Happy 4th of July to my American friends and family! Because this week has holidays for both Canada and the US, I am posting A La Carte only through to Friday. I’ve got some good articles queued up for next week!

As I mentioned last week, with 2023 already half over, I thought I’d put together a list of my top books from 2023 (so far). 10ofThose is offering a 40% discount on all of them. Use coupon code 40CHALLIES23.
My Journey Out of Mormonism
Zach Carter, who descended from Mormon “royalty,” tells how he came to know the true Jesus.
Should Christians Sue Each Other? (1 Corinthians 6)
The article discusses Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 6 that legal disputes between believers should be settled before believers rather than before non-believers.
Are you tired of celebrity pastors? 
“In an era of celebrity pastors. . . Thomas Boston is like a spiritual polestar to guide us by a better way to a better destiny. The Complete Works of Thomas Boston are a spiritual treasure trove waiting to be opened.” —Sinclair B. Ferguson, author of The Whole Christ. (Sponsored Link)
What Is New Age Spirituality?
This article from Ligonier Ministries breaks down New Age spirituality. “New Age spirituality is an umbrella term that describes a contemporary religious movement, not an organized religion. Proponents of the movement encourage striving to reach one’s full potential through an eclectic mixture of concepts and practices drawn from Eastern mysticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, metaphysics, naturalism, astrology, occultism, and science fiction.”
Jonathan Edwards Was Fired
“Jonathan Edwards was unequivocally the greatest mind of Colonial America. He was arguably one of the greatest minds America has ever produced.” He also once got unceremoniously fired. Joe Holland considers what happened and why.
When Sin Runs Deep, Our Patience Should Run Deeper Still
“The sin we see at the surface often isn’t the original sin that led to the behavior we see. Romans 1 tells us that it begins with ingratitude towards God as our Creator which then becomes a slow darkening of our minds to God’s obvious commands, presence, and existence. As we turn our faces away from God and blindfold ourselves to him, our hearts grow harder and sin births more sins.”
Living in Light of the Second Coming of Jesus
Aaron Armstrong offers some ways we can live in light of Christ’s second coming.
Flashback: A Parent’s Prayer for an Unbelieving Child
“But now I stop to pray again, and I will pray again, O Lord of life: please shine the light of Jesus in his heart, that my child may believe.”

With your pardoned sin behind you, and a successful Christ pleading above you, and a glorious heaven before you, how can you be despondent about anything? —De Witt Talmage

My gratitude goes to Open the Bible for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about their excellent courses—a “video-based training platform designed to equip you with a solid biblical foundation and practical, actionable guidance for serving the Lord over the long haul.”
Today’s Kindle deals include a few notable titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: A Big Problem You Didn’t Know You Had)

Chopo Mwanza considers the life and ministry of John the Baptist and asks whether we display his kind of humility.

“Though it all ended well, it was frightening to witness. As is helpful and necessary after an unsettling event, I continued to process what I had seen in the days that followed. This young lifeguard—she couldn’t have been older than twenty—headed into danger in order to rescue someone out of it. This moved me. On that day, she courageously embodied her title: she guarded life—an actual life!”

“False teachers will always be with us. Peter points out how they have hidden among God’s people since Old Testament days. In fact, it all began in the garden of Eden with the first false teacher, the serpent—Satan himself—who twisted God’s words, leading to death.” Jonathan Gibson identifies four characteristic traits to watch out for.

And on a somewhat similar note, Jacob Crouch warns about the devil’s normal schemes. “If the only devil we are looking out for is the red horned master of Hell, then we will be caught off guard when his schemes seem normal. Let’s be honest: No one is falling for the devil’s outrageous schemes. If the devil stood up in your church and shouted, ‘Let’s all follow a false god!’ very few (any?) would respond. But the devil is smarter than that. He doesn’t look to shock and awe, he boils the frog. You know what I mean? He puts you in pretty comfortable water and then slowly turns up the heat.”

“It’s not really ‘trust’ when life is going easy, is it? When life is a walk in the park, we aren’t really trusting God. Yes, we might be trusting him with regard to salvation, but for all other things we tend to run on autopilot, don’t we? (Not that that’s right!) But even so, to say, ‘It’s so much easier to trust when life is going well’ is like saying, ‘It’s so much easier to climb when you are standing on the ground’!”

That’s actually quite an interesting question to consider: are the Psalms maximally or minimally Messianic? I’d probably land a bit closer to Spurgeon than some others, but am very willing to be persuaded otherwise!

The most difficult time to lead is when you have forfeited the respect of those who are meant to follow you, when your confidence, and theirs, is shattered. But this is also the most important time to lead.

Our spiritual disciplines don’t just benefit us. We don’t follow Jesus in isolation. Our growth and our perseverance also encourage growth and perseverance in our brothers and sisters in Christ.
—Glenna Marshall

This week the blog is sponsred by Crown and Covenant Publications, and the post is written by Nathan Eshelman, pastor of  the Orlando Reformed Presbyterian Church in historic downtown Orlando, Florida. He is the author of two Grassmarket Press books:  I Have a Confession: The What and Why of the Westminster Confession of Faith (2022) and Worthy: The Worship of God (Fall 2023). Nathan also writes for Gentle Reformation and Meet the Puritans and is a co-host of The Jerusalem Chamber podcast. Nathan is married to Lydia and they have five children. You can order Grassmarket Press books here.

In 1951, Judy Garland sang at the swanky Palace Theatre in New York City week after week with a tedious two-a-day schedule. The house was always packed. As Judy Garland sang her old classics, she ended each show with a medley of Over the Rainbow and Get Happy, two classic Garland numbers.
She had 184 performances at The Palace that year. “Night after night, the result was the same: tears streaked down Judy’s cheeks as she tried to follow her rainbow, and more tears—a rivulet, then a salty waterfall—came from all those watching and hearing her,” wrote historian Gerald Clark in his book on Judy’s life. Tear-filled standing ovations ensued. One newspaper recorded a three minute, eighteen second standing ovation. Her singing was described as a kiss that awakened New York. Contrast the joy of Judy Garland’s vocal expressions with so much of what passes for congregational singing in our churches. This is not a new problem, but one that shows the need for singing with grace in the heart. In the early eighteenth century, one Reformed minister noted the lack of joy and desire in the singing of his country’s congregations. He said:
It amazes me that the godly in the Netherlands have so little desire to sing….Worldly people sing quite a bit, but they sing vain songs which stir up the heart toward vanity and immorality. The godly are, however, generally silent in these parts. The one says… “I have no voice”; the [other]  “I do not know any of the melodies”… All of this is, however, not truly the problem, but it is a lack of desire. If the heart were more spiritual and joyous, we would more readily praise the Lord with joyful song and thereby stir up ourselves and others. (The Christian’s Reasonable Service, 4.35.)
Years before, this pastor lamented the lack of hearty praise in his churches—and long before Judy Garland brought The Palace to nightly tears with her joyful song—the Westminster Confession of Faith provided brief instruction on the singing of the Christian Church. The Confession only mentions singing one time:
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear; the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God… to be used in a holy and religious manner. (Westminster Confession of Faith, 21.5.)
Did you catch it?
Christians in public worship are not only to sing Psalms, but to sing with grace in their heart.
Judy Garland was a good singer; some would say that’s an understatement; but many would not. Clark noted that “several of her contemporaries also possessed remarkable machines—some better…with wider ranges and more artful technique—yet also failed to raise the blood pressure in the seats out front,” as Clark wrote.
What made Judy different?
I will not argue that she had “grace in her heart” but I do believe that there’s something that the congregational singer can learn from her song.
One of her musical arrangers noted that “she put the words before the music, instead of the other way around, treating the lyrics will all the reverence due them.”
Judy also told an interviewer once, “I mean every word of every song I sing, no matter how many times I’ve sung it before.” The congregational singer needs to sing with grace in the heart, putting words before the tune, meaning every word that is sung. Singing is a response of faith—and the singer must own what he or she sings.
The next lesson that Judy gives to the grace-filled singer is this, according to Clark: “she needed her audience more than it needed her… she was ‘truly, truly, happy’ only when on stage… they were providing her with an identity.” Garland’s entire happiness and identity was wrapped up, not in who she was or in her extravagant lifestyle in Hollywood, but in this simple fact: she lived for her audience and found happiness only there.
As Christians bring praise from week to week, the grace-filled heart must come to terms with the overwhelming fact that we sing praise to a great God who has redeemed us through Christ and gives us an identity—son or daughter, redeemed, loved, made holy, made holy, Spirit-filled—all with hearts that ought to overflow with grace.
Learn that lesson as you praise.
We must put the words before the tune. We must own that which we sing. We must have our identify in the one to whom we sing. Having these three simple truths in mind, we are better equipped to fulfill what The Confession describes as singing psalms with grace in the heart. For you have been redeemed—sing as though it is true!
In the words of Judy Garland:
“Forget your troubles and just Get Happy, you better chase all your cares away Sing Hallelujah, come on, Get Happy, Get ready for the judgment day.”
You are preparing for eternity. Sing like it! For there’s no place like your eternal home.