As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“There will be yet another explosion next May, when United Methodism’s governing General Conference meets for the first time since 2019. With so many traditionalists gone, the convention will likely delete its current bans on same-sex rites and sex outside of male-female marriage.” - World
“This Scripture-first approach has produced powerful and important insights into such thorny issues as God’s will, human freedom and divine foreknowledge.” - CPost
The Lord Jesus Christ made two startling announcements, through the Apostle John, to the recipients of the book of Revelation.
Speaking to His congregation at Smyrna, He stated: “I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9).
Then, He addressed the Philadelphian church regarding “those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie” (Rev. 3:9).
“But if our understanding of the Great Commission is primarily a call to evangelism, we’ve forgotten a key piece: theology. Jesus’s final command isn’t a call to make converts but a call to make disciples.” - TGC
“65 percent of people of no faith personally know someone who follows Jesus, and 45 percent say such a peer has talked with them about their Christian faith.” - Barna
“Too many see their religious beliefs as an application of their cultural or political values. They identify as a Republican or as conservative with a set of principles and lifestyles attending that alignment. They then see ‘evangelical’ as another way to describe the same set of values” - W.Examiner
“I personally believe that these ancient Chinese rituals foreshadow Christ in a common grace sense and that their presence serves as a reminder that he is the sacrificial Lamb of God offered on behalf of all.” - CToday
The bill effective January 1 “prohibits healthcare professionals from providing trans-identified minors with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones and performing gender transition surgeries on them.” - CPost
Pastors should be constantly learning. Thankfully, in this day and age, there are a number of ways to continue learning. From conferences held by larger organizations and seminaries to online tools provided to continue sharpening your abilities, pastors have a wealth of resources available to them.
While these resources are invaluable, they lack a level of review. Week after week, pastors stand in pulpits proclaiming the Word to their congregations. Generally, the only feedback pastors receive on their preaching is a short word of encouragement from congregants as they leave the service. Rarely does a pastor’s preaching get a “peer review.”
Since 2002, community importance is up 23%, hobbies/recreation up 13%, money up 12%, and work up 9%. Religion declined 7%. Family remains unchanged, at the top. - Gallup
“If Satan took up marriage counseling, he would want people to believe that … before marriage is about giving oneself to another person to love and to serve, marriage is about a sense of personal well-being and fulfillment.” - Challies
“Three questions guide the investigation: 1) Does this clause belong in the Creed in the first place? 2) To what does it refer, and 3) where is it taught in Scripture?” - DBTS Blog
“Carlson, who has little or no understanding of the complexities of the religious reality of Ukraine, only foments more division with his nonsensical statements as he did in an interview with former Vice-President Mike Pence at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa over the weekend.” - CPost
Related: An Odious Narrative - National Review
“With an estimated wealth of $236 billion in 2022, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could potentially cover all of its current expenses ‘forever’ with returns from current investments without collecting any additional tithes from congregants.” - CPost
“Mark Noll surveys the effects of an ‘independence-first’ approach to Scripture.” - CToday
“The SBC Executive Committee search team says they have resumed conversations with EC Interim President and CEO Willie McLaurin about his candidacy for the permanent position.” - BPNews
“Now, years later, I recognize that this type of warm, large-hearted thankfulness for fellow Christians of a different stripe is a dominant characteristic of the godliest people I know.” - 9 Marks
“It’s more complicated than you think. A new book takes a detailed look at all the factions, competing definitions, and enormous resources that the libertarian movement brings to discussions of a free market and a free people.” - Acton
“All else being equal, those who said that the Bible is the literal word of God, for instance, scored 18% higher on our measure of general vaccine skepticism” - The Conversation
Read the series.
In one of Paul’s earliest epistles the Bible gives us a second way to care for our pastor:
But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. (1Th 5.12-13)
Paul identifies the object of his readers’ action as doing three things:
“Although I agree that Paul does not provide all the particulars of his thorn in the flesh, he nevertheless identifies the thorn directly as ‘a messenger of Satan.’” - Wyatt Graham
“…the T and the Q are at obvious odds with the LGB, at least as traditionally understood because the lesbian, gay male, and bisexual identity claims all assume as fundamental the importance of biological sex differences.” - World
“Introduce yourself to one person each Sunday…. I feel squeamish thinking about walking over and sticking out my hand to a stranger or, even worse, to somebody I’ve seen regularly and haven’t yet greeted. But what’s the worst that could happen?” - TGC
“We must not conflate biblical Christianity and political conservativism. They are not the same thing. However, we also cannot deny biblical Christianity because of some overlap that it might have with many biblical morals that political conservatism also espouses.” - P&D
“So many people say policy over personality, but it’s, I personally did not vote for Trump because I couldn’t get past the personality….I have three sons and I want them to have a president that they can admire and look up to and want to be like.” - NBC News
Most of us would say that if you truly have turned from your sin and trusted in the work of Jesus Christ for your salvation, you will definitely be saved.
But how can your be sure that your faith is genuine? There lies the issue.
Many of us were told, based upon I John 5:13, that we could and should be sure we are saved. I believe there is merit in such an application. Yet, at the same time, “these things” refers to the evidences of genuine conversion John has just mentioned in his letter.
On the one hand, it is natural for believers to, at times, doubt their salvation. On the other hand, it is common for fruitless professors of faith in Christ to be sure of their salvation.
“The average Christian congregation…[has] just 65 members, about a third of whom are age 65 or older, according to a 2020 pre-pandemic survey. By contrast, a separate 2020 study found that three-quarters of megachurches were growing, many at a rapid clip.” - NPR
“We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse…a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us.” - Alcorn
