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!
Family Worship Month
I have mentioned before the idea of Family Worship – a regular time for the family to gather together around the Word and prayer. My family has been doing it for several years – and it is a highlight of our kids’ day.
To help promote the idea, some folks have declared January to be Family Worship Month, and January 29 to be Family Worship Sunday. Their blog has numerous articles from various Christian leaders (living and dead) on the importance of Family Worship. Well worth checking out.
For a brief but helpful book introducing Family Worship, pick up Donald Whitney’s book.
God Has Been Gracious
I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant. – Genesis 32:10
God has dealt graciously with me. – Genesis 33:11
…the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone. – Genesis 35:3
This is Jacob’s testimony.
Looking at his life, it is clear Jacob was not worthy,
and yet God dealt graciously with him.
Is this not our testimony as well?
Looking at our lives, we are not worthy either,
but God has dealt graciously with us.
He showers us with his steadfast love.
He remains faithful to us.
He answers our prayers.
He is always with us.
Sure, we will have difficult days. Jacob did too.
And yet we can see God’s grace in the trials
as well as in the blessings.
Truly, God has dealt graciously with us!
Cleaning His House
And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold.
– Luke 19:45
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
So glorify God in your body.
– 1 Corinthians 6:12-20
Jesus came to his temple and found what should not have been there,
so he began to drive those things out.
You are his temple today.
When he comes to his temple, does he find what should not be there?
Are there common sins he wants to drive out?
Are there idols he wants to drive out?
Are there wrong priorities he wants to drive out?
Will you cooperate with him in driving those things out?
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!
Thorns?
Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold,
some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
– Matthew 13:7-9
Are there thorns in your life seeking to choke you
and keep you from being fruitful?
Maybe it’s time to pull some weeds….
Our Treasure and Our Pearl
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
– Matthew 13:44-46
Is Jesus the treasure and pearl for whom you would give all,
or is he merely an add-on to your life?
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.
Pray For Your Pastor
You ought to pray for those whom the Holy Spirit has made overseers over you. This is what Saint Paul begs again and again of the churches to whom he writes…surely, if the great Saint Paul, that chosen vessel, that favorite of heaven, needed the most importunate prayers of his Christian converts, much more do the ordinary ministers of the gospel stand in need of the intercession of their respective flocks.
– George Whitefield
(Taken from George Whitefield Daily Readings edited by Randall J. Pederson)
Brian J. Mikul 