Aquila Report Weekly Review for September 21-27, 2026

0:00Welcome to this week's edition of the Aquila Report and Weekly Review. This is Dominic Aquila along with Paul Herrell. Come to us we do each Monday to come with the top list of the top ten articles read by Aquila Report readers on the Aquila Report from last week. And we look forward to it Paul and I do as we get the list ahead of time. So today is Monday, September 28th. And so we have the list and we'll have the podcast to share it with you and then tomorrow on the 29th the list will appear in your inbox and you'll be able to read them and share them with others as well. So we are glad to be able to come to you and do this and tease the way or encourage

1:02you with these articles and just see what the mind of the Aquila Report readers on. I think as I'd like to say a very discerning group. So Paul if you're ready we'll just go ahead and do as we normally do with you reading the top ten from ten to six and I'll do five to one and we'll begin our discussion. Sounds good to me. So number ten last week, Alistair Chalmers writes, not old, not young, not done, why the church needs Christians who still have plenty left in the tank coming in at number nine. Michael Kelly writes three questions to help parents know which hill to die on. Number eight last week Katie Faust writes, when love and faithfulness cause offense. Number seven, John Samson writes, five common misunderstandings about Calvinism and number six, Tom Hervey back on the list, spiritual exhaustion and the temptation to deism and

2:06addendum to my personal testimony of burnout. Okay. Then number five is by Rosaria Butterfield, Christian women and the poison of porn. Number four is what do pastors do with their time by David DeBroin. Number three, the nightclub church. This is an opinion piece by Carl Truman. Then we have the SJC issues decision, the teaching elder Burke Parsons appeal and that's just giving us a history of that giving us the decision and to buy faith at magazine. And then number one is the vindication and slander of Burke Parsons, which is number one article by Ryan Beesey. And so we'll start with this one. So articles one and two go together Paul as we can tell that article two basically if

3:10we just deal with that is if you want to just read the decision that was drafted by the standing judicial commission of the press here in church in America, they are the spring court of the S a PCA and they got the case on appeal after a Burke Parsons pastor at St. Andrews Chapel in the Ovedo or Lando area of Florida was found guilty by the press secretary. He was a member of central Florida. And so he appealed the decision, which had three parts to it and through the parts he was found guilty on and third he was not. He was that third guilty verdict was reversed. He had also been sent the sent your or the sentence judgment was to be indefinitely suspended from ministry, the official duties of pastoring. That was overturned also reversed and he received admonition.

4:14And so he now serves he is now off the hook with reference to any center hanging over him other than that. So article two is gives the decision so that one you can just read and it's involved. It's a judicial case so you have to read through it to really get that. So we won't spend too much time in unless Paul you have a comment just on that. But after the news came out Brian Beese wrote the vindication and slander of Burke Parsons in which he looks at the the whole case from sort of a 10,000 foot venue to say what what really happened here. And he says last week the standing judicial commission that is the SJC of the Presbyterian Georgia America's General Assembly issued a long and long waited and overdue decision in the appeal of T. E. Berkins that's teaching out of Berkins out of central Florida Presbyteria. The Stangent Judicial Commission sustained in whole or part 12 of the 35 specifications

5:19of error listed by T. E. Parsons in his appeal. While it sustained the conviction for harshness and domineering conduct, the SJC overturned the most serious conviction significantly reduced the center and highlighted pervasive errors throughout the investigation prosecution and censure of Parsons by the Presbyterian. So he says the judgment is not too long only 10 pages and there are several matters for consideration. So you can read the article you'll get that in our article number two. It will open up for you in a PDF and this is just now more a commentary on this by Beesey where he talks about Burke Parsons was restored by the General Assembly that is the SJC as a minister in good standing. The remaining convictions involved contextual judgments, excuse me, usually what that means

6:21is internal to the past and the way he related to his members. But the most serious conviction according to Beesey was overturned. He says unlike the two charges the SJC upheld, Slender is quite objective. The others are more subjective. A classic definition of Slender could be summarized as the malicious speaking of false and defamatory words concerning another tending to damage his reputation in the estimation of others. Historically truth is a complete defense against all allegations of Slender at least in Western Christendom. And so he unpacks that as this is the objective notion of what the Slender was about. And then he proceeds to talk more than in this overview of what House of Florida Presbyteria committed some errors.

7:21The departure of Parsons would be no surprise. He in fact, as a member of the Presbyterian Church in America, once the decision was made, he did resign his membership with the PCA. And then he talks about some end results concluding basically this decision provided the Parsons substantial relief and a measure of vindication while stopping short of complete exoneration. At the same time, the SJC found error throughout the CFP that's Central Florida's process, reversed the Slender conviction and held that indefinite suspension was unjustifiable, and the measure in light of the evidence of repentance. So Paul, this is a large case. It was people watching it just because the very nature of St. Andrews Chapel's ministry tied in with Barcy Sprole and that whole history of the church.

8:24So this is the end of a part of a chapter anyway with reference to all that this happened and took it taken from the time the case started until it ended over a year and a half to get through all the hoops that and path that you have to follow in an appeal. So here it is. You have it laid out for you as clearly as possible. Well, somebody who's familiar with appeals and SJC decisions, you know, from a personal standpoint is if I had PTSD, this might trigger it, but I don't praise the Lord. I like that. I like that. But it is interesting, 81 Lord's days for 81 Lord's days. So from February 20th, 2025 till September 11th, 2026, St. Andrews Chapel was derived of her minister.

9:24And now that the SJC has reversed it and central Florida Presbyteries, parts of their decision have been reversed, you know, this is one of those times where you think, you know, what was all of this for? Obviously, we know in the ordinary, you know, our ordinary existence, this is kind of part of the process. Church, church government, this is the church government of the PCA, which I'm, I very much admire, like and appreciate, but this is one of those times where, you know, it's a difficult thing. It may be, you know, maybe a difficult thing for, for people to accept that you went through all of this for, you know, and not essentially a not guilty verdict when it comes to we're not going to permanently suspend somebody from ministry because of this, right? We're just going to admonish them. Now, Dominic, I don't know if Bert Parsons was also suspended from the, from the sacraments, from the Lord's suppers, well, do you happen to know? I don't know. He wasn't. He was not. Okay. On appeal, good.

10:25That's, well, so that's good. And it's no, and I know Ryan points out that, you know, he did leave immediately after resigned from the PC afterwards. And I think that's also because, you know, the church, he's going to, Pastor Dow is already left the denomination. So that kind of makes sense. But yeah, it's no surprise. That's number one. And Pastor Beasy even, even referenced compared this in a part to the, to the Jones Pro Seven case at one point in the article. So definitely want to, want to check it out. Yeah. It is. And it just takes you through the whole thing. And it was take, you know, the other thing is it was not something that was done and hasted, you know, each thing, you know, each step of the way. They had to book a church order and the rules, the discipline of the PCA that were being followed. And then everyone on both sides were taking it very, so, you know, very carefully and considering it, making the arguments.

11:25And finally, the decision came out as it is. And it's a shame that, you know, you mentioned the church, it's soundfiving withdrawn from the PCA. And so that's part of the reason why when this all was over because he couldn't resign or beforehand or leave the PCA because if he did, then he would lose his standing to be able to continue with the case. So once that was over and since, as Andrew's already voted to withdraw from the PCA, then he withdrew his membership. And so it'll be an independent church at this point. Then there's three articles since both one and two deal with that topic. And hopefully, it could be a helpful thing to go through the steps and hopefully we will be careful about the use of judicial process. Sometimes it is misused and that's part when Paul, you said you may have had PTSD, what took place with you and your brother is six other brothers in Jonesboro.

12:29Okay. But Carl Truman then takes us across the pond to England and the nightclub church is the title here of this opinion piece. The Church of England gives another indication of its loss of confidence in Christ. I said, saying Paul's cathedral whose dome was once the defining image of London, the London skyline has recently struck a deal with a nightclub group known as fabric. The deal will allow the latter to hold concerts and parties in its building. And so in the place designed by Sir Christopher Ren for the worship of God will now be the venue for the worship of fun. The move sadly does not set a precedent. Raves in the nave have been a feature of church of England outreach for quite some time. And church properties changed their function is not a church of England monopoly. In Scotland in the 1980s and 1990s many church buildings were sold often for conversion

13:35into residential properties. Though I remember in the city of Aberdeen, the long defunct free church college building became a bar called the college bar. And another city center church became a nightclub ironically, though perhaps appropriately, called the Ministry of Sin. Many Christians at the time saw this as witnessing the dramatic decline in church attendance in the latter part of the 20th century, though the closures might possibly have been caused in part by the overconfident church expansion projects of the Victorian era. These churches may never have been viable in the long run. So he's rightly so, lamenting the fact that a place that had been set apart and dedicated to the worship of God and the glory of God has now been used for something as just pedestrian as the nightclub.

14:38He says, though when the church decides to be something other than she is, a nightclub venue for example, she faces fierce competition as doomed to lose. The secular world does these things so much better than the church. The problem with the church of England faces with both personnel and space all comes down to the same thing. A lack of confidence in perhaps even in some cases a belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ death and resurrection. No mixer deck is going to restore that. So calling the church back to its calling to be the church of Jesus Christ here in a visible testimony and witness in the world is basically what Carl Truman is reminding us about. And so Paul, you know, it's happening here in the US as well, church buildings that have stood the time and history being converted into other uses. And some of them may be as englory as opening becoming a nightclub.

15:42Yeah. And you know, and Carl Truman here, he says, look, buildings don't really matter in the sense that you know, you can worship the Lord in a prison cell or in a refurbished bowling alley. But then he says, but buildings do matter in a sense. Because when a space is dedicated to a sacred purpose, the uses to which it is put do not merely symbolize priorities, but also have constructive or destructive spiritual significance. It's one of the reasons why Jesus himself cleared the money lenders and profiteers from the temple. And this constituted blasphemy. However, such that much the religious leaders might have tried to rationalize their distance themselves from it, and making this move while retaining ownership of St. Paul's, the Church of England legitimizes fabric in all that the rave culture represents. Yeah. And that's, it's unfortunate that's happening. And there are some other articles that I've seen just on that that we're using the same concept of the church's building, the purpose of a building has been transformed into something else.

16:48And this is probably most notable in one of the largest mosque in the world used to be a Christian church, but as present day, Ankara, it's the Oristan Bull and was formerly Constantinople. And the Hagia Sophia was converted, it was built by a Constantin and now it's a mosque. So it, things go through transition if the gospel is lost. Okay, number four interesting question. What do pastors do with their time? This is by David DeBroon. He said, your dad only works one day a week. What does he do the rest of the time? This was asked of one of my daughters by another girl in the church and we all chuckled and sighed. It is rather understandable though. The ministry seems mysterious from the outside. It can appear as if a pastor's job is delivering about an hour or two of public speaking week

17:53and the rest of the time, maybe free time, right? And I once held a new members class, he said, David does that though through this by writing various weekly ministry tests on a board. And then I asked the class to assign a reasonable amount of hours to each task. The list included prayer, sermon preparation, reading for further study, preparing other Bible studies or presentations, counseling, training leaders following up with the missing or the sick or discourage organizing services, visiting members, contacting, contacting missionaries of evangelizing and brought a church administration. By the time they finished, appropriating, portioning these hours to each week, we ended up with an 80 hour work week, not counting the actual corporate meetings of the church, which added another eight hours of so. And they saw the problem. This would kill most men in their first year. And so that's basically the kind of thing that

18:58he's watching. What does a pastor do with his time thinking that the most visible time, of course, is on Sunday when he's delivering a message or teaching Sunday school and teaching. But the question that he says takes away from this is the more a church financially frees him and up the more pastoral ministry they will get from him. Not every congregation can do that, however, but it should be their goal to let pastor be full time. A church should expect equipping from their pastoral ministry from every member. But they should, excuse me, they should expect but ministry from every member as well. So the pastor is included in that membership. And so he certainly will do some of that ministry. And the other thing he says, the more the church ministers to one another, the more they free their pastor to do the equipping side of ministry. So starting with that question, which is quite provocative, what does the pastor do with all that time that he has

20:05during that time that there's more behind the scenes than is obvious. And so he gives us that insight, that background and hopefully that helps us as members to see how we can engage in ministry, how we are quick for it, what we can do. But it's not the joke, wow, what a job only works one hour a week. Yeah, no, it definitely is not a funny joke. I mean, I guess it'd be the context, but no, pastors are very busy all the time. And I just think about what my pastor does. And you know, what between sermon prep and hospitals and surgeries and just all of the things, you know, it's way more than your normal 40 hour week. And it's in it can vary, I'm sure, from week to week. But sometimes it seems like everything kind of happens all at once, you know.

21:06So, well, as you're just thinking about it, you get the your equal report on newsletter tomorrow with this article. That may be one that you want to read first and just consider your own church that you attend, what your pastor does, and if you're a pastor for you to even think about what you're doing and how much time you're spending on things. And then to ask, you know, what are the more important parts and tasks of the whole ministry. And maybe there might be some reassessment and reapportioning of time. Okay, then Rosaria Butterfield gives us a very provocative statement and a title here, Christian women and the poison of porn. She begins according to Covenant eyes, which is a ministry that was developed to really began with helping men with pornography and esteemed internet accountability and screening monitoring service 40% of professing Christian women consume pornography. Now, Paul, I need to stop there and just say,

22:08that surprised me. I, I didn't never heard that, but they are trusting that they have the ability to make that assessment and go up with 40% of professing Christian women. That's a sounding tragic of Rosaria says because consuming pornography is consuming poison. If you're reading this and you are one of the 40%, you feel like we feel a compulsive drive to return to this poison, even though you wish you could stop. But if you are a Christian woman, you can stop consuming pornography. The question is how well, you fight the enemy, enemy inside of you. You read God's word and you pray. So the enemy inside of you is the first thing she deals with and talks about how sexual sin is a deep desire that's within us. So it's not just a purely physical thing. And she gives some points here that it's important to see that the enemy within you,

23:09first of all, is your own sin. See and recognize sin as sin and not as a psychological problem for which you are not responsible. Feel the sorrow for sin, shredding tears because you have sinned against God who loves you and ransom you as a balm to your soul. It softens you to God and his word. Confess your sin, confessing to God and that those that you have sinned against is glory to God and shows your reliance upon him and so forth. She gives a number of pointers that deals with the enemy within which of course is the own sin. It has a desire for it and then that desire materializes into bread and certain types of action. So you have to deal with it at that early level. Read God's word and believe it. It's a second big thing in terms of what does the scripture have to say? How does it feed us? What instruction does it give? But the point is if the time you spend in scripture and learning from it just in your own time, your own quiet time

24:15reading the scripture, you'll be let away from pornography in the sense that you're committing to doing something that will be helpful. And then number three is to pray. Pray against your pornography in dwelling sin enlists the believer in a war between the sinful flesh and the Holy Spirit. A war, Galatians 5, 17 describes as a perpetual here on earth to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. The flesh wars against your desires for purity, but in the power of the Holy Spirit, you can fight your flesh and the death. And then she ends up with the sin of poor needs, the word of truth. Perhaps you notice that I failed to tell you that you're a victim of Adam's fall. That's part of the reason why you're a sinner. That your porn problem is normal and that you are merely trying to meet understandable legitimate needs in the wrong way. Perhaps you notice the glaring absence of what I did say. Instead of bible twisting lies,

25:20you need to be the bold, clear truth of scripture. Christ overcame the world by love and is elect and for his elect and is an endurance of suffering because of this. And the power of the Holy Spirit's grace and Christ's resurrection, the elect will overcome sin by the love for Christ and the endurance of the ongoing battle between the flesh and the spirit. Being a born again, Christian reverses your whole moral compass. Paul, it's interesting, our card can see why it was high and it's something that sort of caught me understanding. I think I try and keep up with all, quote, the studies that are done and the percentages that are out there about who's doing what? This one really caught me. Yeah, and I think they get those numbers just from their own statistics because covenant eyes, I believe is a subscription based service of some kind, you know, and so they're

26:20probably just looking at the, you know, you probably have to mark whether you're male or female when you sign up. She talks about Thomas Watson's, the Purge and Thomas Watson and him describing what repentance looks like and the list six things here. Number six was turned away from sin and cultivate affections opposite of sin. She cites Ephesians 428 in the thief there that does more than just stop stealing. He stopped stealing, but then works with the sands and gives to the poor. Likewise, the woman who consumes porn needs to stop and ask, how can I cultivate a life that replaces consumption of sexual sin with a life of productive sexual purity? Good. Good, good, goodness. I just really urge everyone to read the article and pray for one another in the church to realize that the world of flesh and the devil is a great reality. Okay, the next article is by Tom Herby. He is, this is the second one in him being just expressing his own temperament and issues that

27:24he's been wrestling with over time and the spiritual exhaustion and the temptation to deism and add addendum to my personal testimony of burnout. So last week on top 10, there was a Zarko where Tom just opened up and said, I've been through a number of series and bouts with burnout and what they have done and how it's the feelings I've had because of it. And now he adds to it the testimony. And so one of the takeaway paragraph says, and unlike deism, which is the the view that God is in heaven's there is a God, but he's very distant, he's impersonal, he's not really concerned for you. He leaves you alone to make your way through life. So unlike deism, with its indifferent God in the heavens, orthodoxy tells us that Christ came down and suffered too. That by so doing, he might suffer with and for his people and redeem the whole creation from bondage

28:26in which it is ensnared. Not only that, but endorses the feelings of sorrow and anger that I feel in my burnout. Even the sinless saints in heaven ask God how long before you will judge and avenge. And our Lord often waxed hot against the sinful stubbornness, stubbornness of men. So the point is that I think in these articles, Paul, that Tom is recognizing that first there's a reality no matter who you are, you can go through down times. And if we call it burned out, whether you call it just depressed, whether those, the pitch, the mountain tops, then the valleys and so forth, that it's a reality and he's just calling us to realize that. And how difficult it is at times to go through the existence itself. So while it's difficult to read something like this from a man that has demonstrated great wisdom from the

29:32scriptures and how he argues and reasons, it's still hardy to see that we are fellow travelers with Tom and the issues that we face in our own life. So just encourage you to learn from this as we pond together in the world that's here for us. Yeah, and you know, this, like you said, was a series of articles and so I think I just grateful that Tom is willing to share so much of this and his experience here. I think it's very helpful to a lot of people. Yeah, it is good. And we see that by the way, the sharing of this things you think of a great saint like Elijah just coming off of first Kings 18, seeing magnificent powerful act of God when he prayed and God sent fire from heaven and called the people of Israel

30:32through that back to himself and they acknowledged in unison the Lord he has got over against the prophets of bail and so forth. And just not too long right after that, then Jezebel the Queen, in essence puts out a contract on him, you know, like how dare Elijah do this. And so he hears that and he runs away and basically he goes into a deep depression it seems like and it's recorded for us in the first Kings 19 and God gave him time because he was maybe burned out maybe he just used up all the spiritual strength that he had and God gave him much time to you know get better. And so it's something that we just need to honor and realize it's not just a medical issue, it's really a spiritual emotional kind and Tom brings that up very nicely in that article. Okay, here we have now we turn more to a theological theme,

31:36and that by John Samson, five common misunderstandings about Calvinism says when I speak for many when I say that I have not always embraced the doctrines of grace for what is commonly called Calvinism. The name has never been especially important to me. John Calvin did not invent the doctrines that now bear his name and he certainly was not infallible. The reformers look back and beyond their own generation to Augustine and Augustine look back to Paul. But Calvin and Augustine are not our authority. Paul writing under the inspiration of Holy Spirit is so the question is not where the Calvin top these things, the question is whether scripture does. And so John Samson brings that out to say that perhaps it was in the duty and order of time that the teachings of Calvin were put together in such a way that the not label Calvinism, Calvinistic you know is used. So but he says

32:41they'd say there's still many false ideas about Calvinism as or as John Samson would say of what Pauline theology was and here are five common prompts. So he deals with them and in a very clear way. The questions I think Paul that I know I've been I asked and have been asked. The Calvinism destroys evangelism for instance. He says that is the denies that he said election not only that but explains why some believe in some do not. Those who believe do so because of sovereign grace and those who refuse remain responsible for their unbelief. Jesus said to one group you do not believe because you're not among my sheep and Luke explained the results of the early churches preaching by declaring as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. So it's there's the in he explains you know as much as you can humanly speaking on that. I think it's second he says Calvinism appeals

33:41to the pride of man. A pride in the sense that you think you're better than the other and one of the things he just wades about that is he says a man who knows he's been chosen for no reason in himself has nothing left to be proud of. And so in essence Collins really destroys it but some people see it as something to be pumped in circumstance about Calvinism stunts holiness thinking well if you're saved once saved always save I can just sort of cruise along and he disapuses us of that. Calvinism teaches that man are merely robots and again this very high on the list of questions that people would have and that is not the case because of the way God has made us. And then number five he says Calvinism the Galatians diminishes the God of love which again he takes a handling and speaks about that not being the case at all. So in these doctrines he says

34:45are true we leave us nothing to boast about and everything to praise God for. We preach because God saves through the gospel. We purpose holiness because he chose us to be holy. We come willingly to Christ because the grace has made us willing unwilling sinners to be willing and we love because he first loved us. So if you asking questions or you want to know how to answer questions but more importantly to make sure that your your Christian life you're walking with the Lord is clear and Christ centered. I'd have a very helpful article. I think answers the questions well ask him honestly and we wrestle with him. That's right and I think this is a good article in line of what's been going on the last few weeks with Denish D'Souza attacking Calvinists as well as ironically John McArthur's former attorney Jenna Ellis attacking Calvinism and one of the robot one is especially helpful Calvinism teaches that men are merely robots and he gets down to the

35:50idea of choice versus the idea of ability right. I've always wanted to be able to dunk a basket ball when I was in my prime but I just never possessed the ability to do that right. So I thought that was a really good aspect of this article. Good. Well Paul the next one is one that I know families and Lisa Mike's parents I don't know if family hasn't been affected by it. When the title is when love and faithfulness cause offense and this is in praise of family who declined to attend the gay wedding. Kathy Faust is as an up at peace talking about her brother listed the names one by one starting with the college roommates cousins neighbors worship leaders and all of them were coming to his wedding to his boyfriend. She wasn't on the list then when he asked why he said I love you more than you then they do and therefore they therefore cannot participate in an event

36:53celebrating something detrimental to his eternal soul. He called her the biggest hypocrite he had ever known told her this was his line in the sand and hung up and she hasn't spoken to him in three years and so the pain of a burger relationship when you as the title says that when love and faithfulness causes offense and so Kathy Faust Faust walks through this with some biblical examples and also just clear application and implications coming from the scripture itself. So in the end she says the family members who don't attend the same sex wedding are often shamed by the world extended family their own children and even by confused Christians but as with other high-stakes scenarios those who trust in the Lord is the only thing to which Christians can claim those who believe will never be put to shame their conviction and decision will be vindicated in heaven often more here

37:56than on earth. So it's something to muse on if you already haven't if you've been through it you'll appreciate how Kathy handles very sensibly and very carefully and so I'm glad that she gave us this perspective. Amen. Yeah more and more people are going to be faced with this or face with us now they will be faced with us in the future and it's just important that we have you know clear biblical lines and and this is also part of I would even say suffering because we all love our family right and yet this is one of those examples where you know you can't you it's the two greatest commandments right love the Lord your God versus love your neighbor is yourself and it's well we can't get the second one and put it in front of the first and I think that's and really you can make the argument because the love your Lord your God is first it's an act of loving loving your brother in this case by saying I can't do this and that's exactly what she said I love you more than they do I can't do this so and then she doesn't cut them off that's

38:57the whole point even though she can't be there to celebrate what they think is a very unique special time and she says I can't celebrate that with you but I will not give you a bond give up on you and that just really blends beautifully I think into the next article which deals with the larger question about parents and the title is three questions to help parents know which hill to die on you know what is in if you have everything if you can put things between one and ten is everything a ten then ten loses its meaning so not everything can be a ten so says are we going to die on this hill in other words is this one die on so cathy foul says this hill of that decision about whether you go to a wedding of two homosexuals is not as sin and not a it's a hill I would die on to say no but now you're raising your children you're also disciplining yourself where do you put the markers so to speak on these things says children grow and as they do

40:03they begin to test limits of their parents it seems to me it's a natural and therefore simple for children to push on the established boundaries and preferences of their home to see how firm they are I'm not even sure they know they're doing it but doing it they are they are doing that nonetheless so to be clear I'm not talking about outright defiance here I'm talking more about issues general expectations or commitment these are the issues like doing homework as soon as you get home rather than waiting until later in the evening or choosing to wear your hair in a certain way even though mom and dad would prefer something different stuff like that which leads back to the question are we going to die on this hill in other words we ask ourselves whether this particular issue that the child is pushing on is worth putting all our weight on implicit in the question is the knowledge that you can't die on every hill because if you do then your stand becomes less and less meaningful so do you know which hill is the right hill and where you stand any

41:13gives us three reasons here in this Michael Kelly does what is the deeper issue is one of the things he deals with first and then what is the truth the truth win and the last are we prepared to follow through so to put it another way how committed are we to do this and we already established consequences for this action and are we ready to follow through with this promise we've made this is a good question to ask because the worst say scenario would not necessarily be for us to back down as parents it would be the worst would be for us to stand firm and then not follow on what we have said would happen next so very simple but very perceptive about how we should guide our own lives and what standards we have and where the line is and then also those that we have responsibility to guide and train up to sharpen to hone and to shape for their own well-being.

42:17I can identify with number three are you prepared to follow through and what happens when you do we're in the midst of I mean my wife are in the midst of punishing our nine-year-old and bless her heart by doing this by removing all screens all of them it it has now there's more responsibility to or at least she thinks to entertain her in other ways and so but it's actually been a good thing right more interaction instead of less but in more opportunity but at the same time it's like okay and we knew this we knew this would happen going in but yeah this is a really good art this this speaks to me as a parent of somebody who's young more than any of the articles this week this one is the this is the one yep well it's where you're living and it's and it's and it's and it's also stretching you and your wife as well you're you're don't you're already nine I mean she

43:20was just born I know I know Dominic yep she's already nine oh my well yes definitely me to a a planet but do it according to the article down here we care for which hill it is how so learn from that everything if everything's a 10 remember then 10 loses it's meaning all right enough of that the the last one this is a good long title not old not young not done why the church needs Christians who still have plenty left in the tank like this one here for ministry there is that phrase I have more said more than once in life I think it's time for me to step back and let the younger people do it sometimes that is explicitly right instinct churches need mature Christians who are willing to train others hand over responsibility and rejoice when a younger believer grows into meaningful service but sometimes that sentence hides another assumption my useful years are

44:24behind me so he refers to Christopher Ash who actually wrote a book not old not young not done following Jesus in your 50s and 60s is a warm wise and necessary challenge to that to that way of thinking and so he explores that whole thing of that God doesn't kick people to the curb at some point there's no magical thing you know the with the 65 is the sort of the magical time for retirement because it was set in 1936 I think was in at least in the US about when you could start getting so security and that was done by actuarial tables not because of any other state and there's nothing in the universe that made 65 magic but it's ingrained now so deeply in our culture so what do what do we do and and so forth so a lot of suggestions here older Christians should not be treated as though their main contribution is behind them younger Christians need their wisdom

45:26churches need their prayers families need their faithfulness and the next generation needs their example so Paul's ambition near the end of his life was not simply that he had started well but that he had also finished the race and that he had done it well and so again just a great challenge here that we are given here by Alistair Chalmers and trust that might be helpful so yeah and we're right now just in demographically the boomers are still the largest group around and so and they're hitting as I can testify being and the first year the boomers are you getting older but um the they need to hand over the mantle to another to others but they don't have to give it up completely as they train others for the next generation yeah and that's what's important is is to is recognizing that hey that works not over and what what can I now do with my free time and

46:29spare time to to shore up you know the the foundations so that it it is there to you know be passed on and I'm thinking specifically of your local congregation your local church what can you do how can you build into other people so and that's exactly what we do and this is a great time in life uh to find that um that strong measure in that right place well those are the top 10 articles of the Ecclull report that will be coming your way in the newsletter tomorrow on October September 29 so when you get it uh we like to encourage you not only should you sort read through them or look at the list click on those that seem to grab at you initially save the others for another time but take the time to rehearse my think you'll find that the collective numbering of your fellow readers uh is very helpful and uh of course you can always go through the Ecclull report dot com any day because eight neuroticals are published every day and be part of what produces the next weeks top 10 and uh so we encourage you to uh share

47:33the uh the the newsletter just click on it since the newsletter easily to forward to others who you think may enjoy reading these articles and so until we come back the next time we ask that the Lord will prosper you and that you will find your place in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ