Tag: Virtue of Joy

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

How to Improve Your Biblical Literacy – Scott Slayton
Strategizing to learn God’s word does take time. Finding a reading plan and working through how you will stick with it does take effort, but it is absolutely worth it. God’s word does not return void and time spent digging into God’s word is never wasted.

Joy Is for the Generous – Tim Challies
Their generosity brought joy. The free and willing sacrifice of their own wealth caused them to rejoice. Each one gave as he decided in his own heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion. God loves that kind of cheerful giver and God’s people love to be that kind of cheerful giver. God granted and his people gained joy.

We are Not In Eden – Courtney Reissig
We are longing for something better and it’s coming. It’s just not here yet. Until then, we fix the brokenness with this world with temporary solutions, like a band-aid. Longing for the day when it’s all made new.

How You Might Break the Third Commandment in Church -Mike Leake
I’m ashamed to say that I broke this one in church the other day. You might be surprised by that. Why in the world would a preacher of the gospel be guilty of dropping one of the big “no-no” curse words? But that’s not how I broke it. I didn’t use God’s name in a string of expletives. I used it in a worship song.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

God Is Better

On By BrianIn PASSION Quotes

YouCanChangeThe invitation of the Bible is not to dreary abstinence.  It’s a call to find in God that which truly satisfies.  It’s believing that we find lasting fulfillment, satisfaction, joy, and identity in knowing God, and nowhere else.  Whatever sin offers, God offers more, for God offers us himself.  God isn’t just good, he’s better – better than everything else – and the true source of all joy.

– Tim Chester in You Can Change

Sermon Songs: Psalm 16:9-11

On By BrianIn Psalm 16 Hymns

MusicNotes

Lord I rejoice – glad is my heart
As I walk close to you
In Your presence – joy You impart
And pleasures ever new.

My hope is in the Lord today
He will take care of me
And though I die – Christ made a way
To rise in victory

Then in Your presence I will live
With joy forevermore
Enjoy the pleasures that You give
And You always adore

(To the tune of the “O God Our Help In Ages Past”)

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Take a Break from the Chaos – David Mathis (DG)
You need a break from the chaos, from the noise and the crowds, more than you may think at first. You need the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude.

John Macarthur on Helps and Hindrances to Joy – David Murray
In a sermon on Rejoice Always (1 Thess. 5:16), John Macarthur listed eight sources of joy and then six thieves of joy. I’ve summarized them…

Discipleship in the “Age of Authenticity” – Trevin Wax
The church’s response must be to proclaim a gospel that comes from outside ourselves – no matter how countercultural this may seem. When people in our culture discover how exhausting it is to try to be “true to themselves,” when looking further and further inward eventually shows them they haven’t the resources to transform their own lives, the church must be ready to break in with good news that life change isn’t mustered up from within but granted through grace from without.  We are to challenge the narrative that happiness is found solely in self-expression. The biblical view of the self is that we are broken, twisted, and sinful. The self is something that needs redemption, not expression.

Spurgeon’s Three R’s: A Useful Method for Evangelism – Jeff Robinson (TGC)
But recently, in my regular reading of C. H. Spurgeon’s sermons, I have discovered an excellent and pithy approach to the gospel, one that is fully biblical and establishes both man’s universal dilemma and God’s antidote in Christ: Spurgeon’s “Three R’s”: ruin, redemption, and regeneration. I like Spurgeon’s outline for several reasons: it is simple, the alliteration makes it easy to remember, the biblical texts all surround the number three (another aid to memory for the throes of nerve-busting, face-to-face evangelism).

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

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Ten Things To Do During Suffering – Ed Welch (CCEF)

Why God Gives Us More Than We Can Handle – Jon Bloom (DG)

40 Joys Through Jesus – David Murray

How Do You Prepare For Sunday? – Jordan Kauflin (DG)

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