At around 6 AM EST, I will be publishing a list of Black Friday deals that may be of interest to Christian folk. So stay tuned for that if you’re one of the early readers.

Connecting the Dots
I appreciate this reflection on Reformed theology and how it connects the dots. “When you start to join the dots in the Bible, it’s like connecting an electric circuit – the lights come on! You don’t get a better Jesus, but you do get Jesus better.”
The Closest Exit May Be Behind You
“A transformed public conscience has led to unfathomable revolutions in law, which have in turn reeducated the public conscience. In the 1990s the main concern for many evangelicals was how to preserve purity in a vulgar media age. Now the concern is how to preserve a right to say what people find vulgar in a legalistically progressive media age.”
The Deep Places
Reformation21 has an interesting review of a new book by Ross Douthat. “Though I have my differences with Ross—he is a Roman Catholic and I am a Protestant—I have long appreciated his theologically informed approach to public thought, and almost always consider his writings to have been a benefit to me in thinking more deeply about current events.”
Only for a little while
This may resonate even if you aren’t waiting for water. “As our water woes have continued, the question I keep wondering is, how long will this go on for? If someone just told me: there’ll likely be no water until it rains, I think I might find it a little easier, but instead we keep being told, ‘tomorrow’ or ‘on the weekend’. It’s the ‘what if?’ that looms before me: what if this is our new normal? what if this is just how it is now? I want to know when it will end, when I will be able to return to the convenience and dependability of having running water.”
The Good, Chief, and Great Shepherd
In this one, Nick Batzig does a good job of examining the shepherd/sheep motif that pervades Scripture.
Communal Living: The Gift from God We Readily Abuse
Perhaps in part because I so appreciate Zambia and Zambians, I’m interested in this article by Chopo Mwanza. “Zambian culture is endowed with beautiful tenets and practices, residue of God’s common grace. These practices should be celebrated and embraced. We are, for instance, a culture that respects our elders. We were raised to practice hospitality and help those in need, with a strong sense of community. However”
Flashback: How To Get Things Done: Deal With Interruptions
Dealing with interruptions requires an awareness that God is sovereign and you are not. When you trust a sovereign God you know that no interruption has caught God by surprise. This frees you from outbursts of anger or depths of despair.

God’s love is the source, not the consequence, of the atonement. —John Stott

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.
Today’s Kindle deals include some excellent books by Paul Tripp: Sunday Matters, Awe, Marriage, and others. You’ll also find deals on several interesting titles by other authors.

Vaneetha Rendall Risner shares a prayer request she heard and adopted as her own. “These became the words I whispered to God throughout the day. I needed God to either lighten the burdens I was carrying or give me strength to endure them. God had to bring change, though I didn’t know in what form. I only knew I couldn’t continue the way things were.”

With so many people telling us all that the church is doing wrong, it was a blessing to read this article about what the church is doing right. “In the church, Gen Z men like me are rejecting the false masculinities offered by the culture and finding an alternative—a cruciform masculinity. In his death, Jesus subverts the ego, dominance, and self-centeredness of toxic masculinity in a divine display of humility, sacrifice, and love. But the cross also challenges the soft, aimless version of manhood that avoids responsibility and purpose.”

Jim Elliff: “God is at work doing His perfect will, even during hurricane season. These spinning engines of destruction originate from Him as Ruler (first cause), through nature (second cause), all for His purposes. Though God owes us no explanation, one or all of the following possible objectives may help us understand ‘why’ God decrees such fear-producing events…”

On a somewhat similar note, Phil Antonecchia writes about the recent destruction. “The Christian is not a Stoic. Neither does he flee into a fantasy world that denies the reality of suffering. Paul freely admitted the pressure he experienced. The people of Southern Appalachia are being hard pressed on every side. The pain of this world is staring them right in the face. There’s no time for ‘fraudulent piety’ or ‘denying the reality’ of pain and suffering. Many are without power and clean water and are cut off from the rest of the world due to collapsed roads.”

“There are two wisdoms, Paul says: human wisdom, and divine wisdom. They are not the same. They are not even similar. They are not coming to the same conclusions about God, life, priorities, joy, fulfillment, or meaning.”

Darryl points to a crucial truth about failure: it happens slowly before it (apparently) happens suddenly. “Moral failure is rarely an event. It’s more of a slow process that can be stopped if we catch it early enough, but that will become catastrophic if we let it go.”

How is it possible to rejoice even during something as painful as persecution? Let me offer six reasons you can rejoice and be glad even when persecuted.

By permitting suffering, he tests whether Christians have any feeling. Beware, lest you be weighed in the balances and found wanting. If you can live in a sick and dying world and not feel for others, you have yet much to learn.
—J.C. Ryle

October has been quite a month when it comes to releases of Christian books. I sorted through the huge stacks that came my way to arrive at this list of 10 new and especially noteworthy picks. In each case I have provided the editorial description so you can have a bit of information about it. I hope there’s something here that catches your eye!

The Existence and Attributes of God (Volumes 1 & 2) Updated and Unabridged by Stephen Charnock, edited by Mark Jones. “This two-volume set, edited by Mark Jones, contains an updated and unabridged edition of Charnock’s classic work, Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, written to instruct and encourage Christian pastors, theologians, and laypeople. Jones precedes each discourse with an introductory summary that explains Charnock’s general approach. In this clear, modernized presentation of this classic work, readers will experience his skillful exegesis, his influential way with words, his insight into human nature, his concern with the practical implications of who God is, and his Christ-focused approach to theology.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)
Embracing Complementarianism: Turning Biblical Convictions into Positive Church Culture by Jane Tooher & Graham Beynon. “It can be tempting to shy away from addressing the issue of gender roles in church because it’s often controversial. But this can result in churches either being increasingly influenced by secular culture or simply sticking with the status quo when it comes to what men and women do in church. Building on the belief that complementarianism is both biblical and positive, this book focuses on what these convictions look like in practice. Moving beyond the familiar discussions around ‘gender roles,’ and leaving room for variety in how readers implement these ideas, it will encourage a church culture where men and women truly partner together—embracing their privileges and responsibilities, and maximizing their gifts, in joyful service of God’s kingdom.” (Buy it from Amazon)
Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church (Prayers of the Church) by Elmer, Robert (editor). “The hearts of the first Christians beat with praise for Christ. The strength of their devotion is remarkable, considering the times of uncertainty and persecution in which they lived. Despite all of this, the early church flourished, sustained by the God to whom they prayed. Christians today have a lot to learn from the devotional life of the early church. In Fount of Heaven, a collection of carefully selected prayers from the first six centuries of the church, we can pray with our spiritual forefathers. Prayers from luminaries such as Clement of Rome, Irenaeus, and Augustine are arranged by theme to reveal the right prayer for the moment. The prayers have been slightly updated to read more easily, but they retain their joy and mystery. As we turn to the prayers of the first Christians, we can return to the foundations of our own faith.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)
Redeeming Productivity: Getting More Done for the Glory of God by Reagan Rose. “What image forms in your mind when you think of productivity? An assembly line? Spreadsheets? Business suits or workplace uniforms? In the ancient world, productivity didn’t conjure images like these. Instead, it referred to crop yield and fruit bearing. This agrarian imagery helps us understand productivity through a biblical lens. Jesus taught, By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit (John 15:8). Who doesn’t want to have a truly productive life—to bear much fruit? But how does this happen in the places we hold dear—the home, workplace, and in our communities? We often feel overworked and overrun, defeated and discouraged. The world says be productive so that you can get all you can out of this life. The Bible says be productive so you can gain more of the next life. In Redeeming Productivity, author Reagan Rose explores how God’s glory is the purpose for which He planted us. And he shows how productivity must be firmly rooted in the gospel. Only through our connection to Christ—the True Vine—are we empowered to produce good fruit. This book shows how we can maintain the vitality of that connection through simple, life-giving disciplines. Readers will discover manageable applications like giving God the first fruits of our days. Additionally, Reagan discusses how our perspective on suffering is transformed as we see trials as God’s pruning for greater productivity.” (Buy it from Amazon)
God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes and Drives the Mission of the Church by Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves. “Evangelism and missions are parts of the Christian life often accompanied by fears, insecurities, and cultural pressures. In this addition to the Union series, Daniel Hames and Michael Reeves argue that an individual’s relationship with God influences their evangelism and missions more than anything else. To illustrate how knowledge of God influences evangelism and missions, Hames and Reeves address biblical themes such as the glory of God, Christ’s sacrifice, the fallenness of man, and the church’s future hope. There is hope for those who find these topics intimidating—when believers focus on the glory of the lamb of God, the gospel will shine through them.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)
Words from the Cross by Ian Hamilton. “Paul’s words in Galatians 6:14, ‘Far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ highlight how central and personally significant the cross of Christ is to Christians. Jesus himself saw the cross as his divinely appointed destiny. As he began to experience the unimaginable agony that lay before him, he said, ‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour’ (John 12:27). In Words from the Cross Ian Hamilton places Jesus’ seven expiring words of grace and hope in their wider biblical context and explores their theological, pastoral, and evangelistic significance. The short chapters encourage us to reflect and meditate on the love of God which is ‘the fountainhead of the gospel’ (John Owen) and bring us to devote all we are to the Saviour who gave his all for us.” (Buy it from Banner of Truth)
The Thrill of Orthodoxy: Rediscovering the Adventure of Christian Faith by Trevin Wax. “Every generation faces the temptation to wander from orthodoxy–to seek out the jolt that comes with false teaching, and to drift with cultural currents. And so every generation must be awakened again to the thrill of orthodoxy, and experience the astonishment that comes from stumbling afresh upon the electrifying paradoxes at the heart of the Christian faith. In The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Trevin Wax turns the tables on those who believe Christian teaching is narrow and outdated. Returning to the church’s creeds, he explains what orthodoxy is and why we can have proper confidence in it, and lays out common ways we can stray from it. By showing how heresies are always actually narrower than orthodoxy–taking one aspect of the truth and wielding it as a weapon against others–Wax beckons us away from the broad road that ultimately proves bland and boring, and toward the straight and narrow path, where true adventure can be found.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)
Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed by Alisa Childers. “Are you tired of feeling like you have to check social media to find out what you’re supposed to think? Are you weary of the latest self-help books that promise to set you free but only imprison you with laundry lists of studies to consider, positive affirmations to recite, and Facebook groups to join? We’ve all seen the memes that populate the internet: live your truth, follow your heart, you only have one life to live. They sound nice and positive. But what if these slogans are actually lies that unhinge us from reality and leave us anxious and exhausted? Another Gospel? author Alisa Childers invites you to examine modern lies that are disguised as truths in today’s culture. Everyday messages of peace, fulfillment, and empowerment swirl around social media. On the surface, they seem like sentiments of freedom and hope, but in reality they are deeply deceptive.” (Buy it from Amazon)
The Excellencies of God: Exploring and Enjoying His Attributes by Terry Johnson. “God’s attributes is the most practical of subjects, inspiring and shaping the entire Christian life. Contemplating who God is and what He has promised to do can bring great comfort to the most despairing soul. Moreover, it brings immense delight to all those who recognize their chief end as the glory and enjoyment of God. In The Excellencies of God, Terry L. Johnson explores several aspects of the divine character and shows how they play a crucial role in our Christian experience. May God’s mercy and grace, His patience and wisdom, His truth and faithfulness, His spirituality and blessedness prove to be a blessing to all who peruse these pages.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)
Reactivity: How the Gospel Transforms Our Actions and Reactions by Paul David Tripp. “Digital media and technology are altering the way people act—and react—toward each other. Criticism, outrage, and controversy dominate social engagement and unfortunately many Christians have joined in the chaos. Award-winning author Paul David Tripp instructs believers to view digital media and technology through the lens of the gospel and points them toward a biblical framework for communication. Explaining how God wants the church to engage with culture and each other, Tripp encourages Christians to think wisely about their interactions and be a beacon of light in an age of toxicity.” (Buy it from Amazon or Westminster Books)