CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE:

• 3 Ways You Can Help Syrian Refugees from Your Home. Chris Martin writes “I have been obviously saddened over this, but when it comes to horrific tragedies like this that are taking place half way around the world, I often feel useless because I can’t just pack up and rescue these refugees myself. If you feel like I do, fear not, there are plenty of ways you can get involved and help Syrian refugees.”
• Greetings from Heaven: A Modern History of Heaven Tourism. With the opening of the film based on Don Piper’s best-selling book 90 Minutes in Heaven, Tim Challies teamed up with Josh Byers to prepare a creative infographic titled Greetings From Heaven: A Modern History of Heaven Tourism.
• How Christians Can Evaluate Religious Liberty Objections. Russell Moore writes “In the near future threats to religious liberty will become increasingly common. Now is the time to show that Christians are the true champions of freedom for all believers.
• ESPN’s “30 for 30” on President Bush’s “First Pitch”. Denny Burk shares this 24-minute video. ESPN describes the video “On the night of Oct. 30, 2001, President George W. Bush stepped onto the mound at Yankee Stadium to throw out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series, just six weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With New York City and the entire country still trying to heal, the ceremonial first pitch that night meant more than “play ball.” ESPN Films’ new 30 for 30 Short “First Pitch” looks at how important that famous pitch was to the nation, and how baseball became a part of the recovery after 9/11.”

CHRISTIAN LIVING:

• A Prayer for Days When We Wake Up with a Low-grade Irritability. It’s amazing how Scotty Smith’s prayers hit me just where I’m at. Here’s another one of those on irritability. My wife and I joke that Scotty has a camera in our homes (or hearts).
• 7 Ways to be a Best Friend to a Pastor. Ron Edmondson writes “Every pastor needs a friend, besides a spouse — of the same gender — who knows them well and can encourage and challenge like no one else can.”
• Calvinist Evangelist? Keith Matheson writes “The fact of the matter is that Calvinism is not inconsistent with evangelism; it is only inconsistent with certain evangelistic methods.”

RESOURCES:

• Celebrating 1,000,000^th Upload. SermonAudio.com was launched fifteen years ago with the mission to help faithful, local churches broadcast their audio sermons to the maximum amount of people with the least amount of cost. Today, their website is home to over one million sermons and podcasts from conservative churches and ministries worldwide.
• Rosaria Butterfield Interview. Rosaria returned recently for another conversation with Eric Metaxas
• Five Marks of Revived Churches. Ray Ortlund shares these five constants that appear in biblical revivals from J.I. Packer’s book God in our Midst.

JUST FOR FUN:

• Jim Gaffigan: Funny Business. Alexandra Wolfe writes this profile of comedian Jim Gaffigan in the Wall Street Journal.
• Donald Trump Interviews Himself in the Mirror. Did you see Donald Trump join Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show recently?

 

• Holding a grudge against someone means you think you know what they deserve and you take it upon yourself to give it to them. Tim Keller
• You should not begin to pray for all you want until you realize that in God you have all you need. Tim Keller
• Jesus didn’t come to tell us the answers to the questions of life, he came to be the answer. Tim Keller
• God has chosen us. Our status is not a matter of our worthiness, but of His love. Sinclair Ferguson
• Seeking happiness apart from a right relationship God is like trying to turn on a light that’s unplugged. Randy Alcorn
• You will fear something or someone. The Bible says the wisest way to go about your life is to fear God. Kevin DeYoung
• Our God is righteous enough to judge and kind enough to forgive. Kevin DeYoung
• The difference between “freedom of worship” and “freedom of religion” is the difference between faith that’s hidden and faith that’s lived. Matt Smethurst
• Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. William Cowper
• The heart of the gospel is that God took the initiative in Christ to satisfy his holy anger, and make himself our Treasure not our Terror. John Piper
• Satan could make an “A” in my Systematic Theology course. He knows the information and knows that the information is true. R.C. Sproul
• The gospel isn’t about our resolve, but Christ’s righteousness; not our promise to do better, but his provision of having done perfectly. Scotty Smith
• The church is not built on the rock foundation of geniuses and influencers but of apostles and prophets. Russell Moore
• I am a free man, the slave of Christ. John MacArthur
• The rule of the gospel is, that when we see our brother under any difficulty, we should be ready to bear the burden with him. Jonathan Edwards
• Wilberforce and the band of abolitionists knew that a private faith that did not act in the face of oppression was no faith at all. Chuck Colson
• Living at peace with everyone…is not an option, it’s an obligation. Alistair Begg
• If we could understand how impossible our situation is, we would grow in reverence for the kingship of Christ. Matt Chandler
• If God cared only about religious activities, then the Pharisees would have been heroes of the faith. Francis Chan
• Only the radical news of Jesus Christ can distract us from trivial pursuits and transform us from the inside out. Michael Horton
• Humility begins with seeing who God is, seeing yourself compared to God, and then seeing yourself as God sees you. Steven Lawson
• Many are looking for a special word from God while it sits on their shelves gathering dust. Burk Parsons
• We are allergic to the lower place. But acts of love require a humble posture. Taking the low place means waiting for God to fill that void. Paul Miller
• No one leads a holy life, except he is united to God.   John Calvin