“Gospel Links for Gospel Culture” is a weekly round-up of content to encourage you in your faith and ministry.
How Discernment Is like Thrifting
Hannah Anderson:Like I told my husband recently, the trick to buying clothes from Goodwill is to figure out how to not dress like you buy your clothes from Goodwill, the line between vintage and outdated being a fine one. Successful thrifting really depends on the eye of the purchaser—on whether she has developed an instinct for what’s worth buying and what’s best left on the shelf. Does she know what is good by simply looking at it? Has she learned discernment?
We All Have Theological Blind Spots
Juan Sanchez:Imagine for a moment that your church is looking for a pastor. After carefully and prayerfully working through the process, the search team presents its candidate to the church. “He is eloquent in speech, competent in the Scriptures, educated in the way of the Lord, passionate in spirit, and accurate in the way he speaks and teaches all things concerning Jesus.” Too good to be true? Perhaps. But that is precisely how Luke describes Apollos in Acts 18:24-25.
Studying the Bible is Not Supposed to be Easy
Jen Wilkin:It’s Time to Regain First-generation Faith
J.D. Greear:When churches like ours get big and “settled,” so to speak, they experience a natural inertia. Within a generation, they move from mission to maintenance. They go from being reckless in the mission to being comfortable in the institution. Here’s the difference in first generation and second generation.
David Platt Drops 50-point Sermon from Revelation at Cross Conference
Jonathan Howe:David Platt may be known for his radical ways, but when he stepped to the stage January 5 at the 2019 CROSS conference, no one expected to get a 50-point sermon. Platt, who preaches for nearly six hours during his annual Secret Church events, made it through the entire book of Revelation and all 50 points in about an hour at the missions conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
