The Call To Purity

On May 9, 2014January 30, 2016 By BrianIn Family Collection

Here are some posts I have been collecting on sexual purity:

F.L.E.E. – A Strategy for Purity – Trent Hunter (GC)
What’s your plan for the next encounter with temptation? Or for the next conversation with a friend, child, or spouse who needs your counsel? Here’s a strategy: F.L.E.E. It’s biblical, it’s hard to forget, and it fits on a napkin.

How Far Is Too Far: Part One, Part Two, Part Three – Crossway
Adapted from Sex, Dating, and Relationships by Gerald Hiestand and Jay Thomas
Very interesting and helpful approach. Tim Challies offers another summary.

Sex As A Commitment Apparatus – Tim Keller via Kevin DeYoung
The Bible does not counsel sexual abstinence before marriage because it has such a low view of sex but because it has such a lofty one. The Biblical view implies that sex outside of marriage is not just morally wrong but also personally harmful. If sex is designed to be part of making a covenant and experiencing that covenant’s renewal, then we should think of sex as an emotional “commitment apparatus.”

Current

On May 7, 2014 By BrianIn Current Collection

A weekly collection of current news and issues in the church, country, and world.

Here are some helpful posts on the continuing homosexuality issue:

How Can Homosexuality Be Wrong If It Doesn’t Harm Anyone? – Matt Smethurst (GC)

Whose Justice? Whose Morality? – Mike Wittmer

Perversion of Justice (in Another Sense) – Jared Wilson

Ministry Monday

On May 5, 2014November 13, 2014 By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some good posts on preaching:

Why the Pastor Must Be Distracted With God – Drew Martin (via Trevin Wax)
In response to such a situation the faithful preacher must refuse to agree to the tacit assumption of modernity that the other concerns of life are more important than God. The pastor must be deeply formed in the classic disciplines of the Christian faith so that his life will not be disoriented. He must be correctly oriented if he would serve as a guide to a lost culture. The pastor must be “distracted” with God.

A Watchman on the Walls – Kevin DeYoung
For the watchman on the walls must give a warning; he must speak of this judgment which is to come; he must herald the glorious salvation found in Christ alone; he must share the glad tidings of peace on earth and good will toward men; he must tell the hard news that we need a Savior, the unpopular news that there is only one Savior, and the unimaginably good news that there is one who actually saves.

The Preacher’s Cheat-Sheet – Tim Challies
Here are two lists that have been very helpful to me. I combine them into what I affectionately call my Preacher’s Cheat-Sheet.

Passion Points

On May 3, 2014 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Repentance Doesn’t Hem and Haw – Jared Wilson
So this is repentance. No excuses, no yes-buts, no waffling. Not hemming and hawing but an about-face and a cutting to the chase.

Lessons Learned in the School of Suffering – Darryl Dash
The Psalms and other writings became real to me in new ways. My prayer life was deepened even as my prayers contained fewer words. The consolation from knowing that Jesus was no stranger to suffering became even more precious.

My Wife Has Tattoos: Marriage and New Birth – Spencer Harmon (GC)
But everything changes when people meet Jesus. He takes rebellious teenage partiers and goody-two-shoes homeschoolers and puts them together in marriage to put something on display much bigger than their own handcrafted, perfectly planned love story.

The Proper Response to Easter – Jared Wilson
The proper response to Easter is not warm fuzzies, but awe.

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

Ministry Monday

On April 28, 2014November 13, 2014 By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some good posts for pastors:

In Praise of Long Pastorates – H. B. Charles, Jr.
To nurture a Christ-centered, biblically functioning congregation requires teaching and patience. A mushroom can grow in hours. But it takes longer to grow an oak tree. What are you trying to grow?

3 Big Opportunities that Busy Pastors Miss – Eric McKiddie
Nothing that grows organically grows fast. But if it is healthy, it grows strong. Don’t let your busyness shift your focus from “strong” to “fast.” Keep watering, and trust that your ministry is growing at the speed God intends.

Work at Your Prayers – D.A. Carson via Tim Challies
Many facets of Christian discipleship, not least prayer, are rather more effectively passed on by modeling than by formal teaching. Good praying is more easily caught than taught.

Passion Points

On April 26, 2014 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

What Is Conscience? – Joe Carter (GC)

The Multifaceted Diamond of Christ’s Atoning Work – Trevin Wax

Arms Outstretched – Trevin Wax

Simple Evangelism in the Church – Jason Helopoulis

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating our Savior!

Ministry Monday

On April 14, 2014November 13, 2014 By BrianIn Ministry Moments

Here are some helpful posts on waiting in ministry:

When You’re Waiting in the Wilderness – Gavin Ortlund (GC)
Of course, it’d be nice if ministry meant 1 Kings 18 fire-from-heaven power from start to finish! But most of our ministries can likely relate better to the metaphors of 1 Kings 17: hanging on until the ravens come again, trusting the jug and jar won’t run out tomorrow, scraping by until the drought finally ends, wondering why God hasn’t removed corrupt Ahab, and, all the while, waiting, waiting, waiting.

5 Reasons Why God Calls Us To Wait – Paul David Tripp (GC)
In ministry you will be both called to wait and also find waiting personally and corporately difficult. So it is important to recognize that there are lots of good reasons why waiting is not merely inescapable but necessary and helpful.

God’s Will for Your Wait – Paul David Tripp (GC)
In ministry there are often moments when you are propelled by a biblical vision but called by God to wait. Waiting can be discouraging and hard. So what does it look like to wait in a way that makes you a participant in what God is doing rather than someone who struggles against the wait?

Passion Points

On April 12, 2014 By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Points

Here are some good Passion Week related posts for your weekend reading:

How To Handle Your Sin – Kevin DeYoung
Run to the cross. There you will find salvation for your sin sick self.

God Wants You To Know How Much He Loves You – Jon Bloom (DG)
That’s what Passion Week is for; that you might remember and more deeply know how much God has loved you — so much that he gave his only Son for you
Includes a link to a Desiring God booklet with daily readings for the coming week.

The Passion Week – Infographic – Josh Byers
This week’s infographic, The Passion Week, is a chronological timeline of the major events that happened during Jesus’ last week before he died and rose again.

Some Easter Posts – Three Passions
This is a collection of Easter posts I put together last year, including another Easter week timeline and a short video you should watch every year.

The Thief and Us – Three Passions
Another post from last year worth pondering again.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day and coming week reflecting on our Savior’s death, burial and resurrection!

Current

On April 9, 2014 By BrianIn Current Collection

A weekly collection of current news and issues in the church, country, and world.

Ideological Moralism and Gospel Grace – Derek Rishmawy (GC)
“My life has meaning because of the Cause. You oppose the Cause. You must submit or be destroyed.” — Modern/postmodern ideological moralism

Division Begins with the Departure from the Truth – Jared Wilson
And it isn’t those who believe the Bible when it says sin is sin that are being divisive; it is those who are introducing the idea that some sins aren’t. If you push a decision on something that innovates on the Bible’s testimony, you’re creating the division. Division begins with that first departure. The first step away from the agreement is the original divide. It is simply necessary, then, for Christians to walk away from a divisive person.

The Fault Lines Before the Evangelical Earthquake – Trevin Wax
Can an institution with an historic evangelical identity be divided on an issue as central as marriage and family and still be evangelical? Related to this discussion are questions about the authority and interpretation of Scripture, cultural engagement, and institutional power. All sides of the debate recognize that the definition of evangelical is at stake, which is why some are now publicly casting off the term altogether.