Mrs. Blackburn – After writing about preaching ordinary sermons, I received a link to this article which carries on the theme quite nicely. It is a tribute to a very ordinary Sunday school teacher who left an indelible mark. The Chicken of the Sea – Dr. Mohler has written a wonderful article about the sinking…
It has come as kind of a shock to me, now that I am a pastor and preaching on a regular basis, that the vast majority of the sermons I preach will be rather ordinary. I will study hard and pray hard and work hard, I’ll get started early in the week and give it…
The Big Day – Michael Horton writes about the Superbowl and churches that have a Superbowl party: “Typically, in the reports I scanned, pastors were justifying their decision by appealing to the mission opportunity. Somehow, having the building full with people who want to be there for a game, but not for God’s saving service…
Yesterday I wrote about Satan’s Great Desire which is to bring about disunity in your local church, somehow convincing you that the people in your church are no longer worthy of your love. I ended by giving the encouragement that God has equipped us to build and maintain this kind of unity and that all…
I checked in with Twitter this morning and saw a few mentions of the fact that today is my 3,000th consecutive day of blogging. What’s funny to me is that I had no idea. But that little counter at the bottom right of the page just kept incrementing and I guess a few people noticed.…
Many great Christian resources are available on the topics of sexuality and marriage. In light of so much discussion about sex and marriage in the blogosphere these days, I wanted to highlight a few of the ones I’ve come across that seem to be particularly helpful. People are in different places: some need to learn…
I have been engaged in a study of the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, and, not surprisingly, the themes from that letter have been resonating in my mind over the past few weeks. I have been struck by Paul’s emphasis on the importance of love and unity in the local church. On…
Pastors and Conducting Weddings – Brian Croft: “I am consistently asked about the circumstances surrounding weddings. What makes it permissible or not to conduct a wedding in “this or that” situation? I am very aware that there are strong opinions and lively disagreements about whether an evangelical pastor should marry Christians, non-Christians, and everything in…
In my online wanderings this week I read an interview with theologian John Webster (and I confess, I know nothing about Mr. Webster other than what is in this interview). There was one thing in that interview that jumped out at me, especially since I have been thinking and writing a little bit about vocation…
A Song to the Coming King – David Murray is beginning what should be an interesting series on the Song of Solomon as a song to the coming king of love. “Many Western interpreters have got so lost in analyzing the minute details of every pomegranate and every tree that many have been turned off…
This week’s Free Stuff Friday feast is provided by Christian Focus Publications and comes with an Old Testament flavour. For starters we have 3 biographies on Old Testament men of faith, Joseph, Daniel and Jonah. Joseph: The Hidden Hand of God by Liam Goligher – Any regular attendee at School concerts will have heard countless…
Rogue Ringtone – “The final movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is a slow rumination on mortality, with quiet sections played by strings alone. During the New York Philharmonic’s performance Tuesday night, it was interrupted by an iPhone.” Ouch. The Post-Program Church – This is a good article from 9Marks: “If churches shouldn’t rely wholly on…
A couple of days ago my Bible reading took me to Acts 9, the story of the conversion of Saul. You know how it goes I’m sure. Paul, a vicious enemy of the early church, is on his way to from Jerusalem to Damascus so he can begin a whole new wave of persecution against…
Tebow Time – I appreciate Nathan Busenitz’s thoughts about Tim Tebow and all the fuss surrounding him these days. “But as believers, what are we supposed to think about the cultural phenomenon that centers around this young quarterback? At the risk of offending someone (and possibly everyone), here are ten thoughts in answer to that…
There were some good responses to my Martyn Lloyd-Jones quote about whether Christians in vocational ministry are somehow more religious than those who aren’t. One commenter on the post raised a question that seemed worth pursuing further. He stated, and then asked, We get it—God doesn’t want everyone to be a pastor or a missionary…
If you have read this blog for any length of time, and especially the daily A La Carte posts, you know that I’ve got a thing for infographics. What appeals to me about them is their ability to display information visually. Just as there are many words that can be used to describe any one…
Judging the Morality of God – James White has a strong article over at Patheos: “When Roger Olson announced he was releasing a book, part of a two-book counter-point effort along with Michael Horton, titled Against Calvinism, there was hope for something that might engage the real strength of Reformed theology—the clear and consistent exegesis…
Today I’ve got another batch of books that I didn’t review. Life is such that there are lots of great books that I just cannot find the time to read and many other books I’m simply not qualified to review. These books tend to find their way into these round-ups of the ones I received…
Is it bad form to review a book I was involved in publishing? Perhaps so. Either way, I intend to do just that this morning. Many months ago I read a draft of Grieving, Hope, and Solace by Albert Martin, a book that was subsequently published by Cruciform Press (of which I am a co-founder).…
We’re All Witnesses – This columnist is hardly a Tebow fanboy. And yet… “We’re watching a new reality unfold, right before our eyes, and what we saw Sunday strained credibility. It was incredible. It was fantastical.” Jesus vs Movies – John Piper asks a good question: “What should you do if you know someone who…