Passion Points

On July 9, 2016 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Making the Most of Your Bible Reading – Godwin Sathianathan (FTC)
God desires to speak something to you. He has something for you in His Word for your particular day. Do you believe that? Are you eagerly anticipating what He might say to you today?

3 Truths to Speak To Your Temptation – Tim Challies
Sin promises joy but brings pain, sin promises happiness but brings shame, sin promises life but brings death, sin promises freedom but brings guilt, sin promises heaven but brings hell. It is always, always a lie.

Play Hard – Jared Wilson
We need to remember to play hard. We need to take having fun seriously. This means….being mindful in our rest, play, and fun that these things are gifts from God meant to help us celebrate being made in God’s image as Creator and project in some way the creative story he is telling with the universe.

Ten Things I Learned at Church on Sunday – Erik Raymond
God met us as a church in the ordinary and showed us his extraordinary faithfulness, grace, beauty, and power.

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

Draws Our Eyes

On July 7, 2016July 7, 2016 By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

Joy is born in the heart by the Word of God that draws our eyes to Him who through Jesus Christ loves us, is with us, and is in us.

– Joe Thorn in Tabletalk (May 2016)

Classic Quote

On July 4, 2016July 4, 2016 By BrianIn Classic Quotes

The Holy Ghost rides in the chariot of Scripture, and not in the wagon of modern thought.

– Charles Spurgeon

Passion Points

On April 9, 2016April 9, 2016 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Forgetting the Past – Ed Welch (CCEF)
Scripture does help us with our painful pasts, but it does more than that. It tells us to forget things we want to remember, and remember things we are likely to forget.

The Character of the Christian: Mature and Humble – Tim Challies
Christian leaders—and all Christians—are to strive to become more like Christ—they are to grow in spiritual maturity. As they grow in maturity, they will necessarily grow in humility.

10 Things to Remember When Reading the Bible – Vern Poythress (Crossway)
God’s redemption takes place in history. Christianity is not merely a religious philosophy, a set of general truths about God and the world. At its heart is the gospel, the good news that Christ has come and has lived and died and has risen from the dead, and now lives to intercede for us. God has worked out our salvation by coming in the person of Christ and acting in time and space. The message of what he has done now goes out to the nations…

18 Things to Pray for Your Church – Jonathan Leeman (TGC)
It’s comparatively easy for you and me to pray for ourselves, our families, and our friends. But how can we learn how to pray more fervently and consistently for our local churches?

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On January 9, 2016January 23, 2016 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

3 Reminders as You Enter the New Year 2016 – Brian G. Najapfour

Ten Check Up Questions for the New Year – Kevin DeYoung

Advice for Another Year of Bible Reading – Bruce Ware (DG)

12 Promises for Perseverance in Bible Reading – Dave Zuleger (DG)

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

Application Questions

On January 6, 2016January 23, 2016 By BrianIn Bible Journey1 Comment

After meditating on God’s Word, I often find God pointing to one or two ways that I need to apply the passage to my life. These applications just “jump” out at me.

But what if an application doesn’t jump out? Or what if we want to consider further possible applications? Here are some good questions to help us apply God’s Word to our lives:

Is there a promise to claim?
Is there a truth to believe?
Is there a false way of thinking (from our culture) that I need to reject?
Is there a desire to embrace?
Is there a corrupt desire (from our culture) that I need to reject?
Is there a sin I need to confess and repent of?
Is there a command I need to obey?
Is there a good example I should follow?
Is there a sinful example that I should learn from and avoid?
How should this passage affect how I relate to God?
How should this passage affect how I relate to people?

Reading the Bible in 4 Years

On January 4, 2016January 23, 2016 By BrianIn Bible Journey

This week our church begins a new Sunday School series with the plan to read and discuss our way through the entire Bible in four years. Each week we will focus on 4-6 chapters. Questions we will be asking each week include:

What observations do you make about this passage?
What do you learn about God?
What do you learn about people, sin, and our need of a Savior?
How does this passage point us to Jesus and salvation?
How do I need to apply this passage to my life?

In addition to those questions, we will be focusing on one theme from each week’s passage which I will post here each Monday. And I have written two reflections for each week that I will also be posting here.

If you don’t have a Bible reading plan, I invite you to join us. The schedule for the next four weeks:

January 4-10: Genesis 1-5
January 11-17: Genesis 6-11
January 18-24: Genesis 12-17
January 25-31: Genesis 18-23

Passion Points

On October 24, 2015 By BrianIn PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Anselm’s Prayer for Fullness of Joy in God (via Justin Taylor)
I pray, O God, that I may know you and love you,
so that I may rejoice in you.

The Joy of Living in Jesus’s Shadow– Marshall Segai (DG)
What we learn from John the Baptist is that the greatest glories in this life are not in receiving attention or fame, but in funneling it all to Jesus.

Five Steps to Meditating on the Bible – Colin Smith
To meditate, then, is to think deeply about what God has said to us in the Bible and to prepare our minds and hearts for prayer. Scripture is the foundation of our praying; meditation readies us for it by helping us focus, understand, remember, worship, and apply.

The Sunday Worship Killer – Jason Helopoulos
Donning the robes of the critic maims and kills many would-be worshipers in churches every single Sunday morning.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our great God!