Free Kindle eBooks: Warren Wiersbe’s Bible Study Series: Luke 1-13: Let the World Know That Jesus Cares; Nip Ripken’s The Insanity of God; and John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine and Doxology.
Free Logos eBook for the month of October: Archibald Robertson’s Paul, The Interpreter of Christ.
Tim Challies on A.W. Tozer’s seemingly irreconcilable opposites:
For a limited time, Tullian Tchividjian’s book GLORIOUS RUIN: How Suffering Sets You Free is free at Amazon today. From the book cover:
This is not so much a book about why God allows suffering or even How we should approach suffering—it is a book about the tremendously liberating and gloriously counterintuitive truth of a God who suffers with you and for you. It is a book, in other words, about the kind of hope that takes the shape of a cross.
Chris Evans’ FRUIT AT WORK: Mixing Christian Virtues with Business is also free for a limited time.
Fruit at Work is for people at any level of employment who seek a spiritual life that resonates not only in their personal lives, but also in their work. Evans provides guidance for tough situations such as managerial decisions, the need for approval, patience with coworkers, job loss, distraction, team dynamics, and job satisfaction. Here is a new vision for work relationships—one based in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Tabletalk Magazine‘s interview with John Piper about those who feel they are called to the ministry:
A true divine call to the ministry (in general, not to a specific place or task) has at least four components, with very rare exceptions.
First, it involves a recurring and increasingly compelling desire for the work, in spite of fears and doubts (1 Tim. 3:1). The desire is more than a one-night flare-up at a high-spirited meeting. It endures through changes.
It involves gifting from the Lord. An elder is to be “apt to teach” (1 Tim. 3:2). A perceived call without evidence of God’s equipping for the call needs more testing. Continue reading Called to be a Pastor?
Leslie Keeney wrote this insightful piece about why sharing our personal testimonies is no longer the best way to share the gospel:
The problem with this method is that it doesn’t work anymore. It might have worked 20 or 30 years ago, but in 2013 any post-modern worth his salt will respond “that may be true for you, but it’s not true for me.” And well he should. If the person sharing his faith is saying that you should try this because it worked for him—if he is basing his argument for following Christ on his own experience—then it’s only fair that the person responding should be able to say that his experience is just as valid.
In a way, the Christian who uses only his own experience to tell non-Christians about Jesus is giving the post-modern the home-field advantage. He is implicitly agreeing that what matters most is personal experience, not truth.
You can read the whole thing here.
Our problem isn’t that we are too active. Rather, it is that we have been prone to successive sprints instead of the long-distance run. There’s nothing wrong with energy. The danger is that we’re burning out ourselves—and each other—on restless anxieties and unrealistic expectations.
—Michael Horton
We live in a generation of lookers, not readers. That is one of our great problems as Christians. We are book people in a non-book world.
— Alec Motyer
Jojo Agot 