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Final Call

Final Call

Welcome to Final Call, a brief, hand-picked selection of news, articles, videos, and curiosities from the Internet and beyond.

Mini-Review: A Time for Confidence

It is clear that we are living at a time of seismic societal change. Things we recently considered the highest good are now considered the greatest evil; things we used to consider aberrant we now declare normal and noble. “Enormous pressure to cower, to capitulate, and to cave closes in on us like the unstoppable walls of a compactor. We see it. We sense it.” Into the fray steps Stephen Nichols with A Time for Confidence: Trusting God in a Post-Christian Society. “This is not a time to cower, cave, or capitulate. It is a time for confidence, and our confidence must be in the right place. Or, better to say, our confidence must be in the right person. Our confidence must be in God. All else will disappoint.”

Through five chapters, Nichols shows that our confidence must be in God, in the Bible, in Christ, in the gospel, and in hope. His book is meant to encourage Christians to take heart and to press on, to reaffirm their confidence in God, his character, his means, his gospel. It’s a quick read, but a powerful one and I gladly recommend it.

G3 Conference

The G3 Conference has begun to add the 2017 conferences talks and panels to YouTube. There are sessions from Voddie Baucham, D.A. Carson, Steve Lawson, Conrad Mbewe, Paul Washer, and others. I had the privilege of preaching on Colossians 3:16: “Let the Gospel Give You Your Song.” Here it is in case you’re interested.

Also, I should have gone with a double windsor knot. Next time.

Good Theologians with Informed Convictions

Enjoy this quote from Aimee Byrd’s No Little Women.

We are to recognize that women are created in the image of God as necessary allies to men in carrying out his mission. Because of this, women are to be good theologians with informed convictions. We are to take this call seriously and invest quality time in our theological growth and Bible study within the context of our local church as a foundation to our service and contributions to the church, our families, and society. The church is to recognize this and help to equip competent women as necessary allies. And as we uphold the headship roles in household management, we are to relate to one another on the basis of our unity in Christ. Elders are also to ensure that the mature women in the church can pass down their knowledge to the younger women in the faith, explaining how our doctrine relates to our everyday lives and roles. And yet we stumble as we try to faithfully work this out. We see this in Scripture, we see it in church history, and we are still stumbling about now.


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    A La Carte (April 18)

    A La Carte: Good cop bad cop in the home / What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? / The sacrifices of virtual church / A neglected discipleship tool / A NT passage that’s older than the NT / Quite … able to communicate / and more.

  • a One-Talent Christian

    It’s Okay To Be a Two-Talent Christian

    It is for good reason that we have both the concept and the word average. To be average is to be typical, to be—when measured against points of comparison—rather unremarkable. It’s a truism that most of us are, in most ways, average. The average one of us is of average ability, has average looks, will…

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    A La Carte (April 17)

    A La Carte: GenZ and the draw to serious faith / Your faith is secondhand / It’s just a distraction / You don’t need a bucket list / The story we keep telling / Before cancer, death was just other people’s reality / and more.

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    A La Carte (April 16)

    A La Carte: Why I went cold turkey on political theology / Courage for those with unfatherly fathers / What to expect when a loved one enters hospice / Five things to know about panic attacks / Lessons learned from a wolf attack / Kindle deals / and more.

  • The Night Is Far Gone

    The Night Is Far Gone

    There are few things in life more shameful than sleeping when you ought to be working, or slacking off when you ought to be diligent. When your calling is to be active, it is inappropriate and even sinful to remain passive. This is especially true when it comes to contexts that are of the highest…

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    A La Carte (April 15)

    A La Carte: Personal reflections on the 2024 eclipse / New earth books / 7 questions that teens need to answer / Was there really no death before the fall? / How to be humble instead of looking humble / Kindle deals / and more.