Darryl Dash's Blog, page 41
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...
February 4, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Brothers and Sisters, We Are All Apologists Now
Cultural and societal changes have turned apologetics into an unavoidable consequence of living publicly as a Christian.
Preach the Gospel, Die, and Be Remembered
Preach the gospel, die, and rest assured, you will be remembered. God preserves the memory of the faithful.
Good Leaders Are Easy to Follow
Dutiful, dour, and begrudging shepherding serves no one — not the sheep and not the shepherd.
January 31, 2023
Secular Liturgies Leave Me Longing for More
I attended a meeting for creatives in downtown Toronto last Friday.
Get a group of people together — sixty or so in this case — and it’s fascinating to watch what happens. I was reminded of how James K.A. Smith describes cultural practices that serve as rival liturgies, forming us to see the world in a particular way without being aware of the ways in which we’re being influenced.
We have to learn to exegete the rituals we’re immersed in. We need to become anthropologists who try, in some way, to ...
January 29, 2023
Job’s Monsters (Job 40:15-41:34)
Big Idea: We face supernatural danger, but these evil supernatural forces are no match for God.
We’re zooming through the Bible this year. So far we’ve covered Genesis and Job, and we’re not even out of January yet.
Once in a while, though, we’ll have a chance to slow down a bit and linger a little. And I thought that today’s passage may be a good place to stop for a couple of reasons:
First, because the passage is so unusual.Second, because I think this passage is so relevant to our lives.What am ...
January 28, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
“What is this church like?” asked the little old couple as they shuffled in the doors of church.
A tall, slim church greeter with silver hair smiled and asked, “What was your last church like?”
Discipling Your Congregation to Understand the Importance of the Church
Most Americans say worshiping alone is a valid replacement for regularly attending church. How do you teach the importance of the church?
Spurgeon on Livestreaming Church
How ...
January 24, 2023
If We Do Not Give Up
I love how Galatians 6:9 ends: “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”
Without that qualifying phrase, we’d puzzle. When a farmer sows, the crop follows a predictable pattern. The “due season” isn’t a mystery: alfalfa sprouts sprout in just 3 to 5 days; corn takes 60 to 100 days to reach maturity. A farmer gets to know what to expect.
The Christian life’s not like that. How long must a wife bear witness to Christ before her unbelieving husba...
January 22, 2023
Making Sense of Suffering (Job)
Big Idea: You are going to suffer. You may not be able to understand it, and you should be careful about how to explain it. But you can trust God because God is good and powerful.
Today we’re looking at a book in the Bible that we often don’t know how to process, and yet it’s a book that we desperately need.
It’s the book of Job. It’s a book many Christians don’t know very well, but one whose story mirrors many of our own stories. Ray Ortlund once preached on this book and said:
I used to think tha...
January 21, 2023
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
The Spiritual Power of Staying Put
Lasting fruit usually comes from lasting presence.
My hunch is that most people with this vision of Christianity are not disengaged because it is really difficult. Rather, people disengage because this version of Christianity seems boring.
I Did Not Sign-Up for This: The Fourth P of Pastoral Ministry
Platform relates to the “trellis” work mentioned in Trellis and the Vine — the structure, programs e...
