This week the blog is sponsored by The Good Book Company, publisher of The Christian Manifesto by Alistair Begg. In the book, Alistair unpacks Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain from Luke 6, encouraging Christians to live a radically different life that upends the world’s values and philosophies. Readers will see that they are called to a lifestyle that is counterintuitive and countercultural, yet one that God blesses with true meaning and impact. You can purchase The Christian Manifesto here.

How do you enjoy life at its very best? 
Advertisers, of course, claim that they know the answer. Every commercial is seeking to make us feel discontent with how things are, in order to convince us that a better life will be found by buying what it’s selling. Politicians claim that they know the answer too. Every political address is asking us to trust that that person or party can put things right, and is trying to assure us that a better life will be found in voting for what they’re offering.
At times, commercials and political speeches both point us back to a bygone era—the nostalgic impulse—when (if we squint, and forget the problems that existed at that time) everything was better: when our lives were purer or our hearts were lighter or our country was greater. At other times, they point us forward to the future and invite us to dream of how, if only we buy this or vote for that, all will soon be well.
So, amid the blizzard of offers and promises, to what or to whom are you looking to deliver life at its very best? I want to take you to a description and a promise that you will never see in a commercial or hear from a politician. In this book, we’re going to look at what can be helpfully seen as a “Christian manifesto.” A manifesto is a public declaration or proclamation issued by a monarch or head of state, or by a representative of a company or organization. Here is a manifesto for the Christian life, straight from the lips of Jesus, as he gathered both his followers and those who were thinking about becoming his followers on “a level place”—on a plain—and taught them one of his most famous sermons, found in Luke’s Gospel and known as the “Sermon on the Plain.” It is a manifesto that is not oriented towards the political arena, but towards the relational and individual one.
At 725 words (in the ESV English translation), this manifesto is less than a third of the length of the average US presidential inaugural address. It is therefore, of course, not exhaustive—it does not cover every aspect of how Christ’s people can live in a way that pleases him—but it is foundational. And in the first four words of his sermon, Jesus announces that what follows will be his answer to that question of where the best life is to be found:
“Blessed are you who…”
To learn more about Alistair’s new book, visit thegoodbook.com/manifesto. 

This is going to be a week in which I post only the daily A La Carte articles. I returned from my last trip (which took me to several African nations) with an ugly bug bite and some kind of insect-borne illness. I’m trying to get that sorted and think I’m on the right track. But it has been a rough few days.

Logos users will find some good deals for pastor appreciation month. You’ll also want to look at this month’s free and nearly-free books.
(Yesterday on the blog: Could There Be a Worse Home Than This?)
The Porn Talk: Nine Ways Parents Can Lead Children
Parents will benefit from Garrett Kell’s thoughts on having the porn talk with their kids.
Competing Voices
“One evening, after speaking at a church gathering in Akron, a woman came up to me with an unusual request. She said, ‘You seem to really like stories…would you mind if I shared one with you?’” Who doesn’t like a good story?
The Christian Life Involves Dance, not Drudgery
This is a sweet one. “I feel so privileged to have this little girl in my life, and I am not even her daddy (just her daddy’s daddy). But that day, and every day since, everything in me has wanted to give her a sense of security, love, acceptance, and safety.”
Jesus Loves Me, This I Know
“The little girl talked fondly to her. In fact, she had never done otherwise. And though she had only one eye, and was blind in the other, and though deaf and unable to speak, she was adored. When the other children entered into the room she instinctively embraced the helpless doll even tighter. To her, this baby was precious and nobody else could have her.”
Does Scripture Agree with My Personal Experience?
“I was listening to a podcast recently regarding the subject of maintaining one’s deliverance and lukewarm Christianity. During this discussion between two former ex-New Agers, personal experiences alleging indwelling demons being cast out of them while being professing born-again believers was highlighted, along with no longer calling oneself a sinner but a saint. There was also a heavy emphasis on coming into agreement with God’s Word and speaking it over your situation.”
How to Use Your Hymnal
This is good guidance on using your hymnal.
Flashback: Two Habits of Successful Parents
It is an incredible honor that God allows us to create, birth, and raise other human beings made in his image. With this incredible honor comes great responsibility. You’re unlikely to fulfill this task well, or as well as you could have, without the input of the community God has given you. So take advantage of it!

The biggest reason for the ineffectiveness of contemporary Christianity is a failure to take seriously the radical difference that Jesus calls for as we follow him as King. —Alistair Begg

We often marvel at the wonder of God made man—of Jesus coming to earth to inhabit a human body and to live in a world like this. Yet as Theodore Cuyler points out in this short reflection, Jesus is not the only member of the Godhead who has been willing to condescend for the sake of love.

We speak a great deal, especially at Christmas time, of the condescension of the eternal Son of God in coming to earth, to be born in a stable and cradled in a manger. Is it a less wonderful condescension, for the Holy Spirit to make your heart his home—and to live there as your guest?
Think what a place a human heart is! Think of the unholy thoughts and desires, the impure things, the unlovingness, the jealousy, the bitterness, the hate—all the sin of our hearts.
Then think of the love of the Spirit—which makes him willing to live in such a place, in order to cleanse us and make us godly and holy!
The love of the Spirit is shown in his wondrous patience with us in all our sinfulness, while he lives in us and deals with us in the culturing of our Christian life.

I am once again wanting to express my gratitude to BJU Seminary for sponsoring the blog this week to let you know about their biblical counseling programs.

Today’s Kindle deals include a couple of good titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: Rediscovering Christian Wisdom in an Online Age)
Pastors All the Way Down?
Rhys Laverty has written a fascinating post about what the church (and in his context he is referring primarily to the UK church) may lose if we do not find a way to better support and enable Christian intellectuals.
Misreading Scripture Cross-culturally
There are some interesting reflections here on reading the Bible cross-culturally.
Sovereignty and Evangelism
Bryan Schneider has a useful reminder that God is sovereign in evangelism. And that makes our task much more straightforward.
God Takes Our Stinginess or Generosity Personally
“Any lifestyle that doesn’t align with God’s priorities and won’t hold up after death is not a good one—no matter how glamorous or appealing or sensible it seems at the time.”
Jean Twenge’s ‘Generations’: Four Takeaways for Youth Ministers
Pastors and others involved in ministering to young people may appreciate these takeaways from an important new book.
Bruised But Not Broken
This one is about getting back on your feet after failure.
Flashback: Responding Wisely to Domestic Abuse in Your Church
When Home Hurts is exactly the book I had hoped it would be when I picked it up. It is a book that will do what it promises—help well-meaning but inadequately-trained Christians to respond well to very difficult situations.

It is a sin to be indifferent to the grief of a person who is before us. It is both human and Christian to come alongside those who weep and to mourn with them. —Guy Prentiss Waters

This week Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by BJU Seminary. They are giving away their book series “Biblical Discernment for Difficult Issues,” authored by their faculty. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust.

The Glory Due His Name: What God Says About Worship by Gary Reimers
Gary Reimers provides a theology of public worship in The Glory Due His Name. Traditional, contemporary, or blended? Worship philosophy may be the most divisive issue in church leadership today. Many churches simply offer multiple styles. But does worship style also matter to God? Reimers shows what God says about worship. He discusses music and preaching in worship, God’s response to deviant worship, and the characteristics of right and wrong worship. Essential for pastors, worship leaders, and music directors.

The Law and the Christian: God’s Light Within God’s Limits by Ken Casillas
Ken Casillas explores whether Christians are under the law in The Law and the Christian. Reformed theology and theonomy emphasize intertestamental continuity and subjection to the law, but dispensationalism and Lutheranism emphasize discontinuity and freedom. Casillas says Christians are both under and not under the law. He covers differences between Israel and the church, purposes of the law, and non-legalistic ways to apply Old Testament commands. His balanced exposition and interaction with secondary sources will enrich both professional and personal study. This book is essential for expositors.
Upright Downtime: Making Wise Choices About Entertainment by Brian Hand
Brian Hand provides wise counsel for entertainment choices in Upright Downtime. From sports to movies to hobbies, Americans must evaluate multiple entertainment options. Libertines insist that all entertainment is neutral or good; ascetics insist that most, if not all, is evil. Hand provides a balanced biblical theology of entertainment. He shows entertainment’s dangers, its purposes, and its place in a biblical theology of humanity. He also measures his criteria by a reading of Ecclesiastes and evaluates television as a test case. Essential for parents and educators.

Handling Earthly Treasure: Biblical Certainties about Money by Alan Patterson
In Handling Earthly Treasure, Alan Patterson presents a biblical view of finances. The familiar warning “The love of money is the root of all evil” is often repeated as Scripture’s definitive word about finances; but God has much more to say about money—its purpose, its pitfalls, and its proper use. Patterson shares biblical truth on issues such as giving, owning property, borrowing and lending, financial planning, profiting from a business, and responding to poverty. In a world consumed with personal gain and faced with significant economic challenges, this book serves as a timeless resource for believers—a Bible-based guide to making wise decisions about money.
Enter Here

There are books you may be drawn to, but probably do not actually need to read. (Seriously, at some point you need to stop reading books about methods of prayer and just pray!) Then there are other books you may not be particularly drawn to but probably ought to read. Among these are books on technology, and especially the new digital technologies that have come to dominate our lives. I’d wager that your phone is in your hand at least several hours every day; I’d wager that you are on social media at least every few hours, often without even thinking about it; I’d wager that you communicate with others through your devices on a near-constant basis. Would it not be important to do some reading about these technologies, about how they are functioning in society and the church, and about how they may be quietly transforming you? What else could form such an important part of our lives yet receive so little attention?

Samuel James’ Digital Liturgies is meant to help you think about these technologies and the social internet they enable. For these are not harmless or inconsequential tools. Neither can they be exactly compared to any tools that we have previously experienced in human history, for they alone provide a “disembodied electronic environment that we enter through connected devices for the purpose of accessing information, relationships, and media that are not available to us in a physical format.” Our use of these technologies and our increasing immersion in them essentially brings us into a whole new kind of world in which we leave aside so much of what makes us who we are.
“Rather than being a neutral tool, the internet (particularly the social internet) is an epistemological environment—a spiritual and intellectual habitat—that creates in its members particular ways of thinking, feeling, and believing. It’s true in one sense that the web is a tool that responds to its users’ desires. But the web is not a tool in the way that a screwdriver or wrench is a tool. The web speaks to us. We talk to the web, and the web talks back, and this dialogue constitutes an ever-growing aspect of life in the digital age.”
What James means to show is that these new technologies teach a kind of liturgy, a series of practices, habits, beliefs, and desires that form us and shape us in particular ways. Just as Christians maintain a vision of the life they want to lead before the Lord and institute practices meant to foster it, these technologies hold out a vision of the good life and then promote practices that will further it. His burden is to identify and evaluate these liturgies to see where they may be opposed to the Christian faith and the Christian life. This is not a book that is anti-technology or promoting the way of the Luddite, but a book that takes seriously our responsibility to live with deliberateness, with care, and with a kind of biblically-inspired prudence.
In the first three chapters, James does some foundation-building by focusing on the Bible’s demand that we live with wisdom. He means to convince us that Christians are called to a way of life that is transcendent but also intensely practical. We are to live according to a liturgy that far surpasses anything the world can offer—a liturgy that the social internet and digital technologies can never come close to matching (but will do their utmost to displace).
The heart of the book is comprised of five chapters that each address a different digital liturgy. Here James means to help us understand both the content our technologies are preaching to us and the ideologies they are fostering within us. “The question is not, Is this technology shaping me right now? The question is, How is this technology shaping me right now?” And so he writes at some length about authenticity, outrage, shame, consumption, and meaninglessness—each of them a readily identifiable aspect of life online. He relies on a wide variety of Christian and nonChristian sources to prove and bolster his arguments. Each of them is concerning and compelling. 
In the end, he really means to convince Christians that God calls us to live according to divine wisdom and that the internet is an epistemological and moral context that makes such wisdom look like foolishness. If we are to thrive as Christians who take advantage of these technologies instead of eschewing them altogether, we will need to know how they are leading us to adopt and practice liturgies that are directly opposed to a Christian life of godliness, wisdom, and significance. Though I have studied these issues deeply in the past, I still benefited a lot from James’ insights and am grateful I read them. I’d highly encourage you to do the same.
Buy from Amazon

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you on this fine day.

Westminster Books has a deal on a new devotional book by Paul Tautges.
The Sons of God and the Daughters of Man
Mitchell Chase has just wrapped up a really interesting series of articles on “the sons of God and the daughters of man.” He looks at the various interpretive options, tells which he prefers, and defends his view.
Online ‘Prophets’ Are More like Jonah than Jeremiah
“It’s never been easier to step into the role of a would-be prophet, to stand in the long line of men and women over the ages called to ‘speak truth to power.’ Social media has amplified the ability to speak out on any number of issues—to expose the hidden corners of injustice, to rail against the abuses of the strong against the weak, and to point out the flaws in institutions and the people who lead them.”
Hospitality
“One of the lost and dying arts in the church these days is the practice of exercising hospitality.” That much is clear. But what can and should we do about it?
Life After Death
“While I can’t say this with 100% certainty, my guess is, we’ve all experienced an event now considered ‘before.’ These events can be positive or negative, maybe even neutral, but they’re a way we mark time…a way to say ‘before’ life was one way and ‘after’ it is another.” Malinda considers such events.
Contributing Factors of a Crushed Spirit
“Over my years as a biblical counselor and pastor, the book of Proverbs has been a go-to on many occasions. The pointed doses of wisdom speak to many of the dynamics and nuances that a strictly moral view misses. The perfect wisdom of God, as seen in the book of Proverbs, very much has in mind the immense complexities of life and of humanity.”
German Homeschoolers Face Deportation After 15 Years in the US
“A Christian family who fled Germany to be able to homeschool their seven children say they now face deportation, 15 years after arriving in the United States and fighting for asylum.” CT reports on a troubling situation.
Flashback: Set An Example: Don’t Surrender To Low Expectations
God calls you to be an example. Your youth is no excuse for ungodliness or spiritual immaturity.

For His people, Christ brings an end not to the experience of death but to the fear of death. —Guy Prentiss Waters

The God of love and peace be with you today.

(Yesterday on the blog: Never Be Discouraged and Never Be a Discourager)
Five Blessings of Marking Up Your Bible
Of course, there’s no rule saying you must mark up your Bible. But if you do, perhaps you’ll experience these blessings.
Creators, Consumers, and Christ: 10 Social Media Resolutions
Aaron Lee: “Whether creating or consuming, Christians can use social media as a tool to steward and leverage well for the glory of God and the good of others. To encourage Christians and especially youth on social media, here are some very practical tips and strategies…”
2 Common Pitfalls to Avoid When Evangelizing Muslims
A. S. Ibrahim is such a helpful guide when it comes to sharing the gospel with Muslims. “We are called to bring the gospel of hope to our Muslim neighbors, but there are some mistakes that Christians can make—intentionally or unintentionally—that we should avoid.”
“What if I feel abandoned by God?” (Video)
Sinclair Ferguson answers the question theologically and pastorally.
5 Things at the Heart of a Pastoral Visit
Pastoral visitation is such a blessing to pastor and parishioner alike. Andrew Roycroft offers a few principles that may help those who are receiving a visit. “Not everyone who is engaged in pastoral visitation is an ordained Pastor,” he clarifies, “and so this post shares more widely about those men and women gifted for and engaged in caring for God’s people (as well as those in full time Pastoral ministry).”
Cultural Contamination and Scripture’s Emphases
“Among the many forces that shape contemporary missions, fear of cultural contamination looms large. Missionaries, and Western missionaries in particular, often feel and express a deep aversion to passing on aspects of their own culture to those that they reach through their ministry.” This is a helpful reflection on the matter.
Flashback: Our Understanding of Earth and Our Assumptions of Heaven
Are we certain that the one who leads the church in worship is really far ahead of the one who prepares the church by shoveling its sidewalks and setting up its chairs? That the one who labors in the pulpit is doing more important work than the one who labors in her prayer closet?

Let every Christian assert his high birth by his high bearing. —Theodore Cuyler