Here are some good posts for pastors (and others too) about burnout:
What Is Burnout and Why Is It So Dangerous? – David Murray (Crossway)
Preventing Pastoral Burnout – David Murray (Crossway)
How to Stay in Ministry Over the Long Haul – David Murray (Crossway)
4 Cultural Factors That Contribute to Our Epidemic of Burnout – David Murray (Crossway)
I believe that every Christian ought to be joined to some visible Church—that is his plain duty according to the Scriptures. God’s people are not dogs, otherwise they might go about one by one. They are sheep and, therefore, they should be in flocks.
– Charles Spurgeon
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
The Joy of Walking with God – Tim Challies
The Christian’s walk is one of close fellowship with God and earnest obedience to God. Here are some of the joys we receive in this walk.
The Nail in the Coffin of Our Hearts: Five Hundred Years of Fighting Idolatry – Tony Reinke (DG) Shallow thinking about God always replaces God, and sets in his place a fraudulent idol of security or sex or wealth or power or even of religion.
Sanctification Is a Direction – David Powlison
We must have a vision for a long process (lifelong), with a glorious end (the last day), that is actually going somewhere (today).
Sunday Morning Is Not About Me: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness – Stephen Witmer (DG)
As we see our Lord for who he is, as we look away from ourselves to gaze upon him again, we will find true, lasting joy and contentment.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day walking with, thinking about, and gazing upon God!
God’s servants are sealed as His own
And protected in His sight
Standing before the Father’s throne
Clothed in blood-washed robes of white
We will praise Him, We will serve Him
We are the servants of God
In His presence God will shelter
From all harm and ev’ry fear
Guide us to the living water
Wipe away our ev’ry tear
What a delight, What a great joy
To be the servants of God
To the tune of “Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending”
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Souls Need Songs: How God Shapes Us Through Singing – Hayden Nesbit (DG)
God made our souls for song. Scripture brims with God’s call for his people to sing his praises. Something about singing refreshes and reorients our souls
8 Ways to Measure Your Love for the Bible – Tim Challies
Here are a few ways to measure whether or not you truly love the Word.
Diagnosing & Mortifying the Sin of Complaining – Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Complaining isn’t, however, the real issue. Complaining is the outward manifestation of other heart-sins taking place in that moment. Let’s diagnose complaining. When we complain, we manifest three heart-sins that are all taking place together.
Worshiping a Golden Calf on Sunday Morning is Deceptively Easy – Jared Wilson
On Sundays, our sanctuaries fill with people seeking worship, and not one person comes in set to neutral. We must take great care, then, not to assume that even in our religious environments, where we put the Scriptures under so many noses, that it is Jesus the exalted Christ who is being worshiped.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Practical Suggestions for Cultivating Communion with God – Kelly Kapic (Crossway)
Communion with God is a deep need for every human, whether we acknowledge the need or not. Communion with God is how we were made to function, and it is ultimately about a loving and very present relationship with the triune Creator.
Two Gifts You Give To Others in Your Sanctification – Tim Challies
Your sanctification is a gift to others. Your continual growth in holiness is not something you emphasize merely for your own benefit or your own assurance, but something you pursue for the benefit of others.
One Man’s Dream Destroyed Millions – Jon Bloom (DG)
We must confront our own wicked proneness to objectify others and resolve all the more to war against it. We humans have a horrible, sinful tendency to view others as roles — too often expendable “extras” — in the epic moving picture of our story, not souls in the real epic of God’s story. The fallen human nature, unhinged from God’s reality, seeks to construct its own preferred reality. And it uses other people to do it.
Are You a Healthy Church Member? – Thabiti Anyabwile (Crossway)
A healthy church member is someone that, in one sense, shares all the sensibilities of a good pastor. They’re going to have a concern for the spiritual growth of others, they’re going to have a concern for the right teaching of God’s Word, and they will have a concern for the church’s witness to the community, for reaching their neighbors and friends.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!
Here are some good posts for Pastor Appreciation Month:
The Cheap Way to Bless Your Pastor – Kevin DeYoung
3 Reasons Your Pastor Desperately Needs Prayer And Encouragement – Stephen Altrogge
How to Pray for Your Pastor – Melton Duncan (Ligonier)
8 Prayers You Should Regularly Pray For Your Pastor – Stephen Altrogge
Behold the Lamb as He opens, Each of the seals – one through four
Now unleashing the four horsemen, Set to conquer and make war
Bringing famine, Disease, and death
As the Lamb jud-ges the earth
The Lamb reigns now let us trust Him, And endure real suffering
Limits judgment – let us praise Him, Repent and obey the King
He reigns today, And forever
Come and behold: the Lamb reigns
To the tune of “Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending”
Here are some good posts on small town church ministry:
Why I Love the Rural Church – Brandon Pearce (FTC)
3 Challenges of Small-Town Ministry – Donnie Griggs (TGC)
Are Small Churches Less Fruitful? – John Piper (DG)
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Be Patient with Your Slow Growth – Jon Bloom (DG)
Godliness is not your Personality – David Murray
Don’t Speak Up: On the Spiritual Discipline of Silence – Mark Dever (9 Marks)
Sunday is End-Times Warfare – Peyton Hill (FTC)
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping your great God with your local church!
Brian J. Mikul 