a case for surgery

How to Keep Going in Christian Ministry

I got this blog post in my email inbox this morning. It’s from “Practical Shepherding,” one of the most useful and, well, practical ministry blogs I follow. Well worth the (short) read:

One of my pastoral teachers and heroes, Bill Hughes, said goodbye to his beloved wife of over 60 years this past week who met her Savior in glory and is no longer suffering.  Bill spent most of his long and…

Russel Moore’s answer (from Adopted For Life p. 213):

Forgiveness doesn’t mean you feel that what’s been done to you is okay. It doesn’t mean you have warm feelings toward the persons forgiven. It means you relinquish the right to exercise vengeance. You rest in the fact that God’s justice is carried out by God, either at Judgement Day or at the cross.

I think is modeled in Jesus, as Peter writes,

Are You Intellectually Humble? 13 Searching Questions

13 questions that aim to answer, “Are you intellectually humble?” Here are some of the more searching ones for me:

Even when you feel strongly about something, are you still aware that you could be wrong?

Do you trust that truth has nothing to fear from investigation?

When someone disagrees with your beliefs, do you view it as a personal attack? If so, why?

Is it difficult to respect people whose…

Another fantastic song from Sovereign Grace's upcoming Christmas album: "Would Have Dreamed."

The lyrics, the melody, the instrumentation, the singing… It’s all so well done. Another fantastic song from Sovereign Grace’s upcoming Christmas album Prepare Him Room. Lyrics are posted below the video.

Lyrics

On a starlit hillside, shepherds watched their sheep Slowly, David’s city drifted off to sleep But to this little town of…

A video preview of some Christmas music that Sovereign Grace has been working on. It's awesome.

From the upcoming album Prepare Him Room.

Lyrics

O behold, the mystery now unfolds See the star shine on the virgin foretold Angels sing and light up the sky Hope rings out in a newborn’s cry Swing wide, you ancient gates For Christ is born today!

Prepare Him room Prepare Him room Let the King of glory enter in

God with us, the…

What's the main thing you need if you want to be in ministry? Paul Woodson and D.A. Carson give their answer.

This both encourages and challenges me: the main qualifier for ministry is steady growth in love for God and others. Paul Woodson writes,

There is no one style of ministry that is productive and no one type of personality that represents good pastoral ministry. The sheer diversity of personality types among ministers is surely a sign that any particular personality type has little to do with…

The Glories of Calvary – Sovereign Grace Music

This beautiful song played this morning while I was working and encouraged me. Some lyrics:

Lord, You’re calling me to come And behold the wondrous cross To explore the depths of grace That came to me at such a cost Where Your boundless love Conquered my boundless sin And Mercy’s arms were opened wide

One man's answer to the question, "should Christian men own guns in order to protect their families in home defense situations?"

Should Christian men arm themselves with guns for self defense in the home?

Here is John Piper’s answer: no. He has four reasons. But he begins this way, “I’m bearing testimony here and not prescribing.” And that’s significant. See if you think his four-fold answer is convincing.

Reason 1 @ 1:04

Reason 2 @ 1:41

Reason 3 @ 2:38

Reason 4 @ 5:04

The first five books of the bible, summarized in 90 words:

We may summarize the Pentateuch [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy] as follows.

Genesis is a book of origins. It describes the beginnings of the universe and the origins of God’s people.

Exodus traces the salvation of his people, who are helpless to save themselves.

Leviticus calls for holinessas the only natural lifestyle…

Will Christians love their spouses in heaven? An amazing answer from C.S. Lewis:

Long distance relationship.

That’s what my wife and I were in for over a year before we got married. I lived in Southern California. She lived in Arizona. And it was terrible. It doesn’t take long to realize that it’s not the way a relationship is supposed to be.

I remember how much I would miss her; how I’d look forward to holidays like Spring break and Christmas. Just to see her. And to get rid…

Matt Perman's book "What's Best Next" releases tomorrow. Here's 3 reasons you should consider pre-ordering it: #wbn

Does God actually have anything to say about getting things done? Is it even possible to have a biblical perspective on such a practical subject like how to get things done? And should we even care about it as Christians, or is it unspiritual?

That’s the question Matt Perman wants to answer in his new book, “What’s Best Next.” It releases on Tuesday, and I want to commend it to you.

A short…

A post I've been working on for a while: Did Jesus exist? The Greco Roman testimony to the crucified Judean man

How do we know that Jesus actually existed?

In the four Gospels we have about 300 individual and unique literary units all generated by this figure: Jesus Christ. There’s no doubt that the early church thoughthe existed. Their lives were radically changed because of who he was, what he did, and the things said. But how do we know that our gospels aren’t simply Christian delusion, or the result of…