My sincere gratitude goes to Zondervan for sponsoring the blog this week. They wanted to be certain you have heard that the NIV Application Commentary is now available in a one-volume edition.
Today’s Kindle deals include quite a few good picks including John MacArthur’s Called to Lead and Heath Lambert’s The Great Love of God. Steve DeWitt’s book on loneliness is a good one as well. Also, be sure to check in on Monday as there are lots of great deals coming up then.
(Yesterday on the blog: Are You Known for Love?)
How Do I Serve Without Becoming a Doormat?
“‘How do you serve without becoming a doormat?’ This question, posed to me during a marriage counseling session, gets to the heart of a common misunderstanding of the biblical call to serve others. The short answer is that Jesus’s call never entails allowing another person to assert their will over you as you passively obey. However, we often struggle to understand key distinctions due to our failure to properly define our words.”
Why We Haven’t Turned Off Our Live Stream
I really appreciate Stephen’s response to my article on live-streaming and his explanation of why his church has chosen to keep it going.
Honor Your Parents as You Obey the Great Commission
“I once heard an international church planter inform his team leader he was moving back to America to care for his aging parents. But the response of this usually levelheaded team leader surprised me: ‘What do you think Jesus meant when he told his followers to let the dead bury the dead?’” So how are Christians to honor their parents even as they obey the Great Commission?
Where Are the Children?
Karen Wade Hayes: “For many of us, apprehension about the faith of our children and the young people we care about runs deeper than concerns about how they will provide for themselves, whether they will find a spouse, or even if they will enjoy good health. Nothing is more critical than where they stand on this issue because it undergirds and informs everything.”
Courage for a New School Year
This article from Ligonier is meant to arm students with courage as they begin a new school year. “Will I fit in? Will I make friends? Will my friends from last year still like me? Will I be lonely? Will I get on with my teachers and the workload? For Christians there are additional challenges: Will there be any other Christians? Will people laugh at me for reading the Bible, believing in Jesus, and going to church? Will I be able to answer questions about my faith?”
TouchScreens
This article is not meant to critique our use of smartphones and other devices as much as to make us think about the fact of it—to think about the tools we use and the media we both make and consume through them.
Flashback: Moments With My Father (and My Son)
The delight that flashed in his eyes, the smile that broke over his face, the tears that glimmered in his eyes, all point me to a time in the future when what is broken will be made whole…
The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
