Category: PASSION Points

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

What Is It Like to Enjoy God? – John Piper (DG)
The enjoyment of God is the enjoyment of a Person — not just the enjoyment of a thing, or an idea, or a pattern of actions, or a mysterious force. The ultimate joy of God’s creatures is joy in a Person — joy in God.

10 Things You Should Know about the Resurrection – Adrian Warnock (Crossway)
…every Sunday should be Resurrection Sunday. The reason why the early church began to meet on the first day of the week was to celebrate Jesus’s defeat of death. Imagine what church would be like if we consciously gathered every week to celebrate the resurrection?

You Can Forget to Be Irritated – Scotty Smith (DG)
The more I remember God’s lavish, unwavering, inexhaustible love for us in Jesus, the more I forget to be irritated with others.

Worship as a Feast – Dustin Rouse (FTC)
As worshipers who come to church (this is also true, if not more so, for worship leaders), we need to come hungry. You can go to the nicest restaurant with the best reviews, but if you’re not hungry, you will not want to eat. It doesn’t matter what the meal smells or looks like, if you’re full, you won’t want to partake.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Holiness Will Make You Unbelievably Happy – Jon Bloom (DG)
God’s call to move “further up and further in” in holiness is an invitation to joy!

Gentleness – All About Communication – James Faris (GR)
Are you gentle? How would you know?

6 Very Good Reasons to Consider Your Short Little Life – Tim Challies
Our lives are short. They are, in the words of the author of Ecclesiastes, little more than vapor, dust blow by the wind. Yet the very thought that could dismay or depress you, can also motivate you. Here are some blessings that will be yours when you pause to consider your short little life.

I Won’t Let Cancer Take Away My Sundays – Jordan Standridge (cripplegate)
The profundity of her mumbled explanation for why she hadn’t stayed home this Sunday or any in the last year for that matter hit me hard. I’ve always said that there’s no place I’d rather be than with God’s people on Sunday morning and Sunday night but I’ve never had cancer in my lungs. Perhaps the bed would be a greater desire for me if I had cancer. And yet for this sweet saint, church was better despite the pain she incurred in coming.

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

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Spurgeon’s 15 Tips for a Deep and Effective Prayer Life – Kevin Halloran
Spurgeon knew the power of prayer and his need for prayer. When asked the secret of his influential preaching ministry, Charles Spurgeon frequently responded, “My people pray for me.”

4 Grave Dangers in Every Sin – Tim Challies
You can’t sin without consequence. That’s not the way God has structured his world. It’s not the way God has structured his people.

Begin to Hope Again – Scott Hubbard (DG)
We may still be a sorrowful people — burdened, broken, and beaten up — but we will not be a cynical people. We are a people of hope.

The Congregation and the Pulpit – Phil Newton
The congregation is not simply a static audience. They participate in what takes place in the pulpit. Maturing congregations help their pastors to faithfully deliver this means of grace to the church in preaching God’s Word.

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

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Too Busy to Love My Neighbor – Ryan (A Small Work)
I noticed one unpleasant effect of this busyness. At least in me, busyness aggravates self-centeredness.

The Devil’s Glasses – Barry York (GR)
When you are being tempted, the devil sets on your nose a pair of false glasses. These glasses make the sin look so small that you view engaging in it as trivial….

10 Bible Reading Habits I’ve Learned from My Pastor’s Sermons – Colin Smith
Here are 10 habits I have picked up from my pastor’s weekly sermons….

Seven Key Lessons in Diversity from Grace Fellowship Church – Tim Challies
Over a few hours (and some pretty tasty soup and sandwiches) we discussed diversity and arrived at a number of keys to our experience. Here, from Grace Fellowship Church, are seven lessons on finding unity in diversity.

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

Passion Points

On 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!

Passion Points

On 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 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 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!

Passion Points

On 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 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!