Here are some good posts for Thanksgiving:
The Lost Art of Feasting – David Mathis (DG)
Millions Will Eat, But Miss the Point – Stephen Witmer (DG)
10 Questions to Ask at Your Thanksgiving Gathering – Donald Whitney (Crossway)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Category: PASSION Collections
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
3 Motivations to Hate Sin – Erik Raymond
Until sin is actually hated for its odious and repulsive character we will not make true progress in godliness.
Kindness Changes Everything – Stephen Witmer (DG)
We open ourselves to the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit when we ask him to produce in us kind hearts that overflow through kind lips.
18 Prayers to Pray for Unbelievers – Tim Challies
A friend asked the question: How do I pray for unbelievers? How do I pray effectively? I trust that every Christian regularly prays for family or friends or colleagues or neighbors who do not yet know the Lord. And while we can and must pray for matters related to their lives and circumstances, the emphasis of our prayers must always be for their salvation. Here are some ways the Bible can guide our prayers.
Why We Desperately Need the Body of Christ – Paul David Tripp (Crossway)
Your walk with God is a community project. The isolated, separated, loner, Jesus-and-me religion that often marks modern church culture is not the religion that is described in the New Testament.
Family Collection
Here are some good posts for parents:
The Uniqueness of Christian Parenting – Jason Helopoulos (TCC)
6 Truths about Parenting That Reorient Everything – Paul David Tripp (Crossway)
3 Priorities for Christian Parents – Tim Challies
Ministry Collection
Here are some good posts for those who lead worship:
Top 10 Things I Love That Worship Leaders Do – Jared Wilson
Top 10 Things I Wish Worship Leaders Would Stop Saying – Jared Wilson
The Missing Elements of Modern Worship – Tim Challies
Current
A few more helpful posts as we think about the upcoming election:
10 Guidelines for Christian Voters – Brian G. Najapfour
To Those Christians (and Others) Who Can’t Vote for Trump or Clinton – Frank Turek (AFA)
What Christians Should Do This Election Season: Give Space, Show Grace – Trevin Wax
What You Should Know About The… – Joe Carter (TGC)
Republican Party Platform
Democratic Party Platform
Libertarian Party Platform
American Solidarity Platform
Green Party Platform
Constitution Party Platform
If you missed the other two election collections, you can find them here and here.
Current
Here are some more helpful posts on the upcoming election:
Seeking Clarity in this Confusing Election Season: Ten Thoughts – Kevin DeYoung
If You Don’t Like Either Candidate, Then Vote for Trump’s Policies – Wayne Grudem (TH)
Should Christians Vote for Trump? – Eric Metaxas (WSJ)
Hillary Clinton Is a Threat to Religious Liberty – Marc Thiessen (WP)
Passion Points
Here are some really good posts for your weekend reading:
Stop Having Quiet Times– David Powlison (TGC)
In the verbal actions of the psalms—rejoicing in who God is, asking for needed help, expressing heartfelt thanks—we’re talking to someone. It’s fair to say that having a “quiet time” is a misnomer. It’s more of an out loud, “noisy” time. When you talk aloud you express the reality that you’re talking with someone else, not simply talking to yourself inside your own head.
Lay Aside the Weight of Irritability– Jon Bloom (DG)
Our irritability never has its roots in the soils of righteousness. It springs out of the soil of selfishness and springs up fast, like the sin-weed that it is. We get irritated or easily provoked, not when God’s righteousness or justice is scorned, but when something we want is being denied, delayed, or disrupted.
Gospel Weariness – Tim Challies
Trials do us good in at least one more way: Trials develop a gospel weariness, a weariness with this world…. Gospel weariness elevates our perspective from our feet to the horizon, from the trials of this world to the hope of the world to come. It stirs within us a holy longing to be done with this life and to enter into the life to come. It fixates on God’s promises, promises of deliverance, of restitution, of eternal peace. It is a weariness that rests on the promises of the gospel, that finds its hope in the God of the gospel. It does not wallow in despair but gazes with confidence to the future. It is a weariness that cries with the saints of all the ages, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
How My Parents Taught Me To Love The Church – Ricky Alcantar (TBC)
When you’ve had a busy weekend and you make it to church, your kids notice. When you rearrange athletic obligations to get to church, your kids notice. When you get in late from a trip Saturday night and make it to church, your kids notice. When you are willing to slog through traffic after work to make it to a small group meeting where the snacks aren’t amazing and the fellowship is a little forced but you do it anyway, your kids notice.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!
Family Collection
Here are some good posts on parenting:
Fathers (and Mothers), Do Not Provoke Your Children! – Tim Challies
7 Ways Parents Unfairly Provoke Our Children – Tim Challies
Seven Principles for Angry Parents Disciplining Angry Children – Kevin DeYoung
Current
So many Christians are trying to figure out whether to vote for Trump or a third party in November. Here is a helpful collection of posts from various viewpoints that explore the issues involved:
Why I Don’t Think You Must Vote for the Lesser of Two Evils– Dan Doriani (TGC)
Evangelical Views of the 2016 Election: Ethics and Theology Professor on Why Trump is the Best Candidate for President – Norman Geisler (CT)
Evangelical Views of the 2016 Election: Evangelicals, We Need to Start Looking Beyond the Candidates – Ronnie Floyd
4 Evangelicals, 4 Different Ways to Consider Trump – Trevin Wax (RNS)
Trump’s Moral Character and the Election – Wayne Grudem
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
The Attraction of Idolatry – Kevin DeYoung
It is easy to see how we can make idols out of everything from health insurance to retirement accounts to political candidates to academic approval to sports to entertainment to Facebook to food and sex.
3 Godly Ambitions for the Christian – Tim Challies
Some of my favorite biblical commands are the ones that most counter our culture, and even our little Christian subculture. We find just such a series of commands….
4 Ways to Win the Battle Against Busyness – J. D. Greear (TGC)
The draw of busyness is that it gives us a sense of importance. When my schedule is full, I feel like I’m in demand. Without me, we think, all of this would fall apart. As Christians, we all too often baptize this idolatry by assuming that busyness equals faithfulness. And all the while we’re “burning ourselves out for Jesus,” we’re running on the fumes of our own self-importance. Meanwhile, Jesus is unimpressed.
If We Are So Burdened Then Why Aren’t the Prayer Meetings Full? – Erik Raymond
If we believe that God is good, sovereign, and holy, and that he has told us to cast our burdens on him in prayer then, where are the public prayer meetings by God’s people? If we are so exercised by injustice and depravity, why don’t Christians flood to church prayer meetings to gather with their brothers and sisters and plead with God in prayer? Why aren’t prayer meetings overflowing with burdened and broken people who want God to intervene and act?
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!
Brian J. Mikul 