Passion Points

On January 27, 2018January 27, 2018 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Lord, Search My Heart: Breaking the Power of Canceled Sin – Jon Bloom (DG)
Micah 6:8 exposes me: I can love abstract ideas of justice and kindness, and neglect their concrete expression. It admonishes me: I cannot “do justice” or “love kindness” without loving real people. It humbles me, which is just what the Doctor ordered, if I’m really ready to walk with him.

10 Sure Marks of Humility – Tim Challies
Is there any trait more odious than pride or more precious than humility? Is there any trait whose presence we so highly honor in others and whose absence we so readily excuse in ourselves? Truly, pride is the chief of sins and humility the highest of virtues. Yet the Christian has the joy of seeing the Holy Spirit put pride to death and bring to life the beauty of humility. Here are 10 sure marks that you are growing in humility.

Doubt Your Own Anger: How to Kill a Quiet Killer – Ed Welch (DG)
We want peace, health, respect, love, control, influence, safety, and much more. Sinful anger appears when these desires and expectations quietly become more important to us than loving God and loving neighbor (James 4:1–2).

Why Do Christians Sing? – Tom Olson (EM)
Our singing is more than a warm-up for the sermon or a filler in the service. Singing stands alongside preaching as one of the two great ways God has ordained for His word to dwell richly in our hearts.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day singing and growing with your local church!

Book Collection

On January 24, 2018 By BrianIn Book Look, PASSION Collections

I’m a bit late this year, but here are several “best books of 2017” posts. With a great variety of categories, there is something for everyone. If you are looking for some good books to read this year, check out these lists.

2017 TGC Book Awards

Christianity Today’s 2018 Book Awards

Best Books of 2017 – Kevin DeYoung

Top 17 Books of 2017 – Tony Reinke

My Top Books of 2017 – Jared Wilson

The Collected Best Christian Books of 2017 – Tim Challies

One of my top books for 2017, that showed up a few times on the above lists, is David Murray’s book Reset which I highly recommend (even passed out a few).

For youth, Jaquelle Crowe’s book This Changes Everything also showed up several times. I am taking our youth group through it right now.

For children you might try Trillia Newbell’s God’s Very Good Idea which is also on numerous lists.

A few others that are now on my reading list include This Is Our Time by Trevin Wax, The Story of Reality by Greg Koukl, Recapturing the Wonder by Mike Cosper, and The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary by Jonathan Pennington.

And if you want to know in general what not to read, you might check out Tim Challies’ new post: A Guided Tour to 2017’s Bestselling Christian Books. Surely we can do better.

Passion Points

On January 20, 2018 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

He Will Restore Your Soul – Jon Bloom (DG)
Do you feel forsaken by God? Jesus understands. He truly understands more than you know. We can feel forsaken by God; Jesus was forsaken by God. We feel lonely; Jesus was, for a horrible moment, truly alone. As our Great High Priest, he is able to sympathize with us in all our weaknesses….

The Easiest Sin to Justify – Tim Challies
When we sin in anger, we tend to absolve ourselves of blame by pleading the circumstances around the anger….

One Simple Thought On MLK Day – Kevin DeYoung
Just one thought, and it is this: every human being—regardless of color, nationality, economic status, or intellect—has been created in the image of God and should be treated with dignity and respect.

4 Practical Threats to the Church Today – Jared Longshore (Founders)
If I were the devil, I would get Christians separated. I would convince them that one hour a week is plenty of time for them to spend together.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church worshiping our glorious God!

Passion Points

On January 13, 2018 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Why You Should Live in the Psalms – Scott Slayton (One Degree To Another)
The Psalms provide a welcome antidote to our craving for shallowness. The Psalms, which seem so easy to understand on the surface, invite us to deep study and contemplation. They show the blessing of cultivating a deep and abiding trust in the Lord and beckon us to leave behind our life of distraction so we can know and love God more deeply.

Learning to Say Hello Again – Douglas Groothuis (CT)
It seems like a small thing, but it really isn’t. How we greet—or fail to greet—others says much about our character. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, we may practice the presence of people by acknowledging and recognizing them for who they are: creatures made in God’s image.

Will Your Phone Dominate Your Life in 2018? (Crossway)
Technology use is an area with which many of us struggle to find balance. How much is too much? What is it good for? How can we encourage our families to hold it in its proper place?

How to Discourage Your Minister in the New Year – Paul Levy (reformation 21)
I want to give you 6 ways to discourage your minister in the New Year…

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On January 6, 2018January 6, 2018 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

20 New Year’s Resolutions You Can Make (and Keep) Right Now – Kevin DeYoung
But this post isn’t about arduous resolutions. Well, not exactly. It’s about something simpler. It’s about your calendar and about making decisions now that will serve you later in the year.

Beginning of the Year Check-In Questions for Christians – David Qaoud (GR)
Don’t leave your spiritual growth up to spontaneity. Make a plan. Now that we’re in 2018, here are some questions to ask as you formulate ways to grow.

Watch Where You Walk in 2018 – Scott Hubbard (DG)
Until that day, 2018 is another year to “look carefully . . . how you walk” (Ephesians 5:15). Walk in love — go low to lift others up. Walk in light — drive the shadows from your soul. And walk in wisdom — seize your days from the devil’s hand. These are three roads that lead us to God’s city of joy, where our journey of ten million steps will finally end.

Doing Church Away from Church isn’t Church – Eric Davis (Cripplegate)
In short, my hike or a Bible open in my living room with the kids is not church. Here are a few reasons why doing church away from church isn’t church.

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

New Year’s Resolutions

On January 1, 2018 By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

Here are some good posts on making resolutions for 2018:

Ten Questions To Ask at the Start of a New Year (pdf) – Don Whitney

Nine Questions to Ask Yourself to Prepare for 2018 – Scott Slayton

4 Christian Principles for Making New Year’s Resolutions – Burk Parsons (Ligonier)

A New Approach to New Year’s Resolutions – Zach Nielsen (TGC)

Passion Points

On December 23, 2017 By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your long Christmas weekend:

Into the Darkness He Came – Jon Bloom (DG)

3 Things Mary Knew About Her Baby Boy – Jonathan Toutley (TGC)

Mary, Did You Know? What the Catholic Church Teaches About the Mother of Jesus – Thomas Schreine (DG)

Singing ‘Peace on Earth’ When Your Heart Is Heavy – Trevin Wax

How to Share Your Story This Christmas: Counsel from Charles Spurgeon – Tony Reinke

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day and a merry Christmas!

Passion Points

On November 25, 2017 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Main Ingredient in Personal Growth – David Mathis (DG)
Grow in grace. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better three-word caption for the Christian life.

20 Quotes from Erik Raymond’s New Book on Contentment – Matt Smethurst (TGC)
“If you are having a hard time being content, make a list of everything you have that you don’t deserve, and then make a list of everything you deserve that you don’t have.” (62)

Running from “the Black Dog” – Scott Slayton
During the late fall and winter months, I fight with what Winston Churchill called “the black dog.” Depression nips at my heels from the first week in November through the end of February….By God’s grace, I’ve learned how to stay one step ahead of the black dog….

You, Yes You, Are a Minister! – Tim Challies
Instructing one another is a hundred different ways of simply bringing God’s truth to bear. Sometimes this is done by a pastor preaching a sermon that calls people away from wrong behavior and toward right behavior. Far more often, though, it happens in the context of normal life, of one Christian interacting with another one. It happens when a friend encourages a friend to just carry on, to keep practicing the spiritual disciplines. It happens when a church member speaks up to tell what God has been teaching her from his Word. It happens when a brother sits with a brother to encourage him with a passage of Scripture.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day ministering to one another in your local church!