Blogs

The Impassibility of God Podcast | Place for Truth
“This week on Theology on the Go the topic will be the impassibility of God.  This podcast is the third in a series focusing on the doctrine of the Trinity.  In light of the recent Trinitarian controversy, Theology on the Go believes that a series like this is an important service to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So, grab that cup of coffee and meet us at the table!”

Pray for the Police | Jarvis Williams, Reformed African American Network
“Christians, don’t follow the ways of the world during these national times of civil unrest and racial division. Always act in ways that are in step with the whole gospel of Jesus Christ when correcting injustice and working for justice for all people.”

The 5 Truths Stay-at-Home and Working Moms Can Agree On | Katelyn Beaty, ChristianityToday.com
“If Christ has ‘made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility’ (Eph. 2), then surely he has united the breast-feeders and the bottle-feeders, the career professionals and the caretakers. So in the spirit of the unity that mothers already have in Christ, let’s remember what holds us together.”

Stop Trying to Make the Bible Relevant to Teenagers | Eric McKiddie, TGC
“So let us learn to wield this sword in such a way that our young people see it glimmer, hear it ring, and feel the healing that comes when it cuts. Then they will want to start swinging it, too.”

Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People | Rod Dreher, The American Conservative
Although it’s over-simplistic to trace Trump’s popularity solely to poor white people (there are many middle class people supporting him too), if you want to begin to understand Trump, you need to read this article.

Five Sources of Our Racial Shame | Kristin Tabb, Desiring God
“Whether our racism is directed toward whites, blacks, or other ethnicities, it flows from ignorance, apathy, fear, judgment, and self-righteousness.”

Doctors Live on the Brink of Death | Kathryn Butler, Desiring God
“The physician suicide rate is twice that of the general population. This is no surprise. Without Christ, the daily fodder of medicine crushes the heart. Medical training mandates practitioners witness sin in graphic detail, yet the textbooks, instruments, and decades of study offer no context for forgiveness. Joseph understood God’s will at work in the face of evil (Genesis 50:20); medical training demands its practitioners confront evil, yet heaves culpability upon them.”

7 Theological Issues Confronting the Local Church | Jason K. Allen, For The Church
“In the spirit of Luther, the church—and especially those who lead it—must continually ask itself, ‘where is the battle raging? Which truths are under assault? Against what attacks should Christians mobilize and engage?’ When considered in this light, seven theological challenges surface for the church to confront.”

Kindle Deals

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung ($4.99)

The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, Volume 1: Family Letters, 1905-1931 by C. S. Lewis ($1.99)

A Grief Sanctified: Through Sorrow to Eternal Hope by J. I. Packer ($2.99)

Too Perfect: When Being in Control Gets Out of Control by Jeannette Dewyze and Allan Mallinger ($1.99). Not a Christian book but gives important insight into a common problem, especially as a cause of depression.

I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. (Hosea 11:9)

What is your best hope of salvation? Some people hope that God will be just like them (Ps. 50:21). They hope that God is a compromiser like them, that He is a kind of changeable character, and they just hope that they will catch Him on a good day rather than a bad day.

But God says our hope should instead be based on His unlikeness to man. “I will not execute the fierceness of my anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you: and I will not enter into the city.” It is God’s dissimilarity that is our best and only hope. “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).

Do you really want someone like yourself to be your only hope? What are you like? Are you not unpredictable, capricious, and changeable? Do you not judge one way one day, and another the next? Have you ever been fiercely angry and yet possessed the self-control not to execute the fierceness of your anger? Have you ever found a technique to turn away and exhaust your anger? No, you haven’t; because you are man and not God. Too much weakness and too little wisdom means that you will usually execute the fierceness of your anger.

Only God has the power and the wisdom to find a way of not executing the fierceness of His anger upon you. His power and His wisdom are found in Christ crucified. He is the power and the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24). Having executed the fierceness of His anger upon Christ, God can then turn to you and say, “I will not execute the fierceness of my anger.”

And because He is God and not man, once He executes His anger, it is gone. He does not harbor a grudge or bear secret and bitter resentment against you. He is God and not man. Let God’s dissimilarity be your hope, your only hope of salvation.

Blogs

You Have No Rights Without Natural Law | Jim Demint
“Our rights as Americans are considered unalienable only because they were inherent in the natural order of life established by the laws of nature and nature’s God. ”

Why Are Progressives On An Anti-Christian Witch Hunt?
“The trend lines are genuinely disturbing. Christians are turning into the sort of minority it is socially acceptable to despise and marginalize. Ordinary rules of civility and social inclusion don’t seem to apply to them. We believe in free speech, except not for Christians. Freedom of association doesn’t necessarily apply to them. Rules of civility and decency are more optional when Christians are involved. Shall we even pretend that freedom of religion is a cherished American commitment in our day?”

A Word About Polite Abusers – Pastor Dave Online
“The heart desire for power and control can utilize even good things to do great evil. We must look at more than simply external behavior if we are going to seek to identify abuse in the home. We must hear the pleas of desperate women, take them seriously, and do the hard work of confronting the hearts of their seemingly polite husbands. Abuse can hide in plain sight. It may often look very different from what you’d expect.”

8 Steps for Pastors to Recover 10 Hours From Their Week
And here are 15 Productivity Tips for Pastors.

Is It Time To Ban Computers From Classrooms? | Cosmos And Culture : NPR
The debate continues but the evidence increasingly supports a ban. On a similar subject here’s A Practical Approach for Increasing Students’ In-Class Questions.

Ten Key Questions for Sermon Preparation — DASH/HOUSE
Good big picture reminders.

New Book

It’s Dangerous to Believe: Religious Freedom and its Enemies by Mary Eberstadt.

Kindle Book

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Loving your Wife as Christ Loved the Church by Larry McCall $3.99.

Video

Colorblind brothers overwhelmed at seeing color for the first time
These are what you call “tears of joy.” Couldn’t help but think of the response of the blind men to whom that Jesus restored sight.

Blogs

Will You Weep With Me? – Reformed African American Network
There is so much to say, but today is just for tears:

“There will be other days for critique and disagreements, fact-seeking and fault-finding. But can you do me a favor today and just weep with me? Weep with us. Weep with that man’s family. Weep with Baton Rouge.”

The Millennial’s Six-Step Guide To Financial Independence
“If you’re motivated, you can flip your finances from a dismal cycle of paycheck to paycheck to an impressive investment in your present and future.”

How to Have a Happy Life | Desiring God
“If we embrace that reality that the sovereign God who controls the universe knows us by name and loves us as children and heirs, everything that happens to us will be filtered through theses promises. We will begin to see everything, even the hard things, as ultimately good things.”

21 Thoughts on Preaching | TGC
Like all of these kinds of lists, you’ll find some things to disagree with, but I always find a few nuggets to challenge me.

A Domestic Abuse Primer | Counseling One Another
“Domestic abuse is so ugly in all its depraved forms, but the Lord of mercy stands ready to intercede—to help the victim, and to save or judge the abuser…eventually.”

Let’s all be Nicene | MOS – Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
I’ve been following this debate from afar with a moderate degree of interest. But these quotes have really alarmed and engaged me.

How to Study a Psalm: Essential Steps for Starting Right | LogosTalk

New Book

Big Beliefs: Small Devotionals Introducing Your Family to Big Truths by David Helm. Here’s my commendation:

“A family devotional teaching the most important truths in the world in simple bite-size chunks with up-to-date illustrations and stimulating questions. Why didn’t someone think of this before? I commend this excellent resource to all Christian families.”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Hazards of Being a Man: Overcoming 12 Challenges All Men Face $1.99. Even if you don’t agree with some of the solutions, knowing the problems is a good first step.

Their Rock is Not Like our Rock by Daniel Strange $3.99. Learn how to evaluate world religions.

Raising Financially Confident Kids by Mary Hunt $0.99.

Video

How is Your Phone Changing You?

Blogs

Listening to Abused Women | Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
“I’m probably not the first abuse survivor to ask “Does anyone really care about abused Christian women? Then why won’t you listen to us? Is it because you believe I am just as worthless as my husband thinks I am?” We’re not asking the world. We are asking the church. And I think it’s time we are given some answers. ”

2016 PCA General Assembly: Moving Forward Together – Reformation21 Blog
“I departed from the PCA’s General Assembly with concerns and frustrations, as usual.  But I am grateful to the Lord to serve in a denomination that continues to occupy its vital spiritual real estate at the crossroads of evangelicalism and Calvinism.”

How Should Christians Think About Corporate Apologies? | Kevin DeYoung
“Here are several questions to ask as you reflect on a statement of corporate repentance or ponder making a corporate apology yourself.”

Help Me Teach the Bible: Ray Ortlund on Proverbs
Among many other books Ray Ortlund is the author of Proverbs: Wisdom that Works in Crossway’s Preaching the Word Commentary series. Ray presents Proverbs as an opportunity to sit down with Jesus and have him as our counselor.

10 Temptations Facing an Elder’s Wife
“Elders’ wives are the unsung heroes of the local church.”

“Ask Jesus into Your Heart”: A History of the Sinner’s Prayer | TGC
“With the recent dust-up over whether Donald Trump prayed for salvation with prosperity gospel preacher Paula White, it is a good time to revisit the history of the “sinner’s prayer.”"

Susannah Spurgeon: A Ministry-Minded, Self-Sacrificing Wife | Maryanne Helms
“As my husband pursued a second job opportunity last summer, our routine and pace of life was subtly altered, yet changed just enough to send me into an emotional tailspin. How do I cope with less time with him? How do I combat the fears I face that his vocational life will eclipse our family life? Is it even possible to have a good marriage when I have less control over my husband’s schedule than I would like? ”

Maya Angelou Explains Why She Decided Against An Abortion
Beautiful ending.

Why Your Brain Craves Vacation Time [Infographic]

Video

Fulfilled Prophecy Demonstrates the Divine Inspiration of Scripture

Blogs

Online Friendships Are Not Enough | Phillip Holmes, Desiring God
“While online friends are indeed real people for whom we may have genuine affection, it’s essentially impossible for them to actually know the real you. This doesn’t mean these friendships have to be ended, but they do need to be regulated.”

A Survey of Male-Only Ordination in Key New Testament Texts | Richard D. Phillips, Reformation21 Blog
“The biblical teaching on male-only ordination is not reasonably in doubt. What is in doubt is our commitment to the authority of Scripture in the face of mounting cultural demands.”

Overcoming Anger | Joe Thorn, For The Church
“One of the most influential books to help me in this area of overcoming anger was Matthew Henry’s Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit.”

How to Help the Suicidal | Josh Squires, Desiring God
“How do we respond to someone contemplating suicide? With loving compassion and winsome honesty. ”

Should Christians Support Gun Control? | Thomas S. Kidd, TGC
“It is unseemly for Christians to be pro-gun zealots who automatically say ‘no’ to even the most modest reforms. Yet we also know the nature of man, and the nature of governments. Sometimes, as a people and a nation, we must confront forces of violence by using armed force in return.”

Sorry, Jen Hatmaker: Christians Aren’t Complicit in Orlando| Derryck Green, Juicy Ecumenism
“Christians who stand against redefining marriage and the homosexualization of our culture are deliberately and dishonestly conflated with ‘hate,’ ‘dishonor’ and being ‘anti-LGBTQ,’ none of which is accurate.”

Rule Requires Doctors To Treat Trans Patients As Pretend Sex | Maria Servold, The Federalist
“The consequences of a doctor’s decision not to treat a patient acting like the opposite sex now range from loss of federal funding to civil lawsuits to potential criminal investigation.”

Kindle Books

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

A Fistful of Heroes by John Pollock ($2.99)

Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church by Michael Horton ($2.51)

David Brainerd: A Flame for God by Vance Christie ($1.99)