When Our Idols Fail Us

by Christina Fox • November 09, 2018

As believers, we need to evaluate our heart for idols, for those things we turn to for hope outside of Christ. We need to pray for discernment to see them for what they really are: weak and powerless substitutes. We need to remember who God is and what he has done, meditating on his holiness, righteousness, and goodness. Then we need to turn away from our false gods in repentance and turn back to the One True God, seeking to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

One of my son’s favorite Bible stories is that of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to visit the site where that event took place. As we stood on Mount Carmel and looked across the Jezreel Valley, it was surreal to think of the great altar where God’s people tried over and over to get their false god to respond to their cries.

Elijah and the Prophets of Baal

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Friday: "If My People..."

By James Boice

Theme: When We Listen and Obey

In this week’s lessons, Psalm 81 serves as a warning to take care that our worship is of the true God, and in the right way.

Scripture: Psalm 81:1-16

At the end of the fourth stanza of this psalm, God indicates the result of his people's refusing to hear his voice and worship and proclaim him only. He gives them up to their own devices, precisely as in Romans, where Paul indicates that he gives up the unbelieving world to its devices (see Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). In the case of the world, this abandonment by God is to moral perversion and to spiritual insanity. What is happening among the evangelicals? In our day evangelicals are being abandoned to materialism and secularism, the very things they rail against and deplore.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: "If My People..."

By James Boice

Theme: Lacking a Knowledge of God by the People of God

In this week’s lessons, Psalm 81 serves as a warning to take care that our worship is of the true God, and in the right way.

Scripture: Psalm 81:1-16

The people of God should know the Bible and practice its commands within the context of the wider world. But often they do not, which is what the fourth stanza of Psalm 81 is about (vv. 11, 12). Looking to their actions in the past, God says that he heard them, delivered them, instructed them and warned them. "But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me" (v. 11).

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: "If My People..."

By James Boice

Theme: No Other Gods

In this week’s lessons, Psalm 81 serves as a warning to take care that our worship is of the true God, and in the right way.

Scripture: Psalm 81:1-16

A short time ago I came across an article in the magazine First Things by Robert L. Wilken, a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Virginia. It was titled "No Other Gods” and it was a moving attempt to apply the first commandment to our times.

A short time ago I came across an article in the magazine First Things by Robert L. Wilken, a professor of the history of Christianity at the University of Virginia. It was titled "No Other Gods” and it was a moving attempt to apply the first commandment to our times. Wilken began with an analysis of our current secular Western culture, which he accused of undermining the beliefs, attitudes and conventions that have nurtured our civilization for centuries. In fact, that is its explicit goal.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Approaching the Throne of Grace

by Gabriel Williams • November 06, 2018

There are some who believe that God is more likely to hear and answer the prayers of mature Christians rather than immature Christians. This mentality appears in many different ways for many different people. For some, this becomes a source of pride because they feel that they have merited God’s ear in prayer. For others, this leads to cowering fear because they feel unworthy to approach the throne of grace through prayer. Although these are divergent responses, both groups of people see Christ primarily as their Judge and not as their High Priest and Intercessor.

As we think about the Protestant Reformation, one topic that I think about often is the intercession of Christ. Regarding this topic, the Westminster Larger Catechism states the following:

Q. 55: How doeth Christ make intercession?

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Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: "If My People..."

By James Boice

Theme: The Very Heart of This Psalm

In this week’s lessons, Psalm 81 serves as a warning to take care that our worship is of the true God, and in the right way.

Scripture: Psalm 81:1-16

There are two main parts to this psalm, the opening invocation or call to worship, and God's rebuke of the people in the words we have already begun to study. But pressed further, the second part can also be divided into sections along the lines of the New International Version's stanzas. By this arrangement there is: 1) the reminder of what God had done (vv. 6, 7); 2) a warning because of the people's idolatry (vv. 8-10); 3) a record of the people's disobedience, followed by a description of the sad result (vv. 11, 12); and 4) a jump to the present to indicate that the situation is still continuing because the hearts of the people were unchanged.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Monday: "If My People..."

By James Boice

Theme: The Need to Worship God Rightly

In this week’s lessons, Psalm 81 serves as a warning to take care that our worship is of the true God, and in the right way.

Scripture: Psalm 81:1-16

What a strange anomaly: a happy, joyfully worshiping congregation and a neglected and offended God. Strange? Yes, but all too characteristic of religious people. Isaiah wrote, in words quoted approvingly by Jesus, "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isa. 29:13; see Matt. 15:8).

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

A Response to Anthony Esolen Regarding Women and Hysteria

Posted on Friday, November 2, 2018 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

My arms still haven't grown tired.

Anthony Esolen is an author whom I’ve enjoyed reading. I have respect for his work and his integrity to speak his convictions even when it costs him something. This is why I was so troubled to read his convictions in his latest article for the New English Review, Hysteria and the Need for Male Leadership. The title alone is disturbing. It reduces women to a term loaded with historical baggage.

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Leading Them Well

by Brian Cosby • November 02, 2018

Leading and managing church staff can be one of the most challenging and exhilarating aspects of pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, staff can develop relational tension with other staff or volunteers. They can become resentful or bitter toward the leadership of the church. Sometimes, they can even begin to work independently from the overall mission of the church and gather adherents to their “side,” stirring up division within the body.

 

Leading and managing church staff can be one of the most challenging and exhilarating aspects of pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, staff can develop relational tension with other staff or volunteers. They can become resentful or bitter toward the leadership of the church. Sometimes, they can even begin to work independently from the overall mission of the church and gather adherents to their “side,” stirring up division within the body.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: God's Flock and God's Vine

By James Boice

Theme: “Son of Man”

In this week’s lessons we learn that there is no restoration of God’s favor without repentance.

Scripture: Psalm 80:1-19

Without God, Israel itself could do nothing. At least it could do nothing but sin, which it did abundantly, eventually falling away into the Lord's terrible national judgment. To survive, to prosper, even to live—the people of the old covenant had to abide in God. No less do we! Without Jesus Christ and his power, we cannot come to faith, trusting him as our Savior. Without Jesus Christ and his power, we cannot live a righteous life, turning our backs upon sin and cleaving to our master. Without Jesus Christ and his power, we cannot achieve any spiritual victory or produce any spiritual fruit.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

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