PRAYER:

• R.C. Sproul, whose ministry has had a profound impact on my life, checked himself into the hospital on Saturday. The doctors suspect a mild stroke. He remains in the hospital for further testing and observation. Please join us in praying for a complete recovery for Dr. Sproul.
• A Prayer for Reaffirming and Resting in God’s Sovereignty. Here’s a wonderful prayer from Scotty Smith.

IN THE NEWS:

• Marco Rubio’s Faith of Many Colors. Sarah Pulliam Bailey writes “Marco Rubio, who threw his hat into the presidential race last Monday, has also drawn attention for his brief time in Mormonism, his baptism into the Roman Catholic Church and his ties to an evangelical church.”
• GOP Presidential Candidate Marco Rubio Would Attend a Gay Wedding. Nick Gass writes “Marco Rubio says he would attend the wedding of a same-sex couple, even though the Republican Florida senator and newly minted presidential candidate has said he believes marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
• Nurses Share Stories of Witnessing Babies Born Alive After Abortions. Sarah Terzo writes “Often when a baby is born alive during an abortion procedure, the child is kept in the abortion clinic until he or she dies. In rare cases, the abortionist himself takes action to kill the baby. But sometimes the baby is transferred to a hospital, where he can be given medical care. Unfortunately, it is the policy of many hospitals simply to allow these babies to die.”
• Abortion Pill Reversal Allows Women to Change Their Minds–And Saves Lives. Timothy C. Morgan and Deann Alford write “Hundreds of pro-life physicians are throwing their support behind the abortion pill reversal process that–to date–has saved the lives of unborn children whose mothers took the abortion pill and then changed their minds.”
• Why Have Some Evangelicals Turned Against Reparative Therapy? Denny Burk, who opposes reparative therapy for reasons different from President Obama, writes “To deny that this change can happen in any Christian—including those struggling with same-sex attraction—is to deny something fundamental to our faith.”
• Magician Dan White. Did you see this incredible magic trick he recently did with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show?

RESOURCES:

• Bill’s Reviews on Amazon. You can also find my book, music and some movie reviews on Amazon.com.
• The Eric Metaxas Radio Show. One of my favorite authors begins a new national radio program, airing on more than 100 stations on the Salem Network. He’ll be on two hours each weekday.
• Martyn Lloyd-Jones Film Now Available. Logic on Fire is a feature-length documentary with over 4.5 hours of special features, a 128-page book, and much more.
• Introducing the New ESV Bible App for iPhone and iPad. Crossway’s free ESV Bible app for iPhone and iPad was created to be the most beautiful and easy-to-use Bible app available. The app includes free resources like full access to the ESV Global Study Bible, personalized reading plans, audio streaming, and more. It also features a brand new in-app store, allowing you to purchase study content like the ESV Study Bible.
• “But God” sermon from Scotty Smith. See this sermon that Scotty delivered on Ephesians 12 at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.
• International Justice Mission. David Burnette introduces us to the International Justice Mission (IJM), a global organization that protects the poor from violence in the developing world.
• Through the Eyes of Spurgeon. Here’s the full two-hour documentary on one of the greatest preachers.
• Spurgeon Almost Quit. Christian George writes that at the age of twenty-two, Charles Spurgeon almost quit the ministry. You can read more about this situation in Zack Eswine’s fine new book Spurgeon’s Sorrows. See our review of the book on our book reviews page.
• Kevin Halloran on the Pivot Point Podcast. Check out our friend on the new Pivot Point Podcast. See, I can be nice to Cubs fans!
• 10 Killer Apps You Shouldn’t Live Without. These look interesting, especially the one to remove profanity from ebooks.
• 6 Highlights from the 2015 Gospel Coalition Conference. Kevin Halloran shares these highlights from last week’s conference.
• Liberate 2016. Tullian Tchividjian announces the theme and speakers for his Liberate 2016 conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Looks like a good conference. Unfortunately it will again conflict with the 2016 Ligonier National Conference in Orlando, which I traditionally attend.

CHRISTIAN LIVING AND THEOLOGY:

• Does Calvinism Discourage Evangelism? Nathan Busenitz writes “Whether we look to Scripture or church history, we quickly learn that a belief in God’s sovereign election — properly understood — is no deterrent to a passionate witness. In reality, it has the opposite effect.”
• Using Your Tongue for God’s Glory. Joel Beeke writes “Just as the Bible illustrates many forms of bad speech, it gives detailed instruction on positive uses of the tongue. It tells us to use positive words in our relations with our spouses and children, and to be cheerful in our speech.”
• 10 Questions to Ask to Make Sure You’re Still Growing. Don Whitney writes “The following ten questions can help you discern whether you are maturing spiritually. Use them to evaluate the past six to twelve months.”
• Help My Unbelief: Questions About Faith and Doubt with Lore Ferguson. Barnabas Piper shares Lore Ferguson’s responses to five questions about faith and doubt for his upcoming book Help My Unbelief: Why Doubt Is Not The Enemy of Faith which will be published July 1.
• Smartphone Addiction and Our Spiritual ADD. Tony Reinke offers five problems and corresponding solutions to our unchallenged social-media habits which pose one of the most pressing discipleship challenges in the church today.
• 7 Steps to Achieve Your Dreams. Ron Edmondson writes “Perhaps you have dreams you have yet to accomplish. I certainly do. One reason dreams never come true is that we don’t have a system in place to work towards them. I love to be an encourager for people with great dreams, so with that in mind, here are some steps to help you move towards reaching your dreams.”
• Need Help Finding Your Vocation in Life? Check out this helpful list of resources.

SEXUAL ETHICS:

• The Dead End of Sexual Sin. Rosaria Buttefield shares four responses from John Owen on how we should think about sin that has become a daily part of our identity?
• Rosaria Butterfield on Engaging Homosexual Friends with the Gospel. Watch this short interview with Rosaria Butterfield.
• I Was Wrong about Same-Sex Marriage. John Zmirak writes “President Obama, and each of the Clintons, has made a public statement parallel to my own on this volatile topic, so I stand in illustrious company as I say it: I wish to reverse my previous public statements on same-sex marriage. The progress of law, the statements and actions of gay advocates, and the movement of public opinion have rendered my old views repugnant to me, and I now I offer a full and public retraction. Thanks to the hard work of Apple, Walmart, and the national media, I have changed my mind on same sex marriage. I now oppose it.”
• Frank Bruni Commands Christians to Cave on Homosexuality. Owen Strachan writes “The New York Times just published one of the more rough-handed pieces we’ve yet seen regarding “gay Christianity.” In “Bigotry, the Bible and the Lessons of Indiana,” opinion writer Frank Bruni takes the gloves off and seeks to bully Christians into caving on homosexuality. The column is frank, direct, and brutalizing.”

He that reads his Bible to find fault with it will soon discover that the Bible finds fault with him. Charles Spurgeon

It is not your hold of Christ that saves you, it is Christ’s hold of you. Charles Spurgeon

The worst sort of clever men are those who know better than the Bible. Charles Spurgeon

• All that God had to do to harden Pharaoh’s heart, or to harden your heart, is to withhold His own grace. R.C. Sproul

• The more sanctified a person is the more heavily weighted his prayer time is in adoration. R.C. Sproul

• Joining a church should be more like getting married for life and less like getting a new car every few years. Burk Parsons

• Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you. Tim Keller

• We are regularly in danger of having too light a view of our sin and also too light a grasp of what Jesus has done to free us from our sin. Tim Keller

• All our words ought to be filled with true sweetness and grace; and this will be so if we mingle the useful with the sweet. John Calvin

• You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. Martin Luther

• Nothing sets a person so much out of the devils reach as humility. Jonathan Edwards

• Our bad things will turn out for good. Our good things can never really be lost. And the best things are yet to come. Jonathan Edwards

• As the culture war rages on, Lord give us wisdom to see the difference between defending our rights and protesting our slights. Kevin DeYoung

• Christ will be known in the culture when we treat people better than they deserve, not as they deserve. John Piper

• I wish I could say I do everything for God’s glory. I can’t. What I can say is that Jesus’ blood covers all my efforts to glorify myself. Tullian Tchividjian

• One of the greatest failures of our generation is not living out the biblical precepts which we so clearly articulate. Ravi Zacharias

• It’s all about God. May He forgive us for every time we start to think it’s actually all about us. Alistair Begg

• We should be so joyful from God’s grace that others would respond by saying, “I wish I had your God.” Francis Chan

• God is both our greatest problem and solution. His presence is the worst or best news, the most fearful threat or the most cheerful comfort. Michael Horton

• Until we have the right knowledge of God, the knowledge of self and our need for grace remains distorted. Steven Lawson

• We’re not called to perfection but to faithfulness. Sinlessness in this life isn’t possible, but obedience unto godliness is. Sanctification. Steve Camp