Category: PASSION Collections

Current

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Michigan’s Board of Education wants to allow school-aged students to be able to decide what gender they are. And what bathrooms and locker rooms they can use at their public school.  Regardless of their biological and genetic reality.  With no input from the child’s parents.  Or even the parent’s knowledge. You can find the Board’s memo at the first link below.

Let me be clear that we should treat all people with compassion and respect as image-bearers of God.  But compassion does not encourage confusion. Or oppose the family.  Or put our daughters in danger of predators and peeping toms.

Here are some helpful posts addressing these and other related issues:

Safe Schools, Gender Non-Conformity, and Common Sense – Kevin DeYoung

Gender Ideology Harms Children – American College of Pediatricians

Transgender Thoughts – Mike Wittmer

An Open Letter to Bruce Springsteen and His Band – Michael Brown

One final thought.  Mike Wittmer suggests in his post above that our culture is caught up in “the classical view that our bodies don’t matter and that the real us is our soul. We couldn’t have such malleable views of gender and sex without a deficient view of the human body.”  Exactly.

Passion Points

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Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Forgetting the Past – Ed Welch (CCEF)
Scripture does help us with our painful pasts, but it does more than that. It tells us to forget things we want to remember, and remember things we are likely to forget.

The Character of the Christian: Mature and Humble – Tim Challies
Christian leaders—and all Christians—are to strive to become more like Christ—they are to grow in spiritual maturity. As they grow in maturity, they will necessarily grow in humility.

10 Things to Remember When Reading the Bible – Vern Poythress (Crossway)
God’s redemption takes place in history. Christianity is not merely a religious philosophy, a set of general truths about God and the world. At its heart is the gospel, the good news that Christ has come and has lived and died and has risen from the dead, and now lives to intercede for us. God has worked out our salvation by coming in the person of Christ and acting in time and space. The message of what he has done now goes out to the nations…

18 Things to Pray for Your Church – Jonathan Leeman (TGC)
It’s comparatively easy for you and me to pray for ourselves, our families, and our friends. But how can we learn how to pray more fervently and consistently for our local churches?

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Character of the Christian: Family Leaders – Tim Challies
From beginning to end the Bible places upon every parent the responsibility to teach and train children and in that way to exercise kind, caring, loving oversight of them.

The Unappreciated Blessing of Busyness – David Qaoud (GR)
See, there’s a difference between busy and hurry. Busy is when you have a lot on your plate. Hurry is when you have too much on your plate.

What is grumbling? The seditious sin of grumbling pt 1
Contagion of Complaint: The seditious sin of grumbling pt 2
Can griping be godly? The seditious sin of grumbling pt 3
– Clint Archer (Cripplegate)
To God, our complaining about a situation he has allowed into our life is offensive. Because of Jesus’ death, we are in a relationship with God, he is our Father, we are his children, he loves us and he provides for us. To complain about what he has handed to us is to slap away the gracious hand of providence….  Are Christians just always supposed to suck it up? No. You can respond without sinful grumbling and disputing, just bear these five principles in mind…

5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church – Jared Wilson
Do the people of the church speak more highly of Jesus than simply doing good or knowing the right doctrine? Do the pastors exhibit high esteem of Jesus? Are they Jesusy people?

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Character of the Christian: Generous – Tim Challies
It is the Christian’s duty and delight to hold loosely to wealth and to give generously to the Lord’s work. Any problem with money is not the fault of the money itself but with the sneaky, sinful human heart.

What if you’re not as awesome as you think you are? – Denny Burk
There is often a gap between the reality that God sees and the illusions that I sustain in thinking about myself.

25 Quick Tips and Reminders to Help Your Prayer Life – David Qaoud (GR)
17. Meditate on Scripture before prayer as a bridge into prayer.

Nine Questions to Help You Steward All of Your Life for God’s Glory – Brad Hambrick (BCC)
The main thing is to begin to have a vision for life that involves being God’s servant and actively engaging that vision where you are currently equipped.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating our Lord’s resurrection with your local church!

Jerry Bridges Collection

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jerry-bridges

Jerry Bridges went to be with the Lord this past Sunday.  His writings have had an important impact on my life, especially Transforming Grace and the Joy of Fearing God.  Here are some tributes to his life to challenge you in your walk with the Lord.

Jerry Bridges (1929-2016) – Justin Taylor

Jerry Bridges (1929-2016): My Prayer Partner, Mentor, and Friend – Bob Bevington (TGC)

Jerry Bridges (1929-2016): Five Lessons from a Remarkable Life of Faith – interview by Tony Reinke (DG)

My Too-Weak Tribute to Jerry Bridges – Tim Challies

Passion Points

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Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Character of the Christian: Temperate – Tim Challies
The Bible makes it crystal clear—God’s people are to be enslaved only to Jesus Christ. They are to resist any competitors, chief among them alcohol.

Rest in the Prince of Peace– Jon Bloom (DG)
An accurate gauge of our level of faith is how and how much we pray. A growing prayerful dependence on God is evidence of our growing spiritual maturity. And the more we pray in faith in everything, the more we experience the peace of God.

How To Be Conformed to the World – Tim Challies
Worldliness is like gravity, always there, always pushing down on you, always exerting its influence on you. As a Christian you are charged with resisting it day by day.

Beware the Black Hole of Time – Austin Brown (GR)
People get sucked away and lost forever on the second or third or fourth visit immediately following a church service (and especially during any waiting periods- like before a fellowship meal).  This is the black hole of time. Initial hellos have been said. Handshakes have been exchanged. So everything is supposedly good now. The regulars can do their regular things, and the visitors are supposed to feel at home.  But they don’t feel at home. Not even a little…. Let me encourage you to go out of your way to fill the black hole of time with warmth. Stay with the new people. Actively invite them to your table or sit down next to them. Go out of your comfort zone.  Can I say all that again? It is really quite important.  Stay with the new people. Be a good host. Take the time to hear their story and share yours. Ask good questions. Don’t leave them feeling awkward.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our great God and enjoying fellowship with His people!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How to Commune with Christ on a Crazy Day – David Mathis (Crossway)
Whatever the circumstances that throw a wrench into your routine, your crazy mornings raise the question, How should you think about, and engage in (if at all), the “spiritual disciplines”—or better yet, “the means of grace”—of Bible meditation and prayer when God’s good, but often inconvenient, sovereignty has you reeling without your routine?

The Character of the Christian: Hospitable – Tim Challies
An open home displays Christian love but it also enables it. Hospitality creates opportunities for relationship, for discipleship, and for evangelism. It creates a natural context for modeling marriage, parenting, and a host of Christian virtues. While we are to teach others what the Bible says, we are also to demonstrate what it says, and we do that by inviting people into our homes and into our lives.

The Character of the Christian: Gentle – Tim Challies
To be gentle is to be tender, humble, and fair, to know what posture and response is fitting for any occasion. It indicates a graciousness, a desire to extend mercy to others, and a desire to yield to both the will of God and the preferences of other people. Such gentleness will be expressed first in the home and only subsequently in the church. It is a rare trait, but one we know and love when we see and experience it.

Don’t Be Embarrassed by Your Ordinary Church – Erik Raymond
Is your church ordinary? Small? Well, my Christian friend, if it is preaching the gospel and endeavoring to help others to know and follow Jesus then it is not insignificant. It is powerfully important and surpassingly glorious. And, you should praise God for it–even as you get to work in it!

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day ready to worship and fellowship with your ordinary local church!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

John Calvin’s 4 Rules of Prayer – Joel Beeke (Ligonier)
For John Calvin, prayer cannot be accomplished without discipline. He writes, “Unless we fix certain hours in the day for prayer, it easily slips from our memory.” He goes on to prescribe several rules to guide believers in offering effectual, fervent prayer.

The Character of the Christian: Sound Judgment – Tim Challies
When we put these traits together we see a person who has mastered his thinking and behavior so he is now capable of making wise judgments. His own life is a showcase of such wisdom.

Helping One Another Forsake Sin and Follow Jesus – Randy Alcorn
We should share the truth with humility, as an act of grace, reminding ourselves and each other that we desperately need God’s grace every bit as much as do those we’re offering it to.

How to Have Intimacy with God– Jon Bloom (DG)
The secret to drawing near to God and having him draw near to us is revealed clearly in the Bible: we draw near to God through faith in Christ who alone gives us access to him…

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!