Today’s Kindle deals include some really good books from Crossway. Also, Crossway will send you an electronic copy of Jen Wilkin’s Women of the Word in exchange for filling out a brief survey.
(Yesterday on the blog: New and Notable Music)
Can My Prayer Reach His Suffering?
“A father’s strength protects, supports and puts family first. He looks for solutions and fixes problems. But when he can’t heal, mend or make it better, a dad suffers in ways only a man can.” This one is a good read.
The Least Mentioned Sin?
“‘You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours.’ This familiar idiomatic phrase sometimes simply refers to the way in which people with differing skills and abilities seek to care for one another out of a sense of need and gratitude. However, more often than not, it represents the way in which people are willing to show unjust partiality to one another for dishonest advancement or gain. In the latter case, it is not always made manifest in an official offer of possessions or promotion. Instead, it is often packaged in unspoken and unofficial ways.”
Prophecy for Beginners: Ten Frequently Asked Questions
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I don’t believe the gift of prophecy continues today. However, I also want to be sure that I understand the continuationist position both in its theology and practice. To that end, this article is a helpful primer from Jon Bloom. It’s the fourth in a series he has been writing, and are all worth reading for that purpose. (And no, I’m still not convinced by it.)
How the Cold War Gave Us GPS (Video)
Here’s a tech we pretty much take for granted. “GPS is a network of satellites which allows you to open your phone and know where you are anywhere in the world. We take this service for granted. But it was created by the U.S. military during the Cold War and designed to deliver bombs to their exact locations. Here’s how GPS went from being a war machine to a service we all rely on.”
There Are Burdens We Can’t Bear
“If you are like me, you often overestimate your ability and underestimate your tasks. Giving ourselves too much credit, we bite off more than we can reasonably chew. In time this pattern can not only hurt our productivity and efficiency, but it begins to weigh us down.”
Church Membership—Like a Marriage
Meaningful membership can make all the difference in a church. “It seems like far too many people treat relationships of all sorts as being disposable. As soon as they hit a rough patch of any sort they decide to pull up stakes, move on, and find a new relationship. This is especially the case, I believe, when it comes to church membership.”
All Is Still By The Temple Wall
This is a moving poem. “In May 1935, Reformed Presbyterian missionary Sam Boyle took a river boat trip in China from his home base in Canton to Lienchow, Kwangtung for a Chinese presbytery meeting. He recorded the journey in his journal. Thirty years earlier, on October 28, 1905, a mob had killed five American Presbyterian missionaries in Lienchow. Upon visiting the site, Sam wrote the following ‘amateurish ‘poem” (his own words) to remember the event and the result.”
Flashback: Why the Local Church Really Matters
What is the church? Why has God called us into these little communities? Does the local church really matter? It does!
The mere knowing Christ’s name will never save you. You must know His cross, and His blood, or else you will die in your sins.
—J.C. Ryle
