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A La Carte (September 5)

wednesday

Today’s Kindle deals include a whole stack of solid books.

This is another reminder that I’ve got a Spanish blog that is updated with articles and videos several times a week. Pass it on!

(Yesterday on the blog: EPIC: Switzerland)

The Social Justice & the Gospel

Yesterday marked the release of The Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel which I know you’ll benefit from reading.

Why Pastors Should Consider Preaching (At Least) 5 Minutes Shorter

Kevin DeYoung: “While guest preaching in a church several years ago I asked the senior pastor how long I should preach. He replied, ‘Five minutes shorter than you think.’ He wasn’t trying to be mean. His advice was tongue-in-cheek. But it was also partly serious. He went on to add that he’d rarely heard a sermon that couldn’t have been better by being five minutes shorter.”

A Baseball Dream 30 Years in the Making Washed Away

There is something so tragic, so human about this. “In the middle of it all, the entire, emotional ordeal that would come to define his career, in the midst of the literal storm that was drenching the Eastern Seaboard on the afternoon of Sept. 5, 2006, and the perfect, figurative one that was conspiring at that moment to make him the victim of the cruelest bit of circumstance the inherently cruel game of baseball could possibly produce — in the middle of all that, Brian Mazone, anxious, restless, bored, headed to the dugout to see the skies for himself.” (Note: There are a couple of swear words in the article.)

Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, September 2018

The September issue of Tabletalk considers the Christian life as a life lived between two worlds. Many of the articles are free for you to read online.

Is It God’s Will to Always Heal?

“Theology has consequences. And bad theology always produces bad consequences. My friend Alex experienced those cruel consequences firsthand. Sadly, there aren’t enough people correcting and rebuking this false teaching.” It’s amazing how false teaching can so quickly lead to cruelty.

Poetry of the Air

I enjoyed this little look at how some of the best poets “of the air” have been the sons of pastors.

The Bible Condemns American Slavery

This looks like a promising series from the Cripplegate blog. “It is very important for Christians to be able to say this clearly: American slavery is clearly condemned by the Bible, without equivocation or qualification. The Bible is a perfect book in the sense that it contains all that is necessary for life and godliness, and this includes all of the ethical information needed to navigate the cultural complexities of this world in a way that honors both Christ and the image of God in man. The Bible does not condone American slavery and it certainly does not regulate it. It forbids it.”

Flashback: Thank God For Your Job (Doesn’t Matter What Your Job Is!)

Why don’t you take a bit of time to thank God for your labors. No matter what they are, they are evidence of his kindness and mercy toward you.

Show me a professing Christian of whom all men speak well, and I’ll show you a man who is probably unfaithful to his Lord.

—Gresham Machen

  • Nick Challies

    Nick Has Been with the Lord for 5 Years

    I can’t say why it is that we place extra emphasis on anniversaries that are multiples of five. Why does five years seem more significant than six or 20 than 21? It’s a strange custom, yet one we all acknowledge and accept. And on that note, today marks the fifth anniversary of the day my…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (November 3)

    A La Carte: The idol in the mirror / Why the leaves fall / Fencing the table / Artificially intelligent pastors / Memory loss / Myths about Romans / Kindle deals / and more.

  • Preaching

    What a Miracle!

    Over the course of our Christian lives, we hear hundreds or even thousands of sermons. Perhaps through the sheer repetition, we are prone to forget what makes preaching so special, so unique. At the heart of preaching is the wonder…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (November 1)

    A La Carte: Wellness cannot save you / “The Mercy of God” / Young men and sports gambling / Following through on the Reformation / The decline of reading and the rise of reels / Helping kids process social media violence / and more.

  • Helping Your Kids

    Helping Your Kids Know God’s Good Design

    Despite the temptation to think otherwise, I am certain there has never been a time or a context in which it has been easy to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Rather, every set of parents of every era and place has had to face challenges.