Tag: idolatry

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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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

Question and Answer
In a question and answer period after one of his lectures, C.S. Lewis was asked which of the world’s religions gives its followers the greatest happiness. Lewis paused and said this: 

Should Children Sit Through “Big Church”?

John Piper provides some thoughtful advice and provides a free resource to assist you in thinking through this issue.

Plumb Line #14: When Life Cuts Us, We Want to Bleed God’s Word

But if we don’t focus on teaching our people the Bible, what are we doing? How can we possibly say we’re preparing our people for the trials of life? When Satan attacked Jesus, Jesus quoted Scripture. What will your kids comes up with when Satan attacks them? 

6 Ways to Smash the Approval Idol

It’s not approval, then, but the craving of approval that turns dark. It’s the pursuit of praise that comes from men instead of the kind that comes from God. For a lot of us, the struggle is real. 

5 Tips for Career-Seeking College Students

But college isn’t just about books and classes. You shouldn’t wait until you have a diploma in hand to think about your career. In fact, there are loads of things that you can do right now, as a student, to prepare for post-college life.

Parenting in the Age of Binge-Watching

I feel like a class-A hypocrite writing an article on this topic, but we’re not the only ones struggling to get a handle on it, either. Over and over it comes up in counseling sessions, phone calls, messages, and discrete conversations in the halls of the church. What does it mean to rightly parent a child of the “on-demand” generation?

Do we have to choose between the luddite lifestyle of banning technology altogether, or is there a way to make “screen use” a shepherding opportunity?

Book Reviews; gods at war Student Edition by Kyle Idleman

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gods at war: Student Edition by Kyle Idleman Zondervan 2014. Pages 206. Paperback Kindle

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)

Kyle Idleman, bestselling author of Not A Fan, writes another much needed book for us today. In Not A Fan Kyle challenged us to count the cost of following Christ and challenged us to stop being fans and become followers. In gods at war Kyle points to the stuff of life which can take priority over God in our lives and thus become idols.

When we think of idolatry some of us may think of people bowing to statues and images from Bible times and compare ourselves to them and think “i don’t do that”. Kyle points out that idolatry, although much more subtle now, isn’t much different back then from today, we just don’t make the statues. The outward expression may be different from the past, as far as statues and religions, but the heart of the matter is still the same. It is the battleground for your heart.

Idolatry is something we sacrifice for and what we pursue in the place of God. As Kyle Idleman points out it can be money, success, drugs, relationships and we can go on and on. He points out, in many instances we take good things and make them into god things. He also makes the case that idolatry isn’t just another issue it is the issue.

Here’s the point: Idolatry is the tree from which our sins and struggles grow. Idolatry is always the issue. It’s the trunk of the tree, and all other problems are just branches.

Kyle goes on to point out all the different idols in our society. With pastoral care he leads us on a journey of our own heart. With great testimonials coupled with the Word and insightful questions Kyle leads us in an inventory of our own heart to ask the questions like;

What if we do our “kneeling and our “bowing” with our imaginations, our cash, our search engines, our calenders?

In the student edition, Kyle does an excellent job relating his content to students. With topics and stories which directly effect them. Kyle Idleman has a gift of leading the reader on a journey of the heart through his writing style. I love this book and encourage you to pick up a copy.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255