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A La Carte (May 6)

thursday

Grace and peace to you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a nice little list of titles from Crossway, most of which are related to Mother’s Day.

(Yesterday on the blog: We Always Glean Among the Sheaves)

When Mom Forgot Me

“‘Where do you live?’ she asked. Wind whipped her white curls into a crown around her head against a blur of golden wheat fields as we sailed along the dirt road. I glanced her way. She sat slightly hunched in the passenger seat. We’d been catching up while I drove. Two long years had passed. I returned home to a widowed mom, visibly aged and mourning the loss of a husband and father we both loved. ‘She gets confused sometimes,’ my brothers told me.”

The Dull Conversation

Ed Welch reflects on the importance of even dull conversations. “Some conversations are just less interesting than others. The simple facts of a person’s day—the route to work, the morning snack, the spilled coffee—are not interesting unless they reveal something about the person who lived those details.”

How Many Wills Does God Have? (Video)

R.C. Sproul’s answer to this question is really helpful.

We Need the Faith of Noah

“Can you imagine being Noah and seeing that first rain drop? What do you think he felt? Relief? Surprise? Joy? Maybe a mix of all three. Perhaps he felt great sorrow as well, as he realized that the people he so faithfully preached to, for around a hundred years, were about to be crushed by the wrath of God. I think about Noah often.”

When Did You Last Read a Book?

“Reading books matters. If you read books, you need to be able to concentrate on a story or idea for an extended time. You need to think. It is a skill that is in short supply but great demand.”

The Wait of All Waits

So much of life comes down to waiting, doesn’t it? “It seems the theme of my life as of late is ‘wait.’ Wait for answers, for healing, for change, for restoration, for desires and dreams. Wait. Slow down. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

Flashback: I Have Cursed You

I know well that too much of what I say about others is merely idle and inappropriate, and that my words say far more about me than they do about the other person.

The business of the preacher is to state the truth of God, clearly, fully, simply; the rest the Spirit will take care of. We need not trouble ourselves about the survival of Christianity. God will take care of that.

—Francis Grimké

  • Discernment

    What Does a Discerning Person Do?

    Some Christians seem to be specially gifted when it comes to spiritual discernment. Others take a special interest in discernment and expend the hard effort of growing in the discipline of it. But they may sometimes wonder: What should I do with this discernment?

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    A La Carte (May 19)

    A La Carte: Dangers of theological controversy / No confidence? No problem! / The goodness of gardening friends / Jeff the low stakes prophet / Hurting people / Kindle deals / and more.

  • 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…

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    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…