Are All Christians Really Missionaries? | J.D. GREEAR

Every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor.”
Let that sink in for a minute. Quite a bold statement, isn’t it? This is a quote from the famous 19th Century British pastor and theologian, Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He pastored one of the first megachurches of the modern era, The Metropolitan Tabernacle, in London. Thousands of people came to faith under his ministry and it’s estimated that he preached to upwards of 10 million people over the course of his life.
So, why would he say that every Christian is either a missionary or an impostor? Seems odd to me. Is he saying that every true follower of Christ should pack up their bags and move to Africa and become a missionary? That’s what a missionary is, right?
MORE: Are All Christians Really Missionaries? | J.D. GREEAR

The three most amazing letters in the Bible | Blogging Theologically

What are three of the most amazing letters in the entire Bible?
Words have power (a shocking revelation, I know). With just a word, we can give life to a hurting friend, or crush their spirit. With only a word, we can change someone’s entire outlook on the world.
What’s funny is, sometimes you do this with the most seemingly insignificant word.
You know what word in the Bible does this?

BUT.

MORE: The three most amazing letters in the Bible | Blogging Theologically

9 (More) Things You Should Know About Duck Dynasty – The Gospel Coalition Blog

The beards are back for the fourth season of cable TV's highest rated reality show. Here are nine more things you should know about the faith of the Robertson clan (see also the original 9 things post).

1. Why Duck Dynasty matters: Poised to be the biggest cable show of all time, Duck Dynasty is the highest rated show on TV to consistently portray a family that is unapologetic about their Christian faith and their affection for one another. The pop culture phenomenon is making it harder for television executives to ignore the demand for shows that portray families who put God first in their lives.

2. Jase and Missy Robertson on the Biblical view of marriage.

MORE: 9 (More) Things You Should Know About Duck Dynasty – The Gospel Coalition Blog

The Sheer Weightlessness of So Many Sermons—Why Expository Preaching Matters – AlbertMohler.com

If preaching is central to Christian worship, what kind of preaching are we talking about? The sheer weightlessness of much contemporary preaching is a severe indictment of our superficial Christianity. When the pulpit ministry lacks substance, the church is severed from the word of God, and its health and faithfulness are immediately diminished.
Many evangelicals are seduced by the proponents of topical and narrative preaching. The declarative force of Scripture is blunted by a demand for story, and the textual shape of the Bible is supplanted by topical considerations. In many pulpits, the Bible, if referenced at all, becomes merely a source for pithy aphorisms or convenient narratives.
MORE: The Sheer Weightlessness of So Many Sermons—Why Expository Preaching Matters – AlbertMohler.com

Are You a Part-Time Churchgoer? You May Be Surprised – Trevin Wax

Geoff and Christine are thirty-something churchgoers who love Jesus and love their three kids. They consider themselves faithful members of New Life Community Church.


Their oldest is about to be in the youth group, and their youngest is finally out of diapers. Christine has been involved in the kids’ ministry through the years. Geoff is a deacon.

But they are part-timers when it comes to church attendance, and they never set out to be.

They are not alone.

More: Are You a Part-Time Churchgoer? You May Be Surprised – Trevin Wax

Michael Gerson: Saying goodbye to my child, the youngster - The Washington Post

Saying goodbye to my child, the youngster


Eventually, the cosmologists assure us, our sun and all suns will consume their fuel, violently explode and then become cold and dark. Matter itself will evaporate into the void and the universe will become desolate for the rest of time.

This was the general drift of my thoughts as my wife and I dropped off my eldest son as a freshman at college. I put on my best face. But it is the worst thing that time has done to me so far. That moment at the dorm is implied at the kindergarten door, at the gates of summer camp, at every ritual of parting and independence. But it comes as surprising as a thief, taking what you value most.

MORE: Michael Gerson: Saying goodbye to my child, the youngster - The Washington Post

Are You Needed in Your Church? | Don't Waste Your Wedding

lot has been written lately about people in my age demographic leaving the church. Some have suggested reasons for this, others countered with other possibilities. Solutions have spanned the spectrum. We’re told our generation is wary of anything that hints at consumerism, and then in the next breath we’re given reasons for attending church that center on what we can get out of it. It’s no wonder we are leaving the church–we’re not even sure what it’s for.
This post isn’t really about millenials leaving the church. It’s not about millenials at all, actually.
The consumer mentality of church members and church-goers is not unique to my generation. It can be found in every demographic in probably every church. Where I most often see it, and where I am most often guilty of it myself, is in the area of service.
MORE: Are You Needed in Your Church? | Don't Waste Your Wedding

Is the Abortion Battle a War On Women or a War Between Women? – Trevin Wax

The War on Women has become a political catchphrase, popular enough to warrant its own entry on Wikipedia, which defines it as “an expression in United States politics, used to describe Republican Party initiatives in federal and state legislatures that restrict women’s rights, especially reproductive rights.” The definition continues:

The term is often used when targeting policies that reduce or eliminate taxpayer funding for women’s health organizations, like Planned Parenthood… Prominent Democrats and feminists have used the phrase to criticize conservative actions as trying to force their social views and religious beliefs on a general public by legal legislation.

Add to “prominent Democrats” and “feminists” the mainstream media. Read news articles or watch the talking heads discuss abortion and you’ll find the “War on Women” description used again and again.
MORE: Is the Abortion Battle a War On Women or a War Between Women? – Trevin Wax

WORLD | Everybody loves immigration … or should | D.C. Innes | Aug. 12, 2013

Ann Coulter this week tweeted, “[Bill] O’Reilly can’t be that smart, he’s pro-immigration.”
Perhaps she meant “pro-immigration reform bill” or “pro-accommodation for illegal aliens.” But even so, how did we get to the point where someone who appears to be a patriotic, freedom-loving conservative could utter those words? Most Americans are pro-immigration because it’s the American way.
Support for immigration itself stands at 63 percent. Forty percent are satisfied with current levels, whereas a record 23 percent advocate even higher levels. A poll to be released Tuesday shows, state-to-state, 61 to 78 percent support the current immigration reform bill.
MORE: WORLD | Everybody loves immigration … or should | D.C. Innes | Aug. 12, 2013

Mum's the Word on Divorce

If I asked you to name the “hot button” social issues of concern to Christians, you’d probably cite abortion and gay marriage right away. Of course, the coarse and hyper-sexualized nature of popular culture might also come to mind.
But what probably wouldn’t come to mind is the high incidence of divorce. Given the clear biblical teaching on the subject and its impact on families and children, that is, to put it mildly, more than a little odd.
Actually, as one Christian leader rightly puts it, our lack of attention to the subject is a “scandal.”
MORE: Mum's the Word on Divorce

Five Common Expressions I’ve Never Understood

Five Common Expressions I’ve Never Understood

Common sense may be more common than sense. There are any number of shorthand aphorisms in the world and in the church that shape our thinking, but don’t stand up to scrutiny, at least right away. Below are five common expressions that might fit under the banner of common sense, that I just can’t make sense out of. There may be good arguments behind all or some of them, but that is rather a far thing from being a self-evident truth.

1. We shouldn’t judge people. This one we hear from both the world and the church. With the church it even comes complete with a proof-text, Matthew 7:1. While Jesus warns us to not be too quick to judge, to judge with charity, to judge in a manner we would like to be judged, even He is in this very text calling us to judge, but to judge well. A blanket condemnation of all judging is, well, condemning, and therefore judging. It is hoisted on its own petard.

MORE: Five Common Expressions I’ve Never Understood

Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: The far-reaching consequences of sin - News with a Christian Perspective

ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP) -- The reality of sin is fundamental in the Christian understanding of human nature. Falling short of God's standards is one of the ways the Bible describes sin's operation in a person's life.

The ways sin manifests itself in a life are manifold. An individual's sin produces everything from religious self-righteousness to senseless evil and all sorts of perversions in between.

It is no secret that modernity rejects the idea of sin as described in the Bible. "There is no sin except stupidity," said the Irish writer Oscar Wilde.

"Everything that used to be sin," observed comedian Bill Maher, "is now a disease." American modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham said, "The only sin is mediocrity."
MORE: Baptist Press - FIRST-PERSON: The far-reaching consequences of sin - News with a Christian Perspective

Who Am I to Judge? The Pope, the Press, and the Predicament – AlbertMohler.com

Pope Francis pulled a surprise on reporters when he walked back to the press section of his Alitalia papal flight from Brazil and entered into an open press conference that lasted more than an hour. The Pope gave the press what Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton offered as presidents—a casual question and answer session that was on the record.
The biggest headline from the Pope’s remarks was not what he had to say about the scandals at the Vatican Bank, but what he said about homosexuality and, in particular, homosexuals in the priesthood. The key sentence in the Pope’s remarks is this: “If a person is gay and seeks the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge that person?”
MORE: Who Am I to Judge? The Pope, the Press, and the Predicament – AlbertMohler.com

PCUSA rejects popular hymn “In Christ Alone” | Denny Burk#more-25243#more-25243

 Timothy George explains why the Presbyterian Church USA has recently rejected the hymn “In Christ Alone” from its new hymnal:

Recently, the wrath of God became a point of controversy in the decision of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song to exclude from its new hymnal the much-loved song “In Christ Alone” by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. The Committee wanted to include this song because it is being sung in many churches, Presbyterian and otherwise, but they could not abide this line from the third stanza: “Till on that cross as Jesus died/the wrath of God was satisfied.” For this they wanted to substitute: “…as Jesus died/the love of God was magnified.” The authors of the hymn insisted on the original wording, and the Committee voted nine to six that “In Christ Alone” would not be among the eight hundred or so items in their new hymnal.

There is no surprise in this news. Although not all PCUSA churches are theologically liberal, the denomination by and large is. Liberalism and wrath go together like oil and water; they don’t mix. And historically speaking, one of them eventually has to go. When wrath goes, so does the central meaning of the atonement of Christ—penal substitution. At the end of the day, the cross itself is the stumbling block, and that is why the PCUSA cannot abide this hymn.

MORE: PCUSA rejects popular hymn “In Christ Alone” | Denny Burk#more-25243#more-25243

Carlos Danger and Cheap Grace

As I record this, former congressman Anthony Weiner is staying in the race for mayor of New York. In case you forgot, he’s the one who resigned in 2011 after sexually suggestive tweets he sent to virtual strangers became public.
He’s staying in the race, despite reports of serial sexting under the nom de thumb “Carlos Danger.” He joins disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer, who is running for comptroller, on the ballot.
It isn’t only New York: recently, South Carolina voters returned Mark Sanford, who ruined the phrase “hiking the Appalachian Trail” for the rest of us, to Congress.
These and other instances of politicians “falling from grace” and then being restored to a measure of respectability, are usually explained by the statement “Americans are a forgiving lot.”
As a Christian, I am all for forgiveness, as I’m sure you are. But what’s on display in these instances isn’t so much an example of forgiveness as it is of “cheap grace.” MORE: Carlos Danger and Cheap Grace