“Thrift in thought will lead to the habit of writing, and any good man who writes a little every day will become a good writer. We grow by doing” (from Elbert Hubbard’s Let Thrift Be Your Ruling Habit).

An interesting article by Stephen H. Webb on Bob Dylan, the Book of Acts, Dylan’s 2012 interview for Rolling Stone, and Dylan’s song “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.”

“Should a family set their children at the feet of the wrong teachers, they will destroy the faith within a generation or two” (Kevin Swanson, Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West, 6).

It sounds alarmist and hyperbolic, but it is true.

“We are on the cusp of the decentralization of information and media sources, and the gradual collapse of the brick-and-mortar university monopoly over Western thought and economics is already in process. The time has come to reform and rebuild the ideas and educational systems that make up the Western world” (Kevin Swanson, Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West, 3).

“There must be communion and community among the people of God: not a false community, that is set up as though human community were an end in itself; but in the local church, in a mission, in a school, wherever it might be, there true fellowship must be evident as the outcome of original, individual salvation. This is the real Church of the Lord Jesus Christ–not merely organisation, but a group of people, individually the children of God, drawn together by the Holy Spirit for a particular task either in a local situation or over a wider area. The Church of the Lord Jesus should be a group of those who are redeemed and bound together on the basis of true doctrine. But subsequently they should show together a substantial ‘sociological healing’ of the breaches between men which have come about because of the results of man’s sin” (Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 153).

Schaeffer is arguing for a “visible quality” to the invisible church, i.e., “The final apologetic, along with the rational, logical defence and presentation, is what the world sees in the individual Christian and in our corporate relationships together” (152).

Ligonier recently ran a post with Dr. Keith Mathison’s “top 5” commentaries for each book of the Bible. I’ve been preaching through Acts so I thought I would compare his recommendations against what I’ve been utilizing for sermon prep. Mathison’s top 5 for Acts are:

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory
How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood’s atoning
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory

/Chorus/
Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever
He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood
He loved me ‘ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing
How He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see
And then I cried, “Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit”
I then obeyed His blest command and gained the victory

/Chorus/

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory
And I heard about the street of gold beyond the crystal sea
About the angels singing and the old redemption story
Oh and some sweet day I’ll sing up there the song of victory

/Chorus/

He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

(The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, 473)

Benchmarks for Community

Loose collection of thought-fragments on the Christian future . . .

• Construction of brick-and-mortar churches that aren’t going anywhere for a while, i.e., think of Notre Dame de Paris, or Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, but think of them as actually functioning as vibrant churches, instead of being mere landmark or tourist attractions–these brick-and-mortar churches would point to the acts of God in the past as well as the Christian future.
• Construction of mercy-ministries (predominantly overseen and ran by local churches) with military-like organization and influence/efficacy, e.g., soup-kitchens and rescue missions that provide a segue from homelessness, hunger and poverty, financial and social instability, as well as functioning as a training-ground for developing a professional skillset that in the future might provide a protective-hedge for individuals (and families) from falling back into those vulnerable circumstances.
• Construction of Christian-mediation groups to assist with legal disputes (outside of courtrooms) between Christians (this work would be only a segue until Christian Law was the law of civic courts). 
• City-based trans-denominational elders meetings focusing on collaborative/strategic prayer, evangelism, mercy ministry, etc., for shared cultural space. 
• Closing of abortion-mills, Planned Parenthood facilities, and the like.
• Closing of Casinos, State Lotteries, etc.
• Closing of strip-clubs.
• Closing of wannabe strip-clubs, e.g., restaurants like Hooters, The Tilted-Kilt, etc.
• Closing of oodles and oodles of Federal, State, and County “Department of whatever-wealth-redistribution-program-comes-to-mind”