Good morning. May gratitude goes to Zondervan for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about an excellent new book about God’s love for us.
Today’s Kindle deals include some books that are newer and some that are older.
(Yesterday on the blog: Can You Live a Life that’s Worthy of the Gospel?)
Confessions of Faith and the Baptist Tradition
“One of the most-cited arguments against Baptists standards of doctrine and practice is that Baptists have historically opposed confessions of faith. This anti-confessional argument has been used by certain Baptist leaders over the centuries, but it is a false argument.” As it happens, Rick Warren is making a variation of it now.
Who Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
Ligonier Ministries provides a brief explanation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses—their history, key beliefs, and so on.
Disappointment as Opportunity
“We know well the saying that life is full of disappointments, and the longer we live, the truer it rings. As fallen humans with largely unreasonable expectations for ourselves and others, we bump into disappointment often. ‘Man makes his plans and the Lord laughs,’ someone has said, and I’m inclined to believe him.”
When Winsome Doesn’t Work
“Christians had better get used to increasing hostility and apathy. Our views are increasingly out of step with society’s, and we’re now the bad guys. We shouldn’t bend the truth, and no matter how kindly we speak, we’re bound to be seen as out of step or worse. We should prepare ourselves and our churches. Short of changing our beliefs, we will be found intolerable by those who preach tolerance.”
Take away the love of sinning
That’s a good prayer, isn’t it? That God would take away our love of sinning.
Young Men with Holy Habits
Bobby Scott reflects on the impact of a classic. “Through Ryle’s pen, God inflamed two desires in me that grew into holy habits in my Christian walk — one desire was for a healthy fear of my sin, and the other was a longing to please God.”
Flashback: When God Interferes With Our Plans
God’s kind providence keeps us from being as sinful as we would otherwise be. So, Christian, thank God for his providence, and prepare to be amazed when, in eternity, God gives you the gift of seeing how often and to what extent he has kept you from sin.
Spiritual stagnancy results from forgetting the very gospel that brought us into the kingdom. Spiritual growth, cultivation of virtue, results from remembering the gospel.
—Dane Ortlund
