Darryl Dash's Blog, page 37
February 25, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Be Slow to Pull the ‘God Card’
Here are four faulty reasons Christians might use the God card.
Inadequacy Is Compulsory in Evangelism
We place far too much importance on our skills and gifts (or lack thereof) and not enough on God.
More than Music: How the Congregation Plays a Part in Every Element of Worship
Corporate worship encompasses much more than music. In fact, every element of Christian worship involves the active participation of the entire congregatio...
February 21, 2023
The 8 Habits Challenge
This week marks the start of Lent. I’d like to invite you to join me in building habits that will help you grow over the next eight weeks as we approach Easter by joining the 8 Habits Challenge.
Basically, I’d like to walk with you through the eight habits in my book Eight Habits for Growth:
Make timeRest and refreshEngage the BibleSpeak with GodWorship and belongCare for your bodySimplify and prioritizeGo the distanceEach week of the eight weeks, you’ll practice one habit. I’ll provide video less...
February 19, 2023
Our Sacrificial Substitute (Leviticus)
Big Idea: Because of a sacrificial substitute, a holy God is able to live among his sinful people.
Good news: God created the world, and it was good. Very good. As part of that creation, he created humanity, male and female. Right on page one of the Bible, he endued both genders with dignity and honor. We matter to him.
Bad news: We committed high treason against our good Creator. As dirt creatures, we defied God and rebelled against him. We broke our relationship with him and brought sin, misery,...
February 18, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Dear Small Church: A Word of Encouragement
I object to the idea of a "small church" in the first place. There is no such thing.
How did the Judsons survive these challenging years? What exactly did it mean for them to rest on the promises of God?
3 Surprising Agreements Pastors Must Make
There are a number of “job hazards” that come with the pastoral territory for which every minister should be aware and to which every minister should adju...
February 14, 2023
Don’t Just Say It Once
I had a cold a couple of Sundays ago. I preached in a bit of a fog. I sat down at the end and didn’t know whether it went well.
Every preacher has Sundays like that.
That’s why we need to say it more than just once.
I used to try to communicate the gospel in my sermon. Truthfully, I don’t always do this as well as I’d like.
For this reason, it's helpful to structure the service so the gospel is not only communicated once but multiple times:
It’s communicated in the songs we sing.It’s communicated in ...February 12, 2023
The Gift We Didn't Know We Needed (Exodus 19-40)
Big Idea: God’s law is the gift we didn’t know we needed.
If you’re a guy, and you’re in any kind of relationship with a woman, you should probably be required to take a course called Gift-Giving 101. This course would have helped my brother the year he gave my mother a toilet bowl cleaner for Christmas, or me on my first wedding anniversary — traditionally the year you give linen as a gift — and I thought a pillow would qualify. It would have helped Fred Flintstone know that he shouldn’t buy Wil...
February 11, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
The Importance of Theological Pairs
Many disagreements in theological matters come from only holding to one of two complimentary theological truths.
Do your best to be (visibly, at least) unshockable in the face of your children’s unfortunate decisions, choices you don’t like, or struggles with issues you may not fully understand. Why? To maintain the relationship.
5 Ways to Persevere Through a Hard Book
Here are five tips to help you perse...
February 7, 2023
Taking No for an Answer
“Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer,” said Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.
He’s not the only one to make this observation. “There is nothing that we are so bad at all our days as prayer,” observed Alexander Whyte. “There are times in my life when I would rather die than pray,” said Thomas Shepard. “As for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so reluctant to go to God, and when it is with him, so reluctant to stay with him,” wrote John Bunyan.
These are not the observations of s...
February 5, 2023
When God's Plans Seem Thwarted (Exodus 1-18)
Big Idea: No matter how bad things get, never doubt God’s power to save.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about one of the moments when all of God’s plans seemed to be going down, literally.
The moment takes place in Mark 4. Jesus had just finished teaching about his kingdom: that it was going to grow and take over the whole world. Immediately after, Jesus and his disciples get in a boat. I want you to picture what happened: “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boa...
When God's Plans Seem Thwarted (Exodus 1-28)
Big Idea: No matter how bad things get, never doubt God’s power to save.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about one of the moments when all of God’s plans seemed to be going down, literally.
The moment takes place in Mark 4. Jesus had just finished teaching about his kingdom: that it was going to grow and take over the whole world. Immediately after, Jesus and his disciples get in a boat. I want you to picture what happened: “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boa...
