• We Have a New President – A Christian Response. Scott Sauls writes “One of the chief ways we honor God is in the way we respond to those He places in authority over us. Whether we agree or disagree with our authorities, showing honor and respect is presented in the Bible as a non-negotiable. In showing honor and respect, we also honor and respect God, who, in His own wisdom and for His own purposes, ordains who will lead and who will follow.”
• Could our Current Political and Cultural Chaos be Leading to a Spiritual Awakening? Philip Douglass, one of my favorite professors at Covenant Seminary, writes “Our politicians and cultural leaders will not alone solve the problems of our society any more than they were able to do so in years past. It will take another Awakening like the ones we experienced in the late 1940s and 1950s and again in the 1970s, except this renewal must be initiated and sustained by planting new churches.”
• COVID Vaccines and Fetal Cells: What’s Ethical and What Isn’t? Randy Alcorn provides biblically relevant information and resources to examine related to the COVID-19 vaccines.

Click on ‘Continue reading’ for:

• More interesting article links
• Favorite Quotes of the Week

• Twenty-One Reasons That the Handwriting Is on the Wall for the Abortion Industry. George Grant writes “Forty-eight years ago, the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision overturned legal restrictions on and prohibitions of abortion in all fifty states. It simultaneously laid the groundwork for what has become a multibillion-dollar global abortion industry. Today though, the industry is in trouble. Big trouble.”
• Dethrone Politics. Trevin Wax writes “What’s the solution to such a dilemma? It starts with a diagnosis: politics has become an idol. The need of the hour, then, is to counter the disease with ruthless intensity: dethrone politics, by any means possible.”
• How to Pray for Our Political Leaders. Jesse Johnson writes “Here are some suggestions for how Christians can pray for our nation, our political leaders, and ourselves as we pursue Christ through an increasingly political culture. Consider using these verses in your own personal prayer time, or to help structure a small group or church service devoted to prayer for our nation.”

• What Does it Mean to be “In Christ”? When we are “in Christ,” we are brought into union with Him and all the riches of His grace. From one of Ligonier’s live events, Steven Lawson and Derek Thomas examine this phrase that identifies what it means to be a Christian.
• When Should I Leave a Church? There are times when leaving a church is permissible, and there are times when our departure is necessary. From one of Ligonier’s Ask R.C. events, R.C. Sproul thinks soberly about the circumstances that warrant our parting from a particular congregation.
• Am I Too Hard on Myself? In this episode of the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper responds to the question “Is it possible for a Christian to be too hard on himself?”

• Confident in the Word of God. Ligonier President and CEO Chris Larson hosts a panel discussion with three of Ligonier’s Teaching Fellows, Sinclair Ferguson, Steven Lawson, and Stephen Nichols. They discuss the power of God’s Word and Spirit to strengthen His church in challenging times and to awaken people around the world to His holiness.
• Should Christians Fear God? On this this episode of the Crossway podcast, Michael Reeves discusses what the Bible is actually getting at when it commands us to “fear the Lord.” He makes the case for the difference between rightly fearing God and sinfully being afraid of him, explains why the fear of the Lord is so often paired with examples of God’s gracious blessing and commands to love him in Scripture, and offers encouragement for the Christian wrestling with consistent guilt, shame, and even fear on account of their sin.”
• Why Study Theology? Keith Mathison writes “The vast majority of professing Christians have little to no interest in theology. In the minds of many Christians, there is no necessary connection between theology and their everyday Christian life. Theology, they believe, is irrelevant.”

• Civility in the Public Square. Watch this conversation with Tim Keller, Nicholas Kristof, John Inazu and Stephanie Summers on the nuance that transcends a liberal/conservative divide from 2016.
• A Call to the American Church. Tony Dungy and Benjamin Watson write “We need to challenge one another in love and support each other when facing strong headwinds. While it won’t be simple, it is necessary. We need to clean up our doorstep for us as Christians to witness to non-believers. If we live like the world, why should non-Christians listen to us, and more importantly, to God?”
• Recognizing and Wisely Handling Our Emotions, and Submitting to God’s Truth. Randy Alcorn writes “We should let our feelings—real as they are—point to our need for the truth of God’s words to guide our thinking. The paths to our hearts travel through our minds. Truth matters. Believe Christ and meditate on Scripture, not on how you feel, and eventually God will change how you feel.”
• Why Mourning Can Be Good for Us. Paul Tripp writes “It’s good to mourn, it’s healthy to be sad, and it’s appropriate to groan. Something is wrong with us, something is missing in our hearts and our understanding of life, if we are able to look around and look inside and not grieve.”
• How to Pray About Aging. Susan Hunt writes “It’s tempting to allow the sorrow and suffering of old age to consume us, making us self-focused, critical and bitter. Psalm 92 shows a better way.”
• Is Sin Inevitable in the Christian Life? Randy Alcorn writes “Cana believer sin? Yes. Should a believer sin? No. God has given us in Christ the resources so that we can turn from sin and live a life that is righteous and holy before Him!”
• What Goes In. Daniel Darling writes “What goes in our minds is who we are. What goes into our minds is who we become.”
• It’s Not Enough to Have a True Theology. Christians are called to not only know the truth, but also to act on the truth that has been revealed to them through God’s grace. In this short video, R.C. Sproul explains how the truth should affect our lives today.
  

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• The great basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us. Tim Keller
• Traditional religion says earn your salvation. Secular society says create yourself, which can come down to the same thing. Jesus says, “Come to me for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Tim Keller
• The gospel doesn’t change, nor does our need for it. Burk Parsons
• If we feel more righteous as we read the Bible, we are misreading it; we are missing its central message. We are reading and using the Bible rightly only when it humbles us, critiques us, and encourages us with God’s love and grace despite our flaws. Tim Keller
• Culture is never so bad that it can’t be improved, nor so good that it can’t be critiqued. To be “salt and light” in a society is to do both–not just one or the other. Tim Keller
• Christians should be the most repentant people non-Christians know. Burk Parsons
• Everything wrong has an expiration date. Scotty Smith
• I am going to judge my circumstances by Jesus’ love, not Jesus’ love by my circumstances. Tim Keller
• Because God is holy, he requires propitiation for his wrath against us for our sin against him, and because God is love he propitiated his wrath against us in Jesus Christ who took our sin and nailed it to the cross. Burk Parsons