Jesus, What a Wonderful Name – You’ll enjoy watching Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ long and powerful Scripture recitation from the recent True Woman conference. Proactive and Reactive Prayer – The distinction between proactive and reactive prayer can be a helpful one. If we don’t guard ourselves, our prayers will almost always drift toward the reactive. Moses,…
As I continue this series on getting things done, I want to remind you of our definition of productivity: Productivity is effectively stewarding your gifts, talents, time, energy, and enthusiasm for the good of others and the glory of God. I would like to briefly address that “good to others and glory to God” because…
Technologies That Will Be Inside You – This all sounds terrifying now. And a few years from now we’ll wonder how we ever lived without them. 4 Reasons to Speak the Gospel to One Another – Derek Hiebert begins an interesting-looking series by offering four reasons that Christians ought to speak the gospel to one…
By Thom S. Rainer I have a great love for local congregations. To be sure, I’ve never been in a perfect church. They just don’t exist. But I still love local churches. One of my greatest joys in the past several years has been to see and work with churches that have experienced significant turnaround.…
Every pastor encounters people who have given up, or are tempted to give up, meeting together with God’s people. At any given time just about every church has some people who are in danger of drifting away, and no longer participating in the life of the church. To do so is to directly disobey Hebrews…
Of Michael Landon and Brittany Maynard – Wesley Smith powerfully compares the deaths of Michael Landon and the forthcoming death of media darling Brittany Maynard. The Wide Road to Divorce – This is a helpful article on divorce-proofing marriage. Humans of the World – Here are some of the most striking photos from the world…
There is nothing easy about parenting, and nothing easy about the responsibility of training our children in obedience through discipline. Because discipline is unpopular and unpleasant, parents often find themselves looking for substitutes. In her book Parenting Against the Tide, Ann Benton lists five poor substitutes for disciplining our children—five poor substitutes that fail to…
Be sure to read this fantastic review of The Bible Tells Me So, a new and troubling book to Peter Enns. It seems that he is attempting to do for the Bible what Rob Bell did for hell. I am thankful to Truth Remains for sponsoring the blog this week; you can watch a free…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by our friends at Crossway. They have packaged up a couple of resources that I think you are going to like. There will be 5 winners this week, and each of them will be receiving a copy of the ESV Women’s Devotional Bible and a copy of Jen…
I am now deep into this series on getting things done, but before I go any farther, I would like to pause for a quick review. I began this series by explaining what productivity is and why it matters [Part 1]. Then I had you look at your life from a high-level perspective so you…
Mandating Bible Reading For Your Kids – “Every Christian parent deals with this at some point. They struggle with what they should mandate vs just encourage their kids to do. And with this, how much? At what point will we defeat our purpose and discourage them?” How To Die Beautifully – This is some good…
It is something I see again and again, and something that baffles me every time: People who expect unbelievers to act like believers. So often I see Christians acting surprised that their non-Christian friends or family members are acting like non-Christians. John Owen addresses this in his great work Overcoming Sin and Temptation. The book…
Caring for Aging Parents – “What does Jesus’ example offer for his followers? It reminds us that honoring our parents isn’t simply payback for their care for us in childhood. It’s not a reward dependent on how well they parented us. Care for your parents is a reflection of what we believe about the gospel.”…
One of my lifelong struggles has been finding freedom in the most basic part of the Christian life–personal devotions. It’s not that I don’t do them, of course, but that they rarely seem to come easily and naturally. I want to wake up longing to read the Bible and eager to pray. I want to…
From the River to the Ends of the Earth – This is a free album from Matt Searles, and it is based on the Psalms. You need to input your email address to get it, but you won’t be put on the mailing list until you opt-in. Compassion Without Compromise – Westminster Books has some…
For the past couple of weeks I have been working on a series titled How To Get Things Done, and am continuing that series today [Part 1: How to Get Things Done, Part 2: Define Your Areas of Responsibility, Part 3: Time, Energy & Mission]. I have spent the first few installments of the series…
Did Jesus Hang on a Pole? – Bill Mounce talks about another difficult translation. Through a Western Lens – Elisha reflects on just one way that we tend to read the Bible through a distinctly Western lens. Idiot’s Guide to the Bible – You’ve probably seen the Idiot’s Guide series before. Jim Hamilton writes about…
Truth Remains is a church history ministry endeavoring to remind believers of the great sacrifices that faithful men and women made in previous generations so that we could have access to the Word of God. The halls of church history are covered in the blood of countless martyrs who gave their lives to defend, proclaim,…
Not too long ago I had the opportunity to speak to a gathering of young adults from several churches across our city. I chose to speak about how any Christian (not only young adults) can make a church better and stronger. Here are some of the things I came up with: 7 things your church…
Should Giving Always Be Kept Secret? – Randy Alcorn answers the question of whether giving should always be kept secret. Cheating Video Poker – There is no real redeeming value in this article; it’s just plain interesting what people will do for greed. Also, it’s hard to feel sorry for casinos when people find ways…