Current: A weekly collection of current news and issues in the church, country, and world.
Answering Four Street-Level Arguments for Sexual Immorality – Matt Chandler (GC)
Is Some Sexual Activity Wrong? – Kevin DeYoung
No More Gender: A Look into Sweden’s Social Experiment – Trevin Wax
Here are some good posts on ministry – pondering past, present, and future:
Brothers, We Are Not Pioneers – Josh Blount (GC)
Seven Ways Pastoring Has Changed in 30 Years – Thom Rainer
The Future of Pastoral Ministry: Are We Really Up to This? – Joel Rainey
Here are some good posts for you weekend reading. They are also very important posts to consider – the wisdom within them could save all of us much grief.
The Road to Apostasy – Ordinary Pastor
First let me give you a bottom line proposition: The road to apostasy is paved by bricks of apathy towards Christ. If you want to persevere, then give attention to your affections. This is a summary. Let’s work it out.
The Scandal of the Semi-Churched – Kevin DeYoung
I’m not talking about nominal Christians who wander into church once or twice a year. I’m talking about people who went through the trouble of joining a church, like their church, have no particular beef with the church, and still only darken its doors once or twice a month.
A Better Country for Old Men – David Mathis (Desiring God)
This is a plea from the younger generation to the older. We desperately need you.
Nothing Else Does Nor Shall Delight Me – Thomas a’ Kempis (via Trevin Wax)
…let others seek what they please instead of You,
but as for me, nothing else does nor shall delight me,
but You only, my God, my hope, my eternal salvation.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day delighting in our great God with your local church!
Here are some good posts on the relationship between missionaries and supporting churches:
What I Want for All Missionaries – Mike Pettengill (GC)
But we want to be loved, and we want to know people are thinking and praying for us. If my team members were reminded that others care and pray for them, they would have strength to endure the hard days.
Missionaries Should Communicate – And Churches Should Demand It – Mike Pettengill (GC) Missions is a partnership. Missionaries and prayers and givers have all been called by God to join together in the expansion of his glory. Your mission team has many members who combine their talents to glorify God in the world. When missionaries communicate what God is doing through the combined efforts of our team, the One who called us all gets the glory.
6 Ways You Can Support Missionaries – Jennifer Su McIntyre
Writing quick emails to your missionary to tell them you’re praying for specific requests assures them that, no matter how isolated they might be, their ministry is being covered in prayer. Being specific about your prayers will help them know you are looking over their requests carefully.
Current: A weekly collection of current news and issues in the church, the country, and the world.
A few weeks ago a federal judge ruled that a pastor’s housing allowance is unconstitutional, which begs the question for many people: what is a pastor’s housing allowance and why do pastors get it?
Also a few weeks ago, our president made a new deal with Iran that failed to secure the release of American citizen Pastor Saeed. Despite Iran’s outward show of goodwill in other ways, Iran is executing many of its own citizens, and holds at least one other American prisoner.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Hobby Lobby’s case regarding the requirement in the new health care bill for businesses to offer contraceptives – even contraceptives that can cause abortions – regardless of the owner’s religious beliefs. Rick Garnett writes: Like millions of religious believers and groups, these challengers reject the idea that religious faith and religious freedom are simply about what we believe and how we pray, and not also about how we live, act and work. At the heart of these two cases is the straightforward argument that federal law does not require us to “check our faith at the door” when we pursue vocations in business and commerce. Meanwhile Trevin Wax affirms that freedom of conscience is a beautiful thing – as it relates to this case and many others.
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Sloth – Mike Wittmer
I’ve spoken of sloth because I suspect it lies at the root of many people’s crisis of faith. More people shrug away their faith than are argued out of it.
What He Could Have Been – Tim Challies
I have been reflecting recently that some of the greatest evidences of God’s grace in the life of the Christian are the things that person could be or inevitably would be without the active presence of the Holy Spirit and without a commitment to the pursuit of holiness.
12 Reasons You Should Pray Scripture – Andrew Naselli (Themelios)
So why should you pray Scripture? For at least twelve reasons….
Four Little Words – Julian Freeman
Customs start with single acts. Good customs start with single acts of conscious obedience. So … where will you be this Sunday?
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping the Lord with your local church!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Christian Christmas Grinches – Kevin DeYoung
If the disciples were to rejoice when the Bridegroom was with them, surely we can do better than to be outraged sourpusses every year when we commemorate his coming.
When Black Friday Becomes a Mission – Jon Bloom (DG)
With the Christmas season and all its commercial blitz and glitz upon us (seen especially on Black Friday), let’s lay aside the grousing and see the grace.
4 Questions to Ask Your Money – Tim Challies
Someone once drew my attention to four questions to ask when I am about to make a purchase—any purchase. Looking back, I can see how much better I am at managing money when I keep questions like these in mind….
How Vast the Sufferings – Joseph Swain (via Trevin Wax)
How vast the sufferings, who can tell,
When Jesus fought sin, death, and hell,
And was in battle slain?
How great the triumph, who can sing,
When from the grave the immortal King
Triumphant rose again?
Yet we’ll attempt His name to bless,
While we pass through the wilderness
To Canaan’s happy shore.
But when we reach the plains above,
And every breath we draw is love,
We’ll sing His glories more.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day attempting to bless the name of Jesus!
Here are some good posts on marriage:
Affair Proof and Divorce Proof Your Marriage in 2 Hours a Week – Gary Thomas
After years of reading, writing, speaking, traveling, and pastoral counseling, I’ve identified two things that, when they are in place, can almost guarantee you that your spouse won’t have an affair and that you won’t get a divorce. But you need to do both. I didn’t come up with these; I’m just recognizing them. You’ve heard of both of them, there’s nothing new here, but consider these two elements as the “canary in the mine.” If your marriage has both elements, the “air” in your mine is fresh and healthy and your marriage is probably fairly stable. If one or both of them die, the air is getting poisoned, and you need to take caution. Your marriage is now much more vulnerable to disintegration….
18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing With My Wife – Tim Challies
Here are 18 things I know I will never regret doing with my wife.
1. Praying with her. It took too long for the two of us to begin to really pray together; even now, we have a long way to go. But we have learned the importance of praying together and never regret the times we spend together before the Lord….
18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing With My Husband – Aileen Challies
So here are 18 things I will not regret doing with my husband.
1. Dating him. Because Tim is a pastor, Monday is usually his day off. But like most days off, our Mondays are usually filled with chores (and in his case, writing). But one thing we always try to do is to get away from the house and go out for some time and some lunch. I will never regret setting aside that time to be together….
Here are some good posts for pastors:
New Pastor Advice – Jason Helopoulos
He packs up the U-haul with all his family’s belonging, his books are sealed in boxes, he heads across the country, arrives in the field, and he is ready to begin pastoring. Where to start? What to do?
The Punches I Never Saw Coming – Christopher Hemmerich (GC)
Maybe I was naive. I fully expected difficulty in pastoral ministry. But I expected the attacks to come from somewhere “out there” rather than somewhere “in here.” I had no category for sheep who bite…
Carson’s Lessons from the Good Times and Bad – John Starke (GC)
Carson…offers lessons we can learn from the both the “lean years” and also the “high growth years.” For pastors and ministers longing for gospel renewal in their churches and cities, and for those experiencing revival right now, these are encouraging and helpful lessons.
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
O Jesus, King Most Wonderful – Bernard of Clairvaux (via Trevin Wax)
O Jesus, King most wonderful,
Thou Conqueror renowned,
Thou Sweetness most ineffable,
In Whom all joys are found….
10 Love Challenges – David Murray
Yesterday I gave my congregation 10 Love Challenges that translate the sometimes nebulous idea of love into very practical, do-able actions….
Why Satan Might Not Be Tempting Us – Gary Thomas
Sometimes, I’m reading one of the Christian classics and I find myself saying, even out loud, “Ouch.” That happened to me once when I was spending time with John Wesley. His insight was so heavy and so unique, it just about knocked me out of my chair….
You Do Not Labor in Vain – Dan Doriani (GC)
Jesus will bless the faithful: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. . . . I was sick and you looked after me.” We will say, “When?” Probably at work. At work we have the greatest skill, training, time, and resources. If, by faith, we strive to love God and neighbors at work, then we serve him. And he will remember it forever.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day loving God and your brothers and sisters in Christ!
Brian J. Mikul 