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Weekend A La Carte (3/9)

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Seven Things to Pray For Your Children – Jon Bloom offers seven helpful, specific things to pray for your children. “Some years back a good friend shared with me seven Scripture texts that he and his wife prayed for their two daughters from the time they were infants. The girls are now grown. And it’s beautiful to see how God has (and still is) answering the faithful, specific prayers of faith-filled parents in the lives of these young, godly women.”

On Sermon Conclusions – H.B. Charles Jr. offers seven tips for crafting a powerful conclusion for a sermon.

The Professor and the Bikini Model – “A world-renowned physicist meets a gorgeous model online. They plan their perfect life together. But first, she asks, would he be so kind as to deliver a special package to her?” It’s an interesting article, and an interesting glimpse into the mind, if you want to read something a little bit longer.

Battling Sinful Sarcasm – “A friend recently introduced me as her ‘sarcastic friend.’ She said it was my sarcasm that convinced her we’d hit it off. Isn’t that how Jesus said we would be known? You know, by our sarcasm?” Ouch.

Marilynne Robinson – “The author of Gilead and When I Was a Child I Read Books says that after Housekeeping, her greatest fear was writing a fraudulent book simply to escape the embarrassments of having written only one novel.”

Eerdmans – Eerdmans is having an inventory-reduction sale. There are some good books there at significant discounts.

Rewards in Heaven – Are rewards in heaven based on our efforts or on God’s grace? C. Michael Patton answers.

Seeing is not believing. Seeing is seeing. Believing is being confident without seeing.

—G. Campbell Morgan

  • Southern Africa

    A Trip to Southern Africa

    I don’t often write trip reports after I travel, except, of course, in the form of books and documentary projects like Epic and From the Rising of the Sun. Yet, I thought I would make a rare exception after returning from my recent journey to Southern Africa (and, strangely, Northern California). While I am accustomed…

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    A La Carte (December 10)

    A La Carte: Top 10 theology stories of 2025 / Mama, you don’t have to save Christmas / Giving up all your Sundays to advent / An empty chair at Christmas / Pray for the church in Rwanda / Kindle deals / and more.

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    A La Carte (December 9)

    A La Carte: Reforming generosity / Let the young man come to church / Your wife is beauty / Combating imposter syndrome / Be known, not impressive / Dan McClellan / and more.

  • AI Slop

    The Rise of AI Book Slop

    We often hear these days of “AI slop,” a term that’s used to refer to the massive amounts of poor-quality AI-created material that is churned out and unceremoniously dumped onto the internet. This was once primarily artistless artwork and authorless articles, but has now advanced to much bigger and more substantial forms of content.

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    A La Carte (December 8)

    A La Carte: A plea to older women / Let someone serve you in suffering / Why AI writing can’t compete / Influencers / The hidden danger in online sermons / Discipling young people / Excellent Kindle deals / and more.

  • Hymns

    Pitch Perfect and Tone Deaf

    God commands us to sing. Yet while some of God’s people are gifted singers, the plain fact is that others are not. In any congregation, it’s likely that some have near-perfect pitch while others are functionally tone-deaf. Those who struggle to sing may be self-conscious, tempted to stay quiet or to do no more than…