yesterday on the blog: A Pastoral Prayer)

Sin Is Cosmic Treason

You’ve probably heard R.C. Sproul’s description of sin as cosmic treason. Here’s an explanation. “‘The sinfulness of sin’ sounds like a vacuous redundancy that adds no information to the subject under discussion. However, the necessity of speaking of the sinfulness of sin has been thrust upon us by a culture and even a church that has diminished the significance of sin itself.”

All the Time Management in the World Won’t Make You God

“I don’t have good enough control over my time on an ordinary day. Take an hour away and I give way to an extraordinary bitterness that someone very far outside of my own sphere has the right and power to mess with something as basic and ubiquitous as the time.”

Canada Will Lose 9,000 Churches

We know the church is the people, not the building, but that doesn’t make this much less tragic (both for what it is and for what it represents). “A national charity that works to save old buildings estimates that 9,000 religious spaces in Canada will be lost in the next decade, roughly a third of all faith-owned buildings in the country.”

5 Rules to Help You Fail Less Often with Social Media

Failing less often may be the best we can hope for here. “In his new, thoughtful, helpful book, The Common Rule: Habits of Purpose for an Age of Distraction (IVP, 2019), Justin Whitmel Earley talks about five things he has started doing to retain some sanity when it comes to social media.”

What Is Biblical Marriage? 11 Essential Principles.

Have you ever tried to actually define marriage? Here’s an attempt. “What is marriage? It’s a question the Bible holds the keys to because God created marriage and revealed it in Scripture. Given the confusion in our culture and in our churches, agreeing upon the basic meaning of marriage is no longer a ‘given.’”

A Bird is Born (Video)

“Enter a fertilized egg to witness the development of a chicken embryo. Spectacular animation and live action footage document the extraordinary 21-day process of organization and growth from a few cells into a bird.”

Decoding the Social Media Algorithms. The Ultimate Guide

Much of our lives is now experienced through algorithms, and here’s how some of them work. “We now live in a world where bite-sized chunks of mathematical data have become central to how we live our daily lives. When you search online, scroll through your social feeds or receive song recommendations from Spotify, you are being guided by an algorithm that understands your consumption habits perhaps more than you do.”

Flashback: An Intimidating Opportunity

How could I explain pastoring to people who have never been inside a church, who have never read a word of the Bible, and who know Jesus as only a swear word?

In due time the weeping intercessor will become the rejoicing winner of souls.

—C.H. Spurgeon

  • Prayer

    The Reward They Longed for They Received

    Jesus, who knew what was in the heart of men, warned of the hypocrisy of those whose prayer life is only ever public. “When you pray,” he said, “you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (May 17)

    A La Carte: Generalizations are not stereotypes / Hospitality and reaching the dechurched / Essential lessons for pastors / The rise of Islam and the resilience of the church / Gossip and godly church / Fear takes you where grace has not yet gone / and more.

  • Planted in the Word

    Planted in the Word

    There are a lot of Bible study guides out there. However, the need is not nearly saturated because there are also a lot of Bible readers, many of whom study the Word carefully and repeatedly throughout their Christian lives. For that reason, we cannot have too many guides to assist in reading, understanding, and applying…

  • A La Carte Friday 2

    A La Carte (May 16)

    A La Carte: The role of dance in Christian worship / A community for broken homes / Our reason for missionary risk / The longings of the human heart / I’m not a handyman / Affluence, regret, identity crises / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Thursday 1

    A La Carte (May 15)

    A La Carte: The clever move of Leo XIV / People expect church to be churchy / Don’t let TikTok disciple your kids / Playing God with children / Overcoming barriers to hospitality / Real men sing / and more.