I just finished reading Carl Trueman’s amazing new book. I advise everyone in the church to read it. If you want to know how the West got to where a transgender statement like “I am a woman trapped in a man’s body” came to have plausibility, you have to read this book. One of the most important things he said in the book is something I had already agreed with, but hadn’t put it nearly as clearly as he did. Observe:

“[I]t is hard to conceptualize a culture in which the rights of religious conservatives and the rights of those who identify as sexual minorities can both be accommodated. It is precisely because matters of basic identity, and therefore of what constitutes dignity and appropriate recognition, are at stake that makes a negotiated settlement impossible. To allow religious conservatives to be religious conservatives is to deny that people are defined…

This past week I was looking back through recorded answers to prayer. I came upon a prayer from a few years ago for some local new believers to be baptized. I had written the date we started praying for this, and the date God answered that request.

The lead up to the baptism was tricky. This believing couple was pretty fearful of blowback from their community or relatives. As with many Muslim societies, the community here views baptism as the true point of no return, much more so than a verbal profession of faith. I’m not sure the historical reasons for this, but it is a powerful dynamic we must wrestle with as we work with new believers. Finding a place that is appropriately private and public – so that we honor the biblical requirements and the security realities – is often a great challenge as well. And we live…

Well, this is a neat idea! During construction of a store in Dublin, Ireland, several fascinating articles were discovered. Rather than excavate these items and send them to a museum, the store built a window in the floor so shoppers can look on these relics of the past while shopping for the necessities of life.

Check out the link to learn more about this enterprising way of introducing history into everyday life, readers!

A Glass Floor in a New Dublin Grocery Opens a Window to Medieval Viking History

OCTOBER 23, 2020

Grace Ebert

Embedded in the architecture of a new Lidl store in Dublin is a glass floor that allows shoppers to peer down into medieval history. During the supermarket’s construction, archaeologists discovered a 1,000-year-old home of Hiberno-Norse Dubliners, who were ancestors to the Vikings, in addition to a 13th-century wine jug and the below-stage trap of the former Aungier…

Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Resolution: I resolve to not grumble or complain against things in my heart or out loud to those around me. I resolve, instead, to speak thankfulness when and where I can.

This may be one of the shortest verses in Philippians, yet it delivers a lot. It delivers more than what we may bargain for. As believers we can be guilty of copying the world around us in the most outrageous ways, such as slavery, but not everything is that blatant. Sometimes the way we copy seems small, appears subtle, but is dangerous to our witness for Christ Jesus.

I speak often about American culture, but I know no other culture to speak of, so there is that. I know that, as I look on social media, as I listen to conversations, whether it is Christians or those who do not trust in…

“Exhaustion”.

Meaning: “Exhause” from the Latin, which means, “I am so friggin done with this mess.”

No, this is not true. It is not even remotely true, at least not origin of the word. However, the feeling is there. I teach in a high school. I pastor, yes, pastor and shepherd the young feelings and emotions of students ages 14-18, but most of the time 14-15. They are fragile creatures, which should come with a sign that says, “Fragile: Handle with care”. Bullying takes place often. It is painful to watch their hopelessness and pain when it comes from their peers. Why? Because, on a subconscious level, I think bullying hurts more when it comes from your own. They can talk back to teachers all day long, and, yes, I am sure it does take a toll on them to feel like they are not liked by teachers. But you…

I was on Facebook, which may have been problem number one, when I came across this specific picture for the fourth or fifth time:

Now, I get it. It seems like on its face it would be true, right. However, here’s the thing, we can bend scripture the other way as well. Matthew 16:18 says the following

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah! For flesh and blood did has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in Heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

We see, then, from this verse, that Hell has gates, but what about heaven?

By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be…

Some, indeed, preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. –Philippians 1:15

Resolution: Resolved to guard my heart against envy of another servant of Christ by being consciously thankful to God for their ministry, their gifts to the Body, and how God chooses to use them.

In the end, there are two types of preachers. There are those who preach and teach with “good will”, seeking to make Christ known, and there are those who do so for any other reason. Paul mentions the two here, and while the second group is easier to understand, the first group concerns my resolution, rebuking my heart when I feel envy and rivalry, and correcting it back on to the right path. It is interesting that both groups do, outwardly, what Jesus would call us to do, they preach the gospel, maybe even with the same fervor and passion as…

so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.–Philippians 1:13

Resolved to look into each trial I face, each situation where someone speaks or does something against me, to see if it takes place because I am following Christ closely or because my own sin against them or someone else.

Now, concerning the resolution above, I realize that sometimes hard situations simply come and neither of these two may be the reason they come. In those times we may or may not know the direct reason those things are taking place. Not every situation can be so dissected successfully, but I believe that, in my own life, I can benefit from doing this much more than I currently do.

What strikes me, in Paul’s case, is that everyone around him knew why he was in this situation…