April 23, 2024 by: Andrew M. Davis Abide with Christ through Scripture I would say that memorizing extended portions of Scripture has been the single most important practical discipline of my entire Christian life. Jesus said, “I’m the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:5, 7). That’s your prayer life. “This is to my Father’s glory. You bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). What a beautiful statement that is. So I find an immediacy and an intimacy with Christ day-by ..read more

April 23, 2024 by: Cameron Cole Three Concerns For the last eighteen years, I’ve witnessed an annual rite of passage come and go for the sixth graders at my church. They sit in the musty basement room with bars on the tiny window, turn in their notecards, and march up the steep stairs of the 150-year building to the largest Sunday school room. It’s the day the sixth graders do Q&A with the head pastor in front of a room of 200 adults. Given the honesty of the kids, who ask the questions most adults would like to ask if they had the opportunity, the class is must-see TV. Every year, without ..read more

April 22, 2024 by: Matthew T. Martens Accountability Since 1989, 3,272 men and women across the United States have been exonerated after being convicted and collectively serving 28,917 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. That’s an annual average of 96 exonerations, with the rate much higher as of late. During the nine-year period from 2014 through 2022, an average of 172 men and women were exonerated each year—about 3.3 per week. The average exoneree lost nearly nine years in prison before his or her innocence was uncovered. Many spent far longer waiting for justice to arrive.1 The ..read more

April 22, 2024 by: Crossway This article is part of the The Crossway Podcast series. Living for God in the Midst of Everyday Life In this episode, Amy DiMarcangelo discusses how our lives can often look relatively normal and comfortable, which can lead us to wonder if we are truly living and sacrificing for God as we are called to do. She shares her own story of learning what it means to live sacrificially for God in the midst of everyday life. Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | RSS Topics Addressed in This Interview: Battling Materialism God’s Justice and Self-Sufficiency Pursu ..read more

April 21, 2024 by: Paul David Tripp God’s After Your Holiness I am deeply persuaded that many of us struggle with questions of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and love, not because he has been unfaithful to any promise in any way, but because we simply are not on his agenda page. Our agenda, our definition of what a good God should give us, is a life that is comfortable, pleasurable, and predictable; one in which there’s lots of human affirmation and an absence of suffering. But consider God’s agenda, as it’s revealed in the following passages: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trial ..read more

April 20, 2024 by: John Currie The Problem: An Unnecessary Disconnect Preaching is leadership in Christ’s cause. We need to train pastors who will lead the church on its mission in the next generation to connect their preaching with leadership. I have become convinced, through the study and practice of pastoral ministry for over thirty years in a variety of denominational contexts, that an unbiblical divorce often occurs between the pastoral priorities of preaching and leadership more generally. When this happens, the church suffers from either stagnation on its mission or a downgrade in the p ..read more

April 20, 2024 by: Douglas Sean O'Donnell This article is part of the What Does It Mean? series. And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” —Mark 2:17 The Use of Interrogative Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest one of all? Anybody home, McFly? O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? What’s up, Doc? Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? What has it got in its nasty little pocketses? From classic literature to famous books, movies, shows, and advertisements, q ..read more

April 19, 2024 by: Samuel D. Ferguson A Biblical Vision of Gender Identity In our society, gender identity has been divorced from biology and rerooted in psychology, and people are increasingly questioning who they are designed to be. In this video, Samuel D. Ferguson, author of Does God Care about Gender Identity?, shares when this question became personal to him, and he carefully walks through the core beliefs of the transgender movement, comparing them with fundamental truths expressed in Scripture. TGC Hard Questions is a series of short booklets that seek to answer common but difficult ..read more

April 19, 2024 by: Crossway New Books Below is a list of the new and notable resources releasing this month from Crossway. Titles include The (Not-So-Secret) Secret to Reaching the Next Generation by Kevin DeYoung and Heavenward by Cameron Cole. Heavenward: How Eternity Can Change Your Life on Earth Cameron Cole Following the unexpected loss of his firstborn child, pastor Cameron Cole’s daily focus shifted drastically heavenward. He discovered that an intentional eternal mindset can bring meaning and joy to every Christian’s life. In this heartfelt, theologically rich book, Cole draws from hi ..read more

April 18, 2024 by: Cameron Cole The Ever-Inspiring, Heavenward Life When my oldest child died, I knew that my life would never be the same. In the initial months that followed, I expected that the change would be entirely negative. However, not all of the differences were painful. The Lord did something unexpectedly positive that has remained with me ten years later. On November 10, 2013, my son lived in my house. On November 11, 2013, he lived in heaven above. Heaven was no longer an abstract, theological concept. It was now my son’s home. Before this season, I would describe myself as a heav ..read more