As usual, we begin with books. David Sitton–a leader in modern missions–released a new ebook, which you can get for free: Warfare Prayer: Praying Effectively for Your Missionaries. If you want more background on him and his amazing life, read his autobiography or listen to some talks and interviews he gave at Desiring God conferences. While we’re speaking about DG, John Piper released a new ebook as well: Captive to Glory: Celebrating the Vision and Influence of Jonathan Edwards, which is free.
Also, Challies rounded up some other great Kindle deals: Union with Christ by Todd Billings ($3.49); God’s Will by J.I Packer ($3.99); Shame Interrupted by Ed Welch ($2.99). All B&H New American Commentary Studies are on sale for $4.99 each: Believer’s Baptism by Thomas Schreiner & Shawn Wright; Future Israel by Barry Horner; Enthroned on Our Praise by Timothy Pierce; Sermon on the Mount by Charles Quarles; Lukan Authorship of Hebrews by David Allen; God’s Indwelling Presence by James Hamilton; The Messianic Hope by Michael Rydelnik; The Ten Commandments by Mark Rooker; The Lord’s Supper by Thomas Schreiner & Matthew Crawford; The End of the Law by Jason Meyer; That You May Know by Christopher Bass.
Finally, Albert Mohler offers “Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books.” These thoughts come from a lifelong reader to others become better readers.
On the culture front, we’ve seen even secular media and one world government take note of the fact that the persecution of Christians is on the rise. The Secret Church blog had a good roundup of basic information.
Moving on to thinking about living the Christian life at the beginning of 2014, we note several articles that dealt with New Year’s resolutions. Jon Bloom talked about “The Most Courageous Resolution.” And Paul Tripp explained why 10,000 little resolutions are better than one big one. My favorite was not so much a resolution, but a call to the long-term project of writing in your Bible for the sake of your kids.
Justin Taylor gave us his usual post on various Bible Reading Plans. Even if you haven’t started, there’s plenty of time to begin and get caught up by the end of the year. As Christians we are meant to be people of the book. But what if reading isn’t your strong suit? Then, go old school (think first century old) and listen to the Bible being read by someone else. This month, Christian Audio’s giving away the entire ESV Hear the Word Audio Bible for free.
Finally, 2013 ended with a huge high note when it comes to missions. The first annual CrossCon event was a massive success. For those who couldn’t attend, JT has once again done us a great service by collecting all of the available video (more will eventually be available on the CrossCon site). You can also commit to making 2014 a year of prayer for missions.
And, just in case you missed it on Christmas Day…
MAGNIFY CHRIST 