It is a holiday weekend here in Canada—a strange holiday that goes by various names across the different provinces and even across different cities within the provinces. I know the first Monday in August as the Civic Holiday, but in Toronto proper it’s known as Simcoe Day while in B.C. as British Columbia Day and in Alberta as Heritage Day. As far as I know, Quebec doesn’t observe it at all. Strange, that. Either way, the majority of people in these parts have a day off to mark the very middle of summer.

I am choosing to work on the Monday, though, since I am preaching the following Sunday and generally prefer a six-day lead-up to a sermon. I find I am most comfortable in my preparation when I dedicate the best two or three hours of each day for six consecutive days. At that pace, my sermon is usually complete by Thursday or Friday, which gives me a couple of days to tinker with it—a process that typically involves sharpening illustrations and cutting about 30% of the content. I find that my sermons are almost always improved more by subtraction than addition. I’ll be preaching on “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I’m excited to mine that little text and learn from it before I preach it.
Another reason I won’t be taking Monday off is that my family has just recently returned from a couple of weeks of vacation. We had a wonderful time together seeing new places and experiencing new things. Abby and Nate were able to be with us, as was Ryn, so we traveled as a group of six and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Ryn said afterward, “I’ve learned that Challies vacations are actually adventures more than vacations.” And I guess she’s right, though we tend to alternate so that one summer we do something that mostly involves lying around a beach or a lake while the next we do something that involves more flying or driving or other forms of movement. I kind of like that mix.
Abby and Nate are now well settled into married life. My paternal observation is that they are doing very well and enjoying one another in these early days. They’ve moved into on-campus housing at Boyce College/Southern Seminary where they each have a year or two of classes remaining, depending on the pace they choose. Nate is also working full-time which keeps him plenty busy. Michaela, meanwhile, is at the midway point of her summer vacation and working a good number of hours at the grocery store—covering for the vacationing full-timers, I suppose. As for Aileen, she is beginning a new part-time job next week and eager to see how that goes.
The whole group of us will be heading to the Getty Music Sing! conference over Labor Day weekend (that’s Labour Day for the Canadians) since that’s where I’ll be holding the launch event for my book Seasons of Sorrow: The Pain of Loss and the Comfort of God. (Pre-Order the book here!) Alistair Begg will be joining me for a conversation and then the band CityAlight will be debuting a new song they’ve written that was inspired by the book. Though the Sing! conference is an event you must pay to attend, my launch event is absolutely free for everyone, so if you’re in the Nashville area, please do drop by. You don’t even need to going to the rest of the conference! It would be great if you’d pre-register here so we know you’re coming. The event runs from 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM on Monday, September 4.
The book, meanwhile, has been printed and should be on its way to the publisher’s warehouse right now. I am eagerly awaiting my own copy of it. It is always an interesting experience for an author to meet a new book—there is a bit of fear (that there will be something wrong with the printing or that I’ll notice a brutal typo on the book cover despite so many layers of fastidious editing), a bit of hesitation (wondering if anyone would ever want to read the book anyway and what possible good it could do if they did) and, of course, a bit of joy and relief (it’s finally complete and finally ready to serve the church). Mostly I’ll be glad to finally have it in my hands and on my shelf.
Thanks for reading this far! I hope you enjoy your weekend, whether it’s a holiday weekend or just a normal one…
(And, just for fun, I had to take someone to the airport early Saturday morning, so decided to head into the city to catch a sunrise. As always, I snapped a photo and thought it came out quite nicely…)

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.

Today’s post is written by Bill Mounce and is sponsored by Zondervan. Bill is the author of Why I Trust the Bible and Basics of Biblical Greek.

The Bible makes some astonishing claims about itself. The apostle Paul tells his friend Timothy that every word of the Bible comes from the mouth of God (2 Tim 3:16). The Bible says God personally wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger (Exod 31:18; Deut 9:10). Almost five hundred times, the prophets preface their prophecies with the claim “says the Lord.” Jesus says, “I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken” (John 12:49). Under normal circumstances, if someone says they speak for God, I doubt many of us would pay attention. But this is exactly what the Bible says about itself. Do you believe it?
We can no longer assume that people trust their Bible and believe what it says about itself. Western culture has shifted away from its Judeo-Christian heritage, and the popular media has launched such an attack on the believability of Scripture that many churchgoers have serious questions about the Bible. Questions like:

Did Jesus actually live?
Did the biblical writers get it right, or did they slant, massage, or even create the Bible we have today?
The Gospels were written long after Jesus lived; how can you trust them?
How can you believe a Bible that’s full of internal contradictions with itself and external contradictions with science and history?
Why should we believe the right books are in the Bible? Many books were left out, like the Gospel of Thomas.
Why trust the Bible when there are so many contradictory translations?

Wherever I travel in the world, whether I am speaking at conferences or universities or churches, there is one burning question. Can I trust the Bible? Why should I trust the Bible? Gone are the days of the veneer of a Christian culture where trust was assumed. Gone are the days when the Bible was given the benefit of the doubt. We live in a culture that aggressively attacks the Bible and those who were raised to trust it. University freshman are being challenged in every class. Parents often do not know what to do or how to help.
Some people feel it’s wrong to ask these fundamental questions; but if you never seriously ask them, you’ll never be convinced that the Bible is true and trustworthy. So I invite you to ask the hard questions, read the controversies and solutions, and decide for yourself whether you trust your Bible. Does it contain the very words of God?
I wrote the book, Why I Trust the Bible because people need to know the challenges of the day and the solutions to the questions raised. As is true of all systems of belief that deal with the ultimate questions of reality—Christianity, Islam, Materialism, Atheism—we all must have faith. I can’t prove the Bible is trustworthy, but I don’t have to put my brain on the shelf in order to believe in its trustworthiness. There are good answers to the hard questions being asked today, and none of the questions need to drive anyone to despair.
After forty-nine years of consistent and serious study of the New Testament, I am more convinced than ever that the Bible contains the very words of God and is wholly trustworthy.
This post is adapted from the Preface of Bill Mounce’s book Why I Trust the Bible. Order the book or find out more info.

Bill Mounce (PhD, Aberdeen University) lives as a writer in Washougal, Washington. He is the President of BiblicalTraining.org, a non-profit organization offering world-class educational resources for discipleship in the local church. See www.BillMounce.com for more information. Formerly he was a preaching pastor, and prior to that a professor of New Testament and director of the Greek Program at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He is the author of the bestselling Greek textbook, Basics of Biblical Greek, and many other resources. He was the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version translation of the Bible and is serving on the NIV translation committee.
What people are saying about Why I Trust the Bible:
“Bill Mounce has produced a remarkably clear, comprehensive, and level-headed resource that carefully and graciously explains each type of objection that has been lodged against the Bible, and then answers each objection with convincing facts and arguments. I expect that all who read it will gain deeper confidence in the trustworthiness of the Bible.”—WAYNE GRUDEM, Phoenix Seminary
“Ordinary believers wonder whether the Bible is really true, whether we can truly trust the Scriptures. Why I Trust the Bible represents a learned and accessible response to such questions. Many, I believe, will be assured in their faith by reading this important book.”—THOMAS R. SCHREINER, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“We live in a time when truth is subject to a person’s preferences and what is called ‘truth’ is really just formulated montage of misinformation. We need accessible and accurate information for people from all walks of life. In Why I Trust the Bible, Bill Mounce invites Christ-followers and doubters to consider the reasonable and sound answers he provides to today’s tough questions.—ERIC MASON, Epiphany Fellowship
“This excellent volume is a treasure trove of explanations of difficult texts and answers to skeptics’ questions about the Bible. With each chapter, I found my confidence in the integrity of the biblical text reaffirmed and strengthened. Bill Mounce is uniquely qualified to respond to the many arguments against the authority and trustworthiness of the Bible, and I highly commend this book to anyone who is struggling to believe that Scripture is genuinely God-breathed.”—SAM STORMS, Bridgeway Church
Go here to order Why I Trust the Bible or find out more info.