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Weekend A La Carte (May 15)

May God bless and keep you as you serve him and worship him this weekend.

If you’ve ever wanted to do some reading in the Puritans, than today’s Kindle deals will be perfect.

(Yesterday on the blog: The Path to Glory)

Courage Inspired by the Martyrs

Ed Welch: “Among the many heroes of faith, the martyrs stand out. They take up a central place in our corporate identity because they so closely evoke Jesus’ faithfulness in the face of death. God honors the martyrs even to the point that he uses their deaths as a countdown to Jesus’ return.”

What is the “Greatest Threat to the Gospel”?

John Mark Yeats says, “The broader culture frequently embraces a new concept, philosophy, or ideal that challenge the claims of the cross. These challenges should not surprise us for Jesus reminded His followers that we would be hated, persecuted, and oppressed. As we enter seasons where external cultural forces make it difficult to live a life of faithfulness, our internal radar will frequently signal, ‘Danger!’ We move to protect ourselves or warn our community, and rightly so. But here’s the catch…”

A Different Take On Barnabas

I like this take on the split between Paul and Barnabas.

A Desperate Saint

Susan Tyner: “A desperate woman can do some crazy stuff. Like tricking your father-in-law to sleep with you to get pregnant. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been that desperate, but let me introduce you to someone who was.”

Cultural Appropriation is Standard Christian Fare

“I confess that most present-day vices and virtues fail to impress me, largely because they strike me as watered-down (if not parasitic) versions of vices/virtues with more substantial historical-moral roots and are almost invariably being touted in an obvious effort to secure the higher moral ground (read: ‘advantage’) in some largely inconsequential power play.” I think Aaron Denlinger may be on to something there.

Why?

This is an article (and a question) for those whose churches are just spinning up again after COVID lockdowns.

How Does God Measure Success?

“The crowd hooted and whooped. Handclapping sounded like thunderous downpour. I walked across the stage and received my diploma from Dallas Theological Seminary, and it felt monumental. Spiritual. Euphoric. Friends stopped by our Airbnb after the ceremony. We ate large amounts of General Tso’s Chicken—and hugged deeply. Then, my family and I flew back home.”

Flashback: Fathers (and Mothers), Do Not Provoke Your Children!

These two words are key: discipline and instruction…This little pair of words covers both the positive and the negative sides of learning and growing, helping our children go from folly to wisdom, from childishness to maturity, from self-centeredness to loving others, and, we trust, from sin to salvation.

God’s people are never so exalted as when they are brought low, never so enriched as when they are emptied, never so advanced as when they are set back by adversity, never so near the crown as when under the cross.

—Theodore Cuyler

  • When God Plants an Acorn

    When God Plants an Acorn, He Means an Oak

    We stood together on the crest of a hill, a gentle breeze rustling the meadow around our feet. The fields ran gently downward until they met a creek that gurgled happily in its course. A few years prior, an acorn had somehow made its way to the highest point of this hill, carelessly dropped there…

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    A La Carte (April 28)

    A La Carte: Protestantism’s Catholic converts / How healthy is your pursuit of health? / God’s special calling on your life / Considering a Christian university? / Testing the teachings of Catholicism / Kindle deals / and more.

  • New and Notable

    New and Notable Christian Books for April 2025

    It is surprisingly difficult to find a list of Christian books that have been released in any given month—especially if you want that list to be filtered by books released through particular publishers. That’s one of the reasons why I close each month by coming up with my list of New and Notable books. I…

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    Weekend A La Carte (April 26)

    A La Carte: Every pinch of pain has purpose / China closed Christian bookstores / Watch for the thing after the thing / For everything there is a time / Showers of blessing / What Pope Francis can teach us about preaching / and more.

  • What Makes You Beautiful

    What Makes You Beautiful

    I have often thought of a conversation that took place when my girls were little. Abby was perhaps 5 or 6 at the time and Michaela just working her way through the “terrible twos” (which for our kids always happened when they were three or four). A stranger saw me interacting with them one day…