“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the decision aims to destroy Hamas’ governmental and military capabilities and to secure the release of hostages.” - CPost

By Brian Richard

For pastors, the last decade has presented a perfect storm of cultural upheaval, societal trends, and acceler­ated change. Pastors constantly face difficult and pressing questions about how to “do church” in the twenty-first century. Since the internet has fundamentally changed almost every aspect of our lives, many ask, “Why shouldn’t the church change too?”

“In a recent article published by the Washington Institute, professor and lawyer Eric Treene offered a robust alternative way of understanding Christian Nationalism and its significance within American culture.” - Breakpoint

“Luther’s theses exhibited zeal, even serious consternation, but behind his bold discontent was a deeper motive—love. Love for God and love for his church.” - TGC

“This context is one of the few in which I would use the word fundamentalist for myself. …someone who believes in the ‘fundamentals’ of the faith—the historicity of the biblical accounts, the Virgin Birth, the substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection, a visible and physical Second Coming” - CToday

“An amicus brief filed with the Kentucky Supreme Court caused a swarm of controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention when it was reported Wednesday” - BPNews

Related…

I love this time of year!

The weather can vary widely where I live in south central Wisconsin. It could resemble anything from August to January. More often than not, however, late October offers fascinating reminders of the beauty of God’s creation. The sun glazes the fields as it rises at dawn, and then again as it sets just before dusk, delivering stunningly opulent rays of color. What a wonderful time to go for a walk! Deer and all manner of wildlife dance over a year’s worth of crops ready for the harvest—the signs, sights, sounds and smells of which are all around us.

“Spiritual mourning is laden with blessing, and we are to go after it and get as much of it in our lives as we possibly can. The more you know of this mourning, the more joy you will experience in your life.” - Colin Smith

“Southern Baptists wanting to provide input on who should be nominated for the four committees filled by the SBC president have an avenue by which to do so.” - BPNews

“God’s sovereignty and the wicked acts of men coordinate most shockingly in the death of Jesus. God used ‘the hands of lawless men’ to execute His ‘definite plan’ to offer His precious Son as payment for our sins (Acts 2:23; 4:28).” - Ligonier

“Johnson, a conservative Baptist who has served in Congress since 2017, vowed to ‘ensure the House delivers results and inspires change for the American people’ and to ‘restore trust in this body.’” - CPost

Related…

“College-educated fathers with children under age 18 at home now spend an average of 10 hours, 12 minutes a week on child care, up by more than 2 hours a week since 2003.” - IFS

As this year began I started a series on spiritual growth, which I called “On Building Spiritual Muscle.” The series focused on the key spiritual exercises that the Bible prescribes for spiritual health, exercises that Christians have generally called “the means of grace”: Scripture, prayer, and fellowship. The next series, “On Devotions,” focused on the first two of those means of grace, and particularly on our private practice of them.

Now I’d like to spend a few posts talking about the third means of grace, fellowship. The first series included a single post on it, but there’s a lot more to say about it, and I’d like to suggest a few things that might help us all pursue fellowship purposefully and effectively.

“I carefully began looking up every appearance of ‘all’ in Romans. Guess what? ‘All’ (unsurprisingly) often refers to every single one in Paul’s letter to the Romans, but sometimes it doesn’t.” - Kenneth Berding

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The book “offers hope in our contentious times, a better way to confront differences. Now it’s up to us to take the advice seriously.” - Acton

“We believe that marriage and family “will just happen when it’s time.” But these things rarely do just happen in our culture, which is why so many find themselves like the woman in the viral video, wishing things had gone differently” - Breakpoint

“This 964-page (and 900,000-word) book has been in the works for six years” - Andy Naselli

“Prayer is not a spiritual power, but a means of communicating and conversing with an All-Powerful Person.” - Layton Talbert

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” What exactly does that mean?

The phrase is found in Psalm 122:6. King David wrote Psalm 122 for the Israelites to sing as they went up to Jerusalem for their holy days. The word “Jerusalem” means “habitation of peace.” Peace and the City of Peace is the theme of this psalm.

All the tribes of Israel came “unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.” They came to Jerusalem to visit “the house of the LORD,” to be instructed in the Word of the LORD, and to praise the LORD.

“…which translates into more than a billion people — feel very or fairly lonely, according to a recent Meta-Gallup survey of more than 140 countries.” - Gallup

“Western media try to judge and assess the religious situation in Ukraine from the normalities under your peaceful skies where …but living in the country during the war gives you [a] different reality.” - CToday

“Willful gullibility neglects our God-given responsibility to acquire the skills necessary to evaluate truth claims. This doesn’t mean we must be experts in every subject, but it does mean we practice strategic hesitation…” - TGC

“Thirdly, that we be prepared to receive his benefits with true gratitude of heart and thanksgiving, benefits that our prayer reminds us come from his hand” - DBTS Blog

“search team chairman Neal Hughes said the team had been ‘blessed’ with a ‘harvest of resumes.’” - BPNews

“Among the people who wanted a total ban on abortion… 67% favor debt free college. 77% favor paid maternity leave. 67% favor raising the minimum wage to $15/hour.” - Ryan Burge

Read the series.

Here’s a final look at some of Paul’s exhortations to Timothy when he faced discouragement. You can read Parts 1, 2, and 3 if you haven’t already. These are all taken from 2 Timothy.

14. Continue in what you have learned. (3:10-17)

The basics don’t change just because ministry is hard. Keep going back to the Word for your own personal encouragement. It is able to give you assurance and equip you to do the work of ministry.

“neutrality between sects is meant to allow all to flourish. This is the important distinction between separationism—which has mistakenly been touted as the best way to advance pluralism—and pluralism itself.” - Law & Liberty

“Throughout the celebratory events of the week, former students, trustees, and faculty members described the task Mohler faced when he became president and set about returning the institution to biblical fidelity and its confessional heritage.” - BPNews

“…a crucial segment of the Iowa Republican electorate: evangelicals, who comprise more than a third — 37 percent — of Iowa Republicans, according to Pew Research Center data.” - The Gazette