Things Above Us

Missions - Evangelism - Theology - Sports

  • Psalm 119:29-32 — Shame Shifting
    Michael Coughlin

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 2 — More Alternatives and Dollar Value

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In part 1, we discussed secular “ESG” investing choices and did an overview of GuideStone’s negative investment screening. In this post, we’ll look at some firms that claim positive screening and consider whether these are worthwhile for the individual investor. We’ll then consider the costs of such fund choices and whether they are worth their fees. […]

What Happens When You Die?

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I had a seminary assignment recently that I thought might be a benefit to our readers. I’m posting it in its entirety below. The Question You learn that a dear older lady in your church is dying of colon cancer, so you promptly begin visiting her in the hospital. She is delighted to see you, […]

2021 Resolutions

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One of the reasons we make resolutions is that we are people who do better with some type of regimen or schedule. We rarely naturally drift into a variety of positive habits for our lives, so we need a plan. Think about it, do you need to commit to eating poorly, or does that just […]

Socially Responsible Investing Choices, part 1 — Secular “ESG” and GuideStone Funds

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Every so often, the advertisements on my social media feeds become heavily saturated with “socially responsible” or “ESG” investing products. There are also get plenty of “non-responsible” investing products and perhaps even a few overtly “sinful” investing products such as VICE (alcohol, tobacco, gambling, etc.) and TOKE (cannabis!). Lots of us are going to be […]

My Top 7 Books of 2020

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It would seem that with the large amount of downtime we had in 2020 back in the Spring, that I might have read more books this year, but all in all, this was probably a below-average year in terms of reading. A lot of that was probably due to Seminary work as well as finishing […]

How to Know if You’re Elect

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For an upcoming project I’ve been reading some of Wilhelmus A. Brakel’s (1635–1711) The Christian’s Reasonable Service. It’s a four-volume work on which Reformation Heritage Books has a great price (link). The other night I was reading in Volume 1 on his treatment of election and reprobation. Toward the end of that chapter, he gave […]

LSB, NASB 2020, NASB 1995: Three-Way Comparisons in Psalm 65 and Mark 4

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With the recent release of the LSB text of Psalm 65,  we now have an opportunity to examine the LSB’s handling of an Old Testament passage in addition to the earlier release of the entire Gospel of Mark. Psalm 65 Within Psalm 65, a line-by-line glance through the highlights reveals that only a handful of […]

Why Aren’t More People Christians?

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I live in the Bible Belt. This is a place that certainly has a lot of bad teaching in terms of theology. But there is also great access to the gospel. And sometimes I wonder, “Why aren’t more people Christians?” Sure, I understand God is wholly sovereign in salvation. And I rejoice in this! (see […]

One Way God Judges

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What is the Problem? We draw people to the Savior by proclaiming God’s holiness whenever we have the chance. It is the contrast between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness that is often used to cause men to tremble in fear before the Lord and repent and believe in Christ. To avoid declaring God’s holiness to […]

Book Review — Kingdom Through Covenant – 2nd Edition

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In Kingdom Through Covenant – 2nd Edition, Gentry and Wellum have given us a much needed updated to their seminal work on the biblical covenants. Whether one finds their arguments convincing or not, theologians who argue for or against covenant theology or dispensationalism will eventually have to consider the claims made by the authors.

A Open Letter to Afflicted Saints

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To my dear afflicted Saint, I write this with tears that have been recently mixed with emotional pain and grief. I know what it feels like to have people text, email, and call you, and still receive no comfort. I mean, it’s nice to know that people are thinking and praying for you. But the […]

How to Know the Holy Spirit is at Work — Part 4

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In 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, from 1 John 4 for the commencement ceremony at Yale. We’ve seen four of these distinguishing marks so far: esteeming Jesus, opposing Satan, loving Scripture, and embracing truth. In this blog post, we look at the final […]

Ep. 043 | Reprinting the Second London Baptist Confession with Daniel Funke and John-William Noble — TAU Roundtable

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Chuck Ivey is joined by Daniel Funke and John-William Noble from Parresia Books. Daniel and John-William have started a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund a new reprint of the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689. You can learn more about this exciting project at Parresia Books

How to Know the Holy Spirit is at Work — Part 3

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In 1741 Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God, from 1 John 4 for the commencement ceremony at Yale. We’ve seen two of these distinguishing marks so far: esteeming Jesus and opposing Satan. In this blog post, we look at the third and fourth marks. Below […]