Category: PASSION Points

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Church Collection, Family Collection, PASSION Points

How we treat children says a lot about our humility.  Here are some helpful posts for parents and anyone who ministers to children:

How Do You Discern the Conversion of a Child? – Brian Croft

Teach Children the Bible Is Not About Them – Sally Lloyd-Jones

Children in Worship: Let’s Bring It Back – Jason Helopoulos

Children in Worship: Mom Tested Tips – Jason Helopoulos

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord!  (And if you are a parent, I hope you have a great Lord’s Day helping your children worship the Lord!)

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here is some good reading for your weekend:

Consider the Glory of God – John Piper (via Desiring God)
A  great summary of the glory of God found in his many attributes.

7 Ways to Kill the Thanksgiving Impulse in Your Life – Jared Wilson
By learning what to overcome, we can grow in gratitude.

And for anyone who is struggling right now, here are two posts to encourage you to press on:
Don’t Give Up – Jon Bloom
Oh, That We Would Cling To Christ! – Becky at …Because He Said So

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day reveling in God’s glory, giving thanks to our Father, and clinging to our Savior!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Looking Firmly at the Cross of Christ – J. C. Ryle (via Erik Kowalker)
Great quote on our need to constantly come back to the cross.

20 Ways Satan May Seek To Destroy You This Week – Paul Tautges
We dismiss the devil too easily.  He wants to destroy us.  This post is a great look at his strategies that we might beterr be on our guard.

Self-Love and Loving Others – Barnabas Piper (via World Magazine)
Loving others does not start by loving yourself more.

This One Thing I Must Do – Thom Rainer
We must love one another.

Show Hospitality and Share the Gospel – Tim Chester
I’ve been reading Chester’s book, A Meal with Jesus.  This post is an excerpt from the book that really caught my attention about a Jesus-practiced evangelism strategy.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day focused on the cross and loving your brothers and sisters in Christ!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Seems the only time I hvae to blog lately is Saturday mornings.  Anyway, here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How to Deal with Persistant Guilt – Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington (via The Gospel Driven Church) – Six helpful suggestions all related to shifting your focus.

Jesus Chooses and Uses Failures – Jon Bloom (via Desiring God)
The example of Peter is good news for all of us.

Good and Angry – Paul Tripp (via The Gospel Coalition)
The right and wrong way to be angry.

How to Pray for your Pastor – Ignatius of Antioch, 35-108 A. D. (via Trevin Wax)
Pray that your pastor would impress people with the greatness of Christ.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day being impressed with the greatness of Christ!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points, PASSION Quotes

For your weekend reading, let me recommend some worthwhile quotes from three heroes of the faith.

Hanging Upon the Life-Giving Cross – Basil the Great (via Trevin Wax)
A wonderful meditation as many of us prepare to celebrate the Lord’s Supper tomorrow.

Rejoice! and The Enjoyment of God – Jonathan Edwards (via Matthew Wynne)
I have been reading a lot about Edwards lately, and I really appreciated these two helpful quotes reminding us to delight in the Lord.

Finally, if you have not yet discovered Erik Kowalker’s blog of J.C.Ryle quotes, I encourage you to visit.  Following are some recent quotes I found especially helpful:
Our Unfailing Friend, Jesus Christ
Keep Looking Unto Jesus
In Need of the Holy Spirit’s Presence

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

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Idolatry, PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

My Measly Opinion – Marva Dawn (via Trevin Wax) – There is truth that transcends opinion.

Location, Location, Location – Paul Tripp (via Gospel Coalition) – A helpful summary of the daily battle of life – it is all about location.

A Catechism of the Heart – Sinclair Ferguson (via Justin Taylor) – What is the heart, and how do you keep your heart for God?

Like A Bag of Sand – Jared Wilson – How NOT to overcome an idol.

Worship: The Fuel, Fire, Furnace, and Heat – John Piper (via Justin Taylor) – A helpful summary of worship as you prepare for corporate worship tomorrow.

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:

A few years back I started going book by book through the Old Testament looking for examples of grace.  I only got through I Samuel.  This week I found this post by Dane Ortland who gives us a brief summary of how each book of the Bible shows forth God’s grace.

Mike Bullmore tells us from the Bible what we should expect from the Bible.  Do we come to the Bible with these expectations?

Finally, Tim Chester has been posting a number of Apologetic Sound Bites to help us answer skeptics who ask the following questions:
How can you claim there’s only one true religion?
Why do you want to force your opinion on me?
Why does God allow so much suffering?
Why doesn’t God reveal himself more clearly?

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day hearing the Word preached in your local church!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts on loving others:

5 Love Languages of Leviticus – Leviticus 19:9-18 commands that we love our neighbor as ourself. What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?

3 Reasons to Prioritize Your Marriage Over Your Children – There is sometimes a tendency to prioritize our children to the neglect of our marriage. There are at least three reasons that make prioritizing our children over our marriage both foolish and dangerous….

Parents and the Image of God – They [children] are image bear­ers.  They are crea­tures, made by God and for God.  They are given glory and honor by God.  They have inher­ent value, of greater worth than ani­mals.  How we treat the image of God is how we treat God.  The dig­nity of humans is built into the Law and the Prophets and the Gospel.  And we must see our chil­dren as image bearers.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshipping the Lord as you love your fellow image-bearers.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Idolatry, PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading – all on the topic of worship and idolatry:

Why I John Ends With A Command – John’s last line properly leaves us with that most basic question which God continually poses to each human heart: Has something or someone besides Jesus the Christ taken title to your heart’s trust, preoccupation, loyalty, service, fear and delight?

The Idolatry of Spiritual Laziness – Laziness is idolatry. It is closely related to its opposite—workaholism. Both the sins of laziness and workaholism are sins of self-worship. The behavior looks different, but the root idolatry is the same.

Worship Distorted – The root of idolatry is pride….  Pride is seen as detestable to God precisely because it steals from God’s glory and his preeminence. Pride is rebellion, but it is much more than rebellion against God’s authority. Pride is self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness. A proud heart sees itself as central and God as the one who must find his place of orbit in the proud heart’s universe.

Why Do You Worship – Worship is not first an outward act; it is an inner spiritual treasuring of the character and the ways of God in Christ.  It is a cherishing of Christ, a being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ.  When these things are missing, there is no worship, no matter what forms or expressions are present.

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

Passion Points – Christmas

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Points

Here is your Christmas edition of Passion Points, and it includes some really interesting reflections for Christmas.  An excerpt from each post is included.

Calvin & Claus – Every Christmas, poor Calvin is a tortured soul, torn between his desire to be “good” so that Santa will bring him lots of presents – and the (at least for a little boy) overwhelming temptation to smack the little girl next door with a perfectly formed snowball.

Scrooge, Overjoyed – Writing in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens tells us that Cratchit’s wife initially refused to participate in a toast to Scrooge on Christmas. We’re tempted to follow her example. We let bitterness, anger, and discontentment dim the light of Christ’s birth from shining brighter in our lives.

The Best Christmas Songs Tell The Truth – Sins, sorrows, curse, Satan, alienation, death. Doesn’t sound much like holiday cheer, does it? But this is the context of the comfort and joy of the Christmas announcement. Bethlehem’s star is only visible against the black sky of sin and death.

All Oppression Will Cease, Even in North Korea – Dictators and despots will continue to learn from their predecessors and build bureaucratic machines of terror and oppression.  But only for a time.  The fact remains that a day is coming when in Jesus’ name, “all oppression will cease.” Even the oppression of totalitarians in North Korea.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day/Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior who changes everything!