This morning Joshua, our lead worshipper, introduced a new song to the congregation. An adaptation of an old Wesley hymn, it has been modernized and has been recently recorded by Matthew Smith. It is titled “Calmer Of My Troubled Heart (Hallelujah).” You can find it on his Road Sessions Collection CD. The lyrics are simple.…
It is a long weekend here in Canada and it seems like pretty much the whole population of Toronto has fled north to cottage country. We’ve got no cottage to go to, so instead we are meeting up with a cousin of mine and heading out onto Lake Ontario in his boat. Should be fun.…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays sponsor is Desiring God, a name you are all familiar with, I’m sure. Desiring God is the teaching ministry of John Piper, and DG would like to give you some of Piper’s best books. They are offering 5 prize packages, each of which contains a copy of the following 3…
The Friends with Benefits Epidemic – Here’s the best couple of lines from this article: “Your desire for sex is proof that God loves you. Your physical draw to another human being is proof that God created you to want to experience unparalleled intimacy in a way that reflects His desire for intimacy with us.…
I have always wanted to manage my money well. I have often been convicted that with my rudimentary knowledge of finances, it would be especially important for me to learn to budget well. For many years I tried to put together a budget and often found myself searching for software that would make it simple.…
UPDATE: If you’d like to read along, Christian Audio has put the audio book on sale for just $2.98 until October 31. Use coupon code CH0811CC. Click here to order it. Several years ago I began a program I called Reading Classics Together. The impetus for this project was the realization that, though many Christians…
John Stott’s death has already generated a lot of memorials. Here are a few that I found particularly interesting: Sandy Grant, Mark Meynell, Andy Le Peau and Timmy Brister. Many more will follow in the days to come. When Tumor Markers Rise – This is a powerful article from Mike Pohlman. “My wife Julia impresses…
Earlier today John Stott went to be with the Lord. He was 90 years old. Or as the Bible says of others, “He was old and full of years.” It is interesting to me that Twitter is today’s version of the water cooler. If you would like to know what other people are thinking about…
Simplicity is a trending topic in our culture and our day; there is good reason for this. We are drowning in stuff and drowning in options. Somewhere along the way, many of us find it all overwhelming and overbearing. Somewhere along the way, all of these choices are making us miserable. In the past couple…
The New Asceticism – I think Byron Yawn has a good word of warning to offer in this article. He looks at today’s many calls for radical living and points out where, if we are not careful, we could lose sight of the gospel. Remember that it tends to be good things that take our…
This may be the season for breezy beach reading (I’ve done a little bit of that myself), but that hasn’t stopped people from saying very nice things about a hard-hitting new book by Brian Hedges–a book that deals with sanctification. The July book from Cruciform Press (a company I’ve co-founded), Licensed to Kill: A Field…
John MacArthur is in the midst of penning a series of articles that will address (and encourage and scold) the Young, Restless, Reformed movement–this thing they call the New Calvinism. I have one great concern about this. I will tell you what it is, but only after I give a brief overview of what MacArthur…
One thing I love about John Piper is the passion he brings to, well, pretty much everything he does. A couple of years ago he and I went out for a quick bite to eat after a conference and he asked a bunch of questions about Twitter; he was considering getting an account (or, actually,…
Norway has experienced a nightmare—3 hours of abject terror. On Friday afternoon, right around 3:30, thirty-two year-old Anders Behring Breivik ignited a bomb outside government offices in Oslo, killing at least 7. As the bomb exploded, he was on his way to Utoya Island, about 20 miles from Oslo, the location of a youth camp…
Amazon – Speaking of Kindle, here are some interesting, random facts about Amazon. A Soldier’s Letter – You have probably read this letter before, but it’s definitely worth reading again. “It shows a man highly devoted to his different and sometimes conflicting vocations as husband, father, soldier, citizen, and Christian.” Too Young to Wed –…
This is quite a powerful little quote from a book titled Men of The Word which is edited by Nathan Busenitz and which includes contributions from a long list of writers. This excerpt is from a chapter titled “Real Men Flee Temptation” and is written by Andrew Gutierrez. In the first century AD, crowns were…
Whole Hearts – Matt Hammitt is looking for your help in establishing the Whole Hearts Foundation to support the families of children with congenital heart defects. Pepsi is tallying votes and will make a donation to the organization that gets the most votes. You can visit the link to read more and to cast your…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays sponsor is Reformation Heritage Books. RHB is a small publisher, but one that consistently brings us a powerful combination of treasures from the past combined with some of the best of contemporary writing. Today RHB is giving away 5 prizes today, each of which is two complete sets of the…
Banning Weird Names – “In the past two years, the country [New Zealand] has banned 102 names deemed to be too out there. The list includes Baron, Bishop, Duke, General, Judge, Justice, King, Knight and Mr. Those names were banned because they were deemed to be too similar to titles. The name Messiah has also…
Today we come to our final reading in Gresham Machen’s Christianity & Liberalism. Let me apologize once more for disappearing last week. I went on vacation and completely forgot that I was supposed to be posting something about the final chapter. So here we go, a week late. The final chapter of Christianity & Liberalism…