May you know the Lord’s blessings as you serve and worship him this weekend.

There are some great Kindle deals today, including books by Steve Lawson and Gregg Allison.
(Yesterday on the blog: It’s the Air We Breathe)
Showing Up Mattered
“Every Christian who serves sometimes wonders if his or her efforts are having any effect. With some people it’s not obvious that God is working. Am I really helping this person change? Does my faithfulness really matter?” Kraig shares an example of a time when simply showing up mattered.
Welcome to Pride Month, Christian
“If anybody wants to understand what is happening to the public square in America—indeed, if anyone wants to know how America, or at least her ruling class, wishes to understand itself, they need look no further than Pride Month.” Carl Trueman explains why it is so significant an event.
What is the aseity of God?
If you’ve heard the term but haven’t known how to define it, this brief video will be helpful.
The Darkest Deception in the Church
“The worst deception in the church is self-deception on this point: that we believe we’re not self-righteous.” Ouch.
Social Media Shepherds
“There was a time when most things I knew about the Bible came from my pastor, and I learned them while sitting in a pew. These days, not so much.”
A Case for the Longer Ending of Mark
It seems to be generally accepted these days that the final verses of Mark should be treated with suspicion. For that reason, I appreciate this dissenting perspective. It is good to think about these things…
Flashback: Affirming God’s Image
Less than a generation ago, few would have dared suggest that there is no necessary link between biological sex and gender identity. Today, though, it is commonly believed that a person with a female body may actually be a man or a person with a male body may actually be a woman.

Prayer is the antithesis of self-dependence. —Michael Reeves

From time to time I like to share one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. In that vein, here is how we worshiped on one summer Sunday morning. This week’s cast of characters included John (a pastoral assistant) as the service leader, Allie as the lead worshiper, Dwight as the elder who prayed and read the sermon text. I preached. The band was comprised of piano, violin, and guitar. The various elements of the service are in bold with the name of the person who led the element in parentheses. Items in quotes represent roughly what the person said to the congregation. Items not in quotes are explanatory. The entire service took approximately 90 minutes.

Welcome and Call to Worship (John)
“Because God is both all-powerful and full of love, the Psalmist calls on us to turn to Him: ‘Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us’ (Psalm 62:8). The Triune God is a refuge to His people. Let’s begin our worship of GOD by calling on Him—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—to help us praise Him as we pour our hearts out to Him.”
Singing (Allie)

“Come Thou Almighty King”

Corporate Reading (John)
“One of the many ways God provides us refuge is by giving us His Word. Our Bibles. Please read out loud with me these words of praise to God for His comforting and consoling and counseling Word.” (Together we read Psalms 119:129-136 from the CSB.)
Singing (Allie)

“How Firm a Foundation”

Complementary Text Reading (John)
“Once a year, Israel’s High Priest was to enter the Holy Place in the temple to make atonement. This day was called Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. Listen carefully as I read of this day.” (John read Leviticus 16:29–34)
Prayer of Confession (John)
John used the fact that God decreed an annual Day of Atonement for Israel to lead the congregation in a prayer of confession for their sins.
Word of Assurance (John)
“The Psalmist wrote: ‘For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you’ (Psalm 86:5). If you have called upon the powerful and loving God to forgive you in Christ, be assured he has done it. You are forgiven, because he is so loving.”
Singing (Allie)

“O the Deep Deep Love of Jesus”
“Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me”

Pastoral Prayer (Dwight)
Dwight led the pastoral prayer and prayed for a number of matters pertaining to the life of the church.
Scripture Reading (Dwight)
Dwight read the text for the sermon—Hebrews 4. He prefaced his reading by saying, “This is what holy Scripture says” and ended it by saying, “This is the word of the Lord” to which the church responded with “Thanks be to God.”
Singing (Allie)

“I Know That My Redeemer Lives”

Sermon (Tim)
I preached a sermon titled “The Heart of Christ in our Weaknesses” with the outline “Jesus Knows, Jesus Cares, Jesus Helps.”
Singing (Allie)

“Jesus Strong and Kind”

Commission & Benediction
John called the church to live out the truths we had encountered in the service, then said, “Receive this blessing of the Lord from His Word: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’”

My gratitude goes to the excellent Spurgeon College for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about their Accelerate program.

There are a few new Kindle deals again today.
(Yesterday on the blog: On Nick’s Twenty-Third Birthday and My Own)
Sufficient in Our Sorrows
Aubrynn makes such a good point here: “Healing is a gift, and it is something I will continue to pray for, but it is not an end in and of itself. True confidence is found not in my strength, my assurance, or my abilities, but only in the foundation of my confidence itself. Christ is my confidence.”
Is the Ark of the Covenant a Type of Mary?
This is a lengthy but interesting refutation of the Roman Catholic teaching that the Ark of the Covenant is a type of Mary.
7 Ways to Mishandle a Bible Story
“The Bible is full of stories.  And we preachers are full of ways to mishandle them.  God has richly blessed us with the stories in the Bible.  Each one reveals God’s heart and character. Each story is designed to point our hearts to Him and to stir our faith in His word and character. So, how can we go wrong?” Here are seven ways.
Jesus Revolution and American evangelicalism
Bethel McGrew considers a character from the film Jesus Revolution. “As I read up on Lonnie, Chuck Smith’s mysterious hippie guest, I especially wondered how the film would handle his story. The dynamic evangelist was directly responsible for a wave of conversions, but he was also a deeply troubled soul whose moral failings cost him his ministry platform and ultimately his life. March 12 will mark 30 years since he died of AIDS at just 43.”
Whining vs. Biblical Complaint in Caregiving
Distinctions matter. “I believe there is a real difference between whining and biblically complaining. Whining is what we do when our preferences aren’t being met. Biblical complaint is when we acknowledge the disconnect between the pain of our lived-in reality, and what we know is true of God’s character and his plan for redeeming our world.”
External Morality
“I believe objective morality exists. I believe God is the only explanation for objective morality. But skeptics will run you in circles trying to prove that objective morality can exist apart from God…”
Flashback: 10 Lessons on Parenting Big(ger) Kids
Don’t be too easily dismayed by kids who happily display their badness; don’t be too easily impressed by kids who mostly display their goodness. In Jesus’s most famous parable, neither the older nor younger brother was outside the need or the reach of the Father’s love. Your best and worst child equally need Jesus.

Genuine thankfulness is an act of the heart’s affections, not an act of the lips’ muscles. —John Piper