A La Carte (September 10)

Sales & Deals

Today’s Kindle deals include a few excellent books for kids, including one by Alistair Begg. You’ll find some deals for adults as well, of course.

Recommended Reading

The NFL Quarterbacks Who Found God in Defeat. I like the way Christianity Today looks specifically at athletes who glorified God in defeat rather than victory. “Today’s Christian athletes have more avenues than ever before to share their faith, and God rarely gets more glory than after a game-winning touchdown. Philippians 4:13 has become a familiar catchphrase in postgame interviews and social media posts: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ But most athletes omit Paul’s sentiment in the subsequent verse: ‘Share in my troubles.’”

I Wasn’t Outside of God’s Will. I Was Tired. Staci Eastin recounts a time when she was concerned that she was outside of God’s will. But it turns out she was actually tired. “If a young family in the Midwest can mess up God’s entire plan for their life by accepting a job in a new city, God wouldn’t be sovereign, or even very powerful. I was tired and homesick.”

Ligonier Pastors’ Pre-Conference in Ontario. Faithful ministry requires perseverance. On November 6, join Ligonier Ministries in Southern Ontario for Standing Firm in the Truth, a pastors’ pre-conference event reflecting on Paul’s second letter to Timothy. We’ll consider the Apostle’s charge to endure adversity, guard the gospel, and faithfully preach the Word in and out of season. Registration also includes FREE admission to Ligonier’s regional conference on November 6–7. (Sponsored)

How Headship and Submission Function When Husbands and Wives Disagree. Paul Sadler: “I fear that many Christian couples treat the Bible’s teachings about headship and submission like political slogans. They’re either for or against them. But beyond the slogans are the particulars of how these commands are actually worked out in the day-to-day realities of marriage. Does leadership just mean putting your foot down and getting your own way? Does submission just mean bracing for impact when you’re convinced your husband has made another foolish decision? The Bible doesn’t spell out all the particulars, but it gives enough information to develop some principles for healthy interaction.”

Is Church Membership Biblical? Writing for Desiring God, Stephen Witmer asks whether church membership is consistent with Scripture. Of course, to answer that question he first needs to define church membership, and he does that well.

How Do We Know When to Shut Down a Church? Dave Harvey considers a hard question: When is the right time to shut down a church? “Closing a church may be one of the most painful decisions a pastor will ever make. Yet while countless books have been written about planting churches, very little has been written about closing them. That silence often leaves faithful pastors carrying unnecessary shame, wondering whether they have somehow failed.”

How to Raise a Son Who Is Boring and Unattractive to Women. With a title like this, I just needed to click. Anthony Bradley says this: “If you’re a parent and want to make sure your son becomes one of the uninteresting and boring young men women complain about—and don’t want to date—here’s what you need to do. By the way, if you succeed at these things, your son may never launch properly into adulthood and may live with you forever! Here’s the list.”

Let Others Do the Will of God

This quote from Maltbie Davenport Babcock explains how we can often find it more difficult to receive help from others—to allow others to do the will of God.

It is not so hard to receive as it is to have to receive. To be obliged to take a gift makes us agree swiftly with the words of the Lord Jesus when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Then we see that it is harder to take gracefully the kindnesses of our friends, than even their buffetings for our faults. But when we must receive, then that is the will of God for us, and just then more beneficial to us than giving. Some one must receive, if another is to give. We must be willing, not only to serve, but to be served; not only to bear others’ burdens, but let others bear ours; not only to minister to the sick, but to be simply and thankfully ministered unto; not only give, but receive. It is sometimes the will of God that we should let others do the will of God, and ourselves be the occasions instead of the authors of kindness.

Flashback

The Most Exasperating and Least Rewarding. Every person is a whole person, an entire person that is made up of goods and bads, plusses and minuses, laudable strengths and lamentable weaknesses. And so too every church (and every car).