Jay Lickey

Of all my days of being in and around churches, I have heard some church names that caught my attention. The Halfway Baptist church always made me chuckle when I drove past it in college. I have heard of a few Corinthian Baptist churches which made me wonder what kind of problems they were dealing with. I have even heard of a Laodicea Baptist church. But in all my days I have never heard of a Sodom church. No one is surprised by this. But it does get you thinking, doesn’t it? What would a church do in a modern-day Sodom?

For many, the Pandemic quarantine provided a break from the routine, a slowdown (but not for all). In the secular world, more people are retiring early since the Pandemic, and, although the worker shortage was perhaps brewing before the pandemic, the quarantine intensified it. More people are concerned about smelling the roses and less concerned about making a name for themselves.

It could be that something similar but not identical has happened to Christians in leadership or Christians in the workplace. Maybe this good. Many church leaders are workaholics and need to take time to smell the roses. Others may cross a threshold from balance to apathy.

“A Christian nation is not worth giving up Christ himself.” - C.Today

“Clearly, it’s in the best interest of religious groups to encourage their young families to have children if they want to ensure the long-term viability of their traditions…. But which traditions are doing a good job of having children, and which ones aren’t?” - GetReligion

“This Wednesday, November 3, for one night only, the movie ‘The Most Reluctant Convert: The Untold Story of C. S. Lewis’ will be in cinemas nationwide.” - Alcorn

Related: Two New Films About Faith and Skepticism

“Stealing, I’d suggest, is really just a form of lying—which is why the two so often travel together.” - Olinger

“They joined Roberts and the Court’s progressives in declining relief to Maine health-care providers, who must now be vaccinated against their beliefs or lose their jobs.” - N.Review

Acts 10 is a bit of a puzzle, because God gives us a beautiful missionary story … and a missionary who isn’t very enthusiastic! Peter does not want to be at Cornelius’ home―he makes that clear in the rudest way possible. What’s the deal? We can begin to understand if we begin a little closer to home, in a galaxy not so far away, where we have a similar problem but a different date.

“In his letter, Martin said that the SBC messengers were ‘deceived,’ having been misinformed about ACP. The messengers were led to believe that waiving privilege was a ‘perfectly normal and necessary’ practice.” - C.Leaders

“Another member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee has resigned and new leadership has been appointed after committee members voted to waive attorney-client privilege as part of an investigation into the leadership’s handling of sexual abuse claims…” C.Post

Related: EC meets to address legal, personnel issues

“Americans also support some intermingling of church and state. Three in 10 said public school teachers should be allowed to lead students in Christian prayers, and 4 in 10 said it’s OK to put up Christian symbols in the public square.” - RNS

“Unfortunately, what should be a simple, principled pitch for conservatives…has been undermined by right-wingers who have seemingly done what they can to inhabit left-wing caricatures.” - The Dispatch

“I’d never contemplated leaving the pastorate before. This year the idea came to mind. But the Lord was good and sent me a backup in the nick of time: through a string of circumstances, I came across an old copy of Letters of John Newton.” - TGC

Read Part 1.

Block’s Definition of Covenant

Daniel Block’s Covenant: The Framework of God’s Grand Plan of Redemption is a big book around 700 pages long. It is very noteworthy when a prominent OT scholar takes up the challenge to write a book on the biblical covenants, and I am grateful to have such a work to study and repair to.

“To love God fully, we must first hear from him clearly—not from culture or the latest religious trends or our feelings, but from him—precisely how it is that he wishes to be loved….. Similarly, we limit our knowledge of God, when we limit our pursuit of theology and sound doctrine, we likewise limit our ability to love him rightly.” - Sauls

Meekness “is the opposite of insisting that this world would be a better place if God and man alike just did things my way. Therefore, it is the opposite of grumbling against God’s providence as it’s expressed through circumstances or even through the hands of men.” - Challies

“Consider how often Paul says something like: ‘I thank my God always when I remember you, because I hear of your love for all the saints’ …. in nearly every letter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, he devotes space to greeting specific believers” - 9 Marks

“Ryan Burge, who teaches political science at Eastern Illinois University and is the author of the book The Nones, says in an Oct. 26 New York Times column that evangelicalism’s ties to the Republican Party has drawn “more people to embrace the evangelical label” – including groups that typically would not be expected to accept it.” - C.Headlines

“The problem of apathy has hit churches. Both leaders and congregants are struggling to move forward following the pandemic. A general lack of enthusiasm is defining the culture of many churches right now. What’s going on?” - Rainer

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (ESV, 1 Tim 6:12)

The Bible frequently describes Christian living as a war. It also calls us to “stand” under attack (Eph 6:10-19). But does it call us to defend our liberties, oppose cultural change, or save our nation from decline?

Before we can think biblically about these issues, we have to get our fighting priorities straight. Everything else we fight for or against must be informed and shaped by the ages-old war at the core of the Christian way of life.

“the long-term consequences for religious liberty are what I’m most worried about: that so many of these exemption requests seem mislabeled or disingenuous will invite courts—and the public—to place a tourniquet on religious exemptions generally” - TGC

“Lamb has sued the Lynchburg, Virginia-based Christian university, arguing that administrators fired him because he expressed concern over how school officials were handling students’ allegations of sexual assault.” - C.Post

Related: (B.Press) Ex-Liberty spokesman says he was fired for raising concerns

“…the claims that ‘scholars’ like Du Mez, Gushee, and Jacob Allan Cook (as we will see) are making are so cynical and unbiblical, not to mention corrosive to constructive discourse, that they merit attention and correction.” - C.Post

“Darling was previously dismissed as the senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters… for promoting the COVID-19 vaccine during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and in an op-ed for USA Today.” - C.Leaders

“What can you tell me about Bitcoin? It sounds like monopoly money. Is it real? Is it safe to use? How can I think about it as a Christian?” - TGC

“In this podcast we will be discussing issues of theology, biblical studies, preaching, church life, biblical counseling, and other areas in order to help church leaders and students of God’s Word continue to grow in their understanding and application of God’s truth.” - DBTS

“…this research examines elements of the Millennial experience such as the lifestyle, hopes for the future, emotional and mental health, relationships, personal faith, and political attributes and perceptions of this group.” - Report

“The National School Boards Association has apologized for a letter that called on the Biden administration to investigate whether alleged threats against school-board members constituted domestic terrorism.” - N.Review

“A new study from Nashville-based Lifeway Research found close to 1% of evangelical and historically Black Protestant senior pastors step away from the pulpit each year—a rate statistically unchanged from a 2015 Lifeway Research study.” - Lifeway

“…a veteran Bible student asked if I really believed we would eat and drink in the afterlife. I told him yes, since Jesus said so. Visibly shaken, he replied, ‘Engaging in physical activities in heaven sounds terribly unspiritual.’” - Alcorn