Good morning from Portugal, the final stop in this Worship Round the World journey. I am here for just a few days before heading home at last. (Thankfully, Aileen has been able to join me.)

There is another good little list of Kindle deals today.
(Yesterday on the blog: When You Long to Know the “Why” Behind Your Sorrow)
What Smaller Churches Get Wrong When They Look at Bigger Churches
This is good—a list of things smaller churches can get wrong as they look at larger churches.
Ponytails, Buns, & The Blessing of Small Mercies
“Grief finds its way into even the smallest cracks. Having suffered through bangs and large rim glasses of the 90s, my late wife longed to protect our girls from the world of bowl haircuts. Always possessing an eye for artistic design, April delighted in doing the girls up like Elsa or Belle and in sending them off to school with some new braid that she had picked up from a You Tube tutorial. One needed to only look at my girls’ hair to know that they had a mom that loved them.”
Calvin’s Take on Venerating Relics
Many Protestants are surprised to learn that many Roman Catholics continue to venerate relics. Leonardo De Chirico explains here and tells what Calvin thought of the practice (though I expect you can guess).
What is Natural Law?
You have probably heard the terms “natural law” and “natural theology?” What are they all about? This article explains.
Is God More Wrathful in the Old Testament?
Is God more wrathful in the Old Testament than in the New? If you think that, you probably haven’t read your Bible very carefully.
Never Enough
“Jesus wasn’t joking when he said, ‘Sufficient for the day is its own trouble’ (Matt. 6:34). God’s promises are real and true and trustworthy. Believers stake their lives on them, but they can be hard to remember when the sapping drudgery of each wink of the clock streaks through our consciousness never to be recovered. Believers invest in a future that hovers just beyond our grasp, told over and over that contentment comes from accepting God’s graceful provision for today. But achieving that contentment is hard.”
Flashback: Learning to Be Rich
The temptation to rely on our wealth instead of on God is very real. The God-given response is for you and me: To do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

We are not called to be like the world, and the world does not need us to be like the world. We have something better to say because we have someone better to follow. —Alistair Begg

We are not lacking when it comes to daily devotionals. To the contrary, there are more options than we could possibly read in a lifetime. Yet not all daily devotionals are created equal, so it can be difficult to find a good one—one that is worthy of a full year’s attention.

Everyday Gospel

Several years ago, Paul Tripp wrote New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional and it quickly proved not only popular but also meaningful and helpful. It has sold over a million copies and guided all those people to better understand the gospel and apply it to their lives. Writing a 365-part book is a major task, so it is no great surprise that it took ten years for him to write another. But we have it at last and it is called Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life.
Everyday Gospel has both similarities and differences when compared to New Morning Mercies. It is similar in that it provides a full year of devotions and in its relentless focus on the good news of the gospel. The foremost difference is that it follows a one-year Bible reading plan that leads from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, each of the entries reflects on that day’s Scripture reading. The purpose of it all is to connect Scripture with life—to show how the truths of God’s Word are meant to transform all you are and all you do. And that’s true whether the passage in question is within the application sections of one of Paul’s epistles or the sometimes hard-to-understand narratives of the Old Testament. We know that all of Scripture is breathed out by God and therefore profitable (see 2 Timothy 3:16-17), and a key part of Tripp’s task in this work is to show how.
Everyday Gospel comes in a standard hardcover format that is about 500 pages long, though I suspect leather or leather-like versions will be available in the future. It also comes in a format that integrates the text of the ESV so that the day’s Bible reading and devotional are within the same volume. This edition is called ESV Everyday Gospel Bible: Connecting Scripture to All of Life and is available in hardcover, leather, and TruTone (a kind of faux leather finish).
While I have not yet read every entry, I have read enough to know that it’s a devotional I will recommend freely and distribute widely. New Morning Mercies has been on our living room book table for years and Everyday Gospel will soon be joining it. I would encourage you to consider doing likewise.

This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Children’s Hunger Fund. They have three book bundles for giveaway, featuring titles that have influenced CHF’s ministry and will hopefully encourage you and your family. Each giveaway package will also include hand-selected items from the Children’s Hunger Fund store. The giveaway will close on May 7 at noon EST.

 Mission Drift by Peter Greer
Too often, as Christian organizations grow, the gospel often becomes cursory, expendable, or even forgotten. Again and again, leaders have watched their ministries, businesses, and nonprofits professionalize, expand, and lose sight of their original goals. Even churches can stray from their calling.
In Mission Drift, Chris Horst, Anna Haggard, and Peter Greer provide the tools leaders need to keep their organizations “mission true” or get back on track. Supported by research and filled with compelling anecdotes, Mission Drift identifies organizations that exhibit intentional, long-term commitment to Christ in contrast to those that have wandered away from their core beliefs. Discover what you can do to prevent drift or get back on track and how to protect what matters most.
George Muller of Bristol by A.T. Pierson
George Muller was living proof that God can be known intimately, that He is a faithful companion, and that prayer yields miraculous results. This classic biography tells of George Muller’s dependence on prayer and how his compassionate concern for orphans in Bristol, England, shaped decades of missionary and social endeavors throughout the world.
Emblems of the Infinite King by J. Ryan Lister, illustrated by Anthony M. Benedetto
In an imaginative journey through the grand story of the universe, this book introduces kids ages 10+ to God’s radiant beauty using the main categories of systematic theology: God, humanity, sin, Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, the church, and last things.
Full of captivating illustrated “emblems” meant to symbolize key facets of Christian doctrine, this unique book seeks to bring theological truths from words to life. The creative design combined with rich theology will challenge young readers to search God’s Word for important answers to big questions about themselves, God, and the gospel.
All you need to do to enter the drawing is drop your name and email address in the form below.
Giveaway Rules
You may enter one time. When you enter, you permit Children’s Hunger Fund to send you marketing emails. The winners will be notified via email. The giveaway closes on Sunday, May 7 at noon EST.

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