Category: PASSION Collections

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

In Evil Long I Took Delight – John Newton (via Trevin Wax)
In evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight, And stopped my wild career.
I saw One hanging on a tree, In agonies and blood,
Who fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood…

Why Are You Afraid of Humility? – Chrysostom (via Trevin Wax)
Before he humbled himself, only the angels knew him.
After he humbled himself, all human nature knew him.

Free Me From My Need To Exalt Myself – Prayers For Today (via Trevin Wax)
Lord, free me from my need to exalt myself.
Where I am prone to seek things for myself,
help me to seek the best things for You and others…

John Calvin’s 4 Rules of Prayer – Joel Beeke (via 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…

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

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Tomorrow I am preaching about work and rest.  Here are some good related posts for your weekend reading:

The Purpose of Work – Gene Edward Veith (via Gospel Coalition)
According to Luther, the purpose of every vocation is to love and serve one’s neighbor. The farmer tills the ground to provide food to sustain his neighbor’s life. The craftsman, the teacher, the lawyer—indeed, everyone who occupies a place in the division of labor—is providing goods and services that neighbors need. This is God’s providential ordering of society. But for a Christian, the service rendered can become animated with love.

Is the Sabbath Still Relevant – Ray Ortlund
If we did set apart one day each week for rejuvenation in God, we would immediately add to every year over seven weeks of vacation.  And not for doing nothing but for worship, for friends, for mercy, for an afternoon nap, for reading and thinking, for lingering around the dinner table and sharing good jokes and tender words and personal prayers.

Helpless Sacks of Sand – Tim Challies
It came to me that the fundamental reality of sleep is that it assures us that we are not God. Apparently we all need the ongoing reminder. Psalm 127:2 says “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” We need sleep, and peaceful sleep is a good gift of a good God. Meanwhile, Psalm 121 says “Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” We need sleep; God does not. Rather, the unsleeping God grants sleep to the people he loves, the people who need it so badly.

Enjoying Rest, Now and in the Life to Come – Randy Alcorn
What feels better than putting your head on the pillow after a hard day’s work? (How about what it will feel like after a hard life’s work?) It’s good to sit back and have a glass of iced tea, feel the sun on your face, or tilt back in your recliner and close your eyes. It’s good to have nothing to do but read a good book or take your dog for a walk or listen to your favorite music and tell God how grateful you are for his kindness. Rest is good. So good that God built it into his creation and his law.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day gathering with your local church to worship our Lord, and resting from a good week of work!

Passion News

On By BrianIn Current Collection

The debate on homosexuality is huge in our country today.  Here are some helpful perspectives:

When Even Joel Osteen Is Treated as a Bigot – Justin Taylor

How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go – Trevin Wax

Homosexual Parents Study: Summary of Findings – Peter Sprigg

The New Sexual Identity Crisis – Jeff Buchanan

The Unique Struggle of Same-Sex Attraction – Haydn Sennitt

Vaughan Roberts on Same-Sex Attraction – Justin Taylor

 

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Family Collection, PASSION Points

I’m preaching on love in the family tomorrow, so here are some good posts on family love:

22 Descriptions of Marital Love – Paul Tripp (via R. W. Glenn)
1. Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of your husband or wife without impatience or anger.
2. Love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward your spouse, while looking for ways to encourage and praise.

Leading in Love – Wayne Grudem (via Tim Challies)
Headship doesn’t mean selfishness. It means being willing to give of yourself for your wife and care for her as well.

Christian Husband’s Only Option: Love Your Wife – Jason Helopoulis
Every Christian husband knows that in Ephesians 5 the husband is exhorted to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. What many of us need to hear, especially in Western modern culture, is that an aspect of Christ’s love for the Church is that it endures. Christian husbands must take note that Christ’s love for the Church is not momentary or even for a season. It is a love that continues. It is steadfast and true. And these qualities are to mark a husband’s love for his wife. There is no other option.

When I Don’t Feel Love for My Spouse – Steve Cornell (via Gospel Coalition)
A woman once told me that she planned to leave her husband because she “just didn’t love him anymore.” I asked her to change the way she worded what she planned to do so that her decision could be understood accurately. I asked her to say it this way: “I am choosing to no longer value my husband and to break my commitment to remain faithful to him.”

If you are married, I hope these posts will help to strengthen your marriage.  And as always, have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our Savior who loved his church and gave himself up for her.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Church Collection, PASSION Points

As you prepare to gather with Christ’s church tomorrow, here are some good posts to consider:

We Weren’t Created For Isolation (Short Video) – Brad House (via Crossway)
We weren’t built for isolation, we were created for community. And community isn’t ultimately about us, it’s about God. The church should be the most compelling expression of community in our culture. It should stand in contrast to the counterfeit community that costs us nothing.

The Difference Between Church as Individual Divers and Church as an Organic Body – Richard Lovelace (via Justin Taylor)
No individual, congregation or denomination of Christians is spiritually independent of the others. . . .

Church as an Oasis of Grace – Trevin Wax
Our churches ought to be filled with people who have gospel-focused conversations, where we bring the gospel to bear on every inch of life, hold one another accountable, rebuke one another in love, and encourage one another in grace.

Can I Grow in Holiness Without the Local Church? (Short Video) – David Powlison (via Desiring God)
The role the local church plays in our sanctification….

May we approach church tomorrow in a more Biblical way as we seek to worship our great God together!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts on the Word and prayer for your weekend reading:

How to Listen to a Sermon – Phil Ryken (via reformation 21)
So what is the right way to listen to a sermon?  With a soul that is prepared, a mind that is alert, a Bible that is open, a heart that is receptive, and a life that is ready to spring into action.

A Smorgasbord of Bible Memorization Methods – Jean Williams (Matthias Media)
Every Bible memorization method has one or more of the three Rs at its heart: Repeat, Recall, Review. Repeat a passage over and over until you’re familiar with it; practise recalling it until it’s worn a path in your memory; then review it so you don’t lose it. But there are different ways to do these three things, and not all of them will suit you.

Does Your Church Pray Together? – Sinclair Ferguson quoted by Justin Taylor
I greatly wish that our churches would learn to keep the main things central, that we would learn to be true Churches, vibrant fellowships of prayer, Gospel ministry and teaching, genuine mutual love.

31 Petitions to the Lord on the Occasion of my 31st Birthday – Trevin Wax
My knowledge of You as a loving Father is what compels me to come before You, to ask You, plead with You, beg of You: Accomplish these 31 things in the years to come….

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord as you sit under His Word and come before His throne.

Passsion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good articles related to evangelism and missions:

Factfinder: Misquoting Francis of Assisi – Glenn Stanton (via Gospel Coalition)
One very clever and popular quote we often knock around among ourselves is:  “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”  But here’s the fact: Our good Francis never said such a thing.  Duane Liftin, president emeritus of Wheaton College, recently addressed the trouble with this preach/practice dichotomy….   “It’s simply impossible to preach the Gospel without words. The Gospel is inherently verbal, and preaching the Gospel is inherently verbal behavior.”

D.A. Carson on Angry Christians and the Devil’s Tactics – David Rogers (via SBC Voices)But at the end of the day, if you can’t do it with compassion, and gently, and leave the doors open for evangelism, boy, you destroy everything. I think one of the devil’s tactics with respect to the church on the Right today is to make them so hate everybody else that at the end of the day they can’t be believed anywhere, not even the proclamation of the gospel.

What I Want For All Missionaries – Mike Pettengill (via Gospel Coalition)
We want to know people are thinking and praying for us. If my team members were reminded that others care and pray for them, they would have strength to endure the hard days.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord and getting spurred on to lovingly speak the gospel and support missions for the advancement of His kingdom!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Medicine for Motivation – Kevin DeYoung (via Crossway)
Here are just some of the ways in which the Bible motivates us to pursue holiness….

A Mighty Army of Deeply Spiritual Men – John Piper (via Jared Wilson)
Where are the men with a moral vision for their families, a zeal for the house of the Lord, a magnificent commitment to the advancement of the kingdom, an articulate dream for the mission of the church and a tenderhearted tenacity to make it real?

That All The World Might Rejoice – Matthew Wynne
Open your ears O’ Church that you might hear Jesus’ call,
The call to go unto all the nations that all the world might rejoice!

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping our great God!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How To Watch the Olympic Games – David Mathis (via Desiring God)
Why would the Christian Scriptures mention the games? To help us upgrade our two weeks of Olympic watching by opening our eyes to what they have to say about God, the gospel, and the Christian life. 

You might also be interested in this interview video of Olympian Gabby Douglas at Valley Church in Des Moines. (via Chris Brauns)

And then, how do we deal with conflict?  Here is a helpful trilogy of posts:
3 Ways We Must Handle Conflict, Conflict: When Desires Become Demands,
Conflict: Recognize, Repent, Refocus, Replace – Robert D. Jones (via Crossway)
While my initial desire might be legitimate, it becomes sinful when it grows into a demand. And when it becomes a demand and you don’t meet it—and of course you can never meet every demand of my selfish heart—I then judge you in my heart and condemn you. In the final step, my internal judgment produces some outward expression of punishment toward you. I might yell at you, speak sarcastically about you, gossip about you, or avoid you.

Prayerlessness – Nancy Leigh DeMoss (via Tim Challies)
As God opened my eyes to this matter of prayerlessness, I asked Him to let me see it from His point of view. Here is what I wrote in my journal one day when God first began to deal with my heart.  Convicting stuff!

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion News

On By BrianIn Current Collection

Here are a few posts worth considering:

Can Cities Really Block Chick-fil-A? -Michael Foust (via Christianity Today)
Attempts by Chicago and Boston politicians to block the opening of Chick-fil-A restaurants because of the company president’s views on marriage would be unconstitutional and also set a dangerous precedent for other businesses, say several attorneys.

Defining Religious Liberty Down – Ross Douthat (via NY Times)
If you want to fine Catholic hospitals for following Catholic teaching, or prevent Jewish parents from circumcising their sons, or ban Chick-fil-A in Boston, then don’t tell religious people that you respect our freedoms. Say what you really think: that the exercise of our religion threatens all that’s good and decent, and that you’re going to use the levers of power to bend us to your will.