Matt Smethurst

5 days ago | crossway.org | Matt Smethurst

Two PerspectivesThe question is perennial and unavoidable. Does Christ call women to the office of deacon? Every church with deacons must, in one way or another, come to a conclusion on it. Sometimes that decision is formal, codified in a church constitution or denominational document; other times it’s less formal, driven largely by custom. Either way, the choice must be made: will the office of deacon in your church be open to women or not?

5 days ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Matt Smethurst

The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. One of my favorite Puritans, he said, Christ cheaply manifests Himself in times of affliction, because then and mostly only then the soul clings most closely in faith to him. Welcome. Friends to the everyday pastor a podcast on the nuts and bolts of ministry from the gospel coalition.

1 week ago | thegospelcoalition.org | Matt Smethurst

The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Um, God’s relationship to the church is not an illustration of marriage. Marriage is an illustration of God’s relationship with the church. So it makes it, it then makes it, oh, wow. So that’s why Christians really care about marriage a lot, yeah, because the Bible starts with a marriage, Genesis, two, it ends with a marriage.

2 weeks ago | crossway.org | Matt Smethurst

Keller’s Most Powerful MessageOf all the themes and topics Tim Keller preached and wrote about over nearly fifty years, I think his teaching shone brightest when the topic was darkest. When it comes to the topic of pain and suffering, his teaching sings. And so much of what he says about suffering is so beautifully and uniquely Christian, meaning only a Christian could think that way, or talk that way, or live that way, or ultimately die that way. Keller would talk about suffering as a furnace.

2 weeks ago | crossway.org | Matt Smethurst |Matthew McCullough

Photo credit Andrew Walker, used by permission of River Road stewardshipFacing CancerTim Keller’s teaching shone brightest when the topic was the darkest. But it wasn’t just his teaching that glimmered in the dark. Ultimately, it was his life. In May 2020, two months after the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Keller was diagnosed with a particularly invasive and lethal form of cancer.