First, the deadline is tonight!

Make a year-end gift to TGC

Hi First,   We have until midnight tonight to reach our year-end match goal. If we can raise $100,000 from the global TGC family, a generous donor has agreed to match that amount and turn it into $200,000. With your help, we can get across the finish line.    Not many people know that TGC relies heavily on the generous support of Christians like you. Would you prayerfully consider making a gift to help us continue equipping churches and Christians to stay faithfully rooted in the gospel amid a rapidly changing, confusing culture?    Whatever changes come to the world in 2024, we can rest in the confidence that the Word of God will not change, nor will the truth and hope of the gospel. Will you partner with TGC to remind Christians of that precious truth in 2024 and beyond? Make a Year-End Gift to TGC I hope your New Year's Eve will be full of thankfulness for past blessings and hopeful expectation of the Lord's faithfulness in the coming year.    Gratefully in Christ,   Collin Hansen Vice President for Content and Editor in Chief The Gospel Coalition, P.O. Box 170346, Austin, TX 78717 Unsubscribe

A special request

Here's one simple way you can make a difference in 2024

Dear First,   Thank you for trusting and supporting The Gospel Coalition through another year. When we started TGC back in 2005, our vision included plans to equip the church with trustworthy, gospel-centered resources. That's still our goal today, and you have a vital role to play.    Though the changing world continues to present believers with an array of complex challenges and confusing issues—some we could barely have predicted back in 2005—our core commitment does not change. We want to provide biblically faithful, gospel-centered answers. Will you partner with us to help sustain this work going into 2024 and beyond?    Perhaps you've benefited from some of our resources in 2023. Please consider making a year-end gift to help us continue equipping churches and Christians.   You can make your year-end gift today at this link. Make a Year-End Gift to TGC Whether you make a gift or support us in prayer—thank you!   Have a blessed New Year.   Yours faithfully,   Don Carson   TGC Cofounder and Theologian-at-Large The Gospel Coalition, P.O. Box 170346, Austin, TX 78717 Unsubscribe

Finishing 2023 “Strong in Grace”

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Finishing 2023 "Strong in Grace" SCOTTY SMITH   "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus" (2Tim.2:1). "It's good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace" (Heb.13:9)   Lord Jesus, "finishing strong"—a phrase applied to all kinds of sports teams, but one that is also perfect for ending a year, and beginning a new one. For some of us, 2023 can't be over too soon; for others, it may have been the best year ever. For all of us, finishing strong in your grace is appropriate—maybe even heart-resuscitating and life-saving. What are other options? Well, we could finish 2023 paralyzed by fear, but who, given the option, would joyfully chose that? Or we could finish the year filled with resentment—which might feel good in the moment, but as 2024 emerges, it will prove to be the thief that robbed our hearts, health, and homes. Another option to finishing strong in grace is ending the year with ramped-up cravings. Craving intimacy, longing for approval, the hunger to matter, filling the vacuum, medicating the pain, silencing guilt and shame, finding peace—somehow, somewhere… Jesus, all 7 of these—each one of them is good, and each needs to be honored. To say your grace alone is sufficient for each is simply to say only you, Jesus, are the resolution to each. You made us for yourself, Jesus, and we will remain restless until we rest in you—for the first or "umpteenth" time. To finish 2023 strong in grace won't be to finish strong is something, but Someone—in you, Lord Jesus, in you. It is you that we earnestly crave, and it is us that you intensely love, Jesus. Bring these two realities together in a fresh and profoundly freeing way. Thank you, and So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  P.O. Box 170346    Austin  TX  78717    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Unsubscribe from all future emails.

“One Thing’s” That Are All the Main Thing

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH "One Thing's" That Are All the Main Thing SCOTTY SMITH Jesus to the Rich Young Ruler: "One thing you lack—the Gospel" Mk.10:21. Jesus to Martha: "Only one thing is necessary" Luke 10:42. King David: "One thing I desire of the LORD…" Ps. 27:4. The Apostle Paul: "One thing I do…" Phil. 3:13.   Lord Jesus, we are so grateful you don't "mince words," "pull punches," "beat around bushes," or "hem and haw." You never intended our lives to become fragmented and frazzled; but freed, focused, and filled with you. You don't get your feelings hurt when you're not "first in our lives," because you didn't come to be first, but our everything—life itself (Phil.1:21; Col.3:4). Though, by your generosity, we get to do all kinds of wonderful things in life, you never hope to hear any of us say: "Here are the eleven things I dabble in." Rather, "Here is the one thing that is my main thing: Knowing, loving, and serving Jesus." The Rich Young Ruler had many things—really, everything but the essential thing—you, Jesus, you. You had Martha, but many other things "had" Martha. King David's unharnessed desires took him to destructive choices and outcomes, until you, Jesus, became his "one thing." The Apostle Paul was capable of out multi-tasking any of us, but his "one thing" was "the excellency of knowing you" (Phil.3:8-9). Jesus, if this has never been true of us, make it so. If "it's been a while," we're ready for that "while" to be over. Hallelujah, and So Very Amen.       Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  P.O. Box 170346    Austin  TX  78717    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Unsubscribe from all future emails.

Friends ARE, Indeed, “Friends Forever”

Heavenward. Read the latest from Scotty Smith's blog.

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Friends ARE, Indeed, "Friends Forever" SCOTTY SMITH "Let's consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb.10:24-25)   Lord Jesus, of the many gifts you give us in this life, our friendships will keep on giving forever. For everything you'll already shown us about our coming life in the new heaven and new earth reveals it to be highly relational, and a redeeming, not replacing, of the life we enjoy in this world. Though our relationship with you will fulfill everything marriage is meant to signify in this brief life (Matt.22:30; Eph.5:21-32), we will actually know our spouse better in eternity than we could ever know them in this life, and that's really awesome. So, Jesus, as "the friend who sticks closer than a brother," help us relish, nourish, and flourish our friendships. A sure "recipe for ruin" is having a multitude of acquaintances, but nothing resembling real friendship (Prov.18:24). Make this a big deal for us in 2024. If we're too busy for Gospel-shaped friendship, we're not simply too busy. We're "accidents waiting to happen," under the spell of the master isolationist (the devil), and more vulnerable than an open jar of honey placed in front of Winnie the Pooh. Teach us how to "love at all times," the way you love us (Prov.17:17). We're not always easy, pleasant, or fun to be with (kindly understated); so thank you for being a friend of "sinners" (Matt.11:19). Show us how to work and fight for each other's joy, and not just work to make more money and fight to be right (2Cor.1:24). Teach us the difference between flattery (conflict-avoidant, manipulative, kissing-up), and life-giving encouragement (Heb.3:13). An enemy "multiplies kisses." But good friends receive and give the kind of heart-wounding that leads to freedom and healing (Prov.27:6). Jesus, thank you for calling us, and making us your friends (Jn.15:15). We have some friends that don't know you yet. May 2024 be the year they come to eternal friendship with you. Hallelujah, and So Very Amen.   Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  P.O. Box 170346    Austin  TX  78717    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Update your email preferences to choose the types of emails you receive. Unsubscribe from all future emails.

Your year-end donation to TGC will be doubled!

A gift of $100 becomes $200, $500 becomes $1,000, and so on. 

Dear First,   I'm thrilled to share that a generous donor wants to match donations to TGC until midnight of New Year's Eve—up to $100,000! That means a gift of $100 becomes $200, $500 becomes $1,000, and so on.    The timing could not be better. Without support from believers who care about helping people think wisely and biblically, TGC wouldn't exist. And I'm convinced, more than ever, of the urgency of TGC's mission to help believers apply the gospel to all of life.    This recent note from a supporter demonstrates the pressing nature of our work:   I have become so thankful for TGC, and access your content on almost a daily basis. In these days of biblical illiteracy, increasing exile and hostility, I believe TGC is one of the most crucial and timely, unifying resources for the global church.   A year-end gift to TGC will enable us to continue equipping churches and Christians with gospel-centered resources in 2024, rooting more people in our shaky world into solid truth.   Will you partner with us by making a gift today? Make a Year-End Gift to TGC Thank you for anything you can give.    Blessings to you and your family,   Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra Senior Writer   P.S. Make a year-end gift to TGC of any size and we'll give you a free ebook download of The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin. It will arrive in your inbox immediately following your donation. The Gospel Coalition, P.O. Box 170346, Austin, TX 78717 Unsubscribe

Are you ready for 2024?

Preparing for the New Year 

Hi First!   I hope that you've had a wonderful Christmas season and that the good news of Jesus's birth will continue to encourage you and sustain you throughout the upcoming year. At TGC, we look forward to the new year as an opportunity to prepare resources that will inspire and encourage you in your faith. One of my favorite ways to grow spiritually is using a simple daily Bible reading plan. Here's my favorite 5-day-a-week plan that you can print and use for free! More than anything else, I hope 2024 will be a year of spiritual growth as we press on toward the goal of knowing Christ and sharing him with others.   If you've been blessed by any of TGC's books, articles, podcasts, videos, or events over the past year, would you consider partnering with us by making a gift to support our work in 2024? A donation from you will help believers all over the world, in every generation, better know the gospel and apply it to all of life. Make a Year-End Gift to TGC Every blessing in Christ,   Melissa Kruger Vice President of Discipleship Programming   P.S. Don't forget. In return for making a year-end gift to TGC, we're giving you a free ebook download of The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin. It will arrive in your inbox immediately following your donation.  The Gospel Coalition, P.O. Box 170346, Austin, TX 78717 Unsubscribe