I’m grateful to Lithos Kids for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you about their new The Kingdom of God Bible Storybook.

This new episode of WTS’s The Afterword features an interesting discussion with Timothy Brindle on CRT. Also, they have a sale on some excellent books by G.K. Beale.
With the beginning of a new month, there are some Kindle deals to be had.
(Yesterday on the blog: Why Are We Often So Boring?)
Protect Teens from Sextortion
This is important. “Last month, international law enforcement agencies released a warning: ‘In 2022, the FBI received thousands of reports related to the financial sextortion of minors, primarily boys, representing an exponential increase from previous years. Unfortunately, the FBI is also aware of more than a dozen suicides following these incidents.’”
The Shadow is a Small and Passing Thing
“In Return of the King, the last book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sam and Frodo are in the final stage of their journey: Crossing Mordor to Mount Doom. The heavy hand of darkness seemed to clamp over them from the pure weight of their griefs and fears. They had little hope yet of completing their task and even smaller hope of escaping to their former lives if this nightmare ever ended.”
From Death to Life
“‘I don’t think people fully grasp how much of Protestant Christianity is going to die off in the next 3 decades.’” Kevin DeYoung considers a recent report.
On membership processes
I always enjoy hearing how other churches emphasize and practice membership.
Vanity Fair
Derek Thomas: “For John Bunyan, a Puritan to his fingertips, the Christian life was an experience of conflict and tension with this world. Imprisoned for upwards of twelve years, he experienced firsthand the world’s hostility. Cheerful and sanguine by temperament, his portrayal of what believers can expect from this world is both solemn and dark.”
Flashback: Always Read the Story to the End
When we are persecuted we must not determine we have been abandoned, but know that we are being made ready for some great usefulness to God’s plans and purposes. We must wait, we must withhold judgment, we must read to the end!

This is the heart of prayer—not getting things from God, but getting God. —David Mathis

Good morning. May the Lord be with you and bless you today.
Today’s Kindle deals include books on fear and building a better marriage. There’s also a timely book for students along with one about living your life with the gospel at its center.

With a title like that, you’ve just got to give it a read, don’t you?

“Take a sermon from 15 years ago and preach it again word for word—on the subject of racial reconciliation, or advocacy for the unborn, or the indispensable elements of character for politicians seeking public office, or the Christian requirement to love our neighbors, or the meaning of marriage—and that sermon today, depending on the topic, could get labeled woke, or right-wing, or liberal, or Christian Nationalist, or progressive, or theocratic.”

J.A. and Doug’s new book, The Soul-Winning Church, was written to advise Christians about how to create a culture of evangelism and outreach in the church. Get 25% off with code SOULWIN. (Sponsored)

Mitch Chase: “Have you ever considered, though, that we might not be thinking of the right primary audience for those words in Psalm 46:10? What if the command—“Be still, and know that I am God”—isn’t spoken to believers?”

“Why would a person take his own life, especially a young person who has so much to live for? When our natural instinct is to do everything in our power to preserve and protect our personal well-being, why would anyone kill himself?” This is a strong article on suicide.

“What are the interests of our time? For Americans, and especially for my own ‘millennial’ generation, it would be hard to place anything higher than the interest in what some have labeled, ‘the designer life.’ An acute fixation on a personal lifestyle that fulfills our longings and resonates with our values. This is the interest of our time: to pass our time where we like it, as we like it.” I appreciate these thoughts on the trendy “rule of life.”

I don’t think a lot of high schoolers read my site, but a lot of their parents do, so perhaps you’ll want to share this with them. John lays out three common traps that high schoolers may fall into.

As Christians, we desire God’s will, we seek God’s will, we approve of it, we delight in it, and we do it.

The way to really beat sin is not to whip it out, but to so glory in Christ that sleeze looks dirty.
—D.A. Carson

Every father knows the importance of praying for his children. Yet every father also knows that at times it can be difficult to know what to pray. I recently found a sweet prayer in an old book and thought I would share it with you, dad, so you can pray it for your son. Take the words and make them your own, perhaps especially these: “Help me to help this boy of mine.”

Father, today I bring to TheeThis boy of mine whom Thou hast made;In everything he looks to me;In turn I look to Thee for aid.

He knows not all that is before;He little dreams of hidden snares;He holds my hand, and o’er and o’erI find myself beset with fears.

Father, as this boy looks up to meFor guidance, and my help implores,I bring him now in prayer to Thee;He trusts my strength and I trust Yours.

Hold Thou my hand as I hold his,And so guide that I may guide;Teach me, Lord, that I may teach,And keep me free from foolish pride.

Help me to help this boy of mine,To be to him a father true;Hold me, Lord, for everything,As fast I hold my boy for You.

This poetic prayer was attributed to Mouzon Brabham. If you find you enjoy praying poetically, please consider my book Pilgrim Prayers.