A New Start

On By BrianIn Uncategorized

As anyone who follows this blog knows, I have not been posting much for the last several months.  Life has been busy.  And I’ve wondered how important it is to do this blogging thing. At the same time, I have been thinking about what this blog could look like, what I’d like to do with it, and what would be feasible to do.  I had planned to re-boot it, as it were, with the new year, but didn’t get there.  I think I am ready to re-start this week.

Once again, I plan to have collections from other blogs on Wednesdays and Saturdays – recommended readings for our growth in loving God and people in response to his love for us.  Thursdays will continue good quotes from books I have been reading.

Fridays will start a new feature I am calling Rest Reflections.  I have been reading a lot about rest, why we need it, what keeps us from it, and what it looks like. I definitely swing towards the workaholic side of the pendulum, but I’m finding I need to slow down and rest.  So I’m trying to learn what that looks like, and each week I’ll be sharing helpful quotes I find about what I am discovering about rest.  Frenzied, hurried, weary saints don’t love well, so this is a topic that fits well with the theme of this blog.

Tuesdays begins another regular feature called Preaching Point.  As a pastor, I spend a lot of time preparing and delivering sermons, and I want to refine my preaching.  So again, I have plans to read a lot about preaching this year – this is my second reading focus for 2019 – and I plan to share helpful quotes each Tuesday.

Mondays, finally, will be a variety of posts. Once a month will be a “Scripture Speaks to Our Suffering” post – a monthly passage of Scripture to ponder, even memorize, to help us in our suffering.  Also, we will return to the Passion Catechism with Q&A’s and related verses to help us learn and know the basic Christian Faith. And then finally, I hope to share some personal reflections on rest and preaching from what I have been reading.

So that’s the plan.  We’ll see how it goes.  If any of this looks helpful to you, I invite you to join me, or continue to join me, on this journey.

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

End of Year Check-Up Questions For Christians – David Qaoud (GR)
In no particular order, here are some questions to help gauge your spiritual health:

Every Sin / Every Temptation Not Taken – Jamsco
Every time you sin, it is an act of …
Every time you’re tempted to sin and resist it, it is an act of …

You Can Memorize Scripture This Year – Andy Naselli (DG)
With the New Year here, I want to encourage you: you can memorize Scripture this year. It does not take superhuman skill or fanatic devotion to write God’s word on your mind and heart. It requires some passion, planning, and persistence.

What’s Encouraging You at Your Church? – Tim Challies
A couple of days ago I was eager for some encouragement, so put the question out to Twitter: What’s something encouraging you’ve seen in your church over the past few months? The answers were a blessing to me! And, just so you can be encouraged as well, I thought I’d share some of them with you. Here’s how the Lord is at work in churches around the world…

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

New Years Collection

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

Here are some good posts to help you review the past year and think about the new year:

End of Year Check-Up Questions For Christians – David Qaoud

9 Questions to Help You Steward All of Your Life for God’s Glory – Brad Hambrick

Resolution Principles – Brian Mikul (that’s me…)

How to Make Your Resolutions Stick – Mike Cosper (TGC)

10 Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year (pdf) – Donald Whitney

Bible Reading Collection

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

Here are helpful thoughts and plans for reading the Bible personally and as a family in 2019:

Infographic: You Have More Time for Bible Reading than You Think (Crossway)

10 Suggestions For Your Personal Devotions in 2019 – Tim Challies

Reading The Bible Fast And Slow In 2019 – Paul Carter (Challies)

How to Read Through the Bible in a Year With Kids– J. R. Briggs (ABS)

10 Ideas and 10 Tips for Family Devotions in 2019 – Tim Challies

Christmas Collection

On By BrianIn Holidays, PASSION Collections

Here are some good posts for Christmas:

God’s Passion for God at Christmas – John Piper (Crossway)

Even as a Secular Holiday, Christmas Makes the Gospel Accessible – Tim Keller (TGC)

How to Love Hard People at Christmas – David Mathis (DG)

An Open Letter to the Depressed Christian at Christmas – David Murray (Crossway)

Christmas for the Weary– Sam Allberry (TGC)

Far as the Curse Is Found  Nancy Guthrie (DG)

Hope you have a merry Christmas!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How to Love People You Don’t Like – Greg Morse (DG)
He saw beyond the unlikeable to make them his beloved.

Sin Is Immaturity – Tim Challies
With every year that comes and goes, the more disturbing it becomes to see the childishness that remains in me.

The Key to Happiness Is More Stuff . . . Right? – Erik Raymond (Crossway)
Contentment actually is inward rather than outward, and it’s a work of God’s grace rather than a work of our flesh.

4 Truths About Christian Giving – J. I Packer (Crossway)
When we set ourselves to think about Christian money management, in whatever connection, from buying groceries to supporting missionaries to investing in industry to financing a holiday, the first thing we have to get clear on is that the money that is ours to manage is not ours, but God’s. Yes, we have been given it to use, but it remains his. We have it as a loan, and in due course we must give account to him of what we have done with it.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Gentle Discipline

On By BrianIn Virtue of Gentleness

Gentle-Way

What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness (meekness)?  – I Corinthians 4:21 ESV (Other Translations)

 I, Paul, myself entreat (urge, beseech, appeal to) you, by the meekness (humility) and gentleness of Christ.  – II Corinthians 10:1a ESV (Other Translations)

Paul is weary of Corinthians, who are like wayward children, and yet he wants to treat them with gentleness.  He doesn’t want to come with a rod, but with gentle love.  Notice he doesn’t demand, command, or threaten.  But clothed with the gentleness of Christ, he entreats, he urges, he beseechs, he appeals to them. His discipline is gentle.

Sometimes a rod is required.  In righteous anger, Jesus chased all buyers and sellers in temple out with a whip.   But, usually, we aren’t very good at righteous anger.  I used to think that anger was part of discipline.  But usually that anger was about me being inconvenienced and having to deal with a situation – nothing righteous about it.  And discipline can be done without anger.  Even using a rod can and should be done with a gentle loving spirit.

So what does your discipline look like?

Is your default setting to be gentle?

Or to be angry and harsh and violent?

How do you need to change?