Questions that make you go “Hmmm….”:

• Is it Ever Legitimate to Complain to God or to Express Anger to God?  R. C. Sproul writes “ We must not come to God in a spirit of complaint or anger against Him, for it is never proper to accuse God of wrongdoing.”
• Jesus Welcomed Real Sinners. Do We? Scott Sauls always makes us think. Here he writes “We must carefully and lovingly examine the common barriers that stand between the real Jesus and people’s false impressions of him—impressions which, unfortunately, have been projected to a watching world by sincere yet misguided Christians.”
• What does it mean to be great?” Why The World’s Definition of Greatness is Wrong. David Quaoud writes “The problem is, though, many of us have the wrong definition of greatness because worldly influences have plagued our minds. So the real question becomes: so…what DOES it mean to be great?”
• Would You Attend a Gay Wedding? In this episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, John Piper addresses a question that some of you may face, or perhaps have already faced.

Christian Living:

• Let’s Choose a Called Life Over a Driven Life. Here’s our prayer of the week from Scotty Smith.
• The Voice of Wisdom and the Voice of Folly. This article by Kristyn Getty is adapted from the ESV Women’s Devotional Bible.
• The Blessing of an Excellent Wife. Steven Lawson writes “Few influences affect a man’s heart for God more than his wife, for better or for worse.”
• Advice for Better Bible Memory. Jimmy Needham shares a few of the methods he uses regularly when memorizing God’s Word.
• 10 Guidelines for Christian Voters. Brian G. Najapfour offers these helpful thoughts as we face some difficult decisions in the coming months.
• 25 Years. Dan Allender writes “When I began writing and teaching about sexual abuse in the late eighties there was little material available from which to glean those first putative steps on the journey.”
• The Christian Parenting Social Media Score Card. Barnabas Piper offers this tongue-in-cheek article about parents posting on social media.

Church Life:

• 9 Marks of a Healthy Complementarianism. Kevin DeYoung writes “We must be careful that our complementarianism is deep, thoughtful, rooted, biblical, and utterly at home with being despised, misunderstood, and counter-cultural.” Here is Aimee Byrd’s response.
• The Introvert’s Guide to Surviving Church Greeting Time. Cort Gatliff writes “For many of those naturally drawn to reclusive expressions of faith, though, one moment of every service elicits more dread than any other: the Passing of the Peace, or “Greeting Time” (if you’re part of a less liturgical congregation).”
• Reformed “Spotlight”: What about the Victims? David Murray continues his helpful series on spiritual abuse within the Reformed community.
• 10 Reasons I Love Being a Pastor. John MacArthur writes “In spite of the challenges, there is no more-privileged calling than that of being a minister of Jesus Christ. Local church ministry can sometimes be difficult, but the rewards far outweigh the challenges.”
• Something Rotten in the Local Church. Lorne Ferguson writes “As humans we can be tempted to respond in a few different ways to conflict within the local church. Philippians 4:1-9 has a clear pathway for how Christians walk through conflict.”

Great Resources:

• A Curse for Us: The Death of Christ. I’ve been re-listening to the messages from the recent 2016 Ligonier National Conference. One I just listened to was a wonderful message from Ian Hamilton. Here’s a description: “Christianity centers on the cross of Christ. From the justice of God in dealing with sin to the love of God in sending His Son to die, the cross is the supreme display of the character of God. Through His atoning death, Christ secured eternal life for His people. In this session, Dr. Ian Hamilton focuses on the substitutionary atonement of Christ and the importance of upholding the doctrine of double imputation.” You can watch the message here.
• Together for the Gospel Conference Messages. Most of the messages are now available online to watch.
• We are Made in the Image of God. Watch this short video from the 2013 Ligonier National Conference as Ravi Zacharias reminds us that human beings are made in the image of God.
• Theological Primer: The Holy Spirit. Kevin DeYoung writes “Many Christians rarely think about the Holy Spirit. God the Father we know about. God the Son we think about all the time. But God the Holy Spirit?”

Sports:

• The Rest of the Jackie Robinson Story. David E. Prince writes “While I’m thankful (Ken) Burns’s new film provides a more robust account of Robinson, in one vital sense it still fails to account for perhaps the most significant factor in Robinson’s strength and courage. He was a Christian, as was the man who signed him to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey.”
• The Peculiar Case of Adam LaRoche. John Stonestreet writes “LaRoche’s confidence to be peculiar, even at the cost of $13 million, comes from the fact that there’s a lot more to life than the world would have us believe, but that God is waiting to show to us—maybe through a peculiar ball player.”
• Triple Play. Did you see the triple play that the Chicago White Sox turned on April 22?
• ‘If Only You Loved Jesus As Much As You Love Baseball,’ Laments Unbelievably Spiritual Man. The Babylon Bee reports “Local theological prodigy and advanced thinker Brian Woods reportedly made an unbelievably deep spiritual observation on Facebook Friday as he pointed out that a baseball fan’s enthusiasm for the sport would be better used in service of Christ.” NOTE:  The Babylon Bee is Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire.

• The people you are texting and tweeting are going to spend the next quadrillion years either in heaven or hell. David Platt
• Many younger adults have largely given up on marriage, not because they don’t believe in it, but because they haven’t seen it work. Darrin Patrick
• I dare not call that true prayer in which thankfulness has no part. C. Ryle
• When you look at the cross, what do you see? You see God’s awesome faithfulness. Sinclair Ferguson
• For Christ’s sake we Christians care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering. John Piper
• Does your religion cover your politics, or do your politics devour your religion? Charles Spurgeon
• Nothing can weaken you so much, nothing can make you so unhappy and fearful, as distrusting God. Michael Reeves
• The judgment of God did not pass over Christ, so that it might pass over us. Kevin DeYoung
• That first step of quickening from the dead, from flesh unto spirit, is accomplished by God, not by man. R.C. Sproul

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• 9 Marks of Healthy Biblical Complementarianism