Logos users, we are getting near the end of March Matchups and the deals keep getting better. Also be sure to vote in the second-to-last round.

God Saved Me from a Polygamist Cult
“When people ask my wife and me how we met, the story of how Christ met us inevitably takes over. It’s unavoidable from the moment I say, ‘Well, we actually met in a polygamous Mormon cult.’ Eyes grow wide, and folks eventually find a few words like, ‘Wait . . . what?’ Their questions lead us into a testimony to boundless grace. It’s a story of doubt, God’s stubborn love, some dead friends, and a book by Tim Keller.”
How the Holy Spirit Helps Us Read Scripture
We know that the Scriptures are inspired, but as Jonathan Pennington explains here, “the Holy Spirit’s role does not stop with the writing of the texts. Good interpretation is also dependent on the ongoing work of the Spirit to in-spire us to understand, receive, and apply what God has spoken.”
Match of the Day Without Commentary – Lessons for the Church
This article considers the way pastors may say too much or too little as they lead a worship service.
Is my depression really part of God’s plan?
Stephen Kneale: “Somebody asked me yesterday whether I thought my getting depression was part of God’s plan. I thought that was a really interesting question and thought I would share my view on that here.”
How we lost our families and movies in one move
Mwansa Mbewe has a bit of a fiery one here to explain how and why Africa is losing its stories.
Why Read If You Forget Most Everything Anyway?
“If you can’t remember most of what you read, why even bother? Aren’t there better ways to use your time?” Trevin answers exactly the way I would (and often have).
Flashback: Drowning in an Ocean of Encouragement
Just as we have been taught to take 10 looks at the cross for every one look at ourselves, perhaps we ought to speak 10 words that will build up—or better yet, a hundred—for every word that might pull down.

We need the all-sufficiency of Jesus applied in rich measure to our deepest points of personal need. —Ray Ortlund

Blessings to you today, my friends.

I collected a few interesting Kindle deals for you to look at.
(Yesterday on the blog: Living Selflessly with Your Wife)
50 Thoughts on Preaching
This is great stuff from Jared Wilson.
Names Nobody Remembers
“Though the world’s idea of success might see our small days lacking, our good God operates very differently. He has a knack for using people lost in the credit roll. We can see this beautifully in the story of the Israelites in Ezra and Nehemiah.”
Locusts and Wild Honey
Why did John the Baptist eat locusts and wild honey? You may not be shocked to know there was purpose behind it.
One Day It Will Be “Tomorrow”
“Christian, are you mindful of the distinction between ‘Today’ and ‘Tomorrow’ in your evangelism? Do you have the same sense of urgency in your proclamation of the gospel? Are you guilty of preaching a take-it-or-leave-it gospel?”
Your Past Does Not Have To Be Your Future
Here’s a wonderful illustration that your past does not need to predict your future.
Secondary and Tertiary Issues Are Still Important
Lara d’Entremont: “When God led me to my theological stance, he also placed me in a small community where no church holds to this theology—not even closely. My family and I are members at a church that is on the opposite side of the theological spectrum for us. We’ve had to keep ‘the main thing the main thing’ and remember that despite our differences, we each believe the same gospel and worship the same God.”
Flashback: How Long Have You Been Battling?
Sometimes it best serves God’s purposes to leave us in our weakness, for it is in this state that he can best prove himself to be our strength. Yet sometimes it best serves God’s purposes to interrupt long suffering and reward long praying with a demonstration of his power.

Grace means your life will end in victory, no matter how many defeats you’ve had along the way. —Paul David Tripp

This week the blog is sponsored by The Good Book Company. This article is an excerpt from the new, updated, and expanded edition of Is God Anti-Gay? by Sam Allberry. This sensitive exploration of the Bible’s teaching on sexuality has been written to help both Christians and non-Christians struggling with the Bible’s teaching on this issue, whether they experience same-sex attraction themselves or not. Learn more about Sam’s book here.

Western culture has become dramatically more approving of same-sex relationships. In the space of just a decade or two, same-sex marriage, for example, has gone from being something that most people disapproved of (albeit mostly quietly) to something of which acceptance is seen as a litmus test for whether you are a morally good person.
Quality & Clarity
Key to our witness and credibility on this (or any) issue is the quality of our life together and the clarity of our message. We need to be clear on the gospel—clear that it is good news for everyone and that no one is too far gone to enjoy it or too complete to need it. We need to be clear not just that we are all sinners but that we are all sexual sinners. This is the point Jesus makes in Matthew 5 v 27-28:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
The claim here, as we’ve seen, is that we all have hearts that are naturally adulterous— that turn other people’s sexuality into something to be regarded lustfully. None of us are coming at this from any position of superiority. With that gospel clarity needs to come relational credibility. The New Testament often connects the effectiveness of our witness with the genuineness of our love for one another. Jesus once said:
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13 v 35)
Paul describes the church in the following way:
“God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. ” (1 Timothy 3 v 15)
A Strategy of Family
The church is the “pillar … of the truth” because it is the outlet of God’s truth into the world. It is God’s means of bringing his truth to all people. But it is also God’s family—his “household.” And for the church to be an effective pillar, it needs to be an effective family. The local gathering of God’s people is to embody the gospel in its own life. It is the church being church in all its biblical fullness that will most commend God’s ways to wider society. Jesus’ command that his followers “love one another” was not just an afterthought. It is a key part of his strategy to win a watching world.
Jesus promised that those with things to leave behind and give up for him will receive a hundredfold in return:
“ ‘Truly I tell you,’ Jesus replied, ‘no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions— and in the age to come eternal life.’” (Mark 10 v 29-30)
Jesus is Always Worth It
The gospel can be relationally costly. But it is also relationally generous. What we leave behind does not compare with what we receive back from Jesus. It is hard to miss the fact that Jesus is talking about family— close family. He doesn’t promise distant cousins and great-uncles, but brothers and mothers and children. All that we have we are to share with one another: time, resources, affection—in other words, ourselves. This, it turns out, is going to be the demonstration, in this life, that Jesus is always worth it. It will be the quality of our community life as church, as much as our ability to speak clearly into the public square, that will most visibly show a watching world that the Christian stance on sexuality is compelling.
Jesus’ words give us all something to do. We might not have the best celebrities, the most talented spokespeople, the most impressive resources, or the most acclaimed thinkers, but in the church we should have the most wonderful and attractive relationships.

Before I set fingers to keyboard, I asked my wife if I should write this article—one requested by Ligonier’s Tabletalk magazine. Before I so much as typed a single word, I asked her if I was at all qualified. She pondered this for a few moments and said, “Yes, I think you are.” I was grateful for her affirmation, yet we both had to acknowledge that many parts of the Christian life are easier to say than to do, easier to describe than to live out. And this one is no exception. It’s easy enough to plan and pledge and pray to live selflessly, but it’s difficult to actually do it moment by moment and day by day. That’s true even of living selflessly with the person in this world I love the most.

I have often pondered one of the strange paradoxes of the married life—that the person I love the most is the person I will sin against the most. Because of our proximity, because of our intimacy, because we have pledged to live our lives together “till death do us part,” I will have a lifetime of opportunities to love my wife but also to hurt her, to bless my wife but also to sin against her. Every day I will have the opportunity to live with her selflessly but also to battle the temptation to live with her selfishly.
God’s Word makes it clear that it is the responsibility of every husband to live with his wife in an understanding way—a way that shows her special honor (1 Peter 3:7). God makes it clear that while a husband is called to lead his wife, he is to lead in a way that is marked by love, not control, and that is shown in sacrifice, not dominance (Eph. 5:25–31). If a wife’s calling is to submit to her husband’s leadership and to show him honor, the husband’s calling is to lead in a way that makes it easy for her to follow and to love in a way that makes him worthy of her honor. It is to think more of her than of himself, to consider her good ahead of his own, to love her even at his own expense. It is, in short, to live selflessly.
To live selflessly is to live with an awareness of complementarity, to understand and embrace the differences between men and women. There is something deep within every man that tacitly believes that marriage would be easier and his union stronger if his wife were only more like him—if she thought like a man and reasoned like a man and felt the desires of a man. Yet God has chosen to display His glory in two genders that are wonderfully different and wondrously complementary. A husband who truly loves his wife is a husband who embraces the differences rather than battling them, who sees them as a feature of God’s design rather than a mistake. He listens to his wife attentively; he comforts her lovingly; he provides for her willingly. He understands and accepts that she is fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image every bit as much as he is, both in her similarities and in her differences.
To live selflessly, then, is to live compassionately. When writing to the Colossians, Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them” (Col. 3:19). Surely he would not have included that particular exhortation if it did not reflect a common temptation. And every husband must admit that he can so easily stoop to harshness, to treat his wife brusquely, sharply, or unseriously. Yet the husband who means to honor his wife will treat her with kindness and dignity, with care and compassion. He will be sobered that God has provided him with a wife at all, be honored that God has entrusted this particular wife to him, and be eager to extend to her all the love and affection that God has extended to him. He will be gentle and forbearing and will always be quick to repent, quick to seek forgiveness and to restore the relationship when he has sinned against her.
To live selflessly is also to live as a companion. It is to “enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun” (Eccl. 9:9). A godly husband enjoys the freedom and intimacy of the marriage relationship and relishes his wife as his dearest companion and closest friend. Though any marriage is at times difficult and though any relationship will at times demand effort and require work, he is committed to enjoying his wife and delighting in the unique joys and wonders of the marriage relationship. He embraces the unique strengths that come with his wife’s femininity, appreciates the unique insights she brings, and learns to enjoy what she finds pleasurable. As he sets aside his natural selfishness, he awakes to the wonders of the closest and dearest kind of human companionship.
Any good man would be willing to die for his wife—to take the bullet that would have struck her, to welcome the pain that would have afflicted her. But it is the rare man who is willing to live for his wife—to set aside the selfishness that is always so close at hand and to instead live for her good and her joy. But then no husband is behaving in a more Christlike manner than the one who considers his wife’s good ahead of his own, who puts to death his natural self-importance so that he can live truly selflessly with the wife whom God has given him.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

Today’s Kindle deals include a little list of books on parenting from Crossway.
(Yesterday on the blog: A Pastoral Prayer for Love and Unity)
Authenticating the Fourth Gospel
“When I asked Christians why they trust the Bible in contrast to other holy books, most ended up pointing to their own subjective feelings or experiences, rather than to any objective considerations. Some even described faith as a kind of ‘gut-feeling’ or ‘spiritual sixth sense.’” Shane Rosenthal explains why this is insufficient.
The Many Faces of Islam in Africa
David Fugoyo Baime describes some of the many forms Islam takes. “Islam is one of the largest religions in Africa, making up of over 40% of the African population. To ignore Islam is the greatest mistake practicing Christians in Africa can make.”
The Military’s Best Kept Secret
I enjoyed Kevin’s take on the U.S. military’s best-kept secret.
Men and Emotions
Suggesting that men tend to struggle with expressing their emotions, this article asks, “What does Jesus teach us about emotional expression?”
The Basics — Creation
Kim Riddlebarger describes the basic tenets of a distinctly Christian understanding of creation.
See Me
“We all have a need–a craving–to be noticed. And in the noticing, praised. Esteemed. Wanted.Loved. But too often our parents disappoint us. And our friends become our competition.”
Flashback: The Snows, The Deep Snows, the Awful Snows
Though it is certainly not always the case, very often the people who are particularly used by the Lord are the same people who endure suffering. De Witt Talmage makes this point well in a quote from one of his sermons.

God is love, but this is quite different from affirming that our culture’s understanding of love must be God. —Kevin DeYoung

One key element of our worship at Grace Fellowship Church is a pastoral prayer, in which one of the elders prays for the church and on behalf of the church. Every now and again I like to share one of those prayers. This prayer was prayed last Sunday by Paul, the senior pastor.

Lord Jesus, your greatest treasure is Your Father. Thus you could say, “I and the Father are one.” And since Your life was all about service and generosity, it is no wonder You prayed, “Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.” And we admit to being startled by this request, Jesus. Would you have us be as unified and loving toward one another as that oneness that exists between You and Your Father?
How glad we are you prayed even further. “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one…” Lord Jesus, if it was this unity that took up your last prayers on earth, then we are sure of three things: This matters to You; We must need a lot of help to live this way; It will happen. For no prayer of Yours goes unanswered.
So, even though we are aware of all the ways we mess this up, we are all here now and looking to You and saying, “Please intercede on our behalf before the Father to answer this prayer.” Make us one. Not a group of people that all dress alike, think alike, talk alike, raise our kids alike, spend our money alike, but a bunch of people who look at all the ways we differ, and even all the ways we offend and sin against each other, and say, “I choose to be one with you.” This is our prayer for true fellowship, Lord.
And to do this, make us a more honest church, able to say what we mean and mean what we say to one another. Please crucify all pretension, hidden agendas, passive-aggressiveness, veiled meanings and every sniff of dishonesty. Give us the courage to be authentic with one another. And then balance that authenticity with thoughtful love. We don’t need to say everything we think. And we don’t need to confront everybody who has sinned against us. Grant us that long-suffering, believing-the-best-of-the-other kind of love for our fellow members. A love that endures social awkwardness, bears minor offences, hopes for the best outcomes and displays the Holy Spirit’s enabling grace of patience.
Christ, every thought of you encourages us. Your great love comforts us. We have fellowship with Your Holy Spirit. You have been so affectionate and sympathetic toward us. How could we not do everything we can, to be of the same mind. To hold each other in the same love. To seek to do everything as part of the same team and with the same spiritual objectives in mind.
Forgive us, for when we have thought more about how everyone else has failed us, rather than how we have failed them. Forgive us, for getting cranky that we have to serve again, instead of believing it is more blessed to give than to receive. Forgive us for holding grudges — how could we ever do that, when You have forgiven us ALL of our sins! Forgive us for being easily offended — make it our joy to overlook an offence. Lord, please bring to Your mind all the things that might hinder our fellowship, and give corresponding grace. All those obstacles and interferences that are unique to our church.
Most of us do not live close to one another. Some of us are very introverted. Others have perhaps gotten off to a rough start meeting fellow members. Many of us are relationally weary, very aware of the kind of turnover an urban church like ours experiences. There are perhaps a few here who are just in some kind of weird spiritual funk and are just looking for some way to be offended or hurt.
Lord, look on us. Our church. The members of Grace Fellowship Church, and give us the exact grace we need. Grace to overcome our sins. Grace to compensate for our natural inhibitions. Grace to turn from sin and selfishness and to make it our goal to “in love serve one another.” Make us very mindful of our members who are shut in or providentially removed from us. Help us get to know fellow members that are really different from us. Give us a concerned eye to keep watch for members who are struggling, drifting or turning in bad directions. Help us to fulfil our responsibilities to one another.
Build our unity and love for one another in order that Your very real prayer would be answered here with us, “that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” For, indeed, Father… You have loved us even as You loved Your Son. And people who have been loved like this… well, they live differently. They live with the kind of inner fortitude and spiritual strength, not just to love one another, but to love… love … their enemies.
O God, fill our church with that kind of love. Real love. Christ-exalting, Spirit-empowered, God-glorifying love. We join with the Baptist and say, “We must decrease, You must increase.” Revive the fellowship in Grace Fellowship Church. Do that through Your Word as it is preached today by Patrick. Do that in our care for the marginalized and forgotten, such as all those we could serve at the Guidelight Retreat a few weeks ago. Do that for sister churches like, Fellowship Church Rouge Park in Scarborough. And do that for us. We mean it, Lord.
We are willing to do whatever it takes to glorify You in this way. So, please help us. Show us where to change and what to do. And please, Lord, glorify Your Name and Your love in our little church. This we ask in the Name of the One who prayed it first, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’m thankful to Christian Focus for sponsoring the blog this week so they could tell you about some excellent books for kids.

Today’s Kindle deals include a newer book and some older ones.
(Yesterday on the blog: ESV Church History Study Bible)
Lived to Be Forgotten: Dixon E. Hoste, Missionary to China
“Dixon Edward Hoste (1861–1946) was a British missionary who served in China for over 40 years. Although he succeeded James Hudson Taylor as the general director of the China Inland Mission (CIM), much less has been written and recorded of his life and ministry than of Taylor’s.” This is a lovely telling of his life.
What to Do When Revival Comes
D.A. Carson explains what to do when revival comes.
5 Misconceptions about Wealth
Relying on Proverbs, “here are five misconceptions about wealth that must go if we are to believe and receive the wisdom of God.”
How should I deal with prayerlessness in my life?
Kevin DeYoung answers the question well in this video from Ligonier Ministries.
The Gospel of Self-Forgiveness
“There is no category of self-forgiveness in the Bible. And that is a freeing truth! Your shame and guilt is not dependent upon your ability to forgive yourself.”
Squinting For the Glory of God
Squinting for the glory of God–I like that phrase (and the explanation behind it).
Flashback: There Is Nothing Trite About It!
There is nothing trite, nothing minimal about “I’ll pray for you.” To say, “I’ll pray for you” is to say, “I will speak with the Author and Creator of all things.

Obsessing over the future is not how God wants us to live, because showing us the future is not God’s way. His way is to speak to us in the Scriptures and transform us by the renewing of our minds. His way is not a crystal ball. His way is wisdom. —Kevin DeYoung

This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by Christian Focus Publications. They are giving away God’s Daring Dozen Box Sets 1 & 2 to five winners.

Often overlooked, the twelve books between Hosea and Malachi have much to teach the church today – and that includes our children. Brian Wright and John Brown have written the God’s Daring Dozen series to present the stories of the Minor Prophets in a colorful, accessible, way that will engage children, so they can learn the timeless truths God has told us through His inspired word.
The first box includes:

Haggai’s Feast
Habakkuk’s Song
Zephaniah’s Hero
Obadiah and the Edomites

The second box includes:

Jonah’s Journeys
Malachi’s Final Message
Nahum and the Ninevites
Joel and the Locusts

Here is what people have said about the series:
Too many people—kids and parents—miss out on the rich truths of the Minor Prophets. So I am happy to recommend God’s Daring Dozen by Dr. Wright and Pastor Brown as a rich resource for young and old alike. This fresh look at an overlooked book will bless you and your children.
Dianne Jago, Mother of three, founder of Deeply Rooted Magazine, & author of A Holy Pursuit: How the Gospel Frees Us to Follow and Lay Down Our Dreams
 
The entire Bible, even the section called the Minor Prophets, is relevant for God’s people, including children. Kudos to the authors for making the Minor Prophets accessible to children through these illustrated, engaging summaries of each of the twelve books.
Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., Chair and Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Texas & author of Interpreting the Minor Prophets and Handbook on the Prophets

Brian Wright and John Brown provide beautifully crafted and compelling renditions of the Minor Prophets in ways that we and our children can understand better the powerful message of these books of the Bible. They carefully uncover the ancient context of these messages while bringing them forward to our day, and in ways our children can understand. I have no doubt of the tremendous benefit these will prove to be for countless Christian parents and churches.
Bruce Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky & author of Big Truths for Young Hearts

TO ENTER
To have a chance of winning these books, enter your email below. The giveaway closes on March 16th 2023, and winners will be contacted by email.

Whatever history may record about the church of this era, it certainly will not record that we had a shortage of Bibles or excellent resources to help us better understand the Bible. To the contrary, there is a host of faithful Bible translations in the English language and there are far more excellent resources than any individual could possibly read. We are richly blessed.

A new blessing is Crossway’s ESV Church History Study Bible which is meant to offer wisdom for the present by way of voices from the past. In other words, it offers commentary on the full text of the Bible that has been drawn from classic writers, theologians, pastors, and even poets. General editor Stephen Nichols explains in the Introduction. “Unlike in other study Bibles, the notes in the ESV Church History Study Bible have not been written by the editors. Instead, the notes have been compiled by a team of biblical scholars and church historians. The actual contributors of the notes are a varied group, stretching back from the first and second centuries and reaching forward to the twentieth century. These are theologians, pastors, poets, and laity, all offering their perspective on God’s Word. In the ESV Church History Study Bible we escape the tyranny of the present to see wisdom from the past.”
And while the notes from these historical figures is the main distinguishing feature, there are also brief introductions to each of the books, sidebars on certain passages that played a role in a key moment of church history, and then a series of articles that provide an overview of church history and an explanation of some of its dominant themes.

The ESV Church History Study Bible is intended to serve pastors and students, placing a wealth of teaching, insight, and encouragement from church history alongside the biblical text and within the covers of a single volume. The ESV Church History Study Bible is also intended to serve laity by introducing them to the vast riches of church history that can encourage and edify. The ESV Church History Study Bible stands as a reminder to all of us that we are part of one body, proclaiming one gospel, reading and studying one Bible, in obedience and service to one Lord and Savior.

Edited by Stephen J. Nichols, Gerald Bray, and Keith A. Mathison, with notes compiled by nearly twenty theologians and church historians, and containing the words of hundreds of Christian figures from the past, the ESV Church History Study Bible accomplishes its purpose well. It may not replace your favorite go-to study Bible, but I’m certain you’ll find that it complements it well. This is a resource I have been anticipating with eagerness and one I expect to turn to often.
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