Wow, there are a lot of good posts from around the web for your weekend reading.

First, let’s consider the important matter of salvation.  How do you know you are saved?  At issue here is the danger that many people have a false assurance of salvation.  To help us think through this and examine ourselves, Mike McKinley suggests five things that all Christians have.  He also addresses the important issues of perseverance and preservation.  And then Tim Challies suggests three statements on assurance, and reminds us of where our assurance lies.

Second, Kevin DeYoung addresses our tendency to get excited about minor issue instead of focusing on the core doctrines.

Third, Mark Altrogge reminds us that faith is like a power cord that plugs into God’s power as we pray.  Faith in itself has no power (despite the many songs proclaiming all that faith can do).  The power is found in the object of our faith.  So the strength of our faith is not so much the issue as the strength of the one we place our faith in.  God can use our flimsy faith.

Fourth, here are a couple of good ideas for evangelism.  Tim Chester suggests using meals for evangelism, while Brian Croft suggests asking people about the sermon they heard on Sunday as a way for evangelism. (Don’t knock it until you read the post!)

Fifth, Stephen Altrogge helps us cut the nerve of complaining.

Finally, Kevin DeYoung suggests 10 principles for church singing – Part One and Part Two – that you might consider before going to worship on Sunday.  It will help you think about what you are going to do even if you don’t agree with every point (and I will have to at least disagree with his preference for organs!).

Have a great Lord’s Day worshipping with your church family!