Category: Around the Web

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

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Should I Tell My Spouse about Struggles with Sexual Purity?
Very good question with some guiding principles for your marriage, take a look. 

Singing Songs from Questionable Sources

There is much to chew on here. Worship leaders, Pastor’s and congregants should read this.

State GOP conventions sell their souls to destroy #NeverTrump

This is not to say that Clinton’s pro-abortion, religious-liberty-wrecking candidacy would be good for America. It won’t be. But there is no evidence that Trump would be any better on the abortion issue, on judges, or on religious liberty. You do have evidence that Trump is a pathologically lying authoritarian lecher who has no respect for the Constitution and who has no problem inciting his followers to violence.

What’s Systematic Theology and Why Bother?

Even if you haven’t written a systematic theology—or even if you don’t consider yourself a theologian—you’re still doing systematic theology in some sense. Everyone has beliefs about who God is, who Jesus is, what salvation is, and how we should live as Christians. We’re all synthesizing those beliefs together.

2 Audacious Demands We Are to Make of God

Any man who seeks God’s calling should pray the way Moses prayed. We should ask God to give us intimate knowledge of him. The things we do will be successful only if God is in them. Whenever we do something that God has called us to do—whether it is serving in our singleness, learning how to be married, working at a job, or getting involved in ministry—we need to pray that God will show us his way to go about things.

Do Not Put Your Trust in Presidential Candidates

Elections are important, Christ and the Gospel are more important. Let’s put our trust in what really matters and keep the election in proper perspective. “Now is not the time to despair. And now is not the time to attack one another. Now is the time to be salt and light. And the light shines brightest in the darkness.”

Motherhood is a Glorious Mission but a Horrible Idol

When motherhood becomes the center of a woman’s life and identity, rather than Christ, a blessing easily turns into a burden. A path of joy turns into a path of despair. The attempt to quantify why your life matters by your performance as a mother will produce frustration and inevitable discontentment. To put it another way, motherhood is a glorious mission but a horrible idol.

The Early Bird Gets The Link: Weekend Edition

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Yesterday President Obama issued a statement to schools about transgender bathrooms. Here are some insightful and equipping articles.

President Obama: Accept Transgenderism or Else

Just to be clear what this means. The Obama administration is announcing its intent to coerce through force of law every public school to accept this. He expects your local school to allow boys to use bathroom and shower facilities with girls and vice versa. So long as the child’s parents are willing to go along with their child’s new identity, the school has to let students into the bathroom and locker room of the opposite sex.

What the Transgender Bathroom Debate Means For You

At the same time, the church should not see everything through the grid of gender. The Sexual Revolution, chaotically, wants to tell us that gender means nothing and that gender means everything. Neither is true. We should recognize that unbiblical caricatures of masculinity and femininity were always harmful, but now are potentially deadly. The little girl in your church who doesn’t like princess movies or dolls, and who would rather spend a Saturday in the deer stand, increasingly now is told by the culture around her that maybe she’s not a woman at all. Only a church that defines its vision of masculinity and femininity from the Word of God, not from cultural tropes, can speak to her. If you don’t have a category for a rough-and-tumble woman, like Jael, or a harp-playing man, like David, your church is handing over your children to the gender ideologies of the moment.

4 Bigger Repercussions of the Bathroom Decree

Christians are concerned about what may happen in the bathroom; they should be much more concerned about what happens in the classroom.

From Agender to Ze: A Glossary for the Gender Identity Revolution

Although terms like “transgender” and “gender identity” are increasingly used in the public square, many Christians are still unaware of what they mean or how broad the scope in which they are being used. To help provide some clarification and context, I’ve provided definitions for 31 terms commonly used by the gender identity movement. This list is not exhaustive (Facebook allows you to choose from over 70 gender options) but it should help you better understand the linguistic radicalness of the gender identity revolution:

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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Pray your week has been filled with grace and peace. There are some helpful and equipping reads. Lord help us. 

Real Men Love Strong Women
We live in a time when women are outperforming men in many areas of professional and personal competency. And men have two choices: to find female strength captivatingly attractive, or to be insecure and intimidated. Real men love strong women, because God’s glory is beautiful, and “woman is the glory of man” (1 Corinthians 11:7).

Born to Die

This story begs a question we do well to consider: Why? Why did the Ten Booms do what they did? After all, they were not the target of the ongoing Nazi persecution. They were Dutch, not Jewish. Why would they choose to live with such risks?

The Moral Revolutionaries Present Their Demands: Unconditional Surrender

We now see that this was the road not taken. Instead, opponents of the moral revolution are to be treated with scorn, contempt, and worse. The terms of moral surrender have been delivered to us, and they are absolute and unconditional. Just ask Japan and Germany what that means.

Balm for the Weary Soul

I think what Paul says here can provide comfort to anyone. Not just us pastors. But as a pastor I’m really finding nourishment from this. I pray that this little reflection will nourish another weary soul as it has mine.

15 Discernment Diagnostics

Which leads to the question: what is false teaching and how do we spot it?

Obviously, there is no foolproof scheme for identifying false teaching. Biblical discernment takes years of prayer, preaching, and practice. But there are certain questions that may be help us sift the good from the bad. Here are 15 discernment diagnostic questions I suggested to my congregation.
From Agender to Ze: A Glossary for the Gender Identity Revolution

Although terms like “transgender” and “gender identity” are increasingly used in the public square, many Christians are still unaware of what they mean or how broad the scope in which they are being used. To help provide some clarification and context, I’ve provided definitions for 31 terms commonly used by the gender identity movement. This list is not exhaustive (Facebook allows you to choose from over 70 gender options) but it should help you better understand the linguistic radicalness of the gender identity revolution:

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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This week has been an interesting, one of those weeks you take a look around, and praise God he is still on His throne doing as He pleases. A week which reminds us we need to display our dependence on God through prayer and continue to stand on the truth of His Word. Here are some good reads for you.

10 Things You Should Know about Youth Ministry

Number 3 is a good one. Too often we underestimate what teens can grasp and are willing to hear.

The Bible’s Biggest Understatement: “Behold, It Was Leah!”

Everyone in the world is on a search for something—or someone—to make them whole again. Jacob is looking for his “one, true love,” and he thinks Rachel fits the bill. (Rachel and Leah, incidentally, are on their own search.) Jacob’s experience is our experience: we reach out to take hold of the “Rachel” that is going to make everything right…but in the morning we wake up and it’s only “Leah.” Every time we start a new job, or get into a new relationship, we think, “This is it! Finally my life will be right. This is Rachel!” It’s that Jerry Maguire moment: you complete me.

5 Reasons Church Leaders Should Pay Attention to Christian Hip-Hop

Some good insights here. “In some ways, many American churches are in the same situation with their surrounding neighborhoods. The church is using one language to speak and sing about Jesus, while the culture either doesn’t understand or ignores it completely.

Christians can bemoan those changes and wish culture still talked like us, or we can do something about it. Right now, one of the most dominant cultural influences on young adults and teenagers is hip-hop music.”
The Wisdom of God in the Frustration of Man

So let us not be quick to get angry over our frustrations. The God who presided over the confusion in Shinar presides over our Babel moments, large and small. And for all of us who love him, he promises to turn them for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28).

The Eternal Importance of Exercising Self-Control

This article is filled with many gems, here is one. “Why Self-Control Is Important We display our God and his gospel when we are self-controlled.”

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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Check out my review of Un-Ashamed by Lecrae

My Breakthrough in Scripture Memory

When we learn the Scriptures by heart, we’re not just memorizing ancient, enduringly relevant texts, but we’re listening to and learning the voice of our Creator and Redeemer himself. When we memorize lines from the Bible, we are shaping our minds in the moment to mimic the structure and mindset of the mind of God.

Basic Principles for Bible Reading
Good video which provides some basic rules for interpreting scripture.

13 End Times Errors to Avoid

Unfortunately, believers often cycle through a stock list of end-times errors. These mistakes discredit gospel proclamation and rob Christians of the blessings and wisdom God gives from meditating on this area of truth. Here are 13 end-times errors to avoid.

Four Steps to Kill Nagging Sins

The gospel gives us hope that all sin, even nagging sins, can be both forgiven and subdued. But because sin has such persistence and power, we must be vigilant in our struggle against it. As John Owen puts it, “If sin be subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish . . . can we expect a comfortable event?”

A Gentle Political Recalibration

I wonder if we have forgotten this. It has become a custom of our day to take to social media to vent our concerns and attack politicians. How much quieter would Facebook and Twitter be if Christians were truly praying for and personally pursuing peaceable and quiet lives?

#NeverTrump has only just started

I have made no secret of the fact that I am a #NeverTrump guy. If you want to know my reasoning behind this, you can read it here. What I want to offer here is a handful of reflections on this moment.

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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I was out for a week or so in California then sick with the flu, but I am back and feeling better. Here are some good reads

 The Great Parental Freak Out

Some great parental advice “I seldom feel like a really good parent. I love my wife and love my kids deeply, but being a husband has always seemed pretty straightforward (thanks to my wife, no doubt), while I’ve always felt much more inadequate as a parent. There are dozens of things I wish I did better. Not many, however, are worth fretting and fussing.

Here are four things parents should stop freaking out about.”
9 Things a Grown Man Can Learn From the Hardy Boys

Excellent read and practical principles.

9 Things You Need to Know about Backpage.com and Sex Trafficking

“Today another reality is hidden in plain view: human trafficking. While sound numbers of who, how many, and where are difficult to find, the carnage of this evil is leaking out of the shadows and into the headlines. Victims are filling safehouse beds. Many more are on waiting lists. Those caring for victims have been listening to stories for years and have started to spot trends.”

Six Ways God’s at Work in You — At Work

How does God use our workplaces as a training ground? “In reality, the workforce is not only how God works through you; it is a place where God works inside of you, conforming you to the image of Christ. He may feel distant, but he’s not. He is using the difficulties and pressures in your job right now to focus you in at least six areas.”

The Emptiness of Hallmark Card Race Theology

Insightful article. “Martin Luther King Jr.’s comments about a colorblind society have been corrupted by many to mean that individuals should not see color, which was not his point at all. His point was that as a society, the bar of justice and cultural opportunity ought to be colorblind, not individuals. In fact, the Bible makes much of how the glory of God is demonstrated in the multiethnic diversity of his followers.”

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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The Theology of Donald Trump

“Vague on doctrine, infiltrated by consumerism and a sentimental moralism intent on helping us all “become a better you,” and sort of interested in “family values” as long as they don’t interfere with our own family breakdowns, many cultural evangelicals are tired of losing the culture wars. They want a winner—“a strong leader.” 

The Heart of Socialism 

This was a thought provoking article. “Therefore, I want to humbly provide three practical reasons, based on my Christian worldview, why more social programs could actually substitute the family, empower the government, and hinder the church.”

Ten Commandments for Pastors, Politics, and Social Media

There is some great advice in here for all of us, not just Pastors. 

A Gentle Political Recalibration for Christians

“Without minimizing the importance of the election or impugning anyone who is a political junkie, I want to offer a gentile reminder for Christians who might be getting a little too wrapped up in the election. Call it a gentle calibration.”