Category: Holidays

Resolutions Resources

On By BrianIn Holidays

Tis that time of year when many, myself included, make New Year resolutions.  How do we want the coming year to look different from the past?  Below are several helpful links.

Questions for the New Year – Donald Whitney provides several questions to help us think about the new year.

New Years Resolutions – Here are the categories I use as I think about the coming year.

Jonathan Edwards’ Resolutions – Sometimes it helps to see what others resolved to do.

A New Years Day Challenge – A good challenge from R. C. Ryle for any day of the year.

Resolution Principles – Ten helpful principles for making and keeping resolutions.

How to Make Your Resolutions Stick – Mike Cosper offers four very good principles for actually keeping your resolutions.

My we press forward this year in following Christ for the glory of God!

Merry Christmas!

On By BrianIn Family Collection, Holidays

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.

Thanksgiving Posts

On By BrianIn Holidays

Here are some good posts to ponder for Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving Quotes – Three Passions

A Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving – The Valley of Visions (via Tim Challies)

Thanksgiving and the Appropriate Number of Prepositions – Tim Challies
(You must be thankful to, not just thankful for)

What Really Happened on the First Thanksgiving – Justin Taylor

Family Feuds and Tensions over the Holidays – Justin Taylor

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving giving thanks to our great God!

Easter Weekend

On By BrianIn Holidays

Last week I shared some past posts on Passion Week.  Here are three past posts on Easter:

Questions for Easter Gatherings – Great questions to ask at your Easter gatherings to lead into discussions of the cross and resurrection.

Easter Week Reflections – Reflections for Easter and following week.

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today – An investigation into the hymn that many will sing on Easter Sunday.  I can’t wait!

 

Passion Points – Easter Weekend

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Points

Here are some posts on the death and resurrection of our Savior for your weekend reading:

His Death

Go To Dark Gethsemane – Kevin DeYoung

The Cross Offers A Glimpse Into The Heart Of God – Trevin Wax

May Christ’s Shed Blood Make Me… – Puritan Prayer (via Trevin Wax)

His Resurrection

The Resurrection: The Reason For Hope – D. A. Carson (via Crossway)

The Neglected Resurrection – Matthre Barrett (via The Gospel Coalition)

Easter and the Great Wedding To Come – Jason Johnson (via The Gospel Coalition)

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating the resurrection of our Savior!  He Is Risen!

Passion Week

On By BrianIn Holidays

Interestingly (at least to me), my most popular post right now was written a year ago that features links to a timeline and map of the last week of Christ.  If you haven’t seen it, you can find it here.

As we prepare for Passion Week, perhaps it would be worth noting some other past posts:

Passion Week Reflections – Daily reflections I wrote a few years back for Palm Sunday through Easter.

Passion Week with Children – A link to daily crafts and activities to help children stay focused on what this time of year is all about.

And then some quotes:

His Love For You – C.J. Mahaney

For Us – J. C. Ryle

Our Sins Drove The Nails – J. C. Ryle

Questions for the New Year

On By BrianIn Holidays1 Comment

Donald Whitney has 31 helpful questions for us to ask as we look at the coming year.  Below are the first ten.  You can follow the link to read the rest.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

More questions….

For more helpful questions and articles by Donald Whitney, see here.

Habits for Growth in 2012

On By BrianIn Habit Miscellaneous, Holidays

In response to God’s grace and by His grace:

Which habits are you already practicing that you will continue?

Which habit are you already doing that you will seek to enhance?  How?

Which habit will you seek to begin this year?

Some Habits

  • Daily time with God in His Word and prayer
  • Read through the New Testament
  • Read through the Bible
  • Regular Scripture memory
  • Join a Sunday School class or small group Bible study
  • Greater commitment to prayer
  • Regularly attend Prayer Meetings
  • Closer fellowship with other believers
  • Join a Bible-believing, gospel-preaching church
  • Actively seek ways to encourage others
  • Serve in some church ministry
  • Better stewardship of time
  • Better stewardship of money
  • Tithe
  • Personal evangelism
  • Get involved in church outreaches