Good morning from Manitoba! While I’ve been to Manitoba before, I have never preached here—the last of Canada’s provinces for which this is the case. For that reason and others I’m glad to be here, and I am looking forward to spending time with some of you throughout the weekend.
Sales & Deals
Today’s Kindle deals include R.C. Sproul’s book on the Holy Spirit and Bob Lepine’s on marriage—both very worthwhile reads. There are lots of other options besides these.
Westminster Books is offering a discount on a new book they describe as “a family journey through the Bible.”
Recommended Reading
Church Hurt and the Bride of Christ. Olivia Davis doesn’t post new articles all that often, but when she does, I always enjoy reading them. That is the case with this article on overcoming church hurt. “It was Sunday morning. The last place I wanted to be was exactly where I was: church. I had forgotten how disorienting it is to visit a church for the first time, how even Jesus seems unfamiliar for a second or two. I hid myself in the back pew, holding a printed bulletin that I kept opening and closing until it ripped. Perhaps I would find a family in this strange and beautiful place with golden chandeliers and a grand piano. But that would mean my time at my old church really was over.”
What Do I Think of the Trailer of Gerwig’s Magician’s Nephew? Anne Kennedy explains what dismays or disappoints her about the new trailer for The Magician’s Nephew. “What I hate about the rubric of self-actualization—and Lewis saw this and articulated it so beautifully in so many different ways—is that it wedges out God himself. If you are so concentrated on yourself and how clever and interesting you are, not only do you become the least interesting person ever, you also become blind, unable to see things as they really are.”
God Is Our Refuge and Strength. Reformed Baptist Seminary reviews the new devotional book God Is Our Refuge and Strength by Bill Boekestein and Rob Ventura, coming out this month from the Banner of Truth. Geoff Thomas warmly says, “The introduction itself is worth the price of the entire volume.” (Sponsored)
This Is Why Your Marriage Conflicts Never Get Resolved. Paul Sadler offers some reasons why marriage conflicts remain unresolved. “People enter marriage because they love each other. But if they don’t learn how to navigate their differences and handle conflicts well, they end up tearing down the very person they committed their lives to. And because marriage is so intimate, words said in anger and conflicts that turn ugly hurt more than in any other relationship. If your conflicts don’t get resolved, there may be one or more of these three problems getting in the way.”
You Become What You Listen To; You Are Formed By What You Read. Eddie LaRow explains what concerns him about the rise of the podcast and the decline of the book. “I’m reading quite a bit about the death of nonfiction books, and the more I read, the more discouraged I am. As an editor and an author, my life is built around books. My wife can attest that we have far too many: my shelves are double-stacked, and book piles abound in my small basement office.”
When the Fall Gets Busy, Anchor Your Family in Church. This is wise advice: As the fall gets busy, make sure that all the busyness does not displace your commitment to church. “May I encourage you to resist the urge to skip church in order to participate in sports, social gatherings, theme parks, or even to catch up on sleep? As a pastor’s wife, I have seen many families in their struggles to prioritize church attendance amidst other commitments.”
AI Makes Sermon Prep Effortless. That’s the Problem. Mike Bullmore has thought and written about preaching a lot, and has grown concerned by some of the ways AI is being used in sermon preparation. “In many, perhaps most, cases, what I’m replacing is careful, prolonged thought and earnest, prolonged prayer. But those tasks are absolutely essential to faithful sermon preparation. Without them, our preaching is something other than what God has called us to do.”
The Funnies
My friend Chris Martin maintains a Substack called The Funnies, and every Saturday he shares a few fun and silly things he found on the internet—something I see as a modern equivalent of the comics pages that used to be in every newspaper. I asked him to share a couple with you.
Flashback
If God Utters Any Complaint At All. We will never exhaust God with our coming to him, never tire God with our pleas for his help. We will never reach the end of his ability to assist or his capacity to intervene.
The gospel is not simply the story of “Christ, and Him crucified”; it is also the story of my own crucifixion.
—Milton Vincent
