Beginning with books and resources, I wanted to point you to a book which I knew was in the works but didn’t know had already been released in the US. Enjoy Your Prayer Life by Michael Reeves is actually more of a booklet, but is probably the best work you’ll read on prayer ever. Yes, I mean ever. Lane Keister pointed out a helpful book for burnt out pastors. WTS Books has come good deals in their clearance section: Paul Tripp’s Forever dvd set, Salvation by Grace: The Case for Effectual Calling are especially good buys. Check them all out here.
There never seems to be a slow week for news and culture issues. Joe Carter almost broke the internet (or at least the part of it viewed by Christians) as he posted an article seeking facts on whether or not ISIS was really beheading children. Russell Moore was helpful as usual as he led us to think about the situation in Ferguson, Missouri. Philip Holmes told us how we could pray for the town. On another topic, Carl Trueman and his crew discussed the strange appeal of Fifty Shades of Grey among Christian women on his podcast. And if you ever wondered how Google works, then this is the infographic for you.
Thinking about church and ministry, Mez McConnell gave some helpful advice on pruning ministries for greater fruit. H.B. Charles gave some helpful advice on balancing authority and wisdom as a guest preacher. And Bob Kauflin asked if singing the Gospel could become rote and provides some helpful advice to make sure it doesn’t.
Wrapping up this week in theology and the Christian life, Ravi Zacharias posted a four-part series on “The Mystery of Evil and the Sovereignty of God.” Get the mp3s here: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4). R.C Sproul posted an important article on “Accepting ‘No’ As God’s Will.” What is “biblical whining”? Brad Hambrick gave us an answer. In a similar vein, Jon Bloom wrote about how to live with true grit. Ray Ortlund pointed us to some thoughts by C.S. Lewis on what it might look like to love our enemies. And for the other part of Jesus’ command (Matt 5:43), Joe Carter gave us three ways to prayer for our enemies.
MAGNIFY CHRIST 