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Weekend A La Carte (March 18)

Today’s Kindle deals include only a couple of minor deals. We’ll look forward to better things on Monday.

A Pastoral Letter to Myself (In the Case that I Fall)

This is very sobering and would make for worthwhile reading for anyone who is involved in ministry.

When Machines Go Rogue

Here’s an interesting one on the uncharted technological waters we’re entering. “What’s happening inside our algorithms? What happens when those algorithms control our cars and planes? Pretty soon, we may have no idea.”

Church Membership and Prescriptive Implication

This is a good article on how church membership is implied, even if not explicitly mandated, within the pages of the Bible.

TULIP and Reformed Theology: An Introduction

If you’re looking for an introduction or refresher on Reformed theology, this could be a good place to start.

Scandalized by the Substitute: A Response to Young and Gungor

Owen Strachan has written a response to Michael Gungor and William Paul Young, both of whom now deny penal substitution. “Don’t miss this: The most popular Christian writer in our time labels the biblical God a ‘cosmic abuser.’ Ancient false teaching returns.”

Weary Mom, Come to Me

I think a lot of weary moms could use this encouragement.

The Local Church Is More Awkward Than Your Facebook Wall

“In short, online communities present us with a noble temptation that stems from our inherent desire to actively love and share our lives with our neighbors. But our local congregations, however faulty and underwhelming they may be, remain the primary community that God calls us to invest ourselves in.”

Flashback: When I Am God

Each time I sin I make a statement about myself and a statement about (and against) God. Each time I sin, I declare my own independence, my own desire to be rid of God; I declare that I can do better than God, that I can be a better god than God. I took some time to think about how life changes when I am god. The results were not pretty.

The Story Behind The Lost Sermons of C. H. Spurgeon

I’m grateful to The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon for sponsoring the blog this week.

The true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention.

—Tim Keller

  • ESV Expository Commentary

    The Best Complete Commentary Set for any Christian

    Those who are serious about collecting commentaries will almost invariably say that it is better to think in terms of individual volumes than complete series. And I agree: it is generally better to focus on acquiring the top three or four commentaries on each book of the Bible than to focus on collecting complete series.…

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 17)

    A La Carte: Marketing as stewardship / Intercultural humor / Freedom in devotions / When people leave your church / Calvinistic gospel partnerships / Sentimentality / Kindle deals / and more.

  • A La Carte Collection cover image

    A La Carte (December 16)

    A La Carte: The Scopes trial at 100 / How do we measure maturity? / A pogrom on Bondi Beach / Are Evangelicals obsessed with sex? / Do the next thing / Book sales / and more.

  • Service

    You Are in the Circumstances in Which You Can Best Serve

    There are times when we all find ourselves lamenting our circumstances. These may be times in which we grieve life’s losses or suffer life’s indignities, or these may be times in which we grapple with the frustrations that come with life in this world—when our skills are underutilized, or our contributions are underappreciated.

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    A La Carte (December 15)

    A La Carte: Blood soaks into the sand of Bondi Beach / This year’s biggest religious trend / The best Christian music of 2025 / The challenges this Christmas / Micromanaging your habits / Notable Kindle deals / and more.

  • A Moving Picture of the Gospel

    A Moving Picture of the Gospel

    As we gather on Sundays, we preach the Bible, read the Bible, pray the Bible, and sing the Bible. But that is not all, for we also “see” the Bible. Here’s how Mark Dever expresses it: “The ordinances are the dramatic presentations of the gospel. They are the moving pictures that represent the spiritual realities…