We'll see you in March! Thanks as always for reading, sharing, and buying on Amazon through my site!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
I'll Be Taking a Blog Break For a Few Days
We'll see you in March! Thanks as always for reading, sharing, and buying on Amazon through my site!
The Danger of Forgetting How To Read The Bible
Dan Doriani:
In the past month, I learned that two more Christian leaders whom I know have either tarnished or destroyed their ministries. Neither was a friend, in the full sense, yet I've been friendly with both men and respected their talents and the fruit of their labors.
Once again, I wonder: How could a man who studied and knew Scripture and taught it faithfully to others, brazenly violate its most basic principle of love and self-control?
Even as I ask the question, I know I'm liable to self-destructive sin too. Everyone needs Paul's admonition: "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Gal. 6:1). Self-aware leaders know that we can violate principles we thought we knew.
But how can we repent quickly and keep from hardening ourselves to God's voice as he calls us back to himself?Read the rest.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
You Weren't Created To Be a Superhero
Human beings were built with limits. God didn't design you to be a superhero.
You and I were created to live dependent lives, never surviving on the basis of our own strength, wisdom and control. From the moment of our first breath, we were limited, weak, and fragile beings.
If you're a parent, or an older brother or sister, you know this to be true. Think about how long your newborn child or sibling would have lasted if you left them alone. I was shocked when we had our first child - there was never a moment when we could leave him alone, except during sleep, and even then we were only a few feet away.
As we grow older, we think that we become more independent. We get married, have children of our own, buy our first house, and make significant life decisions. Sure, a 40-year married adult can feed and dress himself much better than a 4-month old infant, but I'm afraid that we don't fully accept our limitations.Read the rest.
Books by Paul Tripp:
- Sex and Money: Pleasures That Leave You Empty and Grace That Satisfies
- Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry
- Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change (Resources for Changing Lives)
- What Did You Expect?: Redeeming the Realities of Marriage
- Broken-Down House
Monday, February 17, 2014
Cheap eBook Alert
Some GREAT resources here for theological development on various topics. All are $3.99
"We need to eat our unexciting meatloaf in our boring, single-family homes with a few more outcasts around our table."
Matthew Loftus writes well about the "boring" Christian life and the hope of the nations. How do they fit together? Here is his conclusion, but read the whole thing. It's full of insight.
It is important for those of us who have grown up in cultures with strong churches & Christian institutions to recognize the concept of church-planting movements in foreign missions, particularly in regard to three self and unreached people groups principles when discussing foreign missions. For not only is there a larger percentage of faithful, boring Christians in Missouri than in Somalia, but the Christians in Missouri have developed the cultural, theological, and ecclesiological resources necessary to create new churches in their culture and language. This is not true for thousands of people groups that do not know Jesus and have no human means to learn about Him. People in North America certainly need evangelism, discipleship, and theological formation just as much as people in Central Asia. The difference is that the institutions and churches carrying out those works in North America are not merely present, but have the ability to self-sustain, self-fund, and self-reproduce in their own cultural milieu. Such institutions aren’t just virtually absent elsewhere, but often lack the resources and personnel to propagate and persist. If we are serious about the value of these institutions, we should work slowly yet tenaciously to establish them everywhere and send enough Christians to places without them so they might be strengthened.
There are needs everywhere, of course. Not only are the suburbs of America full of lost people, they are full of Christians who need one another to stay and build one another up through fellowship, prayer, service, and worship. Raising families in an increasingly hostile and materialistic culture is hard work requiring great spiritual resources, and we ought not minimize its importance. However, if we look at the needs of the world and the concentration of wealth, power, education, health, and Biblical knowledge that we’ve been blessed with, it looks a little disproportionate—especially when it comes to the institutions that drive the growth of the church and help to keep her witness faithful. We need to be quiet and patient in a few more places. We need to use the dividends of our thrift a little more intentionally. And we need to eat our unexciting meatloaf in our boring, single-family homes with a few more outcasts around our table.Read the rest.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Friday, February 14, 2014
A Letter To Everyone Who Doesn't Have a Valentine
Stephen Altrogge writes a helpful post here that should encourage anyone who thinks Valentine's Day is the worst day of the year.
His points:
His points:
- Being single does not make you any less valuable or any less of a person.
- Being single does not mean you are incomplete.
- Singleness is not a holding pattern.
- Your church needs you.
- Turn your loneliness to prayer.
- Beware of unique temptations.
- Remember that marriage is not the end all.
Click through to read the explanations.
Drunk With Love
A great Valentine's Day reflection from Jon Bloom. I commend it to you.
He writes:
The evolution of Valentine’s Day has followed a course similar to the evolution of Santa Claus. It began with legends surrounding an obscure saint (actually, there’s more than one St. Valentine) from early Christian history that oddly morphed over the centuries into something else entirely. Then it exploded into a pop culture and commercial phenomenon in Victorian England (thank the Brits for greeting cards, flowers, and “confectionaries”), with the United States quickly jumping on the bandwagon.Read the rest.
No one knows for sure how a February 14th feast day commemorating a martyr(s) came to be a celebration of Eros love. It’s possible that when 5th Century Pope Gelasius l abolished the ancient Roman pagan fertility festival, Lupercalia (celebrated on February 15th), it ended up just meshing with St. Valentine’s Day. All we know is that “Volantynys day” abruptly shows up in a romantic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th Century and it’s been with us ever since.
So what should Christians make of today’s Valentine’s Day?
As much as purely possible! Valentine was a saint and Eros is not Cupid’s domain. It’s God’s! Christians should be the most unashamed, exuberant celebrators of romantic love there are, and the strongest guardians of God’s design and boundaries, because God made it for us to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17)! And God, the greatest romantic in existence, has designed it to give us a taste of the greatest romance that will ever exist, of which all Christians will experience.
In addition, check out Jon's new book here.
Cheap eBook Alert
Counseling The Hard Cases
Heath Lambert and Stuart Scott
Transformational Church
Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
For All The Music, History, Literature, and General Studies Majors Out There
As one who has a BA in religion, this comical video rang quite true.
The White Guy Who Doesn't Know How To Talk About Race
Barnabas Piper offers some honest reflections on being white and wanting to seek change in reference to racial issues but isn't sure where to start. Obviously he is writing in general terms as he speaks about "white people" but his contribution to the discussion is valuable and I'm sure many can relate.
Three Myths About Small Groups
Philip Nation:
1. Small groups are just for fellowship. Small groups must be an environment where people grow closer but not just for the sake of friendship. As believers, our fellowship deepens when it is centered on the truth. Fellowship is one of the functions of the church but it is not the ultimate reason for small groups. Transformation is. Small groups draw people together with a higher purpose than just hanging out in the name of Jesus. We want to draw people around His Word so they can be fed and then transformed by it.Read the rest.
2. People in small groups should stay together indefinitely. In other words, breaking up a group is bad. The argument is made that “our healthy small group should not be separated.” But healthy group members will want to share with others what’s occurred in their lives. Conversely, it is also a myth that leaders just want to split every group for an underhanded reason; control, spitefulness, power-grabbing. In reality, we all know that healthy things grow and then multiply. As leaders, we also know that when things don’t grow, then they begin to drain energy from other parts of the body. Small groups are the same. Now, this is not to say that a small group that does not multiply is moldy, rotten, or cancerous. But it can be reveal an inward-facing spirit that runs counter to the mission of God. By engendering a spirit of multiplication, small groups will eventually reach more people for Christ and help more people mature in Christ.
3. Anyone can lead a small group. I want to tread carefully in this one because it is so close to true. If the statement read, “Anyone can learn to lead a small group,” then we’ve got it. But, as it stands, it is a bit naïve. It comes back to purpose. If you buy into myth #1, then anyone can lead a small group. Just be there to host everyone for a good time and a quasi-spiritual conversation. But, if you want to lead people toward transformation, then as leaders, we need to produce leaders. Rather than just throw people into the situation of handling whatever comes up on their own, teach/train/prepare them to be a great small group leader.
Five Lies About Your Body
Helpful post here written for women, but certainly applies to men as well. These are such important reminders for us as we navigate a culture of external appearances.
Jen Wilkin:
Jen Wilkin:
- Lie #1: Your body is decorative. It should be used to attract the attention of men and the envy of women. What matters most is how it looks.
- Lie #2: Your body's appearance is flawed but fixable. You are not the right size, shape, or color. But you can (and should) go to enormous effort and expense to change that.
- Lie #3: Your body is a source of power. It can and should be trained, toned, and preserved from all signs of age. Its level of attractiveness or strength can and should be leveraged to give you dominance over and independence from others.
- Lie #4: Your body is yours. You are its owner. You may neglect it, obsess over it, indulge it, punish it, pamper it, or alter it as you wish.
- Lie #5: Transforming the outside will fix the inside.
"It is More Blessed to Give Than Receive" - Acts 20:35
Here is the proof for this verse. Fascinating stuff.
Cheap eBook Alert
The Gospel-Driven Life
Michael Horton
Beyond Ordinary
Justin and Trisha Davis
Sacred Marriage
Gary Thomas
Sheet Music
Dr. Kevin Leman
The Divine Conspiracy
Dallas Willard
The Spirit of the Disciplines
Dallas Willard
Counseling the Hard Cases
Heath Lambert and Stuart Scott
Monday, February 10, 2014
He is 7'1" and Moves Like a Point Guard
This kid could be the future of basketball. He is 16 years old.
Why Are We Still on Facebook?
I have been feeling this lately.
The New Yorker:
The New Yorker:
At the University of Texas at Austin, Gosling and one of his graduate students, Gabriella Harari, have been examining why people decide to leave Facebook. They have found three broad themes: people see Facebook as pointless and unnecessary, they see it as a problematic distraction, and they are worried about privacy. As you experience a constant stream of updates from more people, the possibilities for distraction or frustration at a pointless update (did I really need to know that her baby is now teething?) rise apace. And as you share more information with more people, it all becomes a window into who you are—even the parts you might prefer to keep private. The more publicly we form and affirm social bonds—and the more people we form and affirm them with—the more likely we are to see our mental bandwidth filled and our privacy eroded.Read the rest.
Fighting Mission Fatigue
Brad Watson writes a great post concerning the life of mission.
Do not leave a life on mission because you have made it your life. There is a way to be on mission and for your life to be about Jesus. In fact, this is the only sustainable way. As you press into seeing Jesus present, involved, and relevant at your dinner table, at work, in the garden, and with your friends, you will be on mission. The gospel is the only agent of perseverance. This is one thrilling life of repentance, faith, and fruit.
Jesus is worth it! You will find Jesus on the mission, but don’t substitute the mission for Jesus.Read the rest.
Dunk(s) of the Day
The 720.
Not sure if it is a true 720 but really good nonetheless. If only all those figure-skaters on the Winter Olympics could dunk.
These two weren't bad either.
Not sure if it is a true 720 but really good nonetheless. If only all those figure-skaters on the Winter Olympics could dunk.
These two weren't bad either.
Cheap eBook Alert
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Eric Metaxas
Ephesians
R. Kent Hughes
Galatians
Todd Wilson
Phillipians, Colossians, and Philemon
R. Kent Hughes
1, 2 Timothy and Titus
Bryan Chapell
Take Words With You
Tim Kerr
Real Men Don't Text: A New Approach to Dating
Ruthie and Michael Dean
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