Thursday Roundups

It’s been awhile since I had a Thursday Roundup post! I’ve had some changes in the last few months, as Leah and I had our first child in June and we also started planning for me to go to seminary to pursue my M.Div. in Fall 2018. I’m excited about the potential of a seminary degree to enhance my ministry work, but for the moment I have less time for publishing here at DavidVogel.net as I work a second job to save up for seminary. I hope to settle into more regular (though significantly reduced) schedule here over the next few months, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this somewhat abbreviated Thursday Roundup.

Nearly all cults somehow diminish or deny the divinity of Christ, and an effective response often requires a careful look at proof-texts we sometimes take for granted, so this week’s video digs into Paul’s teaching about the nature of Christ in Philippians 2:6. The links of the week include “fake news” about early Christianity, watching Game of Thrones, praying through trials, asking forgiveness, loving our gay neighbor, the importance of a pastor’s character, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

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Today’s video takes a closer look at Paul’s odd statement in I Timothy 2:15 that women will be “saved through childbearing.” The final podcast episode on Dr. Willie Parker’s Life’s Work considers how a boy who wanted to be a pastor grew up to be an abortion apologist, and draws out some lessons for us all. And the links of the week cover singleness and intimacy, the dangers of ignoring God’s design for marriage, expository preaching, encouraging your pastor, understanding the Bible, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“Some Christians seem to do little but pray for new spiritual blessings, apparently oblivious of the fact that God has already blessed them in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Others lay such emphasis on the undoubted truth that everything is already theirs in Christ, that they become complacent and appear to have no appetite to know or experience their Christian privileges more deeply. Both these groups must be declared unbalanced. They have created a polarization which Scripture will not tolerate. What Paul does in Ephesians 1, and therefore encourages us to copy, is both to keep praising God that in Christ all spiritual blessings are ours and to keep praying that we may know the fullness of what he has given us.”
~ John Stott

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Today’s video responds to the atheist argument that “I can be good without God.” The podcast episode asks whether a fetus is a person in our continuing survey of Life’s Work by Dr. Willie Parker. And the links of the week talk about the local church, unspoken prayer requests, wasting your life by following your passion, “doing history wrong,” and much more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“If [God] were not wrathful against sin, we would question whether He is personally good. What would it mean for Him to say that He is committed to oppose evil if He refused to judge it?”
~ Mark Dever and Michael Lawrence

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Today’s video looks at whether Revelation’s 144,000 are who Jehovah’s Witnesses say they are. The podcast continues our survey of Dr. Willie Parker’s Life’s Work, taking a first look at a key question: “What is it?” And the links of the week look at patience and liturgy, mentoring and discipleship, the debate over sexual morality, Trump’s religious liberty executive order, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“The great doctrine of the second advent has in a sense fallen into disrepute because of… this tendency on the part of some to be more interested in the how and the when of the second coming rather than in the fact of the second coming.”
~ Martin Lloyd-Jones

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Today’s video takes a careful look at Matthew and Luke’s different genealogies of Jesus to see if they are a Bible contradiction. The podcast episode starts a new series on Life’s Work: A Moral Argument for Choice by self-professed “Christian abortionist” Willie Parker. And the links of the week include feasting as war, anger at God, Sunday morning conversations, modesty, environmentalism and “anti-science,” and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“Certainly every Christian ought to be praying and working to nullify the abominable abortion law. But as we work and pray, we should have in mind not only this important issue as though it stood alone. Rather, we should be struggling and praying that this whole [godless worldview] can be rolled back with all its results across all of life.”
~ Francis Schaeffer

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If you’d like to know more about Mormonism and how to share the gospel with LDS missionaries at your door, there’s still time to sign up for the three-evening online class I’m teaching on Mormonism, starting tonight.

While we’re on the topic of Mormonism, today’s video was inspired by an advertisement from the LDS church which argued that Mormon temples are a faithful continuation of how God’s people built temples in the Old Testament. The Answers for Ambassadors episode is a callback from the first season, looking at the possibility of morality in a godless world. And this week’s collection of links looks at how sin affects our thinking, when Paul remembered Mary, broken wolves, complementarianism and hospitality, preachers with presence, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“The law may express sin but it cannot suppress sin.”
~ Thomas Adams

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Want to know more about Mormonism? My next online class, “Mormonism: Understanding and Apologetics,” starts Thursday, April 27! Click here to learn more or register. (Yes, it’s recorded in case you miss a live class.)

This week’s video looks at early indications of God’s trinitarian nature in the very first chapter of Genesis. The Answers for Ambassadors podcast is on pause this week as we shift to a new series, but check out the photo of the new book we’ll be surveying! And, of course, I have lots of links: reasons for trusting the Bible, challenging implications of “love your neighbor,” fighting workaholism, the importance of lay Christians, and more.

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“The discipline of time alone with God should not be looked at as another thing to put on your ‘to do’ list. This attitude will only lead to resentment from the added pressure that it produces. It should be viewed as a gift from a gracious and kind God. He cares so much for you and me that He is not just interested in our accomplishments but also in shepherding our hearts.”
~ Bill Thrasher

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Today’s video features a discussion with an atheist writer about how God’s sovereignty could coexist with human free will. The weekly podcast is my last on Your Best Life Now, considering Part 7, “Choose to be Happy,” as well as looking back over the book and drawing out some overall lessons. The links of the week discuss church and work, suffering and disappointment, Christianity as a spark for social reform, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“Mercy can never be earned. Its very necessity is evoked by unworthiness, else there would be no need for it. Because we have sinned, we need mercy, not because we have obeyed. The only qualification for mercy is affliction.”
~ Bob LaForge

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Today’s video looks at how Islam’s conception of God is different from the Bible’s. The Answers for Ambassadors podcast considers Joel Osteen’s call for Christians to live generously (and why—which turns out to be important). The links of the week cover filthy rags and perfectionism, grey hair and Down Syndrome, “the strange persistence of guilt,” and much more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“We have no real sense of the terror and awesomeness of God, for we think intimacy with God is an inalienable right rather than an indescribable gift. There is nothing amazing about grace as long as there is nothing fearful about holiness.”
~ Dale Ralph Davis

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Want to know more about Islam and how to reach your Muslim neighbors? My “Islam: Understanding and Apologetics” online class starts one week from today at 7:30 EST (I moved the start-date back one week because I have lost my voice today due to a cold), and it’s recorded too, in case the time doesn’t fit your schedule. Click here for more information.

Today’s video asks whether God is “interested in relationship, not religion.” The weekly podcast looks at Joel Osteen’s call in Your Best Life Now to stand strong and trust God amid trials. And the links of the week range across catechisms, productivity, intimacy, tithing, and more!

(If you receive these posts by email and aren’t seeing the video and podcast, just click the “Thursday Roundup” title to view the original post on my site.)

“A life once spent is irrevocable. It will remain to be contemplated through eternity… The same may be said of each day. When it is once past, it is gone forever. All the marks which we put upon it, it will exhibit forever… Let us, then, each morning, resolve to send the day into eternity in such a garb as we shall wish it to wear forever.”
~ Adoniram Judson

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