My gratitude goes to Harvest USA for sponsoring the blog this week to let you know about their free video courses for parents. Sponsors play a crucial role in keep this site going, so I am thankful for each and every one.

Darry Dash: “If you don’t think pastoral ministry will be hard, you’re wrong. Of course, it’s not the only hard vocation. Our congregations are filled with people who fill challenging roles. Pastoral ministry comes with many joys. My point, though, is this: it’s also filled with hazards and difficulties. If you suffer from idealism, pastoral ministry will beat it out of you.”

“Sometimes, to protect a passage of scripture from the abuses it receives from those who twist it, we add so many qualifications that we eliminate not only the false teaching but also the profound truth it communicates.” That’s a bad thing! Doug offers a common example here.

Kristin tells a story and describes what she learned from it. “I have thought about the dog and the man many times over the years. When I feel myself growing weary and frustrated with people who are repeatedly toying around with God and Scripture, claiming the label Christian while digging in their heels and living precisely as they please? I am learning to pause, pray, and walk away.”

“There are generally two basic forms in which this question is asked. First, most Christians have at some point asked themselves, ‘If I’m a true Christian, why do I keep sinning?’ Second, Christians and others have asked questions like, ‘How could Christians have committed such atrocities during the Crusades?’ The two questions are different, but they have essentially the same theological and biblical answer.”

Michael Kruger explains why in-person is generally best, but online is also necessary. “At RTS, here’s what we have learned. It’s the combination of both residential and online education that seems to work best. While we have intentionally placed the priority on residential, the online courses provide a wonderful supplement. In other words, the online program is not replacing our residential degree but enhancing it.”

“How is this exhortation still relevant to us today, in the West? The Bible must not be re-interpreted according to current cultural trends. However, part of accurately interpreting God’s Word is to recognize that it was written into a specific culture and context. And so it is important to recognize that a command to specifically ‘kiss’ one another may not translate seamlessly to American culture today.”

When we say, “In Jesus’ name,” we pray in the name of the one who has been exalted to the highest place, the one who has had bestowed upon him the name that is above every name…

God’s commands are not designed to rob you of life or to plunder your freedom, but to graciously protect you from harm.
—Paul Tripp

Good morning from Toronto (at long last). It was an eventful journey home that included an unexpected stop in Honolulu, but I made it home eventually. And I am glad to be here!

There are some new Kindle deals from both yesterday and today.
MrBeast: The Greatest Showman
This is a fantastic write-up by Chris Martin on the YouTube phenomenon MrBeast. If you haven’t heard of him or seen his videos, it’s likely your kids have.
Does My Sexual Past Disqualify Me from Pastoring?
I appreciate John Piper’s response to this question.
GOD IS FAITHFUL DESPITE WAR AND VIOLENCE IN UKRAINE
“We had never prayed so much before,” shared Lyena, a Ukrainian woman whose home was destroyed in the war. “I had never read the Psalms so thoughtfully before. It was the encouragement that brought tears of gratitude and joy. I realized that only when you walk through the valley of mortal darkness, you learn to completely trust God, and then you are not afraid, because the Lord is with you.” (Sponsored Link)
Rules for Passivists
This is a bit of a cheeky article, but I think it shares some true wisdom. “I’ve been working on an exciting new philosophy of life, cultivating a different way of being in the world, polishing a shiny new weltanschauung. I’m calling it passivism. Here’s how it works.”
What Is Gluttony?
“Gluttony, biblically speaking, can be summed up as laboring ‘for the food that perishes’ (John 6:27). It is not only found in over-consumption, but an idolatrous expectation that looks to eating and drinking to provide sating and fullness for the soul (the inner person).”
Keeping Your Daily Devotions Fresh through Journaling
Paul Tautges offers help on keeping your daily devotions fresh.
The God-Centered Camp
I’ve always been interested in the way God arranged his people around his tabernacle. This article explains.
Flashback: Each Gift Has Its Place
…as the gardener suits the plants to his garden, God suits the gifts to his church. He dispenses gifts to each person, each to be used in love and service to others.

Pastor, do not let your vision for the church you want get in the way of God’s vision for the church you actually have! —Jared C. Wilson

May God bless you as you serve and worship him this weekend.

My thanks goes to Ligonier Ministries for sponsoring the blog this week with news of The Reformation Study Bible, Student Edition.
Today’s Kindle deals include some classics (plus whatever I dig up in the morning).
(Yesterday on the blog: Friendship and the Grace of God)
A Kernel Of Wheat In The Ground
This is such a neat story. “Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son from Sweden to the heart of Africa, to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up with another young Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, and the four of them sought God for direction. In those days of much tenderness, devotion and sacrifice, they felt led by the Lord to go out from the main mission station and take the gospel to a remote area.”
Faction Friendships
“We have Christians who will not speak to another Christian if he is wearing a facemask—or unless he is wearing a facemask. There are Christians who are suddenly hailing as heroes those with whom they have very little in common on any other issue, but because they are ‘sound’ on the covid question that’s all that matters.” This is a problem…
Self-Care is What We Do to Heal from the Internet
Samuel James looks at some self-care tips and asks, “How does a list of very ordinary human activities go from obvious and unspoken, to vital expressions of self-care? Here’s one hypothesis: Most self-care techniques are simply routine activities that most people did before they gave that time to being online.”
Bible Contradictions? A Response to Bart Ehrman
Bart Ehrman, in pointing out supposed Bible contradictions, says “just read the text.” “So, I did read the text. And, what I found is that Bart Ehrman puts forward some difficult passages for believers. But what I also found is that a moment or two of thinking erased many of the contradictions. Some of the contradictions were so fragile that it made me wonder if Bart Ehrman was being just a little bit disingenuous.”
Go to Sleep. Stay Awake.
“I face two battles every day of my life: the battle to sleep and the battle to stay awake.”
The danger is the good times
We may be on the lookout for spiritual danger in the bad times, but there is also danger in the good times.
Flashback: We Don’t Sing for Fun
…singing is not prescribed for Christian worship for the purpose of fun. It actually serves a far higher purpose as a means through which we bring mutual encouragement by recounting common truths together.

We were never meant to eat the toxic bread of anxious toil. So God invites us to rest, to trust him to provide for us, and to receive the delightful gift of sleep. —Geoff Robson