Darryl Dash's Blog, page 12

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Make the Most of Sunday Mornings

By resolving to come hungry and leave full, we position ourselves to grow. And by resolving to come early and stay late, we position ourselves to serve.

10 Mistakes I’ve Made in Preaching

I would like to share with you 10 mistakes I’ve made as a preacher, with the hope that you would learn from them and make progress.

Pray Till You Pray

Moody Stuart gave 3 instructions on prayer which I’ve found helpful.

Immaturity, Memorials, and...

Not That Different

At 30, I found myself pastoring a church, a significantly larger congregation than the first I’d pastored. To be honest, I felt overwhelmed and a little insecure.

A member from our church, who had studied in the States and served at a well-known megachurch, approached me with words that would stick with me. He said, "The prominent pastors may seem very gifted, but they're not. They’re gifted in one or two areas, and they get to use those gifts. They’re also pretty bad at other things. You’re not ...

The Self-Sufficient Church (Revelation 3:14-22)

Big Idea: Trade our self-sufficiency for what only Jesus can provide, allowing us to receive what we truly need: Jesus himself.

We had a GFC Essentials class a couple of weeks ago. It’s a class that introduces GFC to people who are interested in joining.

Whenever I meet someone who’s new to GFC, I’m happy for them. I say that because I was new to GFC just a year ago. We’re not a perfect church by any means, but I’ve been watching this church for a long time now, and it’s a good one. I could make a...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

You Can’t Life-Hack Your Way to Holiness

The center of spiritual formation isn’t about what you do or the practices you adopt—it’s about the Spirit forming you into Christ’s image.

Is Stoicism a Friend of Christianity?

I’m concerned about the trend among Christians to embrace stoicism as a way of dealing with the challenges of modern life.

When Offences Come: How to Forgive and Move On

How do we move from offence to forgiveness, especially when the moment keeps ...

The Good News About Bad News

I’m no stranger to bad news. Believe me. Live long enough, and you’ll get your share of bad news too.

I don’t want to slap a happy face on bad news either. Some news is simply awful. Life is hard. Anyone who reads Job, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes, or plenty of other passages understands that suffering is real, and it’s okay to buckle under the weight of suffering. The Apostle Paul himself spoke of suffering so much that he despaired of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:9).

This world isn’t the way that it...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

‘You Shall Surely Die’?

God told Adam that he would “surely die” if he ate from the forbidden tree. He and Eve did not immediately return to the dust upon eating the fruit, but they did experience death in other forms.

Leave Church a Little Tired

“I hope you leave Sunday morning deeply encouraged by the gospel — and I also hope you leave kind of tired.”

A Comforting Verse for Unimpressive, Not so Great Preachers

The power is not in our showiness. The power is no...

The Key to Reading the Bible

I'm often surprised by Jesus' straightforwardness. Jesus frequently confronted religious leaders and ordinary believers of his time for their misunderstanding of Scripture and lack of faith in its message.

Jesus said to the Sadducees, "Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24)
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and ent...

The Self-Deceived Church (Revelation 3:1-6)

Big Idea: Guard against spiritual lethargy by staying close to Jesus.

In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus addresses seven churches. Jesus understands the state of each church and addresses them individually with praise, corrections, potential consequences for ignoring him, and promises for those who listen.

These seven churches are meant to be representative churches. “It turns out that the seven churches of Asia embody every major issue with which the church has struggled in every age in every cultural ...

Saturday Links

Curated links for your weekend reading:

A Rule of Life

I like the emphasis on a rule of life, but I don’t like what often appears to me like a random buffet-line of spiritual practices that seem to have no inner-logic to them.

Three Ways We Might Find Our Biases Driving Our Biblical Interpretation

There are some tell-tale signs that our biases might be overtaking our reading of Scripture.

Student Ministers, the Christian Life Is More than Passion

Shouldn’t we long for a generation to be on fire for Go...

The Long Race

I can run a 5K race, but I don’t enjoy it. The pace is fast and short, which suits other runners more than me. I could run a 10K with preparation. I also don’t love it because the pace is also fast.

My sweet spot, if I’m prepared, is the half-marathon. It’s long enough for a slow, steady pace, and yet short enough that it doesn’t require more training than I’m prepared to take on.

A full marathon is something altogether different. In terms of preparation, a full marathon is much more than double a...