Introducing OT Journey 2.0

On July 7, 2025 By BrianIn OT Journey 2.0

I am excited to introduce you to OT Journey 2.0 this summer. Bible Journey studies and reflections have been on this site for quite a while. This summer I am launching OT Journey 2.0 which is a reworking and revising of that earlier material. It is designed to help you take a group through the entire Old Testament (except Psalms) chapter by chapter in three years (150 lessons). You can find all the details for this new study (as well as the older one) on the Bible Journey page here. I plan to start posting studies next week. It would make a great study to start this Fall with your Sunday School class or small group Bible study.

Saturday Strands

On March 22, 2025March 18, 2025 By BrianIn Saturday Strands

Here are some loose strands for our growth:

How Should We Pray? A Helpful Framework of Seven ‘P’s – John Stevens
It helps to have some framework for prayer that shapes our thinking and speaking. I find it helpful to bear in mind the following aspects of prayer, both for my personal praying and public prayers.

Leave Church a Little Tired: Serving the Saints on Sunday Morning – Sam Emadi (DG)
The next time you gather with God’s people, I hope you leave strengthened and spiritually fed, I hope you’re built up by the gospel, and I also hope you leave a little tired. I hope you leave looking a little more like the Son of Man, who gave his life to serve.

The Radiance of Real Holiness – Trevin Wax
I’ve been thinking more carefully about how compelling and attractive holiness can be in a world that has forgotten the sacred dignity of humanity and the high calling God has for us.

Follow the Truth, Not Your Heart – Robby Lashua (STR)
The Christian worldview teaches that the heart is deceitfully wicked and that transformation happens when our minds are conformed to the truth. According to the New Age worldview, the mind is a trickster, so we should follow our hearts. This is a complete inversion of the truth.

Flashback: Where God Dwells
God is high and holy, so it should not surprise us that he dwells in a high and holy place. What should absolutely amaze us….

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

Saturday Strands

On January 25, 2025 By BrianIn Saturday Strands

Here are some loose strands for our growth:

Never Too Busy to Pray – Scott Hubbard (DG)
God wants us to run and build and work in this world, but not apart from prayer. Jesus knew as much. So, though busy, though sought out, though needed, though weighed down by a world of urgent responsibility, Jesus prayed. Will we?

10 Ways to Fracture Your Church – Conrad Mbewe (Crossway)
Although I have given ten ways to fracture a church, there are many more. This is only a sample. Often you will find that it is a combination of these causes that finally lead to the fragmentation. To arrest a possible breakup, you need to talk about the threat before the root of bitterness grows. Deal with it quickly. Like cancer, it must be handled as soon as it is discovered because any delay only allows the cancer to grow.

In the School of Contentment – Doug Eaton (Fight of Faith)
It is easy to boast when things are good, but the believer must often be trained by many hardships to make contentment a reality.

Have You Lost the Ability to Think Deeply? – Lydia Kinne (TGC)
Our society desperately needs more people who can think wisely, discern clearly, and guide the next generation in God’s truth. It sounds like a big task, but it can start with something as small as turning off the TV and picking up a good book.

Flashback: Everlasting Significance
Don’t seek lasting significance in the temporary. Only an eternal God can give you lasting significance. He gives us an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.

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

Saturday Strands

On January 11, 2025January 8, 2025 By BrianIn Saturday Strands

Here are some loose strands for our growth in the new year:

How Healthy Is Your Soul? Six Questions for a New Year – Scott Hubbard (DG)
So, at the end of a new year, on the edge of another, let’s stop to take some spiritual vitals. How healthy is your soul?

5 Habits That Changed My Life – Ian Harbar (Back Again)
Everyone is different, but if you find yourself struggling under the weight of life, I hope these habits are something you’ll consider as we move into the new year. They won’t solve every problem, but I’ve found that they have helped me bear life and increase my capacity for love.

The “Plus One” Approach to Church – Kevin DeYoung (Clearly Reformed)
Are you feeling disconnected, unhappy, or bored with your local congregation? Let me suggest you enter the “Plus One” program of church involvement.

How I Am Getting My Mind Back This Year – Wyatt Graham (TGC)
If our age’s pathology threatens to unmake what it means to be human—that rational and emotional structure based on deep structures of reality—then how can we—how can I—get our minds back this year?

Flashback: What Are You Seeking?
What are you seeking? This is Jesus’ question to two of John the Baptist’s disciples. It is also an important question for us to ponder as we end this year and begin a new year.

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

Get Me Through

On August 12, 2024 By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

My Dad passed away last month. It is hard to write that. One evening I was texting him about our big family summer get-together, the next evening he was gone.

My wife and I headed back to my parents’ home to be with my mom, and grieve, and prepare for a funeral, and all those things.

On Sunday we headed to church as we do every week, only this time not our home church, but my brother’s church. We sang “The Solid Rock” – a great old hymn about our hope in Jesus. I say we sang, but I had trouble singing, coming in and out, as the emotions raged between grief and the very real hope that is ours. During the pastoral prayer, the pastor prayed for our family in our loss, and there real tears. Then we sang “There Is One Gospel” – a new hymn that I knew, but had never sung in church before. It too spoke of our hope in my grief. Then came “O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer” – a new song too, but one I had never heard before. No matter – it too spoke of our hope.

The message was from Mark 4 about the Sower and the four soils. I confess I don’t remember much about it, except that it was grounded in the Word. After the message, we sang “I Will Glory in My Redeemer” – one of my favorite newer songs that again talked about my hope. We celebrated the Lord’s Supper, my wife and I with my brother and his wife and a church full of people I didn’t know. But we were all brothers and sisters in Christ celebrating the reality of Christ’s death on our behalf that gives us hope for the future. We closed with “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” – another great old hymn reminding us that in all of this, God was still faithful.

And sometime during that service, it hit me – this was what will get me through. This weekly rhythm of singing songs about our great hope in Jesus that transcends death. Prayer, the Word, the Lord’s Supper – all reminding us that we have a great God who has redeemed us and promised us a glorious future with Him. This weekly rhythm rehearsing the glorious truths of our Savior.

And it didn’t matter if it was an old hymn or a new one, a song I knew or didn’t. All that mattered were the words speaking the gospel hope into my life.

Some people say that church is boring, but it is anything but boring when you are wrestling with the realities of life and death, grasping for hope in the midst of tragedy. And maybe that is our problem. Not church, but us. Too often we are pre-occupied with more trivial matters, distracted by things that have no eternal value. The gospel speaks words of life, but we are too busy chasing the next thrill, the next meme, the next new something that means nothing compared to the old, old story of Jesus.

I don’t remember anything about the message that Sunday. I don’t remember what I had for lunch that day either. But in both cases I was fed. And just like I need that daily rhythm of eating, I need that weekly rhythm of worship together. To be fed, to refocus on what is important, to be reminded again and again of our hope in the Lord. This weekly rhythm is what will get me through.

And yet, the weekly rhythm would mean nothing without the truths behind it. The rhythm would be worthless if I didn’t know that our Redeemer lives, and because He does, so shall my Dad.

The rhythm would just be wishful thinking without my Savior risen and reigning. The rhythm points to Jesus. And that is why the rhythm is powerful. Because it is a means that He will use to get me through.

An Equation of Love

On June 10, 2024 By BrianIn PASSION Reflections1 Comment

But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
– I John 3:7-8 (ESV)

John gives us a spiritual equation that teaches us about love.

Goods + Need + Heart + Action = Love

First, I have the world’s goods; that is, the means to help someone in whatever way. It might be money, time, a skill, or an ability. It might also be as simple as a word of encouragement, a prayer, a listening ear, even a hug. It is whatever good is necessary to meet the need.

Which brings us to the second part of the equation – I see my brother or sister in Christ in need. To see the need means I have contact with them, I am around them, I know them. And so I am able to see the real need; not just symptoms, but the real need. And that may require observation. It may require some communication. My first impression, or what I may want to do, may not be what they need.

Third, having the goods and seeing need, I must then refuse to close my heart. I must not shut off compassion. I must not slam the door of empathy. If I do, that is a failure of love.

Not having the goods is not a failure to love. Not seeing the need is not a failure of love (though maybe I need to be more observant). A failure to love is when I close my heart.

Finally, if I have the goods, see the need, and have a compassionate heart, then I must do something. My heart must lead me to act. I must actually apply the goods to the need.

My heart leads me to act to meet the need with the goods that God has given me. That is real love.

Goods + Need + Heart + Action = Love

Love Like Jesus

On April 30, 2024 By BrianIn PASSION Reflections

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
– John 13:34-35

These verses call us to love like Jesus.

Notice it is a command. It is not a suggestion for when we feel like it. We must love one another. Churches must be places of love for each other.

And it is a new command primarily because it has a new pattern. We are to love like Jesus. Go through the entire Old Testament, look at saint after saint, and you will not find a perfect example of love. But in Jesus, we have that perfect example. Love like Jesus.

How did Jesus love? In the context, we could say at least three things.

First, Jesus loved by serving. At the beginning of John 13, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Here was a real need, for their feet were dirty and smelly from walking the dusty roads.

Love like Jesus. Serve each other by meeting real needs. That service might be dirty and messy. It might be hard. It might be unpleasant. Love like Jesus. What opportunities to serve do you see in your church family? How might God call you to serve? In what ways are you already serving? Love like Jesus – by serving.

Second, Jesus loved by speaking. You look through John 13-17, and in most of these verses Jesus is speaking. He is going away, and Jesus knows the disciples need instruction. They need encouragement. They need prayer. And so Jesus lovingly speaks words of instruction, words of encouragement, and words of prayer.

Love like Jesus. Speak words of instruction – to spur on another Christian to follow Jesus. Speak words of encouragement – to strengthen another Christian when life is tough. Speak words of prayer on each other’s behalf – for strength in trial, for growth, for healing, for safety, for victory over temptation. What words of instruction, encouragement, or prayer do you need to speak? Love like Jesus – by speaking.

Finally, Jesus loved by sacrificing. Immediately after that Last Supper, Jesus is arrested, falsely accused, flogged, ridiculed, and hung on cross. Why does he endure all of this? Jesus had already told the disciples: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Love motivated His sacrifice. Jesus lovingly sacrificed his life for us, to pay punishment for our sins. He sacrificed Himself so that we might be forgiven.

Love like Jesus. Be ready to sacrifice for each other. How might God call you to sacrifice for your church family? Maybe your time or some money. Maybe you will have to sacrifice your comfort or convenience, even sleep. Love like Jesus – by sacrificing.

And this is how the world will know that we are His disciples – as we obey this command and love like Jesus. When the world looks at the church, they should see a place of love, a people of love. A people who genuinely care about each other. A people who lovingly serve and speak and sacrifice. This is who Jesus calls us to be. This is what we are to be known for.

Love like Jesus

Passion Points

On August 1, 2020 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good pots for your weekend reading:

10 Things You Should Know about Prayer – Donald Whitney (Crossway)
…pray the Bible; that is, to turn the words of Scripture into prayer. The Psalms are ideal for this, but you can also go back and pray through part of your Scripture reading for the day.

The Elusive Trait of Reasonableness – Mark Loughridge (GR)
True wisdom is persuadable or open to reason. It recognizes that we don’t always get it right. That we haven’t necessarily arrived at our final opinion on every matter. That we have our biases, limitations, and blind spots. That situations change and new factors need to be taken into account. Reasonableness is a practical outworking of our finitude. We don’t have all the answers, we don’t have infinite knowledge, and we are sinners. In short, we can be wrong.

Drained and Depressed by the Internet? Go Outside. – Brett McCracken (TGC)
More than our smallness, nature should remind us of God’s bigness. And that’s ultimately where the “peace” is found—resting in the sovereignty of a God who designed the anthill as well as the Andes, the delicate petals of a rose as well as the sturdy structure of a sycamore tree.

The Small Change That Can Radically Improve Your Church Experience – Aaron Earls (F&T) I believe one simple change can revolutionize your Sunday morning experience: get there a little early and stay a little late. Showing up to church 15 minutes before the service starts and hanging around 15 minutes after the service ends can make all the difference. Here’s how….

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church (in whatever way possible)!

Passion Points

On May 16, 2020 By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Big Thanks for Little Things – Trevin Wax
Grief is good. Lament is appropriate. But gratitude-infused grief and hopeful lament—that’s even better. So, think twice next time you pour that cup of coffee, or slice that delicious pineapple, or open that God-breathed Book on your desk. And give God thanks. He sees you. He loves you. And every good and perfect gift comes from him.

My Gratitude List – Tim Gombis
Each morning I take a very long walk and I begin it by mentally rehearsing my gratitude list. This is important because it reminds me of my identity and the narrative I inhabit. I live in a world of plenty, filled with rich gifts. And I am someone dearly loved by God and I am the recipient of so many good things.

Embracing Fragility – Y. Bonesteele
Have we forgotten that we are not all-powerful? That we are not all-knowing? That we are not in control? Only God is.

Gentleness Amid the Germs – Kristin Pichura
We can and must speak and act with gentleness: with a humble spirit that is strengthened by God’s grace (Heb. 13:9) and motivated by His amazing love that has been poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5).

10 Ways to Thrive in Quarantine – Mark Oden & Stefano Mariotti (TGC)
Here people are finding various ways to survive, but wouldn’t it be good to not only survive, but to redeem it as a gift from a generous heavenly Father?

How to Care for Friends with Anxiety and Depression – Emma Scrivener
“Social distancing” has become the phrase of the day, but what we really need is physical distancing. Socially, we need to be reaching out, more than ever before.

Church, Don’t Let Coronavirus Divide You – Brett McCracken (TGC)
In such a precarious and polarizing environment, how can churches move forward in beautiful unity (Ps. 133) rather than ugly division? It won’t be easy. But by God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit working to unify us in ways our flesh resists, the opportunity is there for us to be a countercultural model for the rest of the world.

Hope you have a good Lord’s Day!