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A La Carte (November 18)

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Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books on how Christians are to read, preach, and/or interpret the Bible. There’s something there for everyone!

When God Does Not Need Our Service

“Have you ever felt that you are not serving God to your full capacity? Perhaps you’re marking time at a job that does not use your full potential. Perhaps you just lost a relationship and thus your vision for the future. Perhaps you have an unforeseen illness that saps your vitality. Perhaps your life has devolved into the mundane aspects of caring for an infant or the elderly as your sleep is disrupted and your vision blurs, and your main goal for each day devolves into how you can arrange a nap.”

How to Forgive and Move On

I’m sure this—trying to figure out how to forgive and move on—is a situation we have all experienced at one time or another. “We might find help from a few prayerful, deliberate steps: Steady your heart before God. Consider whether to overlook or address. Then resolve to wipe the record clean.”

Today: A Devotional for Depression

This may prove an encouraging devotional for those who are struggling with depression.

Can a Speeding Ticket Change Your Heart?

“Coercion has no ability to change internal beliefs. It only has the ability to enforce an external behavior on the threat of force (punishment). This is exactly the same issue with the concept of laws. Laws cannot change internal belief at all. They can only enforce external behaviors. They also function to reveal the state of the person through the rules they prescribe.”

Is it I, Lord?

Andrew Dealy: “Awkward conversations have adorned the dinner table ever since Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That being said, I am hard-pressed to think of a more awkward moment at a meal than this.”

This is Your Story

I was recently a guest on the radio program Haven Today. We talked about church history and my Epic journey around the world. The program continued with clips over 5 days so we made some good progress!

Flashback: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church

While there are other books written for the victims of spiritual abuse, this one is written for the ones who may purposely or inadvertently find themselves perpetrating it.

It is one thing to profess God, another thing to resemble Him.

—Thomas Watson

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    Would you Consider Supporting My Work?

    I have been blogging at Challies.com on a daily basis for well over 22 years now. That long commitment has allowed me to write thousands of articles and hundreds of book reviews while also sending millions of visitors to other sites through the daily A La Carte feature. While I’ve also written a number of books, through…

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    The Danger of Defensive Sanctification

    There is a certain kind of sober-mindedness that seems to come over Christians as they age. It can flow from many sources, I’m sure, but I think it often arises from a kind of fear—a fear that they may not finish their race without some kind of a major stumble. After living the Christian life…

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    A La Carte: A wonderful short film / Science confirms a literal, historical Adam and Eve / Go low, aim high / Stop brainstorming / Structured and spontaneous prayers / Kindle deals / and more.

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    Trimmed and Set on Fire

    Sometimes humor accomplishes what soberness cannot, as an old quote from D.L. Moody illustrates. “Some people’s prayers need to be cut off at both ends and set on fire in the middle.” After all, we have all had to endure prayers that were a little too long (or perhaps a lot too long) or that…

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    A La Carte: Keep your well full / No atheists at Nuremberg / On refusing to panic / Sports open surprising doors / Practicing Christian hospitality / Kindle deals / and more.