Tag: parenting

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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The High Cost of Free Porn
Jesus does not wait for permission. He does not fit the picture of a weak-handed solicitor, hoping we can somehow find our way to him. Jesus goes to ordinary men and summons them to be his disciples. Jesus goes to the sick, and heals them. Jesus goes to the dead, and raises them. Jesus goes to the cross for sinners, and saves them, uniting them with himself. Pornography comes with an excruciatingly high cost — to us, our families, our churches, and our mission — but Christ paid it all for anyone who would believe and follow him.

Cheap grace is no grace at all

The “cheap grace” that Bonhoeffer warns about is actually no grace at all. 

When Suffering is the Megaphone and God is the Whisper

God takes broken-spirited sinners and says, “Watch me work. I’m going to redeem you. Then you’ll worship me on this mountain. Just you wait…” Our union with Christ has made certain promises ours—even in those times when our frame is most detestable:

How to Lovingly Probe Your Children in Spiritual Matters

Complaining Never Wins the Culture

Jesus still speaks to his church: Do everything without grumbling. You want to be blameless and pure — faultless in this generation? Then you better start right here. Why? Because the Christian who grumbles will neither stand out in this generation, nor hold firm to the gospel.

On The Ethics of Reading

Reading is an ethical activity. You can do it well, or you can do it poorly. It is my belief that Christians should read often and seek to read books in a way that honors both Christ and the author. How do you do that?

3 Questions to Consider Before You Share

Our reactions to opinions—and the way we share our own—is directly tied to how people view God. As his image-bearers and ambassadors, we have the weighty responsibility to represent him well.

Our reactions to opinions—and the way we share our own—is directly tied to how people view God.

The Early Bird Gets The Link

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The Five Tests of False Doctrine
Excellent series by Challies, hope you are reading it. “how can we distinguish sound doctrine from false? How can we distinguish teachers of truth from teachers of error? In our opening article, I said that putting a doctrine to the test is the best way to determine if it is true or false. As we test the doctrine, we learn our responsibility toward it: We either hold to it or we reject it. I am returning to those tests today to explain them in greater detail. They provide a grid that is useful for testing any doctrine.”

How to Raise Radical Children

Love this article! Taking radical back to its roots. 

More than a Month Long

But I think, for American Christians, there are deeply compelling reasons to learn beyond February. Here are two reasons why studying our country’s history and important African Americans has year-long significance:

15 Reasons Our Churches Are Less Evangelistic Today

In too many of our churches today, the congregations are reaching no one for Christ in the course of an entire year.

How Journaling Combats Sin

We are a forgetful people, we forget the struggle and sometimes the victories. Here are a few ways journaling can help: “By God’s grace, I’ve found journaling to be a means by which I fight against sin. Journaling is not an end in and of itself; the end is to look to and live by the cross.”

Meditation Monday: The Blessing of a Father

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In our evening service we have been going through Genesis. Pastor Todd Howard has been preaching through Genesis 49 for a couple of weeks now. 

In his exposition of the passage he has drawn out principles to follow as a father, but the principles apply to mothers too. Here are a few to meditate on today. 

Let your kids hear you talk about the greatness of God!

In Genesis 49, Jacob gathers his children to bless them.  Jacob proclaims the greatness of God in their presence. Listen to how he describes God;

  • The Mighty One of Jacob – God has showed himself to be mighty to Jacob. Notice he isn’t just the Mighty One, but the mighty One of Jacob, the relationship was personal.
  • The Shephard- How many times did God guide and protect Jacob? Many! Do your kids know the times God has guided and protected you?
  • Rock of Israel- God was probably the only stable foundation in Jacob’s life. 
  • God of your father- Again we get a glimpse of the personal relationship between God and Jacob. We also see the desire for Jacob to pass it on. 
  • Almighty- God is Sovereign over all and who else is better to pass on the lesson that you will lose when grappling with the Almighty, but when you submit, when you tap out to God, he will bless you.

We need to equip our kids to think outside our ethnic group.

This is something I had not thought of until PStor Todd pointed it in Genesis 49. When Jacob speaks of Joseph he says, 

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. – Genesis 49:22

Joseph’s fruitfulness branched out over the wall. God raised up Joseph probably the 2nd most powerful position in the world. He was placed in that position to bless and protect Israel, but his fruitfulness extended over the wall and blessed those of other ethnic groups.

Teach your children to understand, reach out, work with and be missional to those in another ethnic group.

Know your children 

When you read Genesis 49, you realize Jacob knew his children, their personality and pitfalls. Knowing your children allows you to;

  • Speak appropriate words to your kids. Words of love and discipline that they will respond to.
  • Figure out there path to godliness and how you can share the Gospel with them and disciple them

The life of Jacob displays for us it is never too late to change.

If you have blown it in your parenting or are currently blowing it, there is grace at the cross for you. 

Jacob’s life is full of parenting failures, but God transformed him and he can transform you. 

Until Next Time

Soli Deo Gloria 

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

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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?

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

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A Prayer for the New School Year
Beyond what you do on the campuses and in the classrooms, please be at-work in the hearts and minds of our students and teachers.

On Being Persuasive

Learning how to persuade others winsomely is a skill that needs to be cultivated. As Proverbs 16:23 says, “The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips.”

How Parenting Flies By

That’s how I feel about being a parent. My oldest daughter heads to college in a matter of days. Just when I felt I was finally getting the hang of being a parent, at least with our oldest, it’s over.

The 5 Worst Beliefs a Christian Parent Can Have in an Imploding Society

Today I want to highlight five of the worst beliefs we can have when our society is spiraling downward.

Religious Liberty, Not Religious Toleration

Religious liberty has been dying a slow death in recent years, and tragically religious leaders have largely been ambivalent. Religious toleration confines one’s faith to their thoughts whereas religious liberty is a commitment to live out one’s faith in every walk of life. 

The Idolatry of Race Part 1

Our created idols will inevitably lead us to idolatry, not to the worship of the one and true living God. And God will judge both the idol and the idolaters unless we repent.

The Early Bird Gets The Link 

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5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church
How do you measure this? How do you know if a church is focused on the glory of Jesus Christ? Well, I think you start with the most visible communications. In sermon and song, is Jesus the focal point?

3 Church Methods That Need to Change

In light of modern cultural realities, here are three methodological shifts churches should consider to more effectively make disciples and reach our communities.

Should I Attend a Homosexual Wedding If the Service Is Completely Secular?

Kevin DeYoung provides some helpful wisdom when dealing with this question. 

5 Ways to Read the Bible for Personal Application

Here is a very helpful Gospel lifehack. 

“The Bible was written to others—but speaks to you. The Bible is about God—but draws you in. Your challenge is always to reapply Scripture afresh, because God’s purpose is always to rescript your life.

When we reapply Scripture to our own lives, the Holy Spirit is rescripting our lives so that we may become more like Jesus.”
Good Parents Connect, Not Just Correct

Christian childrearing is not mainly about disciplining the devil out of our children, but joining with God by nourishing his creative and redemptive good at work in our children, and then graciously correcting the incursions of the world, the flesh, and the devil against their growth. And does it ever require self-sacrificial initiative and energy.

Signposts: How Should You Talk to Your Children About Transgender Issues?

In this podcast Dr. Moore provides some helpful guidance and advice when talking to your children about the transgender issue. 

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.”