Giving Tuesday is three days away!

Help us hold fast to the gospel in a shifting world.

View in browser Dear First,   Giving Tuesday is just around the corner, and we want you to be a part of it.   This year, we're inviting you to Hold Fast with us: to stand firm in gospel truth and help renew and unify the church through faithful resources.   On Tuesday, December 2, we'll rally together to fund Christ-centered articles, theological resources, and insightful podcasts to help renew and unify the church.    We'll even have a matching gift opportunity to double the impact of your generosity!   Mark your calendar, and be on the lookout for more details soon.   In Christ, Stephen Schindler Vice President of Development The Gospel Coalition  Give to TGC The Gospel Coalition PO Box #1637, Columbia, MO,65205   The Gospel Coalition is a 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.   Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Finishing 2025 Dazzled, Humbled, and Gladdened by Jesus

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

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Finishing 2025 Dazzled, Humbled, and Gladdened by Jesus SCOTTY SMITH    "The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently with great care, seeking to discern when and where the Spirit of Christ inside them was pointing. Without all the details, the Spirit told them the Messiah would suffer and afterwards great glories would follow… Even angels, on tip-toes with joy, long to look into these things." (pp 1Pet.1:10-12)      Lord Jesus, the season of Advent officially begins tomorrow, Nov. 30—a month of pondering the things that moved prophets and angels to deep awe, fresh hope, and holy joy. May December 2025 find us "busy" with slowing down, quieting our hearts, and setting our gaze and affection on you afresh.    The Old Testament's prophets were "shocked and awed" as the Holy Spirit gave them promises, words, and images to share with us about your two comings. By the sufferings of your first, you secured the glories of your second. I love how Peter summarized the "big picture" of your work as the Messiah as " grace coming to us ." For that is what we need, and that is who you are, Jesus. Truly, grace isn't a something; it is a Someone—you, Lord Jesus.    Before you drew your first incarnate breath in Bethlehem, and exhaled your last on Calvary, you breathed our world into existence. Oh, blessed Alpha and Omega—First, Middle, and Last—Jesus only you are worthy of our worship, love, and praise. Only you see, know, and care for us in the ways we crave and need.    You know our greatest struggles and our yet-to-be-healed wounds, our most holy longings and your most glorious provision. Meet with us in this month, Jesus. Melt us with your mercy. Marvel our hearts with your truth, goodness, and beauty in ways we have never experienced.  So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Why Be Grateful Today Even if We Can’t Overflow with Thanks?

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

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Why Be Grateful Today Even if We Can't Overflow with Thanks? SCOTTY SMITH   "Since you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, now walk in Him. Get to know him more intimately and love him more fully. You are deeply rooted in Christ, and your Father is making you more like Jesus. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, and Jesus as the object of our faith, may we overflow with gratitude." (pp Col. 2:6-7)    Heavenly Father, considering the opulent riches you have given us in Jesus, and the many creature comforts and good things you give us as a loving Father, " overflowing with gratitude" shouldn't be that difficult. But until you glorify us, our default mode will be forgetting the Gospel, discontent-by-comparison, and "Yes-but-Ing" your grace. "Yes, God's grace is amazing BUT check out my ' not-so-amazing-list'."    (Friends, on this Thanksgiving Day, what disproportionally disappoints us more than the Gospel most appropriately astonishes us? Don't let this question fuel shame but ignite our gratitude.)    Abba, you commend being "content with food and clothing" (1Tim.6:8). So, here's the "bread-and-threads" we are most grateful for today. Thank you for giving us bread from heaven—the Bread of Life, Jesus himself as our essential nutrients and eternal feast. Thank you for taking away our wardrobe of sin and shame, and clothing us in garments of your grace—in the very righteousness and beauty of Jesus. Hallelujah,10,000 times over!    Abba, we also thank you today for the multiple freedoms of the Gospel, including these: Thank you for your freedom from posing and pretending. Many of us wake up to hard stuff today—like empty chairs in our home through death of a loved one or strained/broken relationships. Your grace frees us to grieve hard things without them debilitating or defining us. Thank you for the freedom to lament without our laments turning into cussin,' contempt, and acting "crazy" for a few hours. We are guaranteed a perfect world, a perfect us, and perfected others—but not till Jesus returns. Give us big grace till that big Day. Thank you for the freedom to ALWAYS ask: "How is my Father at work for my good right now in things I call bad and very hard?"    Father, we do thank you, but we are not saved to the degree we're grateful but to the degree we're grace-possessed—which is 100% by your doing and delight. So VERY Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

This Thanksgiving, we're giving thanks - for you

Your generosity is bearing gospel fruit.

View in browser Dear First,   As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I've been reflecting on God's kindness this past year. Your faithful partnership is one of the many things I'm truly grateful for.   Because of your generosity, we've seen the Lord at work.   "TGC's platform amplifies the voices of pastors and ministries on the front lines of gospel-centered transformation—helping to plant churches, raise up leaders, and renew communities through Christ." Pastor Alton Hardy, Urban Hope Community Church in Fairfield, AL Every article read, every podcast listened to, every resource shared, all happens because friends like you give. And your giving doesn't just support content; it supports the spiritual formation of millions.   As Paul wrote to the Philippians, "I thank my God in all my remembrance of you." That is how we feel today. You are a gift to this ministry.   We thank God for you. With gratitude, Mark Vroegop President, The Gospel Coalition   P.S. Want to hear the full story behind Pastor Hardy's ministry? Sarah Zylstra shares it beautifully in one of her latest podcast episodes—listen HERE. Give to TGC The Gospel Coalition PO Box #1637, Columbia, MO,65205   The Gospel Coalition is a 501(c)(3) organization. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.   Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

Life Is Short, Heaven Is Near, Love Like Both Are True

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

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH Life Is Short, Heaven Is Near, Love Like Both Are True SCOTTY SMITH    "Encourage one another, build one another up—more and more so as you hear the clock ticking and see the best Day ever getting really close." (pp 1Thess.5:11+ Heb.10:25).   Heavenly Father, we will soon realize that whatever we thought heaven will be like—our bar is way, way too low; our imagination is too monochromatic and undersized; and our hopes about heaven have been too shackled and shaped by our fallenness and unbelief. Eternity will be beautiful, bountiful, and bodacious beyond our wildest dreams, best theology, and ability to conceive what you've prepared for us. Hallelujah, and thank you. A nano-second into our first unfiltered, unfettered glimpse of Jesus (1Jn.3:1-3), we'll also realize that your grace is 10,000 times more amazing that we currently realize. We'll also understand that you intended us to live, (before our death), with more peace, freedom, and joy—more "holy-I-could-care-less-ness" about things that that presently bug and bind us. This is all SO real to me as I think about how many of friends/acquaintances  of mine have passed into eternity in the past year—some half my age. And there are several people dear to me who are carrying what our world calls a "terminal" illness. This is more of a "wake-up-and-smell-the-Gospel" call than it is sobering, scary, and saddening to me. The perspective-metaphors you've given us in your Word about life before heaven are "mist, vapor, a shadow, and withering grass." Thank you, and may these images impact us a lot more—even for the remainder of 2025. We're fixing to be, (or not be), with people we call family, friend, neighbor, etc. Free us to see each other with eyes of compassion through the lens of mercy by the calendar of grace with the Day in view. Unknot us and de-rigid us, Father, gentle and soften us. We need to hold each other more than we need to hold grudges. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.

The Fullness of Abba’s Joy Invading the Fullness of Our Messes

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

Heavenward SCOTTY SMITH The Fullness of Abba's Joy Invading the Fullness of Our Messes SCOTTY SMITH " Rejoice that your names are written in heaven" (Lk.10:20).  " In your presence (Abba) there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Ps.16:11). " Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds" (James1:2). " Father, may they have the full measure of my joy within them" (Jn.17:13).    Dear Abba, Father, Habakkuk your son and prophet affirmed his commitment to rejoice in you right in the middle of a fig-less, blossom-less, grape-less, olive-crop-failing, livestock-gone stretch of life (Hab.3:17-19). For some, this might seem like spiritual spin, feelingless stoicism, or the delusions of denial. But for those who understand the interplay of life in Christ and life in a fallen world—it's really challenging, but not at all shocking.    Precisely because you are our Sovereign LORD and loving Father, we can trust you with our next several days and weeks—and the rest of our lives. In all probability we'll experience both  " trials of many kinds" (Jms.1:2), and " grace in many forms" (1Pet.4:10). This interplay might threaten our joy, but it can't destroy it—for our joy is rooted in you, not dependent on things we cannot control. With Paul, our desire is to affirm: " Our hearts ache, but we always have joy" (2 Cor.6:10).    All this Thanksgiving week—and throughout Advent, may we see our names written in heaven's book more clearly than the trials penciled into our journey Home. May we experience Jesus' prayers for our joy being answered well before he wipes our tears and makes all things new. Since the fullness of joy is found in your presence (Ps.16:11), bring your presence into the fullness of our messes. Abba, if we haven't told you lately, we love you and are SO glad we are your beloved children. So Very Amen. Wish you had a roundup of our best content? Subscribe to our weekly Update. SIGN ME UP! The Gospel Coalition  PO Box #1637    Columbia  MO  65205    You received this email because you are subscribed to Scotty Smith's Blog: Heavenward from The Gospel Coalition. Take control of your inbox. Manage your preferences and choose which newsletters you want to receive or unsubscribe from all emails.