My gratitude goes to Crossway for sponsoring the blog this week. They want you to know about the tremendous new Sing! Hymnal from the Gettys.
Timarie Friesen wrote the first review of From the Rising of the Sun, and it’s an encouraging one.
Today’s Kindle deals include several books you will want to consider!
(Yesterday on the blog: Good News for Parents)
The Changing of the Evangelical Guard
With the deaths of John MacArthur and James Dobson, Alan Noble says there is a changing of the Evangelical guard. He expresses a legitimate concern. “What I fear is arising is a belief that the goal of evangelical institutions is to protect western civilization from the decay of the woke mind rot by promoting the family and Christian values in our nation. The gospel is preached, but in practice, it’s often relegated to of secondary importance compared to fighting the culture war against wokeness.”
Open Homes in a Closed-Off World: The Gift of Hospitality
This is a very strong article on hospitality. “Hospitality, as the Bible reminds us, isn’t a one-off event. It has to become a lifestyle and be a conscious, committed mindset that calls for a shift in how we see people. In a world that is rushing by, there are countless opportunities to show the love of Christ, if only we pause long enough to see them.”
Churches, Don’t Dismiss ‘Brain Rot’
“Talk of ‘brain rot’ is a sort of defense mechanism or alarm bell amid the addictive vortex of nonnutritive scrolling. We know scrolling is terrible for us—there’s more evidence of this each day—but we do it anyway. Calling it brain rot at least gives us the minor consolation of self-awareness.” Brett McCracken says we shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss those who say they’re suffering from it.
Dealing With the Praise of Men
It is often much more difficult to deal with success than failure and with an abundance of praise than criticism. Here are several warnings for those who are prone to craving praise.
We Were Made for Less
We often hear that we were made for more—especially more than the more mundane aspects of life. But Leah Farish pushes back against that here. “Sometimes we need to realize that even though a thing is great to do, it’s not great for us to do. We have limits that are part of our humanness. As we enter fall’s whirl of activities, often featuring competitions and vicarious activity through school-age children, we might consider three things before taking on more…”
A Corporate, Godward Focus
Here is an article to ponder before gathering to worship this Sunday.
Flashback: Teaching Others to Sing Sweetly
This woman simply had to use her gift until one person and then another and finally the whole church had heard her voice, had matched her tone, and had fallen into perfect melody.
The Bible characters never fell on their weak points but on their strong ones; unguarded strength is double weakness.
—Oswald Chambers
