Good morning. Grace and peace to you today.

Today’s Kindle deals include a selection from Crossway themed around marriage and family.
(Yesterday on the blog: All the Compassions of All the Tender Fathers)
To the Older Woman in the Church: You Are NOT Obsolete
This is a good one from Michele as she reflects on the fact that Tim Keller didn’t publish The Reason for God until he was 57. “The word ‘marinate’ comes to mind when I consider Keller’s years of quiet, unseen faithfulness. They were apparently no more absent of significant activity than a drop of pond water under a microscope, but they could have felt that way–without God’s microscope.”
Easy Christlikeness
“Some Christians think that because they love those that like them, they are being Christlike. And probably they are. In fact, some Christians outside of Christ would be unkind even to those that like them—they would give evil for good. They are rascals. I was one of those rascals before Christ. That is a change that the gospel makes in us. But that’s the low hanging fruit of sanctification. Jesus said that even unbelievers love those that love them (Luke 6:32). It’s not that hard.”
Good Book Guides Giveaway: Enter for the Chance to Win 59 Bible Studies
The Good Book Company is giving away a set of 32 expository guides to one winner in celebration of their new God’s Word For You Sets. (Sponsored Link)
10 Things You Should Know about the Fall
Mitch offers 10 things that you ought to know about the fall.
Pride Month Didn’t Happen Overnight
Cole says that “we would do well to remember that fruit always begins as seeds. Or, to speak less cryptically, Pride Month did not happen overnight. I feel compelled to make such a statement because I live in a largely conservative small town, where most of my fellow citizens can recognize at least some of the vanity within Vanity Fair. Those who don’t know the difference between a man and a woman are ‘out there;’ we are rooted in reality. But are we?”
Forgiveness and Seeing the Father’s Smile
“Does God, like us, struggle to extend forgiveness when we ask him? Does he get caught up in his anger, like we do, and withdraw from us? Does he get frustrated by our repeated, selfish offenses against him and feel it’s necessary to put some distance between us, even for a little while?”
Why Chromosome Variations Do Not Create Additional Sexes
This is a helpful explanation as to why chromosome variations do not create additional sexes.
Flashback: A Lover of the Lord Lives There!
“And Lord Jesus, not only write your name upon the gates of my house, but engrave it at the center of my heart and my affections—on my first, and last, my earliest, and latest thoughts!”

If a man is worth nothing but money he is poor indeed. If a man have upright character he is rich. —De Witt Talmage

In 2020 I teamed up with Zondervan to release Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History. This is a two-part product that takes the form of an illustrated book and a ten-part documentary video series. While the book and documentary can each be enjoyed on their own, they also complement one another well. Epic is ideal for group studies, homeschool curriculum, and enjoying either alone or with the whole family.
I am pleased to let you know that the ten-part documentary video series is now available for free on YouTube.
Of course, Epic is best when the documentary is paired with the book, so I recommend you also buy the softcover book which you can find discounted at both Amazon and Westminster Books. The two products are ideal companions for one another and together will help you both see and understand the history of the Christian faith.
To watch the videos, you can visit YouTube or challies.com/epic/.
Beginning with Jesus and the early church, I look at:

The importance of graffiti on an ancient jail cell
The creedal significance of a carving on a museum statue
The enduring importance of ancient manuscripts and books
And much more!

Along the way, you’ll discover the story you’re already a part of.
Epic features:

An epic journey: 24 countries, 6 continents, 75 flights, 80 museums
Beautiful full-color book design featuring the objects and Tim’s journey
The complete experience: a 10-episode documentary is now available for free, taking you on location and providing an immersive experience for understanding the history of Christianity

As I said, it is now entirely free on YouTube or at challies.com/epic/.

We aren’t certain whether gold is pure or alloyed until it is tested in the fire. We don’t know whether steel is rigid or brittle until it is tested by stress. We can’t have confidence that water is pure until it passes through a filter. And in much the same way, we don’t know what our faith is made of until we face trials. It is the testing of our faith that displays its genuineness, says Peter, and it is passing through the trial that generates praise and glory and honor. Though we do not wish to endure trials and do not deliberately bring them upon ourselves, we know that in the providence of God they are purposeful and meaningful, that they are divine means to make us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

There are many who face trials and do not pass the test. Some face physical pain and through it grow angry with God and determine they cannot love a God who lets them endure such difficulties. Some face the possibility of persecution and find they prefer to run from the faith than to suffer for it. Some have children who turn to aberrant sexual practices and who prefer to renounce God than fail to affirm their kids. Some watch loved ones suffer and die and determine that a God who permits such things is not worthy of their love, their trust, their admiration. In these ways and so many more, some are tested and, through the test, shown to have a faith that is fraudulent.
Yet there are many others who face such trials and emerge with their faith not only intact, but strengthened. They face physical pain and through it grow in submission to God and confidence in his purposes. They face the possibility of persecution and find they would prefer to suffer than to deny the God who has saved them. They have children who turn to aberrant sexual practices and, though they still love their kids, refuse to affirm them. They watch loved ones suffer and die and say, in meekness, that the God with the right to give is the God with the right to take away.
What fascinates me is how bad we are at predicting who will pass the test and who will not. We sometimes look at people who have accumulated great stores of Bible trivia and great knowledge of Christian doctrine and assume they are the ones who will necessarily pass through the fire unharmed. Yet these are sometimes the ones who turn away at the first heat. We sometimes look at people who have only a rudimentary store of Bible trivia and little knowledge of Christian doctrine and assume they are the ones who will be first to waver, stumble, and fall. Yet these are often the ones who cling most tenaciously. We are not nearly as wise, not nearly as discerning, as we may have thought.
All of this goes to prove that what matters is not the size of a person’s faith, but its object. What secures us in our trials is not the magnitude of our faith, but the power of the one in whom we have placed it. The smallest bit of faith in God is worth infinitely more than the greatest bit of faith in ourselves, or the strongest measure of faith in faith itself. Faith counts for nothing unless its object is Jesus Christ.
Thus, when the fire burns hot, we learn to our surprise that some may have had tremendous faith in themselves, but no faith in Jesus. When the floods rise high, we learn to our shock that some may have had faith in faith, but no faith in the Lord of all the universe. Yet when others pass through the flames, we learn to our joy that though their faith may have been little greater than a mustard seed, its object was the eternal, immortal God. When the waters swell around them and it seems as if they may go under, we learn to the satisfaction of our souls that though their faith may have been very small, it was faith in the one who is the Rock. We learn, with praise in our hearts, that they have been held fast by the one who is the glorious object of their unwavering faith.