Blogs

The Thorns and Thistles of this Life | Right With God
Another blog from my Dad: “This is a very important subject. It explains so much of why life is the way it is for man. If we try to cope with the difficulties of our daily labour without a biblical understanding of it, we are going to feel quite dissatisfied and discontent in our daily work.”

Women in Combat and the Undoing of Civilization | Denny Burk
“Our civilization just took a gigantic leap backward yesterday, though I’m wondering if anyone will notice. Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter removed final obstacles restricting women from serving in combat units in the United States military.”

3 Reasons Your Team Needs Shepherd Leadership
“Boss is the term most often used in our culture to represent the authority or leader over you. Boss means a person who exercises control or authority, directing and supervising work. Sometimes, your team does need a boss. The responsibility of leadership will require your direct authority. But, more often, your team needs a shepherd leader.”

Is your church racist? | Dane Ortlund
Long extract here because this is such an important and challenging subject:

Here are some diagnostic questions I ask myself, to press into deeper insight.  Is your church a white church where black people are welcome, or is your church a Christian church where all who love Jesus are equally accepted and equally influential?  Are the black people in your church receiving and adapting to your church’s culture, or are they, with you, shaping and reshaping your church’s culture?  Are there two circles of belonging in your church?  Is there an inner circle of “us” and an outer circle of “them” – the latter belonging too, but not in the same way, not with the same embrace, the same identity, the same “us”?  Does the “us-ness” in your church need to be broken and re-created, according to the parameters of the one gospel for all sinners who are standing equally on the same footing before the one Savior of all?  Or are the unspoken ground rules for the outer circle more demanding than the ground rules for the inner circle?  Do the outer-circle members have something to prove that the inner-circle members don’t have to prove?  Is there any emotional aloofness dividing your church, or are you loving every member with the same emotional intensity?  Finally, are the black members of your church on the same paths of growth and discipleship such that they too are on their way toward becoming leaders, deacons, elders and pastors?  Or is it inconceivable that you could receive, rejoice over and submit to a black lead pastor in your church?

Kindle Deals

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC-1492 AD by Simon Schama $1.99.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance by Bruce Ware $4.41.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God: Jesus Ed.: But Were Afraid to Ask by Eric Metaxes $1.99.

New Books

Here are a few new books from Evangelical Press.

Ann Judson: A Missionary Life for Burma (new edition) by Sharon James $13.99.

A Lost God in a Lost World by Melvin Tinker $13.99.

The Incarnation and Beyond by Adolphe Monod $14.99.

Video

One Voice on Christian Social Media | Desiring God
I love what Rosaria does when she receives an angry email. Click the link above for more of this interview.