THIS & THAT and Favorite Quotes of the Week

CURRENT EVENTS/IN THE NEWS:

• 9 Things You Should Know About Sexual Misconduct. Joe Carter writes “For the past several weeks, reports and allegations of sexual assault and harassment by celebrities and politicians have been in the news every day. Here are nine things you should know about these forms of sexual misconduct.”
• Tyler Perry Visits with Eric Metaxas. Tyler Perry recently visited the Eric Metaxas Show to talk about his new book Higher is Waiting. The interview begins at the 21:30 mark.
• Law and Grace in Roman J. Israel, Esq. Kenneth Moreland writes “Christian viewers may disagree in their interpretations of Roman J. Israel, Esq., but it is nevertheless exciting to see a serious Hollywood production that openly invites such discussion and revolves around such questions.”
• Religious Liberty and Racial Justice—It All Matters to God. Watch this two- minute video from Jackie Hill Perry. She states “Religious liberty, abortion, marriage, and racial injustice—all of it matters to God, so all of it must matter to us.”
• The Hidden Hands of Caitlyn Jenner. Andrew T. Walker writes “The hiding of Caitlyn Jenner’s masculine hands show that the way through gender dysphoria cannot be to transition our gender. The holding out of Jesus’s scarred hands shows there’s a different way through all our struggles and brokenness. It’s to come to him, and to find forgiveness and transformation.”
• It’s Official: Evangelicals Appreciate Chick-fil-A the Most. Kate Shellnutt writes “62 percent of evangelicals considered Chick-fil-A to have a positive impact on their community, compared to 48 percent of Americans on average.”

• The Christian’s Job Description. Irv Busenitz writes “Our job is to glorify God. This must be our purpose in life, whatever we do, do all to the glory of God. How are we to accomplish this? By placing the benefit of others ahead of ourselves, by foregoing our liberties so that the lost might be saved, and by pursuing the likeness of Christ.”
• Matt Forte on Sharing the Gospel. Watch this less than two minute video of NFL running back Matt Forte talking about how God has empowered him to share Christ even when it’s uncomfortable.

• The Unexpected Secret about ‘Boring Men’ — and the Women Who Love Them. Ann Voskamp writes “Real love isn’t about how well you perform romantic gestures. It’s about how well you let Christ perform your life.”
• The Strength You Need for Today. Marshall Segal writes “God strengthens us not only to defy evil, and serve others, and share boldly, but to be content in every circumstance — to experience a deep and confident joy in him regardless of our weaknesses and trials.”
• 8 New Resources for Advent. Brett McCracken writes “Advent invites us into both festive joy and worshipful waiting. Here are eight newly released resources—books, devotionals, music, and more—to help you and your family enter meaningfully into this beautiful season.”
• The LGBT’s False Dichotomy of Love and Hate. Alan Shlemon writes “There’s another option. We can recognize that people who violate Jesus’ sexual ethic in Matthew 19 are committing a sin andare not awful. We can acknowledge that people sin and are still “absolutely as worthwhile and worthy of love and respect as anyone.” What a concept! Most Christians I know personally do this every day.”
• The Pathway from Porn to Adultery. In Desiring God’s continuing series of letters to would-be adulterers, Kent Butterfield writes “Viewing pornography is not a stagnant sin. Sin begets more sin, because our hearts are desperately wicked. We will justify the temptations in our hearts unless we combat them. Rationalization is part of the self-deception of sin.”
• The Blessing of a Bad Reputation. Jon Bloom writes “What makes a bad reputation a very good thing? When a bad reputation is a result of faithfulness to the truth and faithful obedience out of love for Christ.”
• Loving Well in Stories of Memory Loss. Scotty Smith prays “Heavenly Father, an increasing number of my friends find themselves in the journey of caring for a loved one with a memory loss disorder. Having walked that path with my dad, my heart is softened and tuned to pray for them.”
• How Do You Structure Your Prayer Life? In this episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, John Piper responds to the question that pertains to when he served as a senior pastor “How often during your day did you set aside time to deliberately focus on prayer? How often did you pray for the people of your church? Did you attempt to pray for everyone by name? Did you have a system to help you pray for everyone? Did you prioritize church leaders?”
• What’s the Connection Between Hospitality and Evangelism? Watch this minute and a half minute video in which Matt Chandler, the lead pastor of the Village Church and president of Acts 29, discusses the connection between hospitality and evangelism.
• Blessed Even in the Worst. Nancy Guthrie writes “To be blessed is to be joined to Christ so securely that we have an ever-increasing sense that we are being kept by and for God.”
• The Greatest Thing You Could Do Today. Francis Chan writes “What plans do you have today that you think so important that you would race past the Creator to get to them?”

• Boasting in Nothing Except the Cross. Tim Keller delivered this helpful message on Galatians 6 at TheGospel Coalition’s 2017 National Conference this past April.
• The Heart of John Owens’ Hedonism. John Piper writes “Another reason we emphasize the affections is that some of the greatest minds in history have done the same. If the only people who emphasized the affections were weak-minded, emotional people, we would probably be hesitant to line up. What we find is just the opposite. I’ll mention three and focus on one.”
• We Are All Eleventh-Hour Laborers. Jerry Bridges writes “The truth is, we are all eleventh-hour laborers. None of us have even come close to loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. None of us have come close to loving our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). So, let us learn to be thankful for all God gives to us and not begrudge blessings He gives to others.”
• If the Lord Marks Iniquity, Who Should Stand? C. Sproul writes “The Psalmist asked the question: “If the Lord marks iniquity, who should stand?” This query is obviously rhetorical. The only answer, indeed the obvious answer is no one.”

CHURCH NEWS:

• A Forgotten Remedy for the Worn-Out Minister. Zack Eswine writes “God comforted Paul, not by absence of stress, but by presence of a fellow friend in ministry. Not by absence of fear but by shared testimony in in ordinary place on an ordinary day. Does this surprise you?”
• Your Church Is Not Evangelicalism. Thabiti Anyabwile writes “What may be true of evangelicalism may not at all be true of the man, woman, boy or girl singing next to you on Sunday. Distinguishing the two may help us to love.”

TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

• Sports Illustrated Releases Hotly Anticipated ‘Modest Attire’ Issue. The Babylon Bee reports “The yearly release features godly women in various states of conservative dress, and has always been the magazine’s best-selling issue each year.”

• Religion: I obey God in order to get things from God. Gospel: I obey God to get God –to see his beauty only. Tim Keller
• A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. Charles Spurgeon
• Christ must be everything: the beginning, the middle, and the end of our salvation. Martin Luther
• It is possible for a believer to be perfectly orthodox, but also perfectly obnoxious. Let the gospel do the offending. Let’s love people. Scotty Smith
• To love to preach is one thing, to love those to whom we preach quite another. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
• You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary. Jonathan Edwards
• You can’t have peace in the church without doctrinal purity in the church. True peace comes on account of the truth, not through compromise. Burk Parsons
• Each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done. Bryan Stevenson
• Your sanctification can’t add to your justification. Sinclair Ferguson