This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by ACBC, who also sponsored the blog this week.

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We care for souls because God gave the church as His community of care,
His Word as our guide for care, and His Spirit as the empowerment of our care. Our vision of care should be shaped by what God has revealed to us in His Word and the person of Christ, not by what our therapeutic culture claims to be legitimate care for struggling people.
Join ACBC for this year’s Annual Conference, O Church, Arise: Reclaiming a Culture of Care,  October 2021 as we explore the important task of soul care in the church.
We’re offering a special discount for Challies readers. Enter code CHALLIES at checkout to receive 10% off of your registration. Prices increase August 31st.
You can join us in person this year as we meet together in Charlotte, NC on October 4-6, 2021!
If attending in person is not possible, we are excited to invite you to join us virtually!
Have a group of 10 or more joining from your local church? We made the Group Watch option just for you!
This Week’s Giveaway: Sufficiency (eBook) & Counseling Resource Package
The sufficiency of Scripture is one of the core doctrines of the biblical counseling movement. This book celebrates biblical counselors’ commitment to Scripture for theology and practice by presenting key writings on sufficiency through the years. In this powerful collection of essays, you’ll be exhorted to stand on the sufficiency of Scripture for counseling.
Everyone who enters this week’s giveaway will receive a free eBook copy of Sufficiency: Historic Essays on the Sufficiency of Scripture from ACBC.
Three winners will receive a bundle of books from key leaders in biblical counseling that will challenge and prepare you for the ministry of counseling.

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May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

The highlight of today’s Kindle deals is probably Stephen McAlpine’s Futureproof. Also well worth a look are The Surprising Genius of Jesus and Truth on Fire (and others as well, of course—I wouldn’t include them if they weren’t good!).

(Yesterday on the blog: Lots of Single Christians but Few Weddings)

There are lots of good thoughts here for those who may be considering leaving one church for another close by. “I live in a large city in the United States, and local church options are plentiful. This means that, when a problem arises in your current church, or you disagree with the direction of the church, or you just feel like a change, it’s possible to attend elsewhere. Is this okay?”

I really enjoyed this article about the master of the nets.

How do we stop drifting from the gospel? How do we even know we’re drifting? In Lest We Drift, Jared C. Wilson discusses the potentials and problems with evangelical departures from gospel-centrality. You’ll learn how to recognize signs of drift and how to navigate the top five dangers prevalent in the church today.  (Sponsored)

Tim Barnett challenges a clip floating around the internet that attempts to make Christians look stupid.

Jared Compton considers those who have finished their race and suggests that “In their post-race interview, they’d want you to know that the race is possible. What else are we to make of the fact that they made it? But they’d also want you to know how. If we asked them that, I suspect they’d smile, perhaps pause to wipe some sweat off their face, and then begin talking about heaven. Here’s what they might say.”

There is more than one way to deny the faith, says Stephen Kneale. In fact, broadly speaking, there are two.

“Can you imagine a house designed by the inventor of physics? Can you think of the spires thrown up by the God who dreamed up mountain peaks, or the public squares laid out by the One who came up with the idea of meadows?” It is good to imagine the home God has prepared for those who love him.

There are many strategies for coping with anxiety and each can be effective in its own way. But I am partial to one I came across in a dusty old book from a different era. Anxiety, after all, has plagued every generation of Christians.

It was Satan who first corrupted God’s word by addition, then by subtraction, and then finally by direct contradiction.
—Michael Horton

I’m grateful to Zondervan Reflective for sponsoring the blog this week so they could tell you about a new book by Thaddeus Williams titled Revering God. It will help you marvel at your Maker.
Today’s Kindle deals include some older and newer titles.
(Yesterday on the blog: Bowed Down By What Makes Them Beautiful)

Joe Carter explains how to understand the debate about late-term abortion.

Todd Alexander tells why it is important to pay attention to what we sing. “Unfortunately, Christians often have to filter language even in church. How we worship God and what we say in our worship necessarily shapes our beliefs about God, just as what we believe about God informs how we worship Him.”

This is a simple but timely warning to watch out for the weeds.

Writing for Equip Indian Churches, Benjamin George describes God’s blueprint for a godly family.

Missionary.com has launched a great new website. One of the best features is the glossary which provides definitions for many key terms related to missions. You might also enjoy the trailer for the forthcoming Missionary documentary.

What does it take for us to consider a church a church? That’s the question behind this article. “What are the absolute, bare bones essentials for saying ‘here is a church’? What is the fundamental difference between a group of Christians meeting together and a specific church meeting? What must be present and without it we do not have a church? What can be missing, even if it means we aren’t ultimately healthy, and yet we can still say here is a church?”

God is the one who has called you to walk this path, and he is the one who has called you to walk it faithfully. Yet he has not judged you wrong or set you up for failure. 

A healthy body that houses a sick soul is not something to be coveted.
—Eric Alexander