Darryl Dash's Blog, page 26
March 2, 2024
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Thomas Was Not Judas: Counsel for Those Who Doubt
What do you do when you are genuinely uncertain about your faith?
One of the chief reasons for learning about heresies is that many of them persist, albeit in subtle ways.
7 Blessings Older Saints Offer the Church
Older Christians have some of the most important lessons to teach the local church today.
Four Benefits of Inviting Evaluation of Your Preaching
Inviting critique and feedback from...
February 27, 2024
Big Dreams Impress. Ordinary Faithfulness Delivers.
Show me a big dream if you’d like, but what really impresses me is the ordinary faithfulness of hidden saints.
I’d rather be in the company of a faithful pastor who’s served in a hidden church for decades than listen to the dreams of someone who’s never learned to serve faithfully in an obscure place.
The world’s not changed by grandiose ambition as much as it’s changed by the ordinary, plodding faithfulness of people who will never be famous.
I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t aim to do big th...
February 25, 2024
Run With Endurance (Hebrews 12:1-2)
Big Idea: Endure by laying aside encumbrances and focusing your eyes on Jesus.
I’ve never run a full marathon, but know that something happens at about the two-hour mark of running.
Your body has enough glycogen stores to run for about 18 to 20 miles. But at that point, your body simply runs out of ready energy. It can convert energy from other sources — fats and proteins — but it’s not as easy. This is what runners call hitting the wall. Your legs will feel heavy. Your vision may go blurry. You m...
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...
