Tisha B’Av refers to the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av. The very name portends fasting and grief. It is the date on which Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon destroyed Solomon’s Temple in 586 B.C.
Biblical Optimism for the New Year
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“No Christian should be a pessimist. We should be realists—focused on the actuality that we serve a sovereign and gracious God. Because of the reality of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and His promises, biblical realism is, ultimately, optimism.” - Randy Alcorn
“Every home is dysfunctional because everyone is sinful.”
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“When we consider the state of the family at the beginning of the twenty-first century, our tendency is to reflect nostalgically on imagined idyllic days of generations past when families weren’t perfect but pretty close to it, or so we like to think.” - Ligonier
Smashed to Pieces! The Vision in Daniel 2
Daniel’s visions are endlessly fascinating to Christians.1 So are those from Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation. They stick in your mind so vividly because they’re exciting, dramatic, bizarre, otherworldly, almost fantasy-like. This is a very particular style of writing God uses to communicate hope to desperate people.
Hopeful Living in a Weary World
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Colin Hansen talks with Irwyn Ince, author of Hope Ain’t a Hustle: Persevering by Faith in a Wearying World (IVP). - TGC
Christ and His Kingdom, Not Politics, Should Be the Central Fixture of Our Focus
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“Of course, we should look over the candidates carefully and prayerfully consider the issues and where they stand, and what kind of character they demonstrate…. Still, we dare not set our hopes on the Republican or Democratic parties or candidates, or Independents, but upon the only One who can save us” - Randy Alcorn
Let’s Help Each Other Gain Hope about Non-believing Loved Ones
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“Just over two years ago now, I baptized my 79-year-old mother after we had prayed for her for 47 years.” - Chuck Lawless
All, Every, and Not One
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“One day it will be said of all those who are his that God was faithful to his every word and true to his every promise.” - Challies
Hope Always vs Suicide
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“32% of Protestant church-going respondents had a family member or “close acquaintance” die by suicide. …Colson Educators has teamed with Dr. Matthew Sleeth, a former emergency room physician and chief of hospital medical staff, to offer a free online course called Hope Always” - Breakpoint
