As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Reposted from Rooted Thinking.
The lights dim as the music begins to play. The energy in the crowd seems to almost crackle audibly. You feel a surge of anticipation for the songs you know, the empowering words you always hear, and the inspirational, larger-than-life people you see standing before you. At a well-designed worship service, Bible conference, or summer camp, God seems real, close, and exciting.
“Searches at @biblegateway for ‘sorcery’ jumped 193% after some made a connection between the Greek root word pharmakeia and the Covid-19 vaccine.” - Lifeway
Related: Vaccine Debates Are Responsible for 2021’s Fastest-Growing Bible Search Term: Sorcery
“I don’t know about you, but that’s what I want to celebrate this Christmas—a gift much greater than the latest department store gadgets and gizmos. In light of this, here are some ways that I’ve found to make the Advent season more meaningful.” - Stetzer
“Holocaust denial aims to cast doubt on the facts of the Holocaust, the systematic murder of 6 million European Jews during World War II. Adherents claim Jews fabricated evidence of their own genocide to gain sympathy or extract reparations from Germany.” - RNS
“…halfway through that epic bridge you scan over the congregation and all that looks back at you is a sea of blank faces. What went wrong?” - CPost
“Twice a week I sit with ten or more 17 and 18-year-olds and let them ask any question they want about the faith—freely—no question is out of bounds…. I want to make sure they know what they believe and why.” - Kevin Schaal
Read the series.
As we see in passages such as Hebrews 5:14, biblical discernment involves exercising the skill of seeing the differences between good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, true vs. false, and more important vs. less important.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (ESV, Heb 5:14)
But growth in discernment requires more than understanding what it is. Christians also need a heart that hungers for discernment and experience taking practical steps to use it in today’s world.
” …let’s just zero in on the most significant problem with Dr. Beale’s taxonomy—that there are only two groups in our day, Fundamentalism and Broad Evangelicalism” - Doran
“The pastor goes, ‘I preach the Word. Everybody else do the rest, and I’ll just concentrate on the sermon.’ Well, that’s, that’s stupidity. That’s not how the Bible was written. That’s not how the Church fathers behaved” - CPost
See also at Christianity Today: We’ve No Less Days to Sing God’s Praise, But New Worship Songs Only Last a Few Years
“In addition to Center founder Charles Overby, I was joined by three logical voices on this subject.First, political scientist (and GetReligion contributor) Ryan Burge …. Marquita Smith of the University of Mississippi faculty… Daniel Darling” - GetReligion
“The declaration was organized by the United Kingdom-based Women’s Human Rights Campaign, which describes itself as a ‘group of volunteer women from across the globe dedicated to protecting women’s sex-based rights.’” - CPost
“I have been shaped by a world largely without invasive technology and one with it. I can relate to both sides and appreciate the values/characteristics that each provides.” - Jack Lee
“In our day, we can relate to the experience of ‘ransom captive Israel,’ who mourned ‘in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.’ As Israel waited—in bondage to suffering, sin, pain, and injustice—so we wait now.” - TGC
Reposted from The Cripplegate.
The gospel of of Matthew was the first biblical book to be written in over 400 years. And Matthew breaks the centuries of silence with…a genealogy.
He has a strategic reason for doing so—the goal of his book is to persuasively argue that Jesus is the Messiah, and so he starts by tying the person of Jesus to the history of the Jews, and particularly to the lines of David and Abraham.
“…the findings were announced this week by Infinity Concepts, a faith-based communications agency that co-produced the report with Grey Matter Research.” - CPost
“…the Pew study shows that the religious problem of suffering is not a major concern for most people today after all. Only 14% of American adults say that “sometimes I think the suffering in the world is an indication that there is no God.’” - Veith
“Children and teenagers are most likely to thrive when parents and teachers are in alliance. But that alliance is breaking down. Sometimes, that’s because the parents deliberately undermine and oppose the teacher…Other times it’s because the child has a psychiatric diagnosis.” - IFS
“Catholics (99 percent) and Protestants (97 percent) are most likely to commemorate the day of Jesus’ birth. Still, significant majorities of Americans of other religions (74 percent) and those with no religious affiliation (82 percent) also celebrate Christmas.” - Lifeway
“…the seduction in our time is intense, as principles are forgotten in the passion of pressing issues.” - CPost
“Lamb had hosted a series of vaccine skeptics on his television program and claimed that the truth about COVID-19 was being censored.” - RNS
“As the Supreme Court hears arguments on abortion law, bad rulings should get tossed out for good. So should the ‘surviveability’ standard.” - CToday
“Held Evans makes progressive theological assertions and sarcastic disparagements of fundamentalism; she also acknowledges the debt she owes her evangelical parents and takes wistful backward glances at the spiritual certainty she once owned.” - TGC
“the key question is whether five justices can be convinced that there is something sounder—more constitutionally defensible…that can replace Roe/Casey. The most important storyline in today’s oral argument will be whether Mississippi, in defending its 15-week abortion ban, can argue that there is.” - The Dispatch
“Wet sifting brings us closer than ever to the world of Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Hezekiah.” - CToday
“In 2017, Lifeway Research found 30% of churches offered a giving option on their website. In April 2020, 48% of churches said they were continuing to offer online giving, while 16% said their church had added it since the pandemic began.” - Lifeway
“They have claimed that we believe our donors should apologize for their skin color, that The Salvation Army believes America is an inherently racist society, and that we have abandoned our Christian faith for one ideology or another. Those claims are simply false, and they distort the very goal of our work.” - C.Leaders
“We have left boys and men exposed to the toxicity of online radicalization through our failure to carve out an appropriate social space in which they can express themselves.” - IFS
Read Part 1.
We are accustomed to treat the so-called “Lord’s Prayer” within our own “Church” context. And no wonder, for the guidance and hope it supplies are a great boon to the spiritual life. But if we situate it in its setting in the Sermon on the Mount we have to allow that it signified something a little different for the disciples, especially Matthew 6:10:
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
