Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Toward a Theology of Church Unity – Kevin DeYoung
Why Did God Use Spurgeon? – Chris Castaldo
There is one thing on which many Christians today agree–we need genuine revival…
Why Pastors and Elders Need Your Prayers – Kevin DeYoung
Six Ways To Encourage Your Pastor – Charles Stone
Being a pastor is a high calling, yet pastors often face loneliness and discouragement...
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day praising the Lord with your local church!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading to help you grow in the Lord:
23 Reasons To Be Joyful – Paul Tautges
Re-training your heart for joy.
10 Point Inventory – Steve Cornell
Ten questions to examine your heart.
How Do We Grow In Holiness – Part One and Part Two – Tim Chester
Excerpts from You Can Change – highly recommended!
The Pursuit of Holiness – Part One and Part Two – Desiring God
Discussion on video between John Piper and Kevin DeYoung
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!
Since Roe vs Wade 40 years ago, over 50 million babies have been killed by abortion. Fifty million. That is a number hard to grasp. 50 million people we should be rubbing shoulders with, working with, going to school with, going to church with. Gone. Killed.
Instead of Passion Points this week, here are some good posts to explore and ponder as we remember those who have died and cry out to God for mercy and change.
10 Questions a Pro-Choice Candidate Is Never Asked by the Media – Trevin Wax
Why Your Friends Are Pro-Choice (And What To Do About It) – Scott Klusendorf
Do Pro-Life Policies Even Matter – Kevin DeYoung
Washington Post Article Shows Pro-Life Progress – Michael New
9 Things You Should Know About Roe v Wade – Joe Carter
It Has Fingernails – A brief clip from the movie “Juno”
Thank You, Mr. President, for these Pro-Life Marching Orders
Okay, so our president was talking about another tragedy, but it fits remarkably well.
Here are some good posts for your end of the year weekend consideration.
I suggested a Bible reading plan a few days ago; here are some more possible Bible reading plans:
The Bible Eater – Trent Hunter at Gospel Coalition
Combines daily readings from Old and New Testaments with one longer Old Testament reading each quarter. Plus a few days off each month are built in to keep you from falling behind.
Two Year Bible Reading Plan – Stephen Witmer at Gospel Coalition
If trying to get through the Bible in one year is too much for you, here is a plan to do it in two years. More focus; less rush. My biggest dislike is that you won’t get to the New Testament until mid-second year. Regular catch-up days keep you from falling behind.
Three Year Weekly Reading Plan – Tim Chester
Takes you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice in three years. One passage a week divided however you like in whichever days you like. Goes back and forth between Old and New Testament books.
And then a few more end of the year posts:
A Smorgasbord of Bible Memorization Methods – Matthias Media
Here are some helpful ideas for memorizing Scripture in 2013.
Where Was God in All the Goodness of 2012 – John Piper at Desiring God
We wonder where God is in the midst of suffering, but what about in the midst of all the goodness we don’t deserve?
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our good God!
I hope you all have a merry Christmas tomorrow. Here are a few good Christmas posts:
God Became a Man – Justin Taylor
Some good classic quotes on the incarnation from Spurgeon, Augustine, and more.
Why a Virgin Birth? – Douglas Wilson
Good answer to the question…
5 Ways to Play With Your Kids This Christmas – Trevin Wax
Dads, this one is for us. You may not like every idea, but the post gets us thinking in the right direction.
Here are some good posts on afflictions and prayer:
Eight Helps for Coping with Affliction – Arthur Hildersham (via Joel Beeke)Acquaint yourself thoroughly with the Scriptures, for they prepare people for affliction, and teach us patience and comfort in affliction, like no other book can.
Leading Our Emotions: Depression – Chris Brauns
Only Christ satisfies the needs of our soul (though we often idolize other things such as children and believe they will satisfy). Does the use of your time indicate that you believe only Christ will satisfy the thirst of your soul?
Spiritual Depression: A Strategy for Defeating It – Chris Brauns
A central strategy in the battle depression must be to turn from a private focus on self, to a corporate worship of Christ.
You Asked: Can I Pray to Jesus? – Graham Cole (via Gospel Coalition)
So can you pray to Jesus? Of course you can. But let me suggest if this is the predominant way we pray we may lose something of enormous importance. We may lose sight of the glorious gospel with the Father as the architect of our salvation, the Son as the achiever, and the Spirit as the applier.
To Hell with the Devil and His Destructive Lies – John Piper (via Justin Taylor)
I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating our great Savior!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Three Dangers of Being Crazy Busy Part 1, Part 2, Part 3– Kevin DeYoung
When we are crazy busy we put our souls at risk. The challenge is not merely to make a few bad habits go away. The challenge is not to let our spiritual lives slip away. The dangers are serious, and they are growing. And few of us are as safe as we seem.
Purchasing Joy – Tim Challies
The things we dream of and long for so often become the things we kick to the curb. It’s true for my kids and their toys; it’s true for me and my toys.
Calling Teenagers to Treasure Christ More Than All Things – Richard Ross
We have a huge need to gather and horde possessions. We want to spend what we have on ourselves. What could motivate us to count all things as loss? Our overwhelming love for and adoration of King Jesus is what moves us to release our death grip on what we own.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day resting and finding joy in the Greatest Treasure!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
The Benefit of Storms – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)Your trials may be many and great. Your cross may be very heavy. But the business of your soul is all conducted according to an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure…
10 Reasons Why God Allows Suffering – Jared Wilson (via Justin Taylor)While we may not be satisfied with what God has revealed about his purposes in suffering, we cannot justifiably say he has not revealed anything about his purposes in suffering…
9 Lessons From God Concerning Sickness – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)6. To make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight...
I Give You Glory, O Christ – Ephraim of Syria (via Trevin Wax)Glory to You for Your love.
Glory to You for Your mercy.
Glory to You for Your patience.
Glory to You for forgiving us all our sins...
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day trusting your Savior and giving him glory!
Here are some good posts to help you pray and continue to ponder thanksgiving:
Let My First Thought Today Be of You – John Baillie (via Trevin Wax)
Eternal Father of my soul,
let my first thought today be of You,
let my first impulse be to worship You…
A Prayer for Overflowing with Thanksgiving – Scotty Smith
Dear Lord Jesus, I want to be a man who gives you the quality and quantity of thanks of which you are so absolutely worthy. Not like a slow drip, a babbling brook, or a meandering stream, but like a geyser—a gospel geyser—spontaneously erupting with gratitude any and every moment. I want to overflow with thankfulness…
Entitlement and Thanksgiving – Thom Rainer
If I feel entitled, I complain to God about why He is treating me so unfairly.
If I am thankful, I know that I deserve nothing good, that all gifts are an act of grace.
A Prayer for our President – Kevin DeYoung
Grant him wisdom, courage, and integrity as a man and as a leader.
Keep him faithful, kind, and loving as a husband and father…
Pray For Your Pastor – Tim Challies
Pastors see the reality of the spiritual battle they face and they long for prayers—your prayers…
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping the Lord with His people!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
When the Gospel Invades Your Office – Interview with Tim Keller (via Gospel Coalition)
It is quite possible to believe that your deepest identity should be in Christ, but still have a heart functioning as if it is grounded in your work.
8 Observations About Sacrificial Giving – J.D. Greear
Everybody had a part because God was not after a few resources of a few wealthy people; he was after the hearts of all his people.
Seven Reasons Why Evangelism Should Be A Priority Of Your Church – Thom Rainer
Pastors and other leaders must fall on their faces before God and ask Him to reignite their congregations with an evangelistic passion. When evangelism dies as a priority in the church, the church has already begun to die.
6 Simple Ways To Be Missional – Tim Chester (via Resurgence)
We all eat three meals a day. That’s 21 opportunities for church and mission each week without adding anything new to your schedule. And meals are a powerful expression of welcome and community.
How To Grow In Courage – Kevin DeYoung
You will not be bold to speak of Jesus unless you spend much time with Jesus. Courage comes out of communion.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our great God with your local church!
Brian J. Mikul 