Darryl Dash's Blog, page 20
May 5, 2024
God’s Gracious Face (Numbers 6:22-27)
Big Idea: God blesses us by letting us behold his glory, and it deeply satisfies our souls.
What is the most beautiful, soul-satisfying thing you have ever seen?
Maybe it was the eclipse. I was listening to the story of a retired astrophysicist nicknamed Mr. Eclipse. As a teenager, he was amazed by an eclipse and decided to spend his life traveling the world to see as many as possible. He’s travelled to Canada, Australia, Bolivia, Antartica, China, and India to see eclipses. For him, eclipses are ...
May 4, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
The Path Away From Pornography
There is no “formula” for getting free from pornography, but I have witnessed common patterns in the way the Lord breaks people free from its chains.
Study the Bible in 5, 15, or 30 Minutes
Don’t let a lack of time or energy become excuses that prevent you from doing what’s most important: knowing and delighting in your God.
God wants us to trust his loving care, and he wants us to trust him daily.
April 30, 2024
What It Takes to Survive Ministry
If you don’t think pastoral ministry will be hard, you’re wrong.
Of course, it’s not the only hard vocation. Our congregations are filled with people who fill challenging roles. Pastoral ministry comes with many joys. My point, though, is this: it’s also filled with hazards and difficulties. If you suffer from idealism, pastoral ministry will beat it out of you.
Paul says as much in 2 Timothy 2. He calls Timothy to suffer, and then illustrates what suffering in ministry looks like by comparing it ...
April 28, 2024
The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Numbers 6:22-27)
Big Idea: God is active in your life, both providing you what you need and protecting you from evil.
You’ve probably heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In 1947, Bedouin teenagers were tending their goats and sheep. One sheep wandered, as sheep do. The search for that sheep led him to a dark cave.
He approached the mouth of the cave. They threw stone inside. To his surprise, he heard something shatter. Crawling through the entrance, he came face-to-face with enormous clay pots larger than him.
He and his...
April 27, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
God Can Work Through Anyone and Everything — Even You and Your Sin
If you can truly grasp the idea that God has fully conquered all sin in this way—that his power and glory are undefeatable no matter how it looks at any one moment—then you will finally have rest from regret and discouragement.
Unsearchable Riches: 100 Facets to the Diamond of Christ
He is inexhaustible. Unsearchably rich (Eph 3:8). Bottomless. We receive him, thinking he’s a pond, only to disc...
April 23, 2024
The Kid Who Got Noticed
The good thing about being six years old is that you can squeeze through a crowd.
Which is what Jacob did. He pushed his way through past rows of villagers, bumping the odd arm, moving to the front with only a few protests. He could hear Jesus talking with his friends. Most of them didn’t have time to react.
He made it almost to the front.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a big man asked, standing in his way.
Jacob froze. He didn’t know what to say and was about to make his escape, until he heard ...
April 21, 2024
When People Don't Want to Hear About Jesus (Acts 4)
Big Idea: Pray for courage to share about Jesus and to see opposition as an opportunity to talk about him.
We have a serious tension, and here it is in a nutshell.
On one hand, we want people to know about Jesus. If you follow Jesus, you probably want others to know about the good news of Jesus: God's Son lived, died, and rose again to make us right with God. This is such good news that we simply want everyone to know about it.
But here’s the other side of the tension: we’re terrified to tell peopl...
April 20, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Gen Z and the Draw to Serious Faith
Today, if you want to attract young people, lead with the fine print. Shock them with the seriousness of a faith that requires rigor, a rule of life that brings structure for spirituality, grounded in the grace of the gospel.
“Brace Yourselves!“: The Reduction of Public Bible Reading
We need to renew our focus on the public reading of the Bible.
The Church Should Mind Its Spiritual Business
A variety of competing claims threat...
April 16, 2024
You Don't Need a Bucket List
While in Belgrade, Serbia visiting missionaries, we figured we had time for one side-trip. After looking at the options, we picked Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki was a great pick. It’s not only a bustling city with great food with a great waterfront, but it’s packed with history. We walked where Paul walked. At the archaeological museum, we saw unbelievable artifacts, not only from Greco-Roman times but from before.
After two days, we boarded the plane back to Belgrade via Zurich. After leaving Zurich...
April 14, 2024
A Personal Gospel Blessing (Hebrews 13:18-25)
Big Idea: We need a personal blessing based on the gospel.
Out of all the beginnings of books of the Bible, I think Hebrews may be my favorite. I admit it’s close. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). That’s really good. Or John 1:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life wa...
