Making the Case: Abortion

by Tim Challies

Sometimes I know what I believe about a moral issue, but I find my position difficult to explain or defend. It’s not that I don’t have convictions, but that I have difficulty explaining those convictions. I would imagine you sometimes struggle in the same way. Over the next while I want to enlist the help of some experts to help me look at some of these issues to see how I, as a Christian, can make the case. And I’d like to start with abortion. Read more ...

Dating Advice You Actually Need

I've been working in youth ministry in some capacity for roughly eight years, and this is one of the most common questions I've fielded from young Christians: "How can (insert boyfriend/girlfriend) and I have a Christian dating relationship? How do we keep it centered on Christ?" As often I've heard it, I still love the the heart behind the question. A couple of youngins' get to dating, and they want to "do it right." They realize that God is concerned with every aspect of our lives, including our romantic involvements, so they've resolved to have a "Christian" dating relationship and sought guidance.

Realizing that practical steps matter, most often they want tips or steps they can take to build their relationship in Christ. "Should we call each other and pray daily? What about a devotional? Should we buy a devotional and go through it together? Maybe have a weekly Bible study?" If the young man's of a theological bent, he shows up with a potential 10-week preaching series already outlined. (Protip: this last one is definitely not a winning approach.)

Read more ...
by Derek Rishmawy

Sex and the Single Person by John Piper

If the Bible addresses an issue with unrelenting frequency and urgency, and if that issue is one of the strongest natural forces in the world today, then ministers of the Word of God are obligated sooner or later to declare God's will on that issue. The sexual life of the unmarried person (we will talk about married people next week) is of great concern to God. Even those of you who have not entrusted yourselves to Christ for salvation and do not love God, even you are obligated to obey what God has to say about your sexual desires. Though you rebel against his ownership, you are God's. He made you and has an absolute right to tell you what is good for you. He sent Jesus Christ into the world to overcome your rebellion and to make peace by the blood of his cross. And my prayer at the very outset is that you might turn from your rebellion and unbelief and disobedience, and that you might trust Christ for forgiveness and live for the glory of God.

Read more ...

Four Hundred Ten (410) Older Men (PTEs) Needed for Training and Encouraging Needy Filipino Pastors

In the Philippines there is an estimated 41,000 untrained/undertrained pastors. Most live in the rural areas earning less than $20 monthly. Many have no books or study bibles for study for ministry or personal growth. They have little or no help from their small local church and need much encouragement and training. Each PTE (Pastoral Trainer/Encourager), age 40-75, could work out of major populated areas in mentoring, giving seminars, holding retreats and conferences for local pastors and in the rural areas beyond. For one PTE to work with 100 needy pastors, there is, therefore, a need for 410 PTE's for the Philippines. For more information, contact Bruce Ingram of Action International (email:bruce.w.ingram@gmail.com) or Mike Bucher of GROW International (email:grow.asia@gmail.com).

As all missionaries, each PTE missionary will need to raise personal monthly support and ministry expense and be sent by an evangelical church(es).

The Garbage of Pop and Rap and What are the Best Biblical Songs to teach to Children?

​Long ago, t​he late hymn writer Isaac Watts advised parents and churches to fill the minds of young people with spiritual songs, rather than​  ​allow ​youth  to fill their empty minds with the garbage of the ​world's modern music ​. Today's songs are​ rampant with free love, hate, anger, crude language, violence, self-indulgence​,​ adultery, and fornication. The old saying ​ aptly applies here, "Garbage in, garbage out!"

Because this is true, then what would you consider the 5-20 best and most biblical songs to teach to children? This list would help us worldwide as we seek to reach the minds and hearts of street and underprivileged children with the gospel and compassion.

Reaching Catholics with the Gospel in the Philippines

Catholics are known as Christians in name but not belief. Instead of believing solely in "saving faith by grace through faith in Christ alone," their faith is based upon tradition, like going to mass, praying to Mary, bowing down to idols, etc., all in addition to faith in Christ.

We are asked why there is so much emphasis on sharing the gospel in the Philippines if it is already a Catholic country. It is simply because in a country of 100 million people, perhaps only 10%, as evangelical Christians, trust in Christ alone and not works for salvation. This leaves 90 million people without the Gospel; ninety million men and women, boys and girls!

Pray for the evangelical church in the Philippines and for many more Christian workers and missionaries to take the gospel to the poor and the rich, the students and the prisoners, and the many tribal groups and the 1.5 million street children.

"Go therefore to all nations with the gospel..." Matthew 38:19-20

400 Single Women Missionaries Needed!

Street children in the Philippines initially feel safer with women than with men when approached on the street with the gospel and compassionate care. There is an estimated 200,000 street children in Metro Manila! If a single women missionary (age 21-64) worked with 500 of these children (of the 200,000), there is, therefore, a need of 400 missionaries/Christian workers. Perhaps the Lord will lead you to apply to Christian Growth Ministries (Rosely Fornoles, CEO; email: rosely@cgm.ph), GROW International (Mike Bucher, Director; email: grow.asia@gmail.com) or Action International (Jeff Anderson, Children's Director; email: jeff.anderson@actionintl.org) to serve with needy street children in the Philippines. You would need to trust The Lord for your monthly personal support and ministry expense and be sent by an evangelical church(es).

57 Ways to Put Your Money to Missions Use

by Shane Bennett (adapted by Doug Nichols)

Let's say you have some money lying around. Maybe it's, like, five whole dollars! Or, on the other end of the spectrum, let's just suppose it's a lot and growing every month. You feel the reality of the Jesus story in which the big guy drops some coin on his workers then takes off, leaving them to wrestle with making the most of their "talents." Whether we have a lot or a little, don't we want it to work for God's kingdom?

Two caveats about this list:

1. It's not exhaustive. There are other good ways to spend your money. If you're inclined to share some of yours (ideas, not money) with the rest of us, we'd be honored.

2. I'm thinking broadly when I talk of using money in ways that contribute to the kingdom of God. I'm also thinking how I think, likely inferior to the way you think, which will probably cause you to think about some of the items on this list, "What? That's a dumb way to spend money!" No worries. That's your prerogative.

57 Ways to Put Your Money to Missions Use

1. Tell your favorite missionary you've got his/her vacation paid for this year.

2. Help a needy pastor in the Philippines attend a training conference.

3. Take a world missions course like Perspectives.

4. Pay for someone to take Perspectives with you.

5. Fly to a faraway place to encourage a missionary there.

6. Sponsor a local in ministry to street children.

7. Set up a scholarship fund for students in your culture and students in another culture.

8. Purchase a $60 Life Application Study Bible for only $14 for a needy pastor in the Philippines (CTEN).

9. Pay for Bibles to be put in the hands of some of the most under-evangelized people on the planet.

10. Sponsor a helpful training seminar in your church. How about Bridges?

11. Give your pastor an Amazon gift card and a list of 25 missions books you'd recommend.

12. Pay for a professional photo for a young missions speaker/writer.

13. Donate a good used laptop computer for needy pastors in the Philippines.

14. Scholarship a TESOL program for a worker.

15. Help fund a refugee care ministry in Europe or the US. Serve some Syrians.

16. Send four bright college friends to Urbana 2015.

17. Upgrade a mission worker's phone. Or car!

18. Pay for dental work for a cross-cultural worker.

19. Capitalize a micro-loan project.

20. Invest in a business-as-mission worker by underwriting their visa, registration, licensing, and office lease.

21. Buy homeschooling curriculum for workers who use it. And a case for iPads.

22. Pay for surgery and rehabilitation for kids overseas with birth defects.

23. Fund adoptions for parents who want the kids no one else wants.

24. Cover the cost ($18) for a street child to attend a two-day camp in the Philippines (GROW).

25. Pay for a willing pastor to go on a vision trip to someplace.

26. Cover a week-long retreat for a cross-cultural worker.

27. Publish a beautiful prayer guide for an unengaged people group.

28. Cover the cost ($21)for a poor child to attend a Christian School in Manila for one year

29. Give a monetary gift to an older missionary. He/She may have had a drop in support.

30. Get a small gift for a worker through forafriend.com.

31. Cover a year's subscription to calledtogether.us for a single missionary.

32. Help launch the innovative funding site, buck4good.com.

33. Buy sub-zero sleeping bags for people who are truly homeless. Think "warmth for the weary."

34. Pick a local family in need and once a month send a care package based on their individual needs.

35. Contribute to an organization rebuilding homes after a hurricane/typhoon or other disaster.

36. Purchase a life insurance policy and make your favorite mission agency the beneficiary.

37. Buy a water filtration system each year to send to those who do not have clean water. Stop wasting resources buying bottled water.

38. Hand out bug spray and sunscreen to homeless families.

39. Give money to a micro-finance organization in Uganda or anywhere that gives small personal loans to help people start businesses and escape the bondage of poverty.

40. Buy sewing machines to teach refugees to be seamstresses.

41. Give $5 or $10 gift cards as an encouragement to someone you see serving others.

42. Offer to buy school supplies for kids who need them in the Philippines (GROW).

43. Pay for a child to attend church camp.

44. Donate Christian games, movies, comic books, or toys to a children’s hospital overseas.

45. Pay for the person behind you in a fast-food drive through.

46. Give gift cards for gas and food, coins for vending machines, and notes of encouragement to families of children with cancer.

47. Help a missionary pay off school debt so they can serve cross-culturally (check out the Go Fund).

48. Plant a fruit or shade tree.

49. Buy a bed for an orphan. See Sweet Sleep.

50. Donate to buy some Drinkable Books.

51. Support the venerable Operation Christmas Child.

52. Give to those who minister to those in ministry.

53. Fund and mentor a child or teen who wants to start a business.

54. Donate money for food for hungry kids (GROW).

55. Buy, assemble, and distribute hygiene kits for homeless people in your area.

56. Send video tech to a worker friend at the ends of the earth to help her tell great stories of God's work in her midst.

57. Donate a bike to help an Indian pastor see more people.

You probably have another idea, a better idea, and a better place to execute one these ideas. Please share with the rest of us.

Join me in praying that God would shower financial resources on us in huge, wonderful surprising ways. Ask him for the grace to give hugely, joyfully, and strategically toward the advance of his kingdom to the Earth.

Source: http://us8.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6519d46f2f69995da716ec542&id=94fae9238e&e=f0b01775aa