The Lord be with you and bless you today.

Over at Westminster Books you’ll find a deal on one of those Christian classics that has stood the test of time and deserves to be read today.
How the Bible Talks about Corporate Responsibility and Repentance
Kevin DeYoung carefully considers how the Bible talks about corporate responsibility and repentance—a pressing issue these days.
A hand on my shoulder: meeting the man who led my Dad to Jesus
This is such a sweet and moving one from Andrew. Be sure to read it right to the end.
Sweetness of Speech
“Winsomeness gets a bad rap these days, and I understand why. Sometimes in the name of being ‘winsome,’ believers have downplayed or ignored hard truths that the culture finds distasteful. But a humble posture toward others isn’t the same as silence. In fact, sometimes cowardice looks like silence masquerading as winsomeness.”
Why Isn’t the Church Speaking Out About Abortion?
“‘Why isn’t the Church doing more to speak out against abortion and help women who have been hurt by abortion?’ This was a question posed to me and others on a hot topics panel at a Gen Z (under-25s) event earlier this year. I was hugely encouraged by the question.”
Pro-Life:Womb to Tomb
And in a somewhat similar vein, here’s Donna writing about being pro-life from the womb to the tomb. “James Bruce was 5 years old when his Dad challenged me to quit praying that God would make him normal and start praying, ‘God, use him for Your glory.’ At the time, I couldn’t possibly imagine how God could ever use him.”
Threefold Redemption
“Good teachers teach in three parts: they tell you what they’re going to teach you, teach it to you, and then remind you what they just taught you (and why it’s important). These three views of a topic—forward looking, in the present, and backward—are critical for mastering any subject. The Bible, with God as master-teacher, does the same thing.”
Flashback: No Unfinished Sculptures
God sees the beautiful person within the ones he calls to himself. He knows that the world has begun to shape that person in its image, but he is certain he can instil within him the values of the kingdom of God.

There’s no greater gift for the anxious than God’s peace. It is not subject to circumstances. —John MacArthur

This week the blog is sponsored by The Gospel Coalition. You’re Not Crazy is a practical guide designed to help weary leaders renew their love for ministry by equipping them to build a gospel-centered culture into every aspect of their churches. They remind us that while we’re quick to assert what the gospel says, we’re often too slow to admit what the gospel should do for our churches: reflect Christ’s beauty through a godly, grace-filled culture. Visit the TGC store to purchase this encouraging guide that will help church leaders like you to build a culture of honesty, honor, Christ-filled preaching, and gentle leadership in your church. 

Like many people, I use an app to keep track of my health. I make notes of my sleep quality, weight, exercise, and (if I’m really being diligent) my caloric intake. I can see all this at a glance and measure the trends from week to week. It’s been useful. I live with Crohn’s disease, and these metrics give me a basic sense of how I’m doing. The trouble is, of course, all those metrics I need to track for Crohn’s could be going well but I could still be seriously unwell. After all, there’s more than one way to be sick.
The same is true of our churches. I’ve had the great privilege of being in theologically careful churches the whole of my Christian life. I don’t take this for granted. At each of these churches, the Bible’s authority drove our ministries and teaching. In each case, the congregations were encouraged to listen to preaching with their Bibles open and to make certain what was taught lined up with what is in the text. Teachers were always open to correction, and I continue to rejoice in the blessing of the many years I sat under their faithful exposition.
But there’s more than one way to be unhealthy. In 1 Timothy 5:8, Paul wrote, “If anyone does not provide for his relatives . . . he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In that line, Paul makes a declaration I missed for many years. I’d always seen denying the faith as a theological failure, but here we see it’s also possible to deny the faith by what we do (or fail to do). It’s possible for someone who has never strayed theologically to deny the faith practically by failing to embody it.
We humans are culture-creators. How we are with each other always takes on a particular relational dynamic, shared personality, or noticeable tone. It’s true of friendship groups, workplaces, families, and churches. We shape one another in many complex ways, and a resulting culture always emerges. The question is, How fully does a church’s culture align with its doctrine? That’s why Ray Ortlund and I wrote the book You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches.
We’re longing for the beauty of Christ to shape every aspect of our churches—not only the content of our teaching but also the quality and flavor of our relationships. We believe that the culture of our churches, empowered by the doctrine of our churches, can make the presence of the risen Jesus a felt reality in this generation. Our hope is that this book can be the app that helps you track and improve your church’s cultural health, that it will be a catalyst for faithfulness so that the truth of Christ shapes your creeds and sermons and the beauty of Christ adorns your life together. When this is true, we believe our churches will be a prophetic presence in today’s world.
Find out more about You’re Not Crazy: Gospel Sanity for Weary Churches in the TGC store.

Blessings to you today, my friends.

There are some new Kindle deals today (and some from yesterday I forgot to mention).
(Yesterday on the blog: Glorifying God and Glorifying Mountains)
Tempering our Tempers
This is a really helpful look at anger that is sinful and anger that is pure.
The Difference Between Optimism and Biblical Hope
“The Bible speaks a lot about hope, not so much about optimism. That doesn’t mean optimism is necessarily bad! (The Bible doesn’t mention pie, and only a monster would insist we avoid that.) However, both inside and outside of the church, there is confusion about hope and optimism.”
What Is Reformed Theology?
What is Reformed theology? There’s a modern answer and a traditional answer, as this article points out.
There Is Something Greater Than The Great Commandment
“Christians throughout all time have been, rightly, energized to love God more through this high calling. But I have to say this: There is something greater than the Great Commandment. Before you strike me off as a heretic, hear me out.”
Wings of Wonder (Video)
The John 10:10 Project is back with another great video, this one focusing on hummingbirds.
Tabernacles, Grief & My Greatest Hope
“When my dear April died, more than one friend asked me if I found solace in the fact that her death had brought an end to her suffering. In one sense, yes: I’m glad that she is no longer shivering in pain and rejoice that she is with Christ for he is a far better husband than I ever was. Even in death, God is faithful. But in another sense, ‘no.’”
Flashback: 10 Common but Illegitimate Reasons to Divorce
It is clear in the Bible that God’s intention for marriage is that it remain in effect until the death of one spouse. I believe it is also quite clear that God has provided a limited set of circumstances in which a marriage can legitimately be severed. However, many people—even Christians—offer reasons to divorce that are not sanctioned by God.

The gospel provides the only true remedy for sexual brokenness. The theological and pastoral challenges we face in the transgender revolution are indeed enormous, but they are not beyond the sufficiency of Christ’s cross and resurrection. —Al Mohler

A friend recently asked, “What does it mean to glorify God?” It is a phrase we know and a phrase we often repeat. But what does it actually mean? How do we go about it? And in what ways may we do the very opposite?

I write today from New Zealand where I have spent a couple of days in the shadow of Mount Cook. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand, its highest peak soaring to over 12,000 feet. It is as majestic a mountain as you will ever see and, for obvious reasons, a must-visit for tourists.
Not surprisingly, you can’t drive or walk any great distance before you spot people taking photos of the mountain. They most often stop in the middle of the lone road that leads to Mount Cook so they can take the shot we have probably all seen on Instagram—a shot in which the road serves as the line that leads the eye to focus on the mountain. Like a good tourist, I stopped to take the photo as well.
As I stood in the roadway and gazed at the mountain (listening carefully for cars racing up from behind), the thought entered my mind: “There is Mount Cook in all its glory.” And it is, indeed, glorious. It is glorious in the sense that it is beautiful and that it evokes awe and wonder. It is right and good that we pause to admire it and right and good that we wish to record the memory with a photograph. It is right and good that we wish to share those photographs with others so they, too, can admire the mountain and right and good that we encourage others to see it and enjoy it. If a friend ever tells me that he intends to visit New Zealand I will be sure to tell him, “Make sure you visit Mount Cook. Make sure you enjoy the majesty of that mountain.”
And this, I think, helps us understand what it is to glorify God. God is beautiful. Rightly seen, God evokes awe and wonder. God is worthy of glory—as much more glory as the maker of a mountain has more glory than the mountain itself (Hebrews 3:3). It is fitting that we gaze at him and admire him and it is fitting that we tell others about him. This is how we glorify him—to see him, enjoy him, admire him, and let all of this overflow into a life of worship and proclamation. We tell God, “you are lovely and glorious and I will live to make you known” and we tell others, “Make sure you come to know the Lord. Make sure you enjoy the majesty of our great God.”
But I observed something else about the road to Mount Cook: it is a prime location for social media influencers. As I drove along the road I couldn’t help but notice how many people put themselves between the camera and the mountain so that the mountain was merely a prop, the backdrop for a photo that featured themselves. Often these influencers would be doing something showy or wearing something skimpy that was meant to draw the eye to themselves rather than to the mountain behind. They made themselves the focus of the photograph rather than the mountain. They stole the glory of the mountain by using it to glorify themselves.
And this helps us understand how we can fail to glorify God. We place ourselves in the foreground so that God winds up in the background. We place ourselves between others and God so that instead of gazing at him and his majesty, at him and his glory, they instead gaze at us. We can do this when we perform some noble deed and are discontent until others acknowledge and commend us; we can do this when we preach or teach the Word and then wait longingly for words of praise; we can do this when we worship in such a way as to be seen rather than to remain unseen. In a hundred ways we can rob God of the glory that is rightly his. Instead of being the leading line that guides another eye and heart to God, we become the subject that diminishes and obscures the Lord.
It is fitting that we acknowledge the majesty of a great mountain and it is good that we profess the glory of our great God. We glorify him when we simply acknowledge who he is and what he has done. We glorify him when we respond to who he is and what he has done with a life of worship and with words of proclamation. We glorify him when we give him the renown that is rightly his.

Good morning. Grace and peace to you.

(Yesterday on the blog: How To Pray For Someone Who Is Dying)
Can the World Cup deliver on community and transcendence?
Here’s a look at how sports can promise something like transcendence but how it will always fail to ultimately deliver.
If it’s not in the Bible, you really don’t have to do it
A helpful reminder: “There are many things that may or may not be helpful. Many things that we might think would benefit us in some way. Many things that it might be good for us to do in our community, for our community, and that may in some way serve the cause the gospel. All these things you are a free to do. They may even be good to do. But it pays to remember, you are finite and if Jesus hasn’t specifically asked you to do them, you are equally free not to do them.”
Why The Briefing?
This is a fun little behind-the-scenes glance at Al Moher’s “The Briefing.”
I Thought You Should Know, Again
Here is another of Kristin’s helpful reflections on the gospel and the Christian life.
“God Knows I Love You”
“How does a pastor pursue a love for the congregation? This is where the rubber meets the road. We might wish it wasn’t so but those we know best are sometimes the hardest to love. Ask a husband or a wife! So it is with a pastor. A pastor who knows his flock knows their personalities, quirks, weaknesses, and even sins.”
You’re Only Human
Sarah considers her finitude in light of some of the challenges of motherhood.
Flashback: The Place To Begin When Learning About Social Justice
As Christians consider how to act righteously toward others, as we consider the right response to injustice, as we ponder matters of inequity, we have a book of the Bible that is meant to guide us.

We make a mistake when we allow the memories of the past or its influences so to absorb our mind and heart as to unfit us for doing well the duties of the present. —J.R. Miller

There are few things more sobering than praying for someone who is dying, and few things more humbling than praying with someone whose time on earth is drawing to a close. In his book Facing the Last Enemy, Guy Prentiss Waters offers wise counsel to those who have the responsibility and even the privilege of this task. Here is his simple guidance on praying for those who are dying.

First, we should pray that the person would have a sure and settled faith in Jesus Christ. About a month before he died, an ailing John Calvin told fellow ministers who were visiting him that “my faults have always displeased me and the root of the fear of the Lord has always been in my heart.” Calvin was well acquainted with his sins. For that reason, he took refuge in the Lord, trusting and fearing Him from the heart. We should pray that our dying friend or loved one would, by God’s grace, make the same kind of confession.
Second, we should pray that the person would submit himself to the will of God. If it is evident in God’s providence that his time on this earth is limited, then the best thing to do is to bow before God. We should also pray for ourselves that we would submit to this hard providence. We may pray this prayer for the dying person and for ourselves in confidence that God is working only for His glory and the good of His people in this world (Rom. 8:28). We trust God even when we do not fully understand what He is doing in our lives.
Third, we should pray that our dying loved one would have comfort of body and soul. We do not want him to linger in physical pain. It is not necessarily wrong to pray that the Lord would take a dying believer home to Him soon. We also do not want the person to experience distress of soul. We should pray that he would experience the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” and “guards” “hearts” and “minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:7).
Finally, we should pray that God would provide for the family and friends whom the dying person will leave behind. Pray that He would fulfill His promise to watch over the widow and the orphan (Deut. 10:18; Ps. 68:5). Pray that He would spiritually provide for the survivors as they grieve their loss, that their grief may be in the hope of the gospel.

I’m so grateful to BJU for sponsoring the blog this week to tell you how to Hate More and Kill Better. Sponsors play a key role in allowing this site to carry on.

(Yesterday on the blog: Facing the Last Enemy)
Putting down roots: a call to young people
Here’s a timely call to young people to consider really trying to put down roots in a local church.
Every Nightmare Starts As A Dream
“Over the last couple of decades of ministry, I’ve listened to people utter words like these as they suffer from the fresh and painful wounds of self-inflicted sin. Building a fulfilling life takes a million tiny decisions, but only one bad choice can wreck it.” Erik reflects on the way every nightmare begins as a dream.
‘O Lord, Let Our Community Flourish’
“I once heard Martyn Lloyd-Jones say that ‘the greatest enemy of the Christian faith has always been the Christian church.’ I was a little taken aback, but a few moments thought was enough to feel that he had a point.”
For the Mom Dropping Her Student Off at College
This is a couple of weeks too late for us, but still timely.
Overcoming Disagreement For God’s Glory
“Even our very best plans often meet with significant snags. Many variables can conspire to derail our plans, but one in particular often proves a great help or hindrance in our efforts: people. Planning would be so easy if it weren’t for other people with other opinions!”
Concealed and Then Revealed
“A Christian reading of Scripture affirms that the biblical authors do not tell us everything everywhere all at once. Things build, and that takes time. The doctrine of Scripture includes the teaching of progressive revelation.” That’s a key concept to understand.
Flashback: The Best Day You’ve Ever Had
The pleasures of this present world are pleasurable indeed. But the greatest of them must pale in comparison to the least pleasures of the world to come.

God’s Word is a light to guide us, and we must follow. It is water to wash us, and we must bathe. It is a mirror to show us our blemishes, and we must be honest…We don’t just look at the Word to learn the Word; we must live by the Word. —Warren Wiersbe

This week Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by BJU Seminary. They are giving away a bundle of books, authored by their faculty and others, on why we believe the Bible and how we live true to it today. BJU Seminary equips Christian leaders through an educational and ministry experience that is biblically shaped, theologically rich, historically significant, and evangelistically robust.

Beyond Chapter and Verse: The Theology and Practice of Biblical Application by Ken Casillas
Do you struggle to connect the dots between the Bible and your life? While Christians instinctively want to apply Scripture, we encounter difficulties that can discourage us and diminish our engagement with God’s Word. Indeed, biblical application has suffered in various ways in the church—everything from neglect to abuse to contempt.
Responding to such challenges, Beyond Chapter and Verse provides a biblically based rationale for the practice of application and then proposes a biblically consistent method for application. The book is substantive but accessible, relevant for believers generally as well as preachers. It begins by sketching the broad theological context of Bible application, relating it to the gospel generally and to sanctification specifically. The heart of the study then synthesizes key Old and New Testament passages relative to the process of application. Building on this foundation, the book sets forth a sensible approach for arriving at legitimate applications of Scripture. A rich assortment of positive and negative case studies illustrates the method, motivating believers to apply the Scriptures for themselves.

The Trustworthiness of God’s Words: Why the Reliability of Every Word from God Matters by Layton Talbert
This is a book about God’s jealousy for His integrity, His passion to be believed, on the basis of His words alone. Throughout Scripture God expresses His determination to be known as the God who keeps His words. He has resolved that every person and nation will see and confess that all His words are reliable down to every last syllable, jot, and tittle. Learning to trust a God who is sovereign and in control, especially in the ache and throb of life, means hanging on to the conviction that everything He says is utterly dependable.
Knowing that God’s words are trustworthy and living it out can be two different things though, so as well as laying out the theological foundations, Layton MacDonald Talbert explores the practical applications. What does trusting God’s words look like in real life, and how has it played out in the experience of God’s people? Let Talbert show you how in tracing the reliability of God through history we can learn to trust Him with the future.

Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity by Neil Shenvi
For centuries, skeptics have disputed the claims of Christianity―such as belief in an eternal God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ―arguing that they simply cannot be accepted by reasonable individuals. Furthermore, efforts to demonstrate the evidence and rational basis for Christianity through apologetics are often deemed too simplistic to be taken seriously in intellectual circles.
Apologist and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi engages some of the best contemporary arguments against Christianity, presenting compelling evidence for the identity of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels, his death and resurrection, the existence of God, and the unique message of the gospel. Why Believe? calls readers from all backgrounds not only to accept Christianity as true, but also to entrust their lives to Christ and worship him alone.

Accessible without being simplistic: ideal for intellectuals and academics, as well as high school and college students
Well-researched: interacts with skeptical arguments against Christianity and God’s existence
Biblical: grounded in Scripture and centered on the claims of the gospel

Dangerous Affirmation: The Threat of “Gay Christianity” by M. D. Perkins
Since 1968, the LGBT movement has made significant inroads into the Christian church. The affirming church movement has become mainstream through the erosion of mainline denominations. Queer theology has taken hold in many academic settings. The emergence of “gay celibate theology” is causing confusion in evangelical churches through its appeal to modern psychology and LGBT-lived experience. How did we get here? What does the Bible say about all of this?
Dangerous Affirmation is an insightful analysis of the influence and spread of “gay Christianity.” Author M. D. Perkins exposes the way this movement handles theology, biblical interpretation, the church, personal and group identity, and political activism. While many Christians are being won over to this immoral cause, Dangerous Affirmation serves as a sober-minded call to faithfulness in the midst of cultural and religious chaos.
Enter Here

Though we fear it, we must all face it. Though we hate it, we must all meet it. Though we dread it, we cannot avoid it. It is, of course, death. In this broken and battered world, death always looms over life, death always stands hauntingly in the distance.

Death is the subject of a new book by Guy Prentiss Waters. Facing the Last Enemy is meant to acquaint Christians with death so they might think about it rightly and face it courageously. “We all have questions about death,” he says. “’What is death? Why do we die? Why do we all die? Why is death so scary? Why did Christ die? Why do Christians have to die? How can I face the death of someone I love? How can I prepare for death? How can I help others prepare for death? What happens after death?’” To gain compelling, truthful, and reliable answers to such questions we must turn to the Bible, to God’s revelation of himself, for here we will learn how death entered the world, why we must all face it, and how it will itself someday die.
The book is divided into three roughly equal sections. In the first section Waters defines death. He explains what it is, where it came from, and what happens when we die (whether we are Christians or non-Christians). He explains why Christ had to die and why Christians still need to die, even though Christ died on our behalf. This is, essentially, a brief theology of death and one that provides a solid foundation for what follows. He is careful not to make death more intimidating than it needs to be for the Christian, but also not to romanticize it, saying “while death is not good in itself, for those who are in Christ, death will be for our good. For His people, Christ brings an end not to the experience of death but to the fear of death. … As we approach death, we need to see it through the spectacles of the finished work of Christ. The gospel tells us that Christ has conquered and subdued death. That is the only way that we can face death with hope or confidence.”
In the second section he writes about encountering death. He provides counsel on facing the deaths of other people, on helping those who are dying or grieving, and on preparing ourselves for the inevitable end of our lives. Here it is clear that he writes as both a theologian and a pastor, as someone who knows doctrinal truths but who has also had to apply them in the most tragic and heartbreaking of circumstances. He gets quite practical here, going so far as to encourage Christians to show love to others by considering their estate planning and even planning their own death and burial. But primarily, of course, he encourages Christians to prepare themselves spiritually to meet their Maker.
The final section looks beyond death to the resurrection, the final judgment, and heaven and hell. He shows how each of these truths ought to compel us to live worthy lives on this side of the grave. For example, “Our bodies are precious because Christ bought them with His own blood. We will inhabit our bodies forever, and they have a glorious destiny. Our bodies are prized in God’s sight. We should not neglect our bodies but care for them. We should not allow our bodies to participate in sin but should ‘present [ourselves] to God as those who have been brought from death to life’ (Rom. 6:13a). How does the way that you treat and use your body reflect the truth of the resurrection?”
Death is inevitable in this world. It is inevitable that we will need to endure the deaths of people we love and inevitable that we ourselves will die. For that reason alone we ought to familiarize ourselves with death—to know what it is, why it exists, how we can face it well, and how we can have great hope beyond it. This book is an excellent resource that will help accomplish all of that. It is rich in its teaching, compassionate in its tone, and saturated with Scripture. I highly recommend it (and the optional video teaching series that accompanies it).
Buy from Amazon

May the Lord be with you and bless you today.

What many people regard as the best gospel tract has now been expanded out to a small book that Westminster Books has put on sale. It’s well worth a look.
Ten Criticisms of John Piper’s Preaching
John Piper shares ten criticisms of his own preaching. That’s a bit odd, I suppose, but I quite enjoyed it.
The time when Canada’s elite wanted to sterilize ‘insane’ and disabled people
Articles like this show why it’s so important to be attuned to history—it should warn us how “elites” can so easily buy into the absolute worst ideas. “In 1936 some of Canada’s most prominent citizens convened to hear how their country faced ‘extinction’ unless they were willing to sterilize the ‘feeble-minded,’ the ‘indigent’ and the ‘degenerate.’” It doesn’t take a lot of thought to consider how similar things are happening in our day.
Women and the Genderless Jesus — A Review of ‘Women and the Gender of God’ by Amy Peeler
Anne Kennedy has a really solid review of Women and the Gender of God. It’s the kind of review that is good to read, even if you don’t intend to read the actual book.
Songs for the Sojourn
Kenwood Baptist Church has just released an EP of some modern hymns.
The Backstory to Spurgeon’s “If Sinners Be Damned…”
“You’ve likely heard this popular quote from Spurgeon: ‘Oh, my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies; and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves.’” Mike Leake provides the crucial context to this quote.
On the Crushing Guilt of Failing at Quiet Time
Kevin DeYoung: “I am not anti–quiet time or anti–daily devotions or anti–family worship. All of these disciplines serve God’s people well and have been around for a long time. What does not serve God’s people well is the unstated (and sometimes stated) assumption—put upon us by others or by ourselves—that Christianity is only for super-disciplined neatniks who get up before dawn, redeem every minute of the day, and have very organized sock drawers.”
Flashback: We Are Never Without Beauty
We are never without beauty in this world—never without displays of splendor. We are never without beauty because God’s divine fingerprints are impressed on all he has made.

Your hope as a parent is not found in your power, your wisdom, your character, your experience, or your success, but in this one thing alone: the presence of your Lord. The Creator, Savior, Almighty, Sovereign King is with you. Let your heart rest. —Paul David Tripp