As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I’ve recently been promoted…. I’m finding the transition challenging, especially since I need to manage my former colleagues. I understand why it’s hard for them to respect me—in some cases, they know more than I do! What’s the best way to approach this?” - TGC
“In the accounts of Chandler’s actions, I looked for one thing and, sure enough, saw that after he confessed to his congregation, the church gave him an ovation.” - CToday
“National research by the Barna Group indicates that pastors are discouraged, with 43 percent of pastors saying that they have given serious consideration to leaving vocational ministry.” - RNS
Also in recent NAE news: NAE Releases Climate Change Report, Urges a Biblical Mandate for Action - C.Leaders
“…the NAR is not this conspiratorial, worldwide, monolithic, demonic movement. As part of the mix, she does mention Sean Feucht…. Feucht is many things both good and bad, but he’s not NAR.” - GetReligion
“Warren closed over 40 years as Saddleback’s pastor by re-delivering the first sermon he preached when the church began in March of 1980.” - C.Leaders
“That hundreds have missed their way and stumbled against a pulpit is sorrowfully evident from the fruitless ministries and decaying churches around us. It is a fearful calamity to a man to miss his calling, and to the church whom he imposes himself, his mistake involves an affliction of the most grievous kind” – Charles Spurgeon
How does a man know if he is called to ministry? What exactly is a ministry call? What are the evidences or signs that someone has been called to preach?
Are there any evangelistic accounts in Scripture that begin with the person that is doing the evangelism telling the people that he is evangelizing that they all have sinned? If not, what basis is there, if any, to think that Romans 3:23 is a legitimate verse to use to start evangelizing someone?
Poll Results
Is starting an evangelistic witness with Romans 3:23 legitimate?
“Is all authority—by virtue of one person having power over another person—in its very nature, abusive? I ask these questions in a day when accounts of sad experiences with abusive pastors are all too common.” - Mark Dever
“The tenor of scriptural prophecy that tells us that God’s people will take the gospel effectively to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), does not indicate that there will be gradual warming to God’s people as we move forward toward the Kingdom.” - Kevin Schaal
“what if we do manage to create a language model that can’t be distinguished from a human; a model that passes the Turing test?… Even if the AI is not sentient, the implications are serious.” - Reasons
Quillbot “suggests its main use would be for someone to improve their own writing…. Instead of the difficult work of understanding and then putting an author’s words into your own words, this tool allows students to automate the process.” - DBTS Blog
“The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans blocked Aug. 26 a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule that required doctors and hospitals to perform gender-transition procedures, as well as abortions.” - BPNews
“The Village Church announced Sunday (Aug. 28) that lead pastor Matt Chandler will take a leave of absence from teaching and preaching following his admission to ‘inappropriate messaging’ with a woman on Instagram.” - BPnews
“Known as The Nashville Statement, it was sponsored by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood and the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.” - CPost
“As members of the institutions both tout and hide behind their credentialism, their obviously ideological positions shred the public’s faith in their credentials. The rise and fall of Anthony Fauci is illustrative of this trend.” - CPost
“Laws took effect Thursday (Aug. 25) in Idaho, Tennessee and Texas to bring to 14 the number of states that have enacted prohibitions on either all abortions except those to protect the life of the mother or on those when a fetal heartbeat can be detected” - BPNews
“I believe we should oppose the death penalty because it involves the retributive killing of our siblings in Christ. This argument, while not new, is often overlooked.” - CToday
“Bulgarian forces absconded with the manuscript in 1917 during World War I” - CPost
Read the series.
2. CT starts its reading of the Bible in the wrong place.
“Put simply, because Jesus said so. Five words compelled us to make the shift: ‘tell it to the church’ (Matt. 18:17).” - 9 Marks
“A study conducted by Lifeway Research along with GuideStone and Baptist state conventions found compensation for full-time Southern Baptist senior pastors has remained flat over the past four years, while the total pay package has decreased.” - BPNews
“Educate youngsters on how to ‘spot lies, think critically, and ask questions,’ using programs like those at Media Literacy Now. As for social media, instead of censorship or de-platforming, the cyber-pros need to provide audiences full context on what specific source, perhaps a paid or self-interested group or a pathetic mischief-maker, lies behind what they post.” - Get Religion
“The share of young adults in the United States who are living with a parent has grown considerably in recent decades, a trend that many Americans see as bad for society” - Pew
“a billion people have escaped extreme poverty since 1990, owing to the embrace of free markets. It’s no coincidence that this dramatic decline in poverty occurred as the Soviet Union’s Marxist-Leninist experiment imploded.” - TIFWE
I wish I could say that I that I was one of those smart kids who always loved history. Yet, in one sense, I guess that I did—although perhaps without realizing it.
I was always enthralled with old black-and-white television shows that whisked me to an earlier time that seemed both simpler and, yet, exhilarating. I found many aspects of the past fascinating. I was particularly mesmerized by the Middle Ages—especially as they set the stage for the dawn of the Reformation.
Put a dry history book in front of me, though, and I would have been entirely unenthused—unless, perhaps, it was a volume about the history of sports.
“Women in the US currently earn six out of every 10 degrees, and the gender gap has widened with the pandemic. Male undergraduate enrollment dropped by 5 percent in fall of 2020, compared to a less than 1 percent decrease among women.” - CToday
“A judge has temporarily blocked federal guidance requiring emergency medical care to include abortion in Texas where abortion is illegal except in medical emergencies, miscarriages or the removal of ectopic pregnancies.” - CPost
“Pastors need to be aware that every day of the week their church members are being instructed—and, most likely, their mentor is an algorithm. Is it any surprise that the human shepherds are losing to the digital ones?” - TGC
“It’s often been said that if God is great but not good, we’re doomed to extinction; if he’s good but not great, then we’re doomed as well, because there’s nothing he can do about our needs.” - Olinger
