Our tendency is to feel that the more difficult life gets, the more alone we are. As we sink further into pain, we sink further into isolation. The Bible corrects us. He is in us, and he bears our pain with us. We are never alone. The sorrow that feels so unique to us was endured by him in the past and is now shouldered by him in the present.

Jesus Is Still Approachable
The Puritans were a group of English pastors in the 1600s. Their writing and preaching had special force because they blended soaring theological insight with childlike hearts of love for God. And their minds and hearts were soaked with Scripture. A typical book written by a Puritan would take a single verse of the Bible, wring it dry for all the comfort and hope to be found in it, and then, several hundred pages later, be sent off to a publisher.
One such Puritan was a man named Thomas Goodwin. In 1651 he wrote a book called The Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth. The single verse he was reflecting on and wringing dry was Hebrews 4:15:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
The purpose of Goodwin’s book is to help Christians of all ages who are discouraged understand something very important about Jesus. This truth is hard to believe because it is so wonderful. Goodwin’s goal is to convince us that even though Jesus is now in heaven and we can’t see him anymore, Jesus is just as open and tender in his embrace of sinners and sufferers as when he was on earth. In other words, Jesus is just as approachable and compassionate now, from heaven, as he ever was when he walked the earth.
Solidarity with Jesus
Imagine a friend taking your hand and placing it on your father’s chest to feel his beating heart. Goodwin says that Hebrews 4:15 is like that friend. This verse takes our hand and places it on Jesus Christ’s own heart. He says this verse “lets us feel how his heart beats and his affections yearn toward us.”1
But what exactly is Hebrews 4:15 saying? It’s a deeply surprising verse. Notice the word “weaknesses”: “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” We tend to think that Jesus is with us and helping us when life is going well. That is surely true. But this text adds another truth. In a special way, it is in “our weaknesses” that Jesus sympathizes with us. In all our weakness—our fear, our anxiety, our loneliness, everything that makes us feel weak—Jesus “sympathizes” with us.
Now what does that mean? The Greek word for sympathize here means to “suffer with” or to “co-suffer.”
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 I think we need to consider how good it is to read the Bible to the kids for our own benefit. Kids see things with a wonder that adults sometimes lack. Yes, reading to kids can be hard work sometimes, but let me encourage you, your kids are listening. And sometimes, their childlike approach to God’s word can encourage and edify you as well.

A few months ago, we started reading the book of 1 Kings with our kids during family worship. It starts off with a bang. You get the death of David, the beef with Adonijah and Solomon, the beginning of Solomon’s reign and wisdom, and then, starting in chapter five, we hit the building of the temple. Now, my oldest son is 8, and I’ll just say I was a little skeptical of how this information would be received. We’re not fancy at my house; we read the passage and discuss. And I’ll be honest, sometimes I zone out when I read through these descriptions of the temple, so I was afraid the same thing was gonna happen with them. Boy was I wrong.
These kids were all in. I’m reading about dimensions and windows and pomegranates, and they were eating it up. They were begging to look at our study Bible that had all of the pictures. Every night they were enthusiastically waiting for the next passage about the temple. They marveled at rooms completely overlaid with gold. They loved trying to envision the lions engraved on the walls, the giant cherubim with touching wings, and the oxen holding up 12,000 gallons of water. Not to mention all of the basins and pitchers and lamps and the altar. They were able to hear God’s word with joyful anticipation. They were willing to see wonderful things from God’s law.
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The list in Matthew chapter 1 ought to hit us like a 10-ton truck as we read through the names. In comparison to the lists already mentioned, this list is relatively short in length, but big on meaning. Nearly every name has multiple scriptural references if not outright explicit narratives about the names mentioned. The reader of Matthew 1 who has familiarity with the names of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Rahab, Boaz, Ruth, Jesse, Solomon, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Zerubbabel all ring like a VIP list of persons throughout the OT. These aren’t just mention-able, worthy names with neat little parable-style stories, these are the names of a lineage of Kings with direct connection to the great God who promised himself to Abraham, who rescued Noah, and who made all things good in the beginning.

We recently received a question asking, “What are some reasons for believing in the bible that is ofc, independent from the bible? I’m not asking why Christianity over other religions. I’m interested in why people believe in the bible, to begin with.”
I thought this was an exceptional question, and I found myself giving a strange answer that I wouldn’t have thought possible a few years ago. As a missionary, I was asked to speak at a church while the Pastor was gone on vacation. The pastor was a dear friend of mine, and I was humbled and honored at the opportunity to preach. I asked if there were any series or scriptures that the Pastor would like me to preach on, and it just so happened that the church was going through the book of Genesis and had come to the list of names in Genesis 11. My friend encouraged me that I didn’t have to preach that passage if I didn’t want to, I was more than welcome to pick another passage. Perhaps out of ignorance or some other motivation, I simply accepted the text and began studying the genealogical passage. This set me on a small quest that has over the years developed into a love of the lists of the bible. These lists have been a tremendous help in my faith, even as I have conversed, shared, and preached Christ crucified to many.
Genesis 11
 The genealogies that are given throughout scripture are meticulous regarding the authenticity and historical validity of the text. A few quick examples:
The list in Genesis 11 brings us up from the time of Noah and Babel to the time of Abram. This gives us a significant claim regarding the continuity of the story of creation, rebellion, and scattered humanity. This list of names then gives us a reason for why the story of Genesis shifts from a general story of humanity to a particular story of a given family. The names given in Numbers help to solidify a sense of the people of Israel as they emerged from Egypt and lived in the wilderness. These lists of names are often skipped or glossed over (with some understandable reasons as many of the names are strange to us and have almost zero meaning at first glance). However, these names stand as a timeless recounting of God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 17-18 that he would make Abraham into a great people. The lists of places given by allotment to each of the tribes and families of Israel in Joshua are then verified and juxtaposed with the failures of Israel in Judges chapters 1-2. It’s a tremendous case-and-point comparison between the texts.
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What is the message of the book of Job for us today? First, our faith is sure to be tested. Pain may be inevitable, but misery is to an extent optional. We have no control over the weather that surrounds our lives, but we can do something about the climate of our inner life. What happens to us is less important than what happens in us.

As well as being inspired Scripture, the book of Job is one of the literary masterpieces of the world. We don’t know who the author was, but the setting is in the days of the patriarchs.
Job was a wealthy, influential man with a well-deserved reputation for uprightness and integrity: he “feared God and turned away from evil” (1:1). The Accuser (Satan), however, claims that Job serves God only because God protects him and grants him prosperity: “Stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (1:11).
God accepts the challenge, to show that the accusation is false. He allows a series of disasters that result in the loss of everything Job possesses—livestock, servants, and, finally, his own sons and daughters.
Though grief-stricken, Job does not curse or renounce God, as the Accuser had claimed he would. Instead, he bows before God in worship, saying:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (1:21).
Job had withstood the Accuser’s first assault, showing that his worship of God was not governed by self-interest. Though stripped of everything, he still trusted in God.
But the Accuser still doubts that Job’s faith will hold firm under all circumstances: “Stretch out Your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face” (2:5). Again, God permits Satan to afflict Job, this time in body, provided only his life is spared (2:6). Job is afflicted with “loathsome sores” all over (2:7). His wife advises him to “curse God and die” (2:9). But Job gives this magnificent reply: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (2:10).
Job’s “Comforters”
The second assault had failed. Now the Accuser fades out of the picture, and Job’s three ‘friends’—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—come to mourn with him and comfort him. So wretched is Job’s condition, they barely recognize him. “They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (2:13).
At the end of that time, Job vents his emotions:
“Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?… For then … I would have been at rest” (3:11–13).
That most mysterious question, ‘Why?’, is now on Job’s lips, as for many since.
His three friends now begin to speak. Three times each in turn addresses Job, who promptly replies, pouring out his agony of spirit. At first, they deal gently with him, expressing surprise that one so noted for his faith and encouragement of others should break down and find God’s treatment of him so discouraging (4:3–5).
As Job continues to answer in defence of his integrity, his friends become increasingly impatient with him. Their main proposition is that all individual suffering is the result of that individual’s sin (4:7–8; 8:4; 11:13–15). Since Job’s suffering is so great, his sin must be very great indeed.
Job agrees that he is not without sin (7:21; 9:2), but wants his day in court, to prove that whatever peccadilloes he may have unwittingly committed in the past, the extent of his suffering is out of all proportion. But in his despair Job doubts that God would even bother to give him a hearing (9:16). Instead, God would overwhelm him with His superior wisdom and power (9:3–4,17–19). Job desperately longs for a mediator—someone who will argue his case and testify to his innocence before God (9:33–34).
Now and then amid his lamentation and agony, Job strikes the note of hope. He expresses an assurance that God Himself will be his Vindicator, if not in this life, then in the life to come:
“I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (19:25–27).
The debate rages back and forth, with neither Job nor his friends prepared to shift position. Eventually they reach a complete impasse. The three friends are silent at last because Job, despite his terrible afflictions, has insisted on his innocence (32:1).
Job’s friends—no doubt exhausted and frustrated—are unable to bring him round to their view and have no more to say. At this point the reader is ready to hear from God Himself. But instead, there is a series of speeches from Elihu (Chapters 32–37).
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We cannot know what is in the hearts of fellow Christians as they seek to honor God in their daily lives, and we should not impose restrictions on believers where God has given us liberty. Although it is human nature to do so, we also should avoid comparing ourselves with other believers and thinking that they are better than we are—or that we are better than they are—for whatever reason, since all of us are sinners in need of God’s grace in Christ.

Do you ever feel like other people are better Christians than you are? Maybe they read their Bibles more, give more money to the church, pray more for others, are involved in church ministry, do more good deeds, or never seem to do anything really sinful. It’s easy to get discouraged when we start comparing our own Christian walk with other believers we know.
One of the big reasons this happens is that humans are geared to think that keeping rules is how we are right before God, and they are actually correct about this (see Lev. 18:5; Luke 10:25–28). The problem is that no one can keep God’s law perfectly. This is why Jesus came: we need his perfect righteousness and perfect sacrifice to be counted to us through faith in Christ so we can be declared justified before God.
Some Christians can add requirements that the Bible doesn’t dictate.
Even while knowing they have peace with God in Christ alone, Christians are often prone to think that they will be closer to God by keeping certain rules and living certain lifestyles. The problem with this is that some Christians can add requirements that the Bible doesn’t command, or they may consider certain lifestyle choices to be more spiritual than others. What is a Christian to do when it comes to knowing how to live according to God’s word in this world?
The Westminster Confession of Faith gives us excellent counsel in this area in its chapter, “Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience”:

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to his Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also. (WCF 20:2)

Look at the phrase, “or beside it.” With these words, the Westminster Confession of Faith reminds Christians that they are not bound by any “doctrines and commandments of men” that are not found in God’s word. It is also true that believers must be considerate of their neighbors, not causing them to stumble (Rom. 14:13–23: 1 Cor. 8:7–13). The sixteenth-century pastor and theologian John Calvin reminds Christians to use their freedom responsibly and lovingly.
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Augustine was a remarkable figure, a towering intellect with unmatched rhetorical skills. He exhibited an unprecedented capacity for self-reflection with a contemplative and even mystical streak. His impact continued throughout the Western church through the Protestant Reformation. He was a major influence on Reformers such as Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk, and John Calvin. And his theological legacy continues today across denominations. 

On August 28, 430, St. Augustine of Hippo died. Perhaps the most important father of the early Church, Augustine’s writings shaped Western theology and defined how Western European society understood itself for over a thousand years. 
Augustine was born in Thagaste in modern Algeria in 354. His mother Monica was a Christian, but his father Patricius was a pagan who only became a Christian late in life. Although raised a Christian, Augustine found the Bible unsophisticated. To his mother’s dismay, he embraced Manichaeism, believing that this popular, dualistic religion resolved the problem of evil by positing two deities, one good, one evil. However, he eventually became disillusioned with Manichaeism and intrigued by skepticism, also popular during that time. 
A highly trained rhetorician, Augustine was hired as a professor of rhetoric in the imperial city of Milan. Monica followed her son to Milan and continued to preach the Gospel to him, but it was when Augustine met Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, that he truly considered Christianity. Like Augustine, Ambrose was an expert orator. Using Neo-Platonic ideas, he showed Augustine a way of reading Scripture that opened new depths that he had not previously seen. This led the way to Augustine’s conversion in 386. He was baptized by Ambrose in 387.  
Soon after, Augustine returned to Africa, sold his family property, and started a monastery. In 391, he was ordained a priest in Hippo Regius, a city also in modern Algeria. Determined to use his rhetorical skills to help the church, he quickly became famous as a preacher. Augustine preached between six and ten thousand sermons, most lasting an hour or more. Only about 500 have survived. In 395, he was named bishop of Hippo Regius, an office he held until his death in 430. 
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Rather than praying only for the visible results, we also ought to ask the Lord to give our people the love and spiritual wisdom that produce the desired outcome. When we do, we can rest confidently in the Spirit’s sanctifying power as He continues to conform them (and us) to the image of our Savior.

Very few pastors would claim that they pray enough for their people. Perhaps it’s an impossible task—no one will ever think they’ve prayed enough. Still, we can see from the example of our Lord and His apostles that praying for our people is of monumental importance.
Though the Bible says a great deal about preaching, only a few passages speak directly about sermon preparation (cf. Ezra 7:10 and 2 Timothy 2:15). Yet there are many passages that highlight the need for consistent prayer. This is not to say that sermon preparation is unimportant (for it certainly is). Rather, it is to emphasize the vital necessity of prayer. Even pastors need to be reminded that prayer is an essential part of their ministry and that praying for their people is a biblical priority.
So, how consistently do you pray for your people? The apostles devoted themselves both to the Word and to prayer (Acts 6:4). We should also be devoted to both. To do one without the other is to leave our pastoral responsibility only half finished.
How to Pray
The New Testament provides numerous examples of spiritual leaders who interceded on behalf of those to whom they ministered. In this article, I have selected a few key passages to illustrate this point. As you consider these verses, examine how you pray for those under your shepherding care.
Romans 1:8 — “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world.” (See also: 1 Cor 1:4; Eph 1:16; Phil 1:3; Col 1:3; 1 Thess 1:2; 2 Thess 1:3; 2 Tim 1:3)
Paul clearly and repeatedly expressed his thankfulness for those to whom he ministered. What about us? How often do we pour out thankfulness to the Lord for the people under our shepherding care?
Many of Paul’s epistles were written to people in need of correction and rebuke. Yet he still expressed his thankfulness to God for them. Is that how you think of the difficult people in your ministry?
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It is the Lord himself who determines who belongs. It is he who sets people in families and it is he who adopts into his family. That means we don’t get to choose who belongs, we don’t get to decide who we are and aren’t going to love and we don’t get to determine who can belong and how it will function. These things belong to Jesus. 

A little while ago, a blog post did the rounds insisting that we should stop saying church is a family and that this is unbiblical. A fair few people responded with an upturned eyebrow and a, ‘huh?’ Amongst them, I did here. I am pretty sure church is meant to be family and the Bible very much refers to the church in familial terms.
One of the many ways church is like a family is that you don’t get to choose who belongs to it. I never asked to have the particular brother and sister that I do. I just arrived and found one of them there already and the other one joined us later. I had no say in the matter. Nor, it turns out, do you get to choose the kind of people in your family either. We have some shared traits, but we’re also quite different people too. It’s entirely possible we might never have become friends had we met some other way but we weren’t related (obviously, both my siblings are privileged to know me…)
The church, a bit like that, is called to be a family. We aren’t supposed to have any specific say in who joins us; we ultimately get the people God has decided to make show up. Nor are we called to only reach one particular kind of people. I am on record on this blog – I don’t think homogenous unit principle churches are a great expression of the manifold wisdom of God in the gospel which specifically removes such barriers and distinctions. I do not think it is legitimate for churches to insist that they are only for or will only reach one kind of person. The church is a family, created by God, that doesn’t get to choose who belongs. Only Jesus gets to do that and only he gets to set what criteria exists to join.
One of the beauties of the church is when we are drawn from many different tribes, tongues and nations, and express our differing cultures in the life of the church and yet all belong together as one people. It is manifestly a manifestation of the gospel when we see such different people welcomed into the same family, all belonging together on the same terms and all in community together that is not centred on personalities or preferences or culture or anything other than the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t get together because we have some shared affinity; we get together because we belong to the same family even though we are drawn from as varied a range of backgrounds as you can imagine.
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Every true Christian agrees with the goals of God’s plan for discipline. We believe in rescuing sinners, protecting the congregation, maintaining a holy communion, preserving the honor of Christ, and preventing the wrath of God. We believe in church discipline. God wants us to believe in it so fervently that we would insist on being members in churches where discipline is affirmed and practiced. My brothers and sisters need it. But so do I.

“For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant” (Heb. 12:11). We don’t like discipline—in our personal lives, in the family, or at church—because it hurts. No balanced person enjoys giving or receiving corrective instruction. Correction wounds our pride and threatens our imagined autonomy. It can occasion resentment against authorities. Our natural instinct is to resist discipline.
But to dodge discipline is unwise. The writer goes on. “But later [discipline] yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Like many good things discipline proves its value over time.  And only a fool trades away long-term benefits for short-term pleasure. Discipline is for our good. So it shouldn’t surprise us that a loving God requires church censures.
What is the Premise for Church Censures?
Every organization has procedures for keeping order. For a soccer match or an election to mean anything there must be standards of conduct and penalties for misbehavior. So rules are an essential part of government, business, centers of learning, social clubs, and even families. Those who fault the church for censuring sin show their bias against religion. There is a commonplace argument for church discipline.
But more importantly Jesus requires the church to discipline sin. Jesus is both the Lord of creation and the “King and Head of his church” (see Eph. 5:23). According to his sovereign power Jesus has “appointed a government, in the hand of church officers.” Christ first called the apostles to rule, though not as the power-hungry gentiles, but through humble service (Matt. 20:25–28). The original apostles “appointed elders … in every church” (Acts 14:23), who were to appoint other elders to enforce the “apostles’ teaching,” down through the ages (Titus 1:5; Acts 2:42).
Jesus’ overseers rule through what Scripture calls the keys of the kingdom (Matt. 16:19). The image of the keys makes an important point: divinely appointed church leaders have no original or independent authority. They are simply stewards who execute Christ’s revealed will (Titus 1:7). Part of how church leaders watch over the souls of their members (Heb. 13:17) is by keeping discipline in the church. Through preaching and formal censures church leaders unlock the kingdom to the penitent and lock it against the impenitent. Here is one example. The apostles opened the kingdom to a man named Simon when he “believed.” But when it was clear that he was “in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity” Peter rightly insisted that Simon had “neither part nor lot” in the church’s business (see Acts 8:9–25); he closed the kingdom to him (cf. 1 Cor. 5:2; 2 Thess. 3:6).
The church must have spiritual doors with divinely appointed custodians manning the locks. Discipline is a necessary part of every organization. It is also commanded by Jesus and modeled by the biblical church.
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Ultimately, the Birds & Bees curriculum gives parents clarity and confidence about a very confusing part of our culture, helping them raise their kids to steward their sexuality in a way honoring to the Lord. For more information about Birds & Bees or to enroll in their course, visit birds-bees.com. They also have a terrific podcast full of practical and helpful advice. 

I think it was in 2009 when, at an airport for an early morning flight, a wise Christian leader said to me bluntly, “John, the question is not if your daughters will see pornography. The question is what will they do when they see pornography?” 
I was stunned, but he was right. His words are even more true today, fifteen years later, than when he said them. Technology makes it way easier than ever before for predatory pornography to find our kids. Even if they are not looking for it, it is looking for them. According to a 2020 survey, a majority of U.S. children are exposed to online pornography by age 13. Many are exposed as young as seven. According to the same report, 84% of male youths ages 14 to 18 and 54% of young women the same age have encountered porn. Last year, Common Sense Media reported that a whopping 71% of teens surveyed had accessed porn within the previous week of being interviewed. 
If we aren’t teaching our kids how to think about sexuality and marriage, about their own bodies and how to respect others, someone—or something—else is. Parents must begin to teach even young children about who they are and how to deal with sexuality in a culture that is deeply broken. And they can start today. 
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