• When You Want to Put on a Mask. Scott Sauls writes “This theme of deflecting, blaming, and hiding has remained with us since Eden. Painfully aware of our own nakedness and shame, we, too, have become masters at hiding.”
• Is it Biblical to Say That God Loves Everyone? In this three-minute video clip from the 2017 Ligonier National Conference, R.C. Sproul answers the question, “Is it biblical to say that God loves everyone?”
• How to Identify Your Pet Sin. Tim Challies writes “Every Christian can think of a sin he has identified and attacked with all the brutality he can muster. One of the great joys of the Christian life is seeing God be true to his Word as he motivates and empowers us to wage war against indwelling sin. Yet every one of us probably also has a sin we rather enjoy, a sin we refuse to put to death. In fact, we may even protect and promote it. We might refer to it as a pet sin.”
• How Far is Too Far? Marshall Segal writes “Every act of obedience, in life and in dating, is a free act of defiance in the face of Satan’s schemes and lies. We’re not just guardingourselves from him by setting and keeping boundaries; we’re seizing territory back from him in dating.”
• Why Am I So Emotional Over Basketball? Dan Doriani, who I enjoyed two courses with at Covenant Seminary, writes “Foolish emotions, such as caring too much about televised sports, dissipate our energy. Healthy emotions drive us to devote ourselves to good causes, like removing injustices or loving family more faithfully. The Triune God has an emotional life, clearly visible in our Savior’s joys and sorrows. Jesus experienced every sinless emotion, and so we, remade in his image, can have noble emotions too.”
• What Should You Say at an Unbeliever’s Funeral? In this episode of the Signposts podcast, Russell Moore states “So preach the gospel. You don’t have to narrate and adjudicate every aspect of this unbeliever’s life in order to say to people, “There is hope for you no matter what it is that you’ve done. You can find salvation and today is the day of salvation.”
• Grace for Times When Things are Going Well. Scotty Smith prays “So, by your Holy Spirit, keep me humble, stunned with gratitude, and increasing in generosity. May the gospel continue to challenge, change, and re-set the price tags in my life, Father. Grant me quick repentances from every expression of entitlement and presumption, spoiled-ness or dependence on creature comforts.”
• What Does Repentance Look Like? R.C. Sproul writes “I would recommend that all Christians memorize Psalm 51. It is a perfect model of godly repentance.”
• The Seductive Sin of Self-Preservation. Michael Kelly writes “Let’s not make the prideful error today of believing in ourselves and committing ourselves to self-preservation. Let’s instead take the road of humility, for this is the road of good news. We actually don’t have to toil and worry about preserving ourselves, for God is the One who sustains. And we can trust Him to do just that.”

CHURCH CHAT:

• Twenty Relics of Church Past. Thom Rainer writes “The question I asked was basic: “What did you have or do in your church ten years ago that you don’t have or do today?” The top twenty responses were, for me at least, a fascinating mix of the expected and the surprises. They are ranked in order of frequency.”
• Tragic Worship. Carl Trueman, who I enjoyed a wonderful class on B.B. Warfield with at Covenant Seminary, writes “Christian worship should immerse people in the reality of the tragedy of the human fall and of all subsequent human life.”

CURRENT EVENTS:

• Why the Supreme Court case ‘Trinity Lutheran’ Matters. Russell Moore writes “This ruling is a win for religious freedom, and for limits on the power of the state. Not only religious people, but, with us, all Americans should celebrate that. We don’t want a state empowered to referee between theologies and to privilege some religious ideologies over others, even if that ideology is secularism.”
• Trump Administration to Teachers: You Must Use a Transgender Student’s “Preferred Pronouns”. Joe Carter writes “What this means is that students and teachers who refuse to use “preferred pronouns” can be investigated for violating a transgender student’s civil rights.”
• The Christian Baker Who Refused to Bake the Gay Wedding Cake is Happy to Serve Gay Customers. Denny Burk writes “The real issue is this. Phillips does not think the state has the right to coerce him to create art that contradicts his faith. Creating a cake for the purposes of celebrating a same-sex wedding would violate his faith. And that is what he is objecting to.”
• Poll Shows a Dramatic Generational Divide in White Evangelical Attitudes on Gay Marriage. Sarah Pulliam Bailey writes “According to Pew, 47 percent of Generation X/millennial evangelicals (those born after 1964) favor gay marriage, compared with 26 percent of boomer and older evangelicals (those born between 1928 and 1964).”

DIGGING DEEPER:

• John MacArthur Asks R.C. Sproul a “Stupid Question”. John MacArthur asks R.C. a stupid question and then R.C. answers a question about double predestination.
• Q&A Session with R.C. Sproul. My favorite part of the Ligonier National Conference is the question and answer sessions. Watch R.C. Sproul address questions from Ligonier Ministries’ recent Regional Conference.
• Q & A Session from 2017 Basics Conference. Enjoy this video of a question and answer session featuring Sinclair Ferguson, Albert Mohler and Alistair Begg. (the session starts at the 1:30 minute point of the video).
• The Apostate’s Creed. Jared Wilson shares this modern-day adaptation of “The Apostle’s Creed”.
• Are There Errors in Scripture in the Small Details, Like Measurements of Time and Distance? Randy Alcorn writes “Many apparent contradictions in Scripture are resolved through a closer look.”
• How I Process the Moral Failures of My Historical Heroes. Watch this seven-minute video from John Piper on how we should process the moral failures of our historical heroes (such as George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, Martin Luther King Jr., and Martin Luther) even as we continue to learn from them.
• The Story of Martin Luther. Watch this less than five-minute animated video that tells the story of Martin Luther, and the Reformation. It is narrated by Michael Reeves.
• What Is the Doctrine of Divine Election? Steven Lawson writes “The Word of God is clear: believers are those whom God chose for salvation from before the beginning.”
• Religious Freedom Is for Non-Christians Too. Russell Moore writes “When we say—as Baptists and many other Christians always have—that freedom of religion applies to all people, Christian or not, we are not suggesting that there are many paths to God, or that truth claims are relative. We are fighting for the opposite. We are saying religion should be free from state control because we believe every person must give an account before the Judgment Seat of Christ.”
• How the Reformation Rediscovered Happiness. Tim Chester writes “Here was a message that could bring assurance. Why? Because here was a confidence which was based not on our merits, but on Christ’s. The righteousness of Christ, credited to us through faith, promised God’s children heaven — no need for purgatory or fear of hell. The gospel moved Luther from fear to faith, from despair to joy.”

TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

• Facebook Announces ‘Praise Jesus’ Reaction Button to Celebrate Christians. The Babylon Bee reports ““Facebook is proud to honor our countless Christian users, as well as the Christian community as a whole. Believers in Jesus Christ have positively impacted the world on a colossal scale for 2000 years, and they continue to do so every day. We want to express our solidarity with Christians worldwide and our respect for their beliefs and traditions,” said Barbara Collins, VP of Facebook’s “Honor Christianity” project.”
• Local Mom Claims Vaccines Caused Son’s Calvinism. The Babylon Bee reports “A trip to a local Wesleyan pastor who moonlights as a holistic doctor confirmed the Darling’s worst fears: little Ashton was indeed Calvinistic, complete with a desire to give God all the glory for His saving grace.”

 

• In the cross justice and mercy meet, and in the cross God’s character is fully revealed. Kevin DeYoung
• A Christian is one whose time is taken up with the happy task of daily applying the gospel to every realm of life. Burk Parsons
• It is the Holy Spirit who moves us beyond mere imitation of Christ into union with Christ. Michael Horton
• It is imperative that we understand the plight of persecuted Christians & stand with those who are suffering around the globe. Ravi Zacharias
• The greatest joy is to know Jesus Christ. The second greatest joy is to make Him known. Steven Lawson
• The key question in order to change you is not “What would Jesus do?” but “What has Jesus done for you?” Tim Keller
• Divisive terror on our streets will give way one Day to God’s every-nation family gathered and united forever in the New Jerusalem. Scotty Smith
• We must never, at any point in our lives, rest from our pursuit of righteousness. C. Sproul
• If God is not at the center of your life, something else is. Tim Keller