Darryl Dash's Blog, page 23
February 24, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Undying Worm, Undying Men: The Eternal Horrors of Hell
Today, some Christians seem embarrassed by the doctrine of hell. As such, they either omit discussing it, or they reinvent the doctrine and rob it of any real horror. Our Lord, however, was not afraid to talk about hell.
How can pastors shepherd their ever-changing flocks to devote themselves to fellowship?
What did Jesus mean and what do His words tell us...
February 20, 2024
Reprise: Why We’re Not Emergent
Remember 2008?
George W. Bush was finishing his term as president, and Barack Obama was battling John McCain to take over. We were in the middle of the Great Recession. Apple launched its App Store. And we were dealing with something called the emerging church.
The emerging church is a distant memory now, but back then, leaders like Brian McLaren were trying to rethink not only the church but key doctrines of the faith.
In early 2008, Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck released a book called Why We're Not...
February 18, 2024
Hold Fast When You're Tempted to Fall Away (Hebrews 11)
Big Idea: Trust what God says is true, even when it doesn’t look like it.
Jennifer has a good job in finance. She is responsible for picking investments for clients. She’s on a team that has identified a good investment opportunity. The only problem is that this company, in Jennifer’s mind, doesn’t make a positive contribution to society but damages it. It conflicts with her convictions as a Christian. She could have gone ahead with the investment, but it would have violated her convictions. She ...
February 17, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Dear friends, in the dry and weary wilderness that is life in a fallen world, the Lord has hewn out for you a Sabbath oasis, where you can drink form the streams of living water flowing cool and clear; where you can rest your souls beneath the shade of his mercy; where God himself will meet you to bless you and dress your wounds with the balm of his grace. Don’t run past the oasis. Run to it. Run to it and rest.
February 13, 2024
Would Your Life Make Sense If God Wasn't Real?
Some things just don’t make sense if God isn’t real.
Noah building an ark because God told him a flood was coming? Crazy — unless Noah actually did hear from God and took him seriously enough to obey him.
Abraham leaving his religious convictions and land for a place he’d never been? It’s simply not done, especially when it means living as a foreigner in tents. It makes no sense, unless God actually did promise to give the land to his descendants, and an even better city to Abraham after death.
Whe...
February 10, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
6 Ways to Find (and Protect) the Time You Need to Read Books
You don’t need to be a professional book reviewer to read a lot of books. And you don’t need to be brilliant either. But you do need to be purposeful and consistent.
Why We Always Need More Books on Every Subject
Another Apologetics book? Yet one more Systematic Theology book? Do we need another Christian book on marriage? The answer is yes. The answer will always be yes. We will always need more boo...
February 6, 2024
The Difference Between Saul and David
I’ve been studying 1 and 2 Samuel lately, and I’ve been surprised by how few differences exist between Saul and David.
Both started out fairly well. After Saul was anointed, God gave him another heart, and he even prophesied (1 Samuel 10:9-13). His early reign was characterized by a military victory (1 Samuel 11). But the cracks appeared pretty quickly: he offered an unlawful sacrifice (1 Samuel 13), made a rash vow (1 Samuel 14:24), didn’t follow God’s instructions in battle (1 Samuel 15), becam...
February 4, 2024
A Better Sacrifice (Hebrews 9:1-10:18)
Big Idea: Jesus’ sacrifice deals decisively with the enormous offense of our sins.
At the heart of the Jewish and Christian faiths is something that is troubling to the human mind.
At the heart of the Jewish faith is the temple with all of its sacrifices. If you read the book of Leviticus, you discover all kinds of sacrifices of all kinds of animals for all kinds of occasions. You have five different kinds of sacrifices, a parade of bellowing animals being butchered on the altar.
Imagine the sensor...
February 3, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Is Your Worship Service Otherworldly Enough?
We won’t reach more people by eliminating the awe-inspiring elements that follow from an encounter with the living God. We’ll reach fewer, and the ones we do reach will experience less.
In Praise of Rote Learning: Why We Need Catechisms
Let’s reconsider the beauty of rote learning.
What might God do in your church if you committed to praying more together?
January 30, 2024
The Beauty of Small Churches
I pastored two small churches for a combined total of 17 years.
In the first small church, I didn’t realize how good I had it. The people were loving and patient. They gave me a chance to grow and learn the role of pastor. They let me make mistakes. They loved us in significant ways.
But I felt bad about the smallness of the church. The church grew a little and then shrank a little. No matter how much we tried, it never became a medium-sized church, and I felt bad about it.
Some years later, I had ...
