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A La Carte (March 29)

Today’s Kindle deals include a relatively new book by John Piper, a good one by John MacArthur, and a few other picks.

We’ve Lost Our Vocabulary of Wonder About Heaven

Randy Alcorn: “By losing our vocabulary of wonder, I mean that we’ve come to think of Heaven as utterly immaterial and non-physical, a home suited for body-less angels, not real people. Floating in clouds while strumming harps isn’t anybody’s idea of a great time.”

No, You’re Not Welcome To Our New Church Launch!

I love this: “Not beating about the bush, let me give you this blog in a sentence: Thanks SO much for supporting our church plant. But unless you’re local to Gracemount, please, please, please DON’T come to our church launch on Easter Sunday.”

Why We Think Outhouses All Had Crescent Moons in Their Doors

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the classic symbol of an outdoor toilet was probably just made up.

You Might Be a Pharisee If …

“The odds are good that someone, somewhere, at some point has called you a Pharisee. The odds are even better that you’ve slapped that label on someone else.” Here’s what it really does and does not mean.

The Spiders Will Eat Us All

Here are interesting facts about spiders that you probably don’t want to know.

A Friendly Critic on the Best New Resource for Charismatics

I really appreciate Steve Timmis’s review of Practicing the Power by Sam Storms. “Practicing the Power reflects a form of the reductionism it critiques. It sets out to challenge its readers to faith and expectancy, yet it inadvertently encourages them to be satisfied with something less than the New Testament Christianity it claims to espouse. It’s a form of revisionism.”

Did Jesus Ever Experience Doubt?

Denny Burk answers a recent article in the New York Times where the author finds comfort in the fact that Jesus at times experienced doubt.

Flashback: What the Law-Keeper Cries to the Gospel-Lover

It is simple enough to look at other people’s religious observances and stand in judgment. But we would be remiss if we did not look for ourselves here. Even Christians are prone to hedge ourselves around with rules. It’s as if grace is so foreign a concept to us that we simply cannot or will not believe it, and instead flee back to the law.

Men are opposed to God in their sin, and God is opposed to men in His holiness.

—J.I. Packer

  • Pastoral Prayer

    The Pastoral Prayer: Examples and Inspirations

    Of all the elements that once made up traditional Protestant worship, there is probably none that has fallen on harder times than prayer. It is not unusual to visit a church today and find that prayer is perfunctory, rare, or absent altogether. If that is true of prayer in general, it is particularly true of…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (September 11)

    A La Carte: Pro-natalism / Why a good God commanded the destruction of the Canaanites / An encouragement to husbands / Pastoring, productivity, and priorities / I had a horrific childhood / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (September 10)

    A La Carte: Why we worry when choosing a Bible translation / Why Christian parents should resist school-issued devices / Take your worst to the table / The quickest to anger and the slowest to forgive / A big batch of Kindle deals / and more.

  • What Is God’s Calling For Me?

    This week the blog is sponsored by Reformed Free Publishing Association. Today’s post is written by William Boekestein, author of the  new book, Finding My Vocation: A Guide for Young People Seeking a Calling. William is a pastor and husband. He and his wife have four children: a college student, two high schoolers, and a…

  • Past Through Over Around

    Past Them, Through Them, Over Them, Around Them

    It is inevitable that we face times of difficulty and impossible that we escape them altogether. To be born is to suffer and to live is to endure all manner of trouble and trial. Just as none of us escapes death, none of us escapes all hardships. And when we face such hardships, we invariably…