Darryl Dash's Blog, page 37
May 16, 2023
A Proverbial Life
On his 68th birthday, Kevin Kelly decided to give his kids advice. He wrote down 68 bits, one for every year he’d lived.
He posted his advice on his website, and the post was more popular than he thought. He also discovered that he had more to say, so he kept writing down more advice each year.
Recently, he compiled some of his best advice in a book called Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier. Don’t expect a normal book with chapters and a flow of thought. Expect a book of ...
May 14, 2023
David’s Confusing Finish (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21)
Big Idea: God is wrathful, sovereign, just, and merciful.
I’ve got to be honest. Today’s passage is among the hardest that I’ve ever preached. I’m a little scared by the question and response time at the end, because this sermon may raise more questions than I have answers!
The story we’re looking at today is found twice in the Bible in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.
I want to look at it for two reasons.
First, because some of you are going to read it this week in your Bible reading, and it’s goin...
May 13, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
If done right, preaching never produces a conscious moment of being in the spotlight. But it will put the spotlight where it belongs – on Him whom we preach.
Discipleship Should Create a Mature Community (Not Just Individual Stars)
Discipleship quite rightly involves both the individual and the community, the player and the team, so to speak. But curiously, in our current practices, we frequently flip the proper place of each.
May 9, 2023
Younger Christians Are Looking for Older Saints
I suppose there’s such a thing as the sins of the young: impetuousness, impatience, anger, and lust, for instance. Left alone, these weeds will grow and make for an ugly and joyless life.
But I also suppose there are sins of age. Perhaps these are just the sins of the young left to grow for a very long time. Older adults can become bitter, critical, and withdrawn.
I have a theory that we can, to some extent, hide our sinful tendencies when we’re younger. We’re able to wear a mask, and it can take ...
May 7, 2023
What the Church Looks Like on Mission (Acts 8:1-25)
Big Idea: The church on mission often begins reluctantly, sometimes encounters surprising success, and is messy.
A few years ago, God unsettled my family. I’d been pastoring at a church in the inner suburbs of Toronto, but things began to unravel there a little.
To my surprise, we ended up moving into downtown Toronto into a young, professional, transient community. A friend of mine told me that it would be impossible to start a new church there. But we said, “Let’s see what happens,” and we just ...
May 6, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
One doctrine that you may never have heard of (but one that you really should know about) is the beatific vision.
Productivity is good, but our souls long for something greater.
Midlife and the Striver's Curse
I have unknowingly believed some lies. While always susceptible to them, they have a tendency to creep up with intensity in midlife.
Simple Ways to Cultivate Awe and Lower Your Stress
I’d like to consider some simple s...
May 2, 2023
Pray for Gospel Boldness
Ephesians is breathtaking. I don’t know of a better exposition of the gospel than the one we find in its pages. Paul articulates the gospel better than any of us could hope to do. He gives us a glimpse of God’s eternal purpose, and then applies that gospel to people who need to know what it means for how they live.
Reading Ephesians, I might think that Paul has nailed the skill of articulating the gospel.
Given this, I’m surprised to read these words at the end of his letter to the Ephesians:
Ephes...
April 30, 2023
Never Underestimate Sin or Grace (2 Samuel 11-12)
Big Idea: Never underestimate the power of sin, our ability to rationalize sin, or the consequences of sin. But never underestimate God’s grace.
If you boil down David’s life — his 70-year life — down to just a few events, you’d probably pick these:
First: David killed the giant Goliath with five smooth stones. It seems like almost everyone has heard this story. Malcolm Gladwell even wrote a book about it. We frequently talk about David and Goliath when it comes to the little guy beating the big g...April 29, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Read the Bible in Bigger Chunks Too
Most approaches encourage reading and studying in a very short period of time. But do we miss something if we exclusively read in bite-size chunks?
How can believers think clearly about the issues of faith and AI? Below I suggest two things that we will need to navigate the unknown path before us.
5 Steps to Break Free from To-Do List Overwhelm
More important than getting things done is ensuring you ar...
April 25, 2023
Think Little
In 1970, the author Wendell Berry wrote an essay called “Think Little.”
Addressing the green movement, Berry argues that we tend to focus too much on making plans and making laws. “For most of the history of this country our motto, implied or spoken, has been Think Big,” Berry writes. But there’s a better way, and it begins on a much smaller scale.
But the citizen who is willing to Think Little, and, accepting the discipline of that, to go ahead on his own, is already solving the problem. A man wh...
