“The Conservative Baptist Network (CBN) released a statement Wednesday night (Nov. 23) blasting Dr. James Merritt’s endorsement of his son’s recent sermon. Jonathan Merritt identifies as a homosexual.” - C.Leaders

“With so much movement in the U.S. economy coming out of the 2020 recession, six specific factors will directly affect churches in 2022.” - Lifeway

“The Bible’s story is very different from this sort of self-referential, circumstance-based thinking. God is good all the time. And he’s great all the time. He’s bigger than anything.” - Olinger

One of the primary ways the church advances the kingdom of God is through corporate prayer. And when God’s people gather at the throne of grace, they shouldn’t limit their prayers to the elect. They should pray for all people. Why? Because there’s a wideness in God’s mercy. While his special grace secures the repentance of some, his common grace solicits the repentance of many.¹ Thus, there’s a real sense in which our heavenly Father desires, provides for, and pursues the salvation of all people. Such a big-hearted God calls for big-hearted prayers.

Kristin Du Mez and Beth Allison Barr’s books have created a four-alarm firestorm among certain Christian theologians. 9Marks and CBMW have devoted considerable time to explaining why their books on (respectively) masculinity and gender roles in Christianity are allegedly “dangerous.” This is alarmist nonsense.

“…history shows that the church becomes a mere extension of the state when it falls into the trap of nationalism.” - Henley

“A scholar of Christian spirituality argues that prayers are meant to bring together a faith community – something apps aren’t likely to achieve.” - RNS

“Sometimes we just need to wrangle through new issues to come up with some sort of common clarity. Fundamentalists of a century ago …. We now have to work through and clarify such things as marriage definitions, transgenderism, social media, and even the biblical data on race.” - Kevin Schaal

“The primary reason to support religious freedom for all people is because it’s the right thing to do. If we believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then we want a public square in which we can speak openly to people’s minds and hearts and consciences.” - CToday

“The vast majority of U.S. adults ascribe suffering at least partly to random chance, a new Pew Research survey found.” - RNS

“Scrivener carefully noted 111 passages in which the KJV translators chose to follow Beza against Stephanus, 59 in which they did the opposite, and 67 in which they differed from both texts and went with some other reading.” - Mark Ward

“… the Fall 2021 issue of Eikon: A Journal for Biblical Anthropology. This is now our sixth issue under the new masthead. This issue and past issues can be accessed at no cost at our website, where you can also download free PDFs” - CBMW

“Giving thanks provides perspective. Gratitude humbles us. It crushes pride and sweeps away entitlement.” - TGC

“the Puritans have much good to say, and Reeves and Ortlund have mined their depths, found their gems of wisdom, and repackaged their truths in modern language.” - DBTS

“The last thing a producer wants is some pundit offering nuanced criticism of his own side. Everything has to be a fight between the extremes. This dynamic has always existed at MSNBC and CNN as well as at Fox.” - The Dispatch

While we are not certain of the exact date, we do know that this year marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ first Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth.¹

In the fall of 1621, “the 53 surviving Pilgrims and Chief Massasoit with his 90 Indian braves”² (of the Wampanoag Tribe) came together to mark the bounty of their harvest and to give praise to God for graciously preserving them and providing for them.

The Kingdom of Heaven?

Matthew 3 begins with John the Baptist proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matt. 3:1-2). It has him calling Pharisees and Sadducees “a brood of vipers” (Matt. 3:7), which hardly matched the exalted spiritual status they gave themselves. Later in this Gospel we see Jesus calling Pharisees (and scribes) hypocrites and “fools and blind” (Matt. 23:13-19). In Matthew the religious leaders get called all kinds of names. Modern scholarship has tried to correct these Matthean malapropisms, and we do know of Pharisees who became followers of Jesus (Acts 15:5). All in all though, the portrait the Holy Spirit has left us in the first Gospel does them no credit at all.

“We speed past the questions that would help us get to know another person’s story and instead immediately look to the places of greatest difference and disagreement.” - Denison Forum

“Americans – especially Republicans – have become more likely to mention freedom and independence as a source of meaning in life.” - Pew

“the Commission on the General Conference said Friday (Nov. 19), it hasn’t ruled out postponing the usually quadrennial meeting of the denomination’s global decision-making body yet again.” - RNS

“The International Conference on Missions president says leaders on the wrong path depend on Christians who don’t want to know.” - CToday

“ ‘Do I exist for God or does God exist for me?’ That’s the question that I think animates Dean Inserra’s new book, Getting Over Yourself: Trading Believe-in-Yourself Religion for Christ-Centered Christianity” - TGC

“Regardless of what speaker system you currently use, a basic understanding of the room & loudspeaker interaction and the applied fundamentals can help you make a substantial improvement in your systems performance.” - C.Leaders

How It Ends, Part 5: Living in the Now—Diligent Occupation

“Christian Aid Ministries asks for continued prayer for 15 members still in captivity after 37 days.” - CToday

“Through a 12-month period ending in April, the CDC said, nearly 98,000 drug overdose deaths had been reported…Two primary factors drive that increase: a rise in the availability of fentanyl and isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.” - BPNews

Related: There’s No Good Plan to Stop 100,000 Opioid Deaths a Year

“Birth rates in the United States dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic amid the twin public health and economic crises, lending evidence to predictions from early on in the outbreak that economic uncertainty might trigger a baby bust.” - Pew

“Matt Hagee, who is the lead pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, released a statement on November 18, 2021 regarding the controversial ReAwaken America Tour event that took place at his church… ” - C.Leaders

“What exvangelicals teach us about our religious roots.” - CToday

“Every year in the garden I witness life and death—and life again. And every season I watch God work in the mundane and the minuscule; my small garden whispers how wonderful he must be in the grand and glorious.” - TGC