Real Life – I enjoyed this mom’s thoughts on real life. She says that “a less than perfect home can be more comfortable than a perfect one. … Our homes should reflect our lives and the people that live in them.” Presumptuous or Optimistic Parenting – David covers an important topic here: the difference between…
It was ten years ago today that I began this web site and I think the occasion must call for some kind of a celebration (click here for some reflections on the past ten years). The way I tend to celebrate around here is with a giveaway. So here goes! There are going to be…
It’s funny how life works, isn’t it? It is so often the little decisions–the decisions that at the time seem so inconsequential–that have such far-reaching impact. Exactly ten years ago today, rather on a whim, I paid a few dollars to register the domain www.challies.com. A few hours and a few clicks later I had…
Delighting in the Trinity – A few weeks back I reviewed Michael Reeves’ Delighting in the Trinity, easily one of my favorite books of the year (here’s the review). At that time it was not available in Kindle and ebook formats. The Kindle edition has just been added to Amazon, so for those who were…
A couple of weeks ago I invested an hour and a half in watching Lakeland: The Movie, a documentary about Todd Bentley and the Lakeland “Revival.” You may remember that in April of 2008, a preacher and revivalist named Todd Bentley was invited to Ignited Church in Lakeland, Florida. The plan was to have Bentley…
Ten Myths About Premarital Sex – Sean McDowell read Premarital Sex in America by Mark Regnerus and Jeremy Uecker and was pleasantly surprised at some of the insights. In this article he distills the book’s last chapters and the ten myths it debunks there. The Gen Y Nightmare – Frederic Filloux is a very, very…
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, and faith. Pride is the chief of all sins, as well as the chief cause of all sin. We learn from the prophet Ezekiel that this was the most…
Destruction from the Almighty – Mike Leake looks at that amazing volcano video and reflects on it a little bit. “The Hebrew word for destruction is shadad whereas the Hebrew word for the Almighty is El Shaddai. When Shaddai become bent on shadad what will happen? How destructive can El Shaddai be?” Life’s Too Short…
This week’s Free Stuff Friday comes to you courtesy ChristianAudio. “The vision of ChristianAudio is to shape Christian hearts to think and do right. We believe in publishing and selling products which will promote spiritual growth by inspiring Christians to think about God, themselves, and the world.” Today they are giving away five prize packages,…
Rend Your Hearts – “In Joel’s day (and even still today) a sign of great mourning and grief was to tear your garments. It wasn’t that they’d bust out into Hulk Hogan’s ‘I’m a Real American Hero’ and rip up their camel-haired cloaks to shreds. It was usually a slit from bottom to top that…
Loving God is not as simple as we sometimes think. Christians are fond of reminding one another that in a biblical sense love is a verb, not just feeling but action. This is true, but there is far more to it than that. Jerry Bridges came to this realization and began to reflect on the…
Sensationalism and Scholarship – Dr. Mohler on Jesus’s wife: “This is sensationalism masquerading as scholarship. One British newspaper noted that the claims about a married Jesus seemed more worthy of fans of Dan Brown’s fictional work, The Da Vinci Code than ‘real-life Harvard professors.’ If the fragment is authenticated, the existence of this little document…
A couple of years ago Microsoft put together a clever marketing campaign for Windows Phone 7, their new mobile operating system (which is to say, the software they were introducing that would power the new generation of Windows-based cell phones). The commercial poked fun at the fact that so many of us spend so much…
Praying for Your Pastor – “One of the great encouragements in my ministry is knowing that many at Redeemer regularly and frequently pray for me. There are a number of ways we should be praying for our leaders in the church, but as we approach Sunday I want to encourage you to pray for your…
We live in a culture of celebrity, a culture where fame and greatness have little to do with heroism and accomplishment. The people who influence us, the people who dominate the headlines and the covers of magazines, are so often people who are famous for being famous rather than being people who have contributed anything…
Shopping and False Intimacy – This is a very, very interesting article, and one worthy of some reflection. “All of this has me considering church in 21st century America. I fear we may be loosing a valuable sense of intimacy between pastor and member. In a world where pastors tweet and congregations have Facebook accounts,…
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Or even if I am able to review the book, it’s always good to get a second opinion. So here are…
As Christians we are adept at looking at the culture around us and seeing how it is violating God’s good standards when it comes to sexuality. Not too long ago, though, I was asked to reflect on the ways in which Christians may compromise God’s standards for sexuality–some of those hidden or sanctified sins in…
Too Tough on the Guys Who Are Trying – I appreciate Josh Harris’ mea culpa here. “I got some great feedback from a young man in our church after two of my recent sermons from Matthew 5, both of which touched on aspects of marriage (the messages were “Jesus on Lust” and “Don’t Break Your…
This week I came across a sermon by Charles Spurgeon in which he preaches on the Holy Spirit as the Comforter or Helper. As he comes to his conclusion, he suddenly turns on those who approach him with a word from the Lord. I share this excerpt because it is amusingly stated and because I…