Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Westminster Books has a sale on the fledgling EBTC commentary series which has gotten off to a very strong start with volumes by James Hamilton, Thomas Schreiner, Andreas Köstenberger, and others. It’s great to begin collecting a series when it has only just begun!
(Yesterday on the blog: The Legend of the Battle-Weary Crusader)
My Christmas Gift Bought with a Child’s Heart
I love this one. “Suddenly shy, my six-year-old hesitated, a worried brow replaced his eagerness. His eyes lost some of their shiny dance. Grasped between small hands of offering, he stretched it toward me, then sat back on his haunches. Behind him, lights from the tree twinkled, a kaleidoscope halo of color. His eyes never left mine, and I recognized how desperately he desired to please me with his present. I saw bare longing in his wide broody dark blue eyes. I felt their desire.”
God’s Plan When Our Plans Fail
I think you’ll enjoy reading some thoughts from John Piper on how God’s plan proceeds even when our plans fail.
“Millions are Dying Without Christ”: Thinking Through a Popular But Insufficient Reason to Move Overseas
“There’s much to love about this impulse. … And yet, I try to remind my Christian friend that this fact by itself isn’t a sufficient motivation for someone to enter cross-cultural ministry. For at least two reasons.”
Finding a Church That Suits Our Every Need and Desire Is Not the Ultimate Purpose of Church
Benjamin Watson says, rightly, that “finding a church that suits my every need and desire is NOT the ultimate purpose of attending church. The primary purpose of church is gathering together in song, prayer, proclamation, and admonition to worship the Lord. Church is about Him, not me.”
A Great Way To Make Friends
Yes, it really can be this simple.
Comfort for Christian Parents of Unconverted Children
Jim Elliff: “All Christian parents wish that God would show us something to do to secure our child’s salvation, and then ‘we’ll do it with all our might’ because we love our child so much. Yet, God has not made salvation the effect of somebody else’s faith; our son or daughter must come to Christ on his or her own.”
Flashback: Momentary Obedience, Forever Honor
How do we show honor to our parents, especially when we are adults?

There are some of us old-fashioned Christians, who still believe that a loving God creates dark nights as well as bright noon-days; that he not only permits trouble, but sometimes sends troubles on his own children for their spiritual profit. —Theodore Cuyler

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today.

Westminster Books is offering a sale on a great series that answers big questions for teens.
This month ONE Audiobooks is offering free access to Paul Washer’s The Preeminent Christ.
Today’s Kindle deals include a few books that may be of interest.
Shepherding Children through Exposure to Pornography
This sadly necessary article at CCEF will help you shepherd children through exposure to pornography.
Membership at Metropolitan Tabernacle: Church Polity with Charles Spurgeon
This is such an interesting article. “Throughout Charles Spurgeon’s decades of ministry, more than 14,000 people sought to join the church he pastored. Rather than rushing them into membership, however, Spurgeon and the other pastors at the Metropolitan Tabernacle patiently shepherded applicants through a five-part process.”
Five Ways to Get God Wrong
“There are about a million ways to get God wrong, and the path to getting him right is extremely narrow. That makes theology—the way we organize our thoughts about God—important, urgent, and even dangerous. If we get God wrong, we will never understand our place and purpose in this world, let alone in the world to come.”
Your Rights as a Christian in a Public School in 2023
“As the school year begins, many parents, students, teachers, and coaches have questions about what they’re legally allowed to do in relation to their Christian faith.” Joe Carter offers “information related to grades K–12, taken from various resources that provide a broad overview of what is and isn’t allowed in public schools” (in the United States).
Efficiency in Churches
Here’s a look at some of the metaphors we use for life and ministry and how they may not be very helpful to us.
God is Near: Certain Comfort for Moms
“In my role as the Director of Children’s Ministries at my church, I’m privy to the thoughts of many mothers. As moms think about ‘back to school,’ one emotion keeps bubbling to the surface over and over. I hear it in their voices, in the questions they ask, and the conversations they have. It’s not a pretty emotion. It’s one that can sometimes paralyze us.  Fear.”
Flashback: Who Gave You The Right?
Each of us has every right to make other people’s steps lighter, to add cheer to their hearts, to add rest to their souls. But none of us has any right to unnecessarily discourage them, to burden them, to add to their sorrow.

“There is no such thing in the New Testament as a believer whose perseverance is so guaranteed that he can afford to ignore the warning notes which are sounded so frequently.” —Sinclair Ferguson

Good morning. May the Lord bless and keep you today.

There is an eclectic little group of Kindle deals to browse through today.
(Yesterday on the blog: The Ministry of Being a Little Bit Further Along)
My Darkest Night; Hopefully Not Yours
Jim Elliff: “At 3:30 a.m., I awoke to a black room, so dark that my eyes could not see even one inch away, much less to the other side. The simple room in a Romanian home in Brasov had one of those metal external shades that are lowered over the window, capable of completely deleting light. I was in the darkest place I had been in perhaps for years. And, since it was night and I was alone in the house, I thought.” This got him thinking about the “outer darkness.”
How Will the People in Heaven View Hell?
On a somewhat similar topic, here’s Amy Hall on heaven and hell. “I fairly regularly get asked this question in various forms: How will the people in Heaven view Hell? How can they enjoy the glories of God while others are suffering? My answer has two parts—a direct answer and a crucial context for that answer.”
The Universe on a Human Scale (Video)
Our minds simply can’t comprehend the size of the universe, but videos like this one do a good job of trying to help.
Patriotism: Love and Loyalty Without Idolatry
I appreciate Isaac Makashinyi’s thoughts on patriotism (in this case, from a Zambian perspective). “A nation cannot be unified around the mere basis of the mutual satisfaction of utilitarian needs. Instead, it must be bound by an active dedication to the maintenance of the body politic. To call this dedication ‘love’ is proper.”
Hope That Anchors Our Waiting Hearts
Randy Alcorn shares an excellent article from Courtney Doctor. “I recently heard a pastor say, ‘The waiting may be hard, but it never leads to disappointment.’ The truth of that statement rests entirely on what we think we are waiting for. In other words, the question isn’t simply what am I waiting for, but what am I hoping in? I’m learning that waiting and hope are intimately tied together.”
Sin Is Far Worse Than We Think It Is
“When Christians think about sin, often it is in the context of our sins being forgiven. We know that we are sinners and that we do all kinds of things that disobey God, some of them unknowingly and some of them intentionally. But we have been forgiven for our sins, right?”
The “Leading” of the Spirit?
Nick Batzig: “Deep down, we’re all intrigued by the mystical. Many find it to be more ‘spiritual’ if they experience something working powerfully and inexplicably upon them. This, no doubt, is partially the reason why charismatic views of the Holy Spirit prevailed throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. There is everything right about wanting to experience more of the power and working of the Holy Spirit, provided we rightly understand the biblical teaching about the power and work of the Spirit.”
Flashback: What Not To Say at the Beginning of a Worship Service
What are the best, the most beneficial, things a pastor or leader can say as he opens the service? What will best serve the people who have gathered?

The highest aim of womanhood is not motherhood; the highest aim of womanhood is being conformed to the image of Christ. —Gloria Furman