This week’s post is sponsored by The Master’s Academy International (TMAI), a global network of pastoral training centers that specialize in expository preaching.

I love to recommend good and God-honoring books. And with so many insightful resources to point to and so many publishers to print them for us, I think it’s good to reflect on how we as Christians are so extraordinarily blessed to be surrounded by such a vast number of biblical resources. But when we do that, we have to realize that this is hardly the experience of all Christians everywhere. In fact, for most Christians around the world today, it’s rare for theologically sound books to exist at all in their native language, much less their local market.
That’s why I am so enthusiastic about the global publishing initiatives of The Master’s Academy International (TMAI). They are a worldwide non-profit network of pastoral training centers that equip indigenous church leaders to preach the word and shepherd their people. A natural extension of this ministry is publishing. So just like we in the West are blessed to have so many pastors and scholars who preach and write for us here, TMAI is working to raise and equip pastors and scholars to preach and write for Christians there—in the streets of Ukraine, Croatia, India, Japan, and many other places.
To get behind TMAI and their global publishing efforts, check them out here.
Part of why I appreciate TMAI’s work  in drawing attention to the importance of publishing for missions is because I’ve seen the benefits of this myself when I traveled to Germany for the EPIC series. When we look back into the history of our own Reformed traditions, we see that before Germany became “ground zero” for the Reformation, it became the place where God wanted Gutenberg to invent the printing press, and that’s no accident. It was revolutionary for the advancement of the gospel that Luther had the ability to publish sound doctrine and distribute it across Europe en masse. It was this publishing infrastructure that God used to give local pastors like Luther such a tremendous voice in their communities. And to this day, hundreds of years later, a guy like me sitting all the way on the other side of the world can still pick up a book and benefit from the things Luther wrote about our Lord. Publishing is a gift with global potential.
TMAI gets this. Nearly every one of their 18 Training Centers has a growing publishing ministry that is making godly books accessible and affordable for Christians in their various communities and language groups. They want to help make sure that pastors and laypeople around the world are well stocked with theologically reliable commentaries, exegetical tools, systematic theologies, Christian living books, children’s curricula, and so on. Here is just a small sampling of their projects:
Recently Completed Projects:

Portions of The MacArthur New Testament Commentary series (33 vols.; multiple languages)
Basics of Biblical Greek Workbook by Robert Mounce (Russian)
Growing Your Faith by Jerry Bridges (Armenian)

Current Project Highlights:

Grasping God’s Word by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Arabic)
Romans by Thomas Schreiner (Russian)
Knowing God by J. I. Packer (Vietnamese)
Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur (Albanian)

For a longer list, go here.
These indigenous publishing houses are not only giving their students and countries much-needed access to English resources (often through translation), but as a long-term goal, TMAI aims to see this infrastructure enable their students to write and lead their local churches into deeper and stronger worship for years to come.
They raise a simple question: “If believers around the world want theologically reliable books, why should they have to get them from people who publish on different continents? Why can’t they get them from pastors and scholars in their own backyards?” That’s a big part of what TMAI trains for and prays for, and Lord willing, with help from believers around the world, I think we’ll see the global church strengthened because of it.
To support the strategic publishing work of TMAI, check them out here.

Men of great physical strength have sometimes carried outrageously heavy burdens—six hundred pounds, seven hundred pounds, eight hundred. And even then they have said, “I still have not been fully tested. Put on some more weight! Load me up!” With confidence they have gripped the bar and with great straining and groaning they have lifted it clear of the ground. Yet in every case, they have eventually reached a point where they have had to cry out, “Stop! I have hit my limit. I cannot carry any more weight.”
I wonder if you have ever considered that the burden Christ carried for us was without limit. Have you considered the tremendous weight he bore on Calvary?
There was his own burden of hunger and thirst and bereavement, and the burden of the thousand insults and outrages that had been heaped upon him. On top of that was the burden of seeing the sorrows of his mother and friends as they watched him suffer and struggle for breath. On top of even that was the burden of witnessing the crimes of the soldiers who were putting him to death and the mocking of the criminals who hung beside him.
Even as we consider this our hearts begin to cry, “Stop! Surely he cannot bear anymore.”
Yet Christ says, “Add more. Add to me the sins of the people of Israel as they turned and rebelled and chased after false gods. After that, add to me all the sins of all the earth that are being committed at this very moment and then heap on all the sins of the history of humanity to this day—all the sins of all those who are mine. Give me Moses’ rebellion and David’s adultery and Solomon’s philandering. Give me Adam’s complaining and Jacob’s obstinacy and Samson’s lust.”
The angels of heaven seem to shout, “Stop! Surely he has reached his limit!”
But again he speaks to say, “Burden me more! Add to me the weight of all the sins of the next two thousand years, add to me all the sins of all the ages that will follow. Load on the guilt of the blasphemer, the perjurer, the murderer, the adulterer, then the shame of the thief, the gossip, the hater, the idler. Give me the sins of omission and commission, the spontaneous sins and the carefully planned, the sins that were done and the good that was left undone. Give it to me. Give it all to me until not a single one remains. Give until there is no more left to give.”
The earth seems to tremble as he speaks yet again. “Now give me the sorrows, give me the losses, give me the broken hearts. Give me creation itself as it groans under the weight of what humanity has done, of what they have wrought. Heap it on, for I have room left to carry it, I have strength left to bear it.”
Men and angels alike pause in wonder at Christ receiving without grumbling, accepting without complaining, and bearing without limitShare
No wonder, then, that the sun is blotted from the sky, that darkness falls over the land. And as the light fades, men and angels alike pause in wonder at Christ receiving without grumbling, accepting without complaining, and bearing without limit—bearing it until at last it is lifted by the only One who has the right to do so.
And maybe this is just the smallest glimpse at what Isaiah meant when he said, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…” (Isaiah 53:4)
Inspired by De Witt Talmage

Good morning! Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a nice little collection from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: Tell God the Unvarnished Story)
Four Compelling Reasons I Am Pro-Life
“While much more could be said, these four reasons I am pro-life are reasons that I want to be on the tip of my tongue and that I hope will be on yours, also.”
Let the Little Children Come
This one from Madelyn is one the same theme of abortion.
How can I grow in my experiential knowledge of God?
How can we grow in our experiential knowledge of God? Here’s an answer from several theologians.
Josef Tson: What His Suffering for Christ in Communist Romania Taught Him, and Can Teach Us
Randy Alcorn: “God convicted Josef. As a pastor he refused to glorify communist leaders and started to speak out boldly for Christ. Interrogators threatened him with death every day for six months. Finally he told them, ‘Your supreme weapon is killing. My supreme weapon is dying. My preaching will speak ten times louder after you kill me.’”
How to Patiently Prepare for Missionary Work Among the Unreached and Unengaged
How can someone prepare to serve among the unreached and unengaged? This article offers some wisdom.
The Case for (Slightly) Shorter Sermons
I don’t agree with everything here, but I do think he’s on to something when he points out that it’s much easier to write a long, bad sermon than a short, good one. Concision has a way of keeping us honest.
Flashback: Why My Family Doesn’t Do Sleepovers
As I got older I learned of several people I knew who had been taken advantage of during sleepovers, and it wasn’t a perverse father in most cases, but a predatory older brother or sister or cousin. Sometimes it was even the friend himself.

The only fortune worth anything that you can give your child is the fortune you put in his head and heart. —DeWitt Talmage