Category: Around the Web

The Early Bird Gets The Link

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

Four Reasons to Welcome Smartphone Use in the Worship Service

Before I get to the specifics of the post, allow me a couple of caveats. I’m not saying people should be piddling away on their smartphones in the worship service. If you can’t have your phone out and refrain from playing games or catching up on email during a worship service, then keep it put away. 

Silence Can Be Deadly!

Silence fuels rumors. They make up stories. They stretch and fabricate what the little they do know. Fear, tension, and frustrations rise. Even those who were once fully invested often become discouraged. Morale is injured and enthusiasm wanes.

Does Prayer Change God’s Mind?

Does prayer make any difference? Does it really change anything? Someone once asked me that question, only in a slightly different manner: “Does prayer change God’s mind?” My answer brought storms of protest. I said simply, “No.”

Moms, Don’t Trust Your Fickle Feelings

This is truth, even for the brothers in Christ. “Sisters in Christ, whatever season we’re in, whatever kind of nurturing work we’re doing, and however long our season lasts, life in Christ is our new normal. And it will still be 30 trillion years from now.”

Can I Be Sure I’m Saved If Persevering Is the Proof?

Good question. 

To Share The Message 

This recent message by Pastor Thabiti from the book of Titus is worth listening to. Some questions for reflective meditation I had during and after hearing this sermon:

Does my life reflect I believe the power of the Gospel to save sinners?

If so why don’t I share the Gospel more often?

The Early Bird Gets The Link

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

Seven Principles for Angry Parents Disciplining Angry Children

In Ephesians 6:4, God tells fathers–though I think it’s okay for moms to listen in–to raise children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. He also warns against provoking our children to anger. So how do we do one without the other? How do we discipline exasperating kids without in turn exasperating them unnecessarily?

Dad Enough to Sing

I want my sons to grow up believing that a grown man singing is one of the most natural sounds in the world. It doesn’t have to be great singing. I’m no accomplished vocalist. Yet I don’t want my boys — or my daughter, for that matter — to ever think it’s strange for men to sing. Rather, it’s strange, and sad, when men don’t sing

A 3 Step System to Come Out Smarter After Failure

Have you ever failed? Of course you have, so have I, many times, here is a system to come out smarter in the end. 

Five Reasons Why Churches Are Dying and Declining Faster Today

With some exceptions, it is indeed more difficult to lead churches to growth. Such is a reality that is about 15 years in the making. The obvious question is “Why?” Allow me to articulate five of those reasons.

Eye-Rolling is Not Discipleship

This was a great reminder. “Those of us who are privileged to have vocations that involve reading and studying the Scriptures can form a dangerous bubble of elitism. We get paid to read, study, and be “experts” at theology and mission. We’re perusing books, attending conferences, and engaged in conversations with other ministry professionals.”

3 Questions to Detect Sports Idolatry

Football season is here! With that comes this article, worth the read. “Though I’m an unabashed sports fan, I don’t write this article as a fan but as a pastor and seminary professor. Any consideration of love for sports raises the question: Is this good or bad? My answer is an unequivocal yes.”

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

Even A Church

The Briefing by Albert Mohler is a commentary of current events from a Christian Worldview. The September 9th episode is a must if your at all concerned about the church and what’s next in the Transgender experiment. 

Avoiding Boredom When Teaching/Training

Poorly run training is worse than a poke in the eye. 

Take Up Your Cross and Say ‘I Do’

Are We Predestined to Fight over the Doctrine of Predestination?

Although many Reformed Baptists were involved in the founding of the Southern Baptist Convention, today’s SBC is largely divided over the subject of predestination. Exactly what does the Bible teach about this subject? Should we use the biblical doctrine of predestination as an expletive? Should we divide over our differences?

My 3 Biggest Fears as a Teenager

As a teen just now crossing into the threshold of adulthood, I’m all too familiar with the fears of adolescence. All that instability, confusion, and decision-making can be stressful and even painful. I’ve laid awake at night because of a melting pot of fears bubbling in my mind, poisoning my peace.

Reading for the Rest of Us

In today’s publishing world, there just isn’t enough time to read the many good books which are being published. What is one to do? “My aim in this post, then, is to help you read more books and better books by implementing these six simple tips:”

God Has Planned Your Glory

My experience is that I can read God’s words about my future, and pass over them so quickly, that they have no emotional effect. Such reading does not awaken or intensify hope. It does not make us unbending, glad-hearted, green trees in the midst of drought.

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

How Can I Know Which Bible Promises Apply to Me?

Because of two recent posts on wrongly applying biblical promises to ourselves (Jeremiah 29:11 and Exodus 14:14), we’ve been receiving questions about how to determine which promises do apply to us.

Stand

The Bible uses the metaphor of standing (1 Cor. 16:13, 2 Cor. 1:24, Eph. 6:11-13, 2 Thess. 2:15), but I think sometimes the way to stand firm today might literally be to stand. Not to shout, not even to interrupt, but to quietly register our calm yet definite disagreement.

This World Is Not Our Home

Should God’s people be worried about the ills of this world and how to fix them? Or do our affections and energies belong elsewhere?

They’ll never come after churches… until they do

Many said it was coming, in Massachusetts it is now here. “But here’s the kicker. The new policy even requires churches to acknowledge and affirm transgender identities in events that are open to the public. The guidelines say this:”

Don’t Let Non-Christians Write Your Liturgy

There are, however, three vital questions to ask ourselves about our worship services.

Play the Long Game: Vote for Neither Clinton Nor Trump

In response to Glassman, I argue that Republicans should not vote for Mrs. Clinton. I write as a conservative evangelical Republican who has always voted for the Republican nominee for president, but who thinks we should consider voting third-party or writing in a candidate. The 2016 election is not a matter of simple math and Americans should be more concerned about saving the nation than they are saving the Republican Party.

10 Dumb Decisions That Lead to Foolish Failure

If you have ever wondered, here they are. 

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

A Growing Evangelical Practice Which Bothers Me, But Should It?

This was interesting. “And I suppose I’m bothered because it feels a bit to me like how my daughter acted in the store the other day. She was playing in the doll section at Wal-Mart and told one of the dolls that she was going to take her home, and that she’d be her new friend and all that jazz. But she was misunderstanding the way this thing works—you don’t ask the doll if you can take her home. You ask daddy who has to fork over the cash to pay for it.”

8 Hallmarks of Attractional and Gospel-Centered Churches

Worth the read.

Sunday Morning Worship in an Abortion Culture

Prayer Doesn’t Empower Ministry; Prayer Is the Ministry

What if we saw the prayer times at the end of our services not just as a “if you’ve really been moved, here’s a relief valve,” but as one of the primary ministries of our church? What if prayer was the most important part of any worship experience?

Beyond the Final Frontier: A CaPC Tribute to Star Trek

Christ and Pop Culture pays tribute to Star Trek

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

Treat Yourself to the Voice of God

Consider what small supplemental steps you can take to cultivate eagerness and receptiveness to God’s word — to develop the mentality that a regular season of Bible intake and prayer is a joy to anticipate, a genuine chance to treat yourself in the best of senses.

5 Distinctives of Biblical Leadership

Biblical leadership involves at least five distinctives that set it in sharp contrast to the leadership theories and definitions of the modern world

How to Face the Death of Someone You Love

I can think of six simple things that have helped me through this valley and that help me now.

Are You Occupied With The Word?

Have you ever been so occupied by something you were completely immersed in the task or activity? 

What Does the Bible Say About Transgenderism?

But that hardly means the Bible provides no guidance for Christians trying to make sense of our transgender moment. In fact, when it comes to transgenderism, the Bible actually has a lot to say–not by a prooftext here or there but by a rich and pervasive understanding of gender and sexual identity.

How Should We Talk About Justice and the Gospel?

How, then, do we relate justice to the gospel? Not, as some of my interlocutors suggested, by keeping them safely isolated in separate compartments. The gospel is a gospel of justice as well as a gospel of mercy.

10 Things You Should Know about Headship and Submission

Sam Storms has written two “10 Things” posts about the Bible’s teaching on headship and submission within marriage. Even though these are well-known biblical concepts (e.g., Eph. 5:22; 1 Cor. 11:3), they are often misunderstood, and Sam does a really good job describing what headship and submission are and what they are not. 

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

On By joshnnomiIn Around the WebLeave a comment

The Early Bird Gets The Link is a daily roundup of interesting and thought provoking articles, videos, or audio clips.

How Can Your Church Serve Unemployed Men?

Worth the read. “Here I was, newly married and a seminary student, with no work. Every month, until I was back on my feet, a check would arrive from my home church, from an anonymous donor, sending me money.”

From Flight to Fight

But as Christians, our retreating from sin is not a retreating from war. Our flight from sin is as purposeful as it is active — like Tolkien’s depiction of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers.

The Source and Sufficiency of Scripture

We can’t expect to turn God’s Word into a personal flashlight for our own chosen path. We must walk God’s path and there alone we will have the assurance of the enlightened way. 

Saved People Love to Sing

There are many ways Christians are a peculiar people. One of them is that we almost always sing when we’re together.

5 Ways to Live the God-Centered Life

How can we live the God-centered life in this contemporary age? You could answer this question in a way that’s understandable to a child, as well as in a way that would strike a Harvard professor as intellectually credible.

What Is the Longest Book in the Bible? (Hint: It’s Not the Psalms)

Very interesting