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Weekend A La Carte (August 13)

Westminster Books has deals on a book meant to help you understand theology and one another that is meant to keep pastors from wavering.

(Yesterday on the blog: Tearing Us Apart)

A chat with Carl Trueman

I enjoyed WORLD magazine’s chat with Carl Trueman. Is he really learning the banjo?

How Ordinary Worship Is both Reverent and Relevant

This article lays out two errors in the way churches worship and says “on the surface, these two approaches to worship look very different, yet the reason for gravitating to either is usually the same. Fundamentally, what the searcher is longing for is something extraordinary, an escape from the suffocating ordinariness of their everyday lives. Only once they find that missing piece will they be able to experience the vital and vibrant Christianity that has evaded them thus far.”

5 New Stats You Should Know About Teens and Social Media

“How often does your teen use social media? What social media platforms are most popular among the students in your student ministry? Probably a lot, and probably YouTube and TikTok, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center.” This matters—perhaps especially to those of us who are raising teens.

Can the Devil Make Us Sin?

“How much of an impact does the devil have on our society today? How do we know whether something is an act of Satan or just our sinful nature?”

Look Until You See

Cass explains how she’s been learning to “exercise her wonder muscles.”

The Bible tells us the rest of the story about who we are

David looks to Francis Schaeffer to help us understand how the Bibles makes sense of the world.

Flashback: A Bunch of Good Reasons To Saturate Your Worship Services in the Bible

Just like removing too many elements of a pizza will call into doubt whether something still qualifies as pizza at all, removing too many elements of worship should call into doubt whether something still qualifies as a worship service.

If we as Christians are going to address sin, especially in other believers, it’s important that we address it specifically and with biblical categories.

—Shai Linne

  • The Phrase that Altered My Thinking Forever

    This week the blog is sponsored by P&R Publishing and is written by Ralph Cunnington. Years ago, I stumbled repeatedly on an ancient phrase that altered my thinking forever.  Distinct yet inseparable. The first time I encountered this phrase was while studying the Council of Chalcedon’s description of the two natures of Christ. Soon after,…

  • Always Look for the Light

    Always Look for the Light

    For many years there was a little potted plant on our kitchen window sill, though I’ve long since forgotten the variety. Year after year that plant would put out a shoot and from the shoot would emerge a single flower. And I observed that no matter how I turned the pot, the flower would respond.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (March 18)

    A La Carte: God is good and does good—even in our pain / Dear bride and groom / Sin won’t comfort you / Worthy of the gospel / From self-sufficiency to trusting God’s people / The gods fight for our devotion / and more.

  • Confidence

    God Takes Us Into His Confidence

    Here is another Sunday devotional—a brief thought to orient your heart toward the Lord. God takes the initiative in establishing relationship by reaching out to helpless humanity. He reveals himself to the creatures he has made. But what does it mean for him to provide such revelation of himself? John Calvin began his Institutes by…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    Weekend A La Carte (March 16)

    A La Carte: I believe in the death of Julius Caesar and the resurrection of Jesus Christ / Reasons students and pastors shouldn’t use ChatGPT / A 1.3 gigpixel photo of a supernova / What two raw vegans taught me about sharing Jesus / If we realize we’re undeserving, suddenly the world comes alive /…

  • Ask Pastor John

    Ask Pastor John

    I admit it: I felt a little skeptical about Ask Pastor John. To be fair, I feel skeptical about most books that begin in one medium before making the leap to another. Books based on sermons, for example, can often be pretty disappointing—a powerful sermon at a conference can make a bland chapter in a…