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A La Carte (May 10)

A La Carte Collection cover image

With Abby and Nate’s graduation behind us, we are heading back home! The Lord is kind to us.

This week Westminster Books has a great offer on a new deluxe edition of a classic work by MLJ.

The Kindle deals continue today.

God Understands and Is Compassionate Toward Parents of Prodigal Children

Paul Tautges wants parents of prodigal children to know that God is compassionate toward them.

Mother’s Day after Abortion

“At 18, I had had an abortion. For the first three years of my marriage, I had been terrified that God would not allow me to become pregnant again because of the abortion. When I finally became pregnant, I was ecstatic that God had blessed us with this new little life growing inside my womb. At the same time, I was filled with guilt to be recognized as a ‘new’ mom and grief at the thought of how old my aborted baby would be now.”

Cultivating Healthy Rhythms for Ministry

Receive encouragement in pastoring from Brian Croft and Ronnie Martin in their new book, The Unhurried Pastor. Get 25% off with code CHALLIES. (Sponsored)

A Sickness in Pursuing Health

Trevin considers the degree to which we can or should pursue health. As he says in the headline, there can (ironically) be a kind of sickness that comes in pursuing health.

In Defence of Laughter

Chris Hutchison writes about humor and laughter in preaching and beyond. “I agree that we should not use humour to make light of serious matters, particularly in the pages of Scripture. When it comes to preaching, I suspect that a significant portion of my sermons—probably most—don’t include jokes or deliberate attempts to get a laugh.”

Artificial Intelligence and the Problem of Personality

“We now inhabit a world where people talk routinely to small bricks of metal, glass, and plastic. And not only are we having words with these silicon wonders—the silicon wonders are talking back. We ask questions, directions, and give orders to these bricks, and the bricks reciprocate. We form relationships of a sort, we make conversation, and increasingly trust what they tell us. But where will this take us?”

The Tragedy of Separating Sex from Relationships

Is it, indeed, tragic to separate sex from relationship.

Flashback: We Have the Light So We Can Be the Light

Who needs me to reflect God’s light today? Who needs me to speak courage to their fear, gladness to their sorrow, encouragement to their despondency?

The weight of sin is heavy, but those who are in Christ know the joy of having that weight removed. We do not face punishment but receive mercy. Even on the hardest of days, that wonderful liberation is worthy of our praise.

—Helen Thorne

  • Prime Book Deals

    Christian Books on Sale for Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days

    On October 7-8, Amazon is hosting Big Deal Days for people who have a Prime membership. They have a huge number of items on sale, covering most product categories. Of course, my interest is in books and Bibles and, thankfully, there are lots of great deals to be had (in printed, not Kindle editions). Most are discounted by…

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    A La Carte (October 7)

    A La Carte: Take it on the chin / The Archbishop of Canterbury and the slide into irrelevance / A quick change to improve your sermons / Hymns for the end of life / Cultivating gratitude / Huge book sale / and more.

  • How Do You Know If God Is Calling You?

    How do you know if God is calling you to ministry? In this article, Southern Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. explains how to discern God’s call—through both an inward drawing and the confirming voice of the church. Ministry is a high and holy calling. Could God be calling you? #Sponsored

  • Money

    How Much Money Is God Not Concerned About?

    Here is the kind of question I sometimes enjoy pondering: How much money is God not really concerned about? I guess I’d better explain what I mean by that. If someone told me a wealthy neighbor was handing out $100 bills to anyone who dropped by, no strings attached, I would immediately go over and…

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    A La Carte (October 6)

    A La Carte: In the ruins of Rome / Evaluating fictional magic / We still need gentlemen / Your Father’s care / Loving your wife like Christ loves / Meditation / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Gimmick

    For Some Churches, No Gimmick Is Too Crass

    Many of us live in contexts and cultures in which there is fierce competition among churches, each advertising itself as more interesting, more appealing, more entertaining than the others. It sometimes seems that no gimmick is too crass and no strategy too absurd for these churches as they attempt to one-up the others and fill…