Al Mohler has a new post out called, "The Culture of the Congregation: Celebrating Adoption." In recent years, American Christians have seen a recovery of adoption as a living concept -- and as a focus of congregational celebration....Many evangelical congregations actively encourage families to adopt and offer support, education, and encouragement for international adoptions.You should check it out.
Over at Dream Awakener, there has been a great series of posts on Christians and pubs and mission. It is built on the idea that pubs are 'third places,' that is, places other than home and work where people gather. And where people gather, there Christians should be. "Churches and communities of faith should encourage members to frequent local pubs/bars as a social context in which they can get to know and build strong relationships with people who are there." Now, this is sure to be controversial among some evangelicals, especially in the south. I once heard a campus minister say it was a sin for a Christian to even walk into a bar. Well, that is Pharisee-ism, not Christianity. 
Over at the Reformation 21 Blog, pastor Rick Phillips gives some great advice for "Discipling Christian Children". He sums it up as Read-Pray-Work-Play.First, parents (especially fathers) must read God's Word to and with their children. Countless Christians raised in strong believing homes will remember the influence of their father's fervent and faithful ministry of reading.... And of course, our children need to see our own devotion to God's Word lived out in the home, experiencing first-hand from us the righteousness, peace, ajoy that comes from the gospel.Good article well worth reading.
Second, parents must pray for and with their children. How it warms a child's heart to know that his or her parents are fervently praying on his behalf. Parents should have regular times of prayer with the children and should frequently pray individually with their children.
Third, parents should work with their children....Shared work builds relationships. Work in the kitchen, work in the yard, work painting walls or repairing furniture. Children love to work alongside their parents, and the process of growth and shared experience forges a strong bond.
Fourth, parents should play with their children. This involves our participation in their play and our invitation for them to join in our play.
The Shepherd's Press Blog has a good post on "Why Children Lie."So when you hear your children lie, remember that one of the elements behind the lie is fear—fear of being exposed for who they really are. The answer, of course, is Christ. Even in the midst of hearing their lies, you can have compassion for your children. Yes, they are sinful, unkind, and even cruel with their lies. But at the root is a heart in need of Christ. Without Christ, fear dominates. Fear can make one stupidly deny the truth, just as Sarah did.Read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.
When your children lie, or even when you think they may have lied, you always want to remind them that God knows their hearts and thoughts even better than they do themselves. You want to call them to repent and trust in Christ, for he alone can help them overcome the fear of self-exposure. Only the power of the Gospel can free them from the tyranny of lying. You can and should confidently tell them that God knows whether they have been truthful or not. Discipline for lying must come from compassion for a lost heart. Yes, your children have offended you with their lies, but more importantly, they have offended and mocked God. Help them to see this reality. It is sometimes difficult to realize that a child who is defiant and seemingly unfazed by lying may actually be dominated by fear. Yet this is often the case.
The Art of Manliness has compiled a list of eight great locker room speeches from film and real life. These should get the blood pumping! Get your game face on!!! 
On August 6, just two days before the Olympics began, Pastor Zhang "Bike" Mingxuan was arrested, along with his wife and a coworker. In response to these arrests, The Voice of the Martyrs and China Aid Association have launched a petition drive to free these three Christians and to let the Chinese government know that the world is aware that these Christians are being detained.
Pastor Bike, as he is affectionately known, is considered to be one of the most outspoken evangelists in China. He is a bold believer willing to cross borders, hand out Christian literature and Bibles, share Christ with those under age 18 and lead thousands to Christ. All these actions are considered "illegal," in communist China. Earlier this year, Pastor Bike pleaded with VOM staff and China Aid Association to create the China Prayer Bands so that Christians in the free world could know more about persecution of Christians in China.
The Unashamed Workman lists a series of things he's working on to improve his preaching...…the exegetical carefulness of Don CarsonAny communicator should seek to improve by learning from the best. This is a great example!
…the expositional clarity of John Stott
…the assiduous attention to context of Dick Lucas
…the cross-referencing knowledge of John MacArthur
…the ‘outlining’ skills of Warren Wiersbe
…the doctrinal precision of RC Sproul
…the bible-critiquing-culture abilities of Al Mohler
…the delivery of James Montgomery Boice
…the vocabulary of R Kent Hughes
…the simple yet powerful illustrations of CH Spurgeon
…the winsome yet pointed humor of Alistair Begg
…the applicational focus of CJ Mahaney
…the apologetical ’side-bars’ of Tim Keller
…the sheer Scriptural coverage of Mark Dever
…the heart for the lost of George Whitefield
…the compassion for the flock of Charles Simeon
…the unbridled passion for God of John Piper
…the gravity of Doctor Martyn Lloyd Jones
"...I don’t get Jesus AND the American Dream. Some people do. Great. I don’t.Read it all here.
"...Suburban Christianity is frequently not about an honest following of Jesus. It’s about an edited, reworked Jesus who blesses the American way of life and our definition of normal and happy.
Like this one: JollyBlogger has an interesting and thoughtful post on "Ten Things I Think About the Spirit World and Spiritual Warfare." Here's a brief overview of his main points:1. I think I think that creation was a two stage process. We know all about the creation in Genesis, but passages like Job 38:4-7 talk about morning stars singing and angels shouting for joy at the time of the creation, which suggests that they were created first.....Good stuff to chew on and test with Scripture. Read his entire post here.
2. I think I think that the spiritual or heavenly realm is far more diverse and interesting than we realize....And, heaven is filled with the presence of God, but it also inhabited by different kinds of spiritual beings. The souls of departed believers are there. Seraphim are there, worshiping God day and night. Angels are there....
3. I think I think that the distinction between the heavenly realm and the spiritual realm looks different to us than it does to God. What I mean is that the spiritual realm is invisible to us but not to God....
4. I think I think that the wall I spoke of in point #3 deals more with our vision than with actual separation of the two realms. In other words, the sense in which there is a wall between the heavenly and the earthly is the sense in which we of the earth can't see what is happening in the spiritual realm. But that doesn't mean that the spiritual and earthly don't interact - in fact they do....
5. Thus, those people who think there is a demon behind every bush are right - there is indeed a demon behind every bush.
6. But if there is a demon behind every bush, there is more behind the bush than just the demon....
7. Thus, I think I think that if you are a Christian, Satan and his demons have more reason to fear you than you have to fear them....
8. Because I think I think that spiritual beings can manipulate matter I therefore think I think that some of the more spooky stuff you hear about and read about regarding demon possession and the paranormal is true....
9. I think I think that though the spiritual realm is real and interacts with us far more intimately than we realize we are not to try to peer into the unseen realm....
10. I think I think that just as the activities of spiritual beings influence events on earth, so the activities of earthly beings influence events in the spiritual realm.
Click here to read some endorsements, and click here for the ESV Study Bible homepage.
* Intro to the Gospel of Luke
* Intro to Revelation
* Intro to the Psalms
* Intro to Ezekiel
* The Book of Jonah
If a man wishes to become a great orator, he must first become a student of the great orators who have come before him. He must immerse himself in their texts, listening for the turns of phrases and textual symmetries, the pauses and crescendos, the metaphors and melodies that have enabled the greatest speeches to stand the test of time.I, for one, plan to work my way through these great speeches and learn and grow.
There was not currently a resource on the web to my liking that offered the man who wished to study the greatest orations of all time-from ancient to modern-not only a list of the speeches but a link to the text and a paragraph outlining the context in which the speech was given. So we decided to create one ourselves. The Art of Manliness thus proudly presents the “35 Greatest Speeches in World History,” the finest library of speeches available on the web.
These speeches lifted hearts in dark times, gave hope in despair, refined the characters of men, inspired brave feats, gave courage to the weary, honored the dead, and changed the course of history. It is my desire that this library will become a lasting resource not only to those who wish to become great orators, but to all men who wisely seek out the great mentors of history as guides on the path to virtuous manhood.
No doctrine stands alone. There is no way to modify belief in hell without modifying the Gospel itself, for hell is an essential part of the framework of the Gospel and of the preaching of Jesus. Hell cannot be remodeled without reconstructing the Gospel message.Read the article here.
"The universal religion of humankind is: We develop a good record and give it to God, and then he owes us. The gospel is: God develops a good record and gives it to us, then we owe him (Rom. 1:17). In short, to say a good person, not just Christians, can find God is to say good works are enough to find God.
"You can believe that faith in Christ is not necessary or you can believe that we are saved by grace, but you cannot believe in both at once.
"So the apparently inclusive approach is really quite exclusive. It says, 'The good people can find God, and the bad people do not.'
"But what about us moral failures? We are excluded.
"The gospel says, 'The people who know they aren't good can find God, and the people who think they are good do not.'
"Then what about non-Christians, all of whom must, by definition, believe their moral efforts help them reach God? They are excluded.
"So both approaches are exclusive, but the gospel's is the more inclusive exclusivity. It says joyfully, 'It doesn't matter who you are or what you've done. It doesn't matter if you've been at the gates of hell. You can be welcomed and embraced fully and instantly through Christ.' "
For the past several weeks, the eyes of the world have been on the Olympics in China. By all accounts, China did a good job of putting on a good show for the world. But behind the scenes, we must never forget that China is one of the world's biggest violators of human rights, and one of the biggest persecutors of Christ's Church....that the Chinese Government oppresses and actively persecutes Christians,Click here to see some suggestions by Mark Altrogge on how to pray for the persecuted Church in China.
...it takes about one dollar for us to produce a Chinese language Bible, but it takes almost a year's income for a Chinese believer to purchase a Bible produced in the only factory in the country where their production is allowed,
...that there are some 300 million believers in China, a Church almost as large as the entire population of the United States,
...that every sermon in every 'official' church is recorded for government monitors to examine, and subjects such as 'eternal life' may not be proclaimed in those sermons,
...that while the world celebrates gold medals in Beijing, Chinese Christian men and women suffer for the crown of life in prisons across the country.
PRAY FOR CHINA!"
It's almost impossible to arrive at a consensus because different theologians were important for different reasons, and it depends in large part on what you consider key turning points. 
