TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

• Luther’s Insults. Want to be insulted by the great Reformer? Check this out.

IN THE NEWS:

• Vin Scully “I Will Never Watch Another NFL Game”. Vin Scully said November 4 that he will “never watch another NFL game” in response to the ongoing demonstrations by some players during the national anthem.
• Woman Who Lived as a Transgender Male for Nearly a Decade Shares Conversion to Christ. Denny Burk shares this video interview with Laura Perry, a woman who spent nearly a decade living as a transgender male. She describes years of male hormones and a sex change surgery and how she came to faith in Christ.
• How Your Church Should Prepare for an Active Shooter. Thom Rainer writes “I hate that I even feel compelled to write about the topic. But many of you contacted me after the tragic murders at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas.” Joe Carter adds these thoughts 7 Ways to Prepare Your Church Against Violence.

• Can a Christian Love Jesus but not the Church? Watch this two-minute video from Trip Lee.
• The Dignity of Those with Dementia. In this episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, John Piper speaks to the dignity of people in nursing homes with diseases such as dementia. Read or listen to his thoughts.
• Why Do You Have a Phone? Marshall Segal writes “Put a spiritual cord on your phone. Ask God to limit its distracting power over you, and to fill it with potential for the most important things.”

• 10 Things You Should Know about the Intermediate State. Sam Storms writes “So what happens when a Christian dies? The simple answer is that he/she enters immediately into what theologians call the intermediate state. It is called “intermediate” because it is what we experience in between the time of our earthly lives (now) and the time when we receive our glorified and resurrected bodies.”
• Do Men Owe Women a Special Kind of Care? John Piper writes “Perhaps the disillusionment of these days will give us pause. Perhaps we will consider that we have lost something very important. Perhaps many will wake up to the possibility that it is not noble, but tragic, when a whole culture refuses to tell men that their manhood includes a peculiar kind of care for women.”
• Communion with God Through Prayer. Randy Alcorn shares some insightful reflections from NFL quarterback Ryan Tannehill about prayer and our relationship with God.
• Keller, Moore, and Cook on How to Preach to the Heart. In this ten-minute video, Tim Keller, Russell Moore, and Jason Cook consider the importance and practice of preaching to the heart of the audience.

• Solving the Puzzle of the Proverbs. Tim and Kathy Keller write “While we call Proverbs a “book,” it really is one chapter in a much larger book—the Bible—which presents, through all its various parts and narratives, a single, coherent story.”
• The Holy Spirit’s Ministry. Sinclair Ferguson writes “The Reformers placed tremendous stress on the gifts of the Spirit to the whole body of Christ. John Calvin himself has rightly been described as “the theologian of the Holy Spirit” (B.Warfield). Yet Reformed Christians always have been given a “bad press” for their views on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.”
• Sinclair Ferguson Evaluates Two Pieces of Visual Theology. Tim Challies writes “We recently produced two “new” visual theology posters that are really not new at all. Both were updates of posters created by Puritan authors John Bunyan and William Perkins. Both of these men had attempted to provide a means of visual instruction showing how God saves his people (and damns those who are not his people). Both were evaluated by Sinclair Ferguson in his excellent book The Whole Christ.”
• The Church’s One Foundation.C. Sproul writes “It is the Apostolic tradition that the church has received. The church received it from the Apostles, who received it from Christ, who received it from God. That’s why when we reject the teaching of the Apostles—the Apostolic tradition of the New Testament—we’re rejecting the very authority of God.”
• The Meaning of the Cross. Watch this two-minute video clip from R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Hath God Said?, in which he considers the various ways the cross was viewed by people in the New Testament.
• Ask Ligonier. Here’s a helpful new resource. “Maybe you’re teaching a lesson tomorrow. Maybe you just need a place to start. It’s good to know that you can always ask Ligonier. For over 40 years, Christians have been looking to R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries for clear and helpful answers to theological questions. Now you can ask those questions as they arise, confident that our team will quickly provide a clear and concise answer. When you have a question, just ask Ligonier.”
• Albert Mohler – Ask Anything Live (Episode 6). Watch this interactive live broadcast in which Albert Mohler answers viewers’ questions on a wide range of topics including theology, ministry, and culture.

• Keller, Piper, and Carson on Seeking Reformation. What will it look like for the Gospel Coalition to continue seeking reformation according to Scripture? Watch this new roundtable video with D.A. Carson, Tim Keller and John Piper.
• Where Does Pope Francis Stand on the Doctrine of Justification? Leonardo De Chirico writes “Is Pope Francis’ justification what Luther stood for? And, more decidedly, is this what the Bible teaches about justification?”
• Reformation 500 Celebration. On October 30, 2017, Ligonier hosted a special evening celebrating the Reformation. Sinclair Ferguson, Stephen Nichols, Burk Parsons, and Derek Thomas joined C.Sproul in covering the Reformation in brief messages that highlighted the gospel, what it means to have peace with God, the historical setting of the Reformation, and other topics. Watch it here.

• The core sin is to forget that God is God and we are not. Tim Keller
• All men are intoxicated with self-love. John Calvin
• We have suffered bereavement after bereavement, but we are going to the land of the immortal where graves do not exist. Charles Spurgeon
• The Christian’s motto should not be “Let go and let God” but “Trust God and get going. I. Packer
• My grand point in preaching is to break the hard heart, and to heal the broken one. John Newton
• The basic purpose of prayer is not to bend God’s will to mine, but to mold my will into his. Tim Keller
• It is Jesus’ own righteousness, His performance and not my performance, that is the grounds of my justification. C. Sproul
• Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Martin Luther
• God’s sovereign purpose entitles Him to do what He wills, even when it violates our desires and expectations. Randy Alcorn