CURRENT EVENTS:

• How Police Chief David Brown’s Whole Life Prepared Him for the Dallas Shootings. Naomi Martin writes of Dallas Police Chief David Brown that “Faith, family and his love for his hometown are what drive Brown, say those close to him.”
• Humility is the Key to Understanding Race Relations. Lecrae writes “I want people to know that [racism] is bigger than just caring for your community. This is a moral issue across the board for humanity. If you subscribe to any moral code that says you should care for humanity, obviously black people will fit into that category. So why would you not advocate for justice and truth unless you have something to lose?”
• Race and the Christian: Piper, Keller and Bradley. With the unfortunate events that have taken place in our country the past few weeks, now is a good time to revisit these messages from John Piper, Tim Keller and Anthony Bradley.
• Racism, Prejudice, and Christ. John Piper writes “When we feel or think or act with disdain or disrespect or avoidance or exclusion or malice toward a person simply because he or she is of another race or another ethnic group, we are, in effect, saying that Jesus acted in a foolish way toward us. You don’t want to say that.”
• How Should I Process the Current Tensions and Violence in Our Country? Kevin DeYoung offers 15 helpful suggestions on how to think and respond wisely and Christianly to the events that took place in Dallas and other locations recently.

CHRISTIAN LIVING:

• Andy Crouch: Stop Engaging ‘The Culture,’ Because It Doesn’t Exist. Andy Crouch writes “Our mission is not primarily to “engage the culture” but to “love our neighbor.”
• Problems the USA Is Facing Today…and Our Hope for the Future. Randy Alcorn writes “In summary, our problems center on our failure to recognize 1) who God is and 2) who we are… humans made in God’s image, yet marred, broken, separated from God, and hell-bound because of our sin.”
• The Jesus and the Hitler in Me. As the great Puritan, John Owen said, “Always be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”  Or as Pink says, “I’m a hazard to myself.  Don’t let me get me.”  Scott Sauls writes “And it is the love of God, and only the love of God, that is our resource for survival and flourishing.”
• Should We Apologize for Sins We Did Not Commit? James Bruce writes “Does it make sense to repent of someone else’s sins? Christians seem to be doing a lot of that recently, so it’s right to ask whether it makes sense.”
• Do Not Love the World. Watch this three-minute video clip from the 2015 Ligonier National Conference in which Kevin DeYoung reminds us of God’s command not to love the world.
• I’m Never Bored and I Think It Might Be Killing Me. David Altrogge writes “But I can see that something really does need to change. I want to make room for God to speak. I want to create space for creativity. And so I’ll continue to battle on. I’ll continue to try to carve out space in my life. Space for quiet. Space for thinking and prayer.”
• A Tender Hand in the Presence of Death. Larissa MacFarquhar writes about Heather Meyerend, a hospice nurse who works in several neighborhoods in South Brooklyn.
• Women, Trade Self-Worth for Awe and Wonder. Jen Wilkin writes “Our primary problem as Christian women is not that we lack self-worth, not that we lack a sense of significance or purpose. It’s that we lack awe.”
• What is the Will of God for My Life? C. Sproul writes “If you want to know the will of God in terms of what God authorizes, what God is pleased with, and what God will bless you for, again, the answer is found in His preceptive will, the law, which is clear.”
• The Heart of Hospitality. Christina Fox writes “the heart of hospitality is about sharing our lives for the sake of others, just as Christ did for us.”
• The Perfect Game. Tim Challies writes “Baseball returns this evening (last Friday) from its annual mid-season classic. As the teams prepare to take the field I find myself thinking about the game I love, the game that has gripped and fascinated me for as long as I can remember. It is, to my mind, the best sport, the perfect game.”

TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

• Preacher Wanders Away From Pulpit To Catch Pokémon. The Babylon Bee (Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire) reports “According to sources within Second Baptist Church of Cleveland, Teaching Pastor John Walton abandoned his key sermon point and wandered away from the pulpit in order to catch a Pokémon for his Pokémon GO collection Sunday morning.”

 

• To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. Martin Luther
• Mission isn’t about travel, it’s not about going somewhere. It’s about following someone. Tim Keesee
• I can’t believe Trump picked Hunter Pence to be his VP. The signs are going to be crazy. Kevin DeYoung
• Tim Keller didn’t plant Redeemer until he was nearly 40. Most had no idea who he was until he’s 50. Stop trying to be an under 50 celebrity. Anthony Bradley
• Legalistic remorse says, “I broke God’s rules,” while real repentance says, “I broke God’s heart.” Tim Keller
• Your best shot at having a beautiful marriage is if both of you make it your goal to become more like Jesus. Francis Chan
• Jesus Christ gives what the world cannot: contentment. Sinclair Ferguson
• Our churches are to be in perpetual renewal by the gospel, not perpetual retreat from the culture. Scotty Smith
• Orthodoxy, without compassion, stinks to God. Francis Schaeffer