Do You Love Controversy, or People? – “I don’t claim that all my views are infallible (if I knew which ones were wrong I would change my mind!), and please don’t think I speak as one who thinks he has always fulfilled the love command. But in spite of my own failures to live up…
Jet lag and culture shock are just plain cruel when they team up. This week I find myself halfway around the world, in a time zone ten-and-a-half hours removed from my own and in a culture so vastly different that it is difficult to comprehend. After two or three days in the east, I fooled…
Never the Same – Be sure to watch Never the Same, a short film celebrating the 50th anniversary of the gospel’s arrival among the Sawi—a story told in the best-selling book, Peace Child. When Dad Chopped Down the Idol – “There’s a memory seared into my mind from when I was twelve years old. I…
Last Friday I worshipped at Redeemer Church of Dubai and then spent the rest of the day with Pastor Dave Furman and his wife Gloria (read A Day in Dubai). Saturday morning I got up early (along with Murray Robinson, who is traveling with me) and headed to the airport to continue the journey east.…
War Histories or History Wars? – Phillip Jensen writes, “the world as we now know it is the result of earlier decisions and actions. Our life and society is contingent on past lives and society.” He goes on to discuss the importance of Remembrance Day and other similar days of remembering the past. While on…
This is the tenth installment in a series on theological terms. See previous posts on the terms theology, Trinity, creation, man, Fall, common grace, sin, righteousness, faith, pride, and election. Revelation refers to the revealing of something that was previously unknown. In the case of theology, revelation refers to the revealing of the knowledge of…
It must have been almost a year ago that I received an email from a pastor in India, asking me if I would consider traveling all the way to New Delhi to teach at his church and to meet some of the Christians in that country. I thought about it, prayed about it, and talked…
This week’s This week’s Free Stuff Friday is brought to you by The Good Book Company. You’ve heard from them before. This week they’re offering a combined package of three resources: a couple of their newest titles along with an excellent, Christmas evangelism resource. There will be 10 winners who will receive 1 copy of…
I Messed Up – Deepak Reju: “If you are dating someone right now, are you scared to tell him or her about your sinful past? Whether you’ve struggled with difficult sins from the past, or you are still struggling with significant sins right now, it’s important to talk to your future spouse about these things.”…
Infographics have become all the rage over the past few years and are used to display all manner of information. Last year I found myself wondering if infographics could be used to display theology in a helpful and visually-appealing way. I soon spoke to a few graphic artists and commissioned a series of twelve infographics,…
Burying the Dead – This is an interesting reflection on the church in Turkey. “Church-planters probably never even consider factoring this in when they start. That was certainly the case for some friends of mine in Turkey. For who would have guessed that setting up a cemetery might have to become a key feature of…
I have written often on the subject of knowing and doing the will of God. Sometimes, though, particular situations arise in which we need very specific applications of those general principles. A reader of this site recently asked me about how to think about how many children to have. Here is what he wrote: The…
Extreme Couponing – “For obvious reasons, the idea that you can snag hundreds of dollars worth of groceries for next to nothing has become exceptionally popular with today’s debt-ridden, budget-strapped masses. But does the ‘extreme couponing’ popularized on TV actually pay off?” TIME says it does not. Lessons from the Election – There are tens…
We are definitely not facing a shortage of books on leadership. These titles have sections all their own in the big bookstores, they line the airport bookstalls, and they appear on the bestseller lists with predictable regularity. Much like books on prayer or books on parenting and a select handful of other topics, it appears…
Eight Theses on God and Government – Sam Storms presents eight theses on God and government. While on the subject of politics, Joel Beeke has a follow-up to an article he wrote last week in which he shared why he cannot not vote for Mitt Romney. Abandoned Suitcases – Collectors Weekly shares a fascinating interview…
One of these is unlike the others: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, niceness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. According to Paul’s letter to the church at Galatia, all but one of these is what he refers to as the fruit of the Spirit, which is to say, visible evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit…
Preaching Matters – Here’s a link for the preachers. “Preaching Matters is a monthly video series designed to equip, encourage and inspire those who teach God’s word. Each month we sit down with preachers and ask what they have recently been thinking about and preaching on.” There’s a new episode available today. 100 Abandoned Houses…
I’ve been at this blogging thing for ten years now and have been at the daily blogging thing for almost as long. This means that I’ve got an extensive backlist of articles from years gone by. I thought it might be fun to pull out some of the articles I wrote in previous months of…
You Can’t Judge His Salvation! – C. Michael Patton looks at whether we can legitimately state that a person is unsaved. “I am not the judge of whether someone is a Christian or not. I am not the judge of whether someone has true faith or not. But why does this mean that I can’t…
I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Here are some of the notable books that I’ve received in the past few weeks. Gospel Identity, Gospel…