Darryl Dash's Blog, page 44
October 9, 2022
Don't Stop Focusing on Jesus (Colossians 2:6-15)
Big Idea: Keep your focus on Jesus, because he’s everything you need.
By now you’ve seen the meme. A couple is walking down the street holding hands, but there’s a problem. The guy is looking back at another girl, and he is in trouble. He’s been caught looking at someone else rather than the one he’s with.
I don’t know how it’s become a meme, but it’s everywhere. It’s hard to go a week without seeing it.
That is the human problem. No matter what we have, we are tempted to look away from what we hav...
October 8, 2022
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
Hearts Painted by the Word Again and Again
As the workers paint the Golden Gate Bridge stroke by stroke, similarly I paint my heart with the Word of God verse by verse. It is a never-ending process.
Want to Survive College? Join a Church.
I always urge young people — and I’m urging all college students now — to be committed members of a local church.
If you’re one of those who thinks pastors whine too much and work too little, I want to share...
October 4, 2022
We Know Our Enemy’s Plans
I’ve been fascinated to read The Monuments Men, a book about a special forces team of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others who risked their lives to preserve the finest art treasures in Europe in World War II.
As I read the book, one passage hit me:
Monuments Man S. Lane Faison Jr. once commented that Hitler “wrote a book called Mein Kampf. And if people had just read it carefully, every single thing that’s happened was already predicted… the whole Jewish sit...
October 2, 2022
Why We Exist (Colossians 1:24-2:5)
Big Idea: We exist to tell people about what Jesus has done.
I have a friend who became the pastor of a large church here in Toronto.
When he started, he went around and asked people, “Why do we exist?” People looked at him funny. The most common answer they gave was, “Because we’re…” and then they gave the name of the church. In other words, we exist simply because we exist.
That wasn’t a good enough answer, so he’d repeat the question. Why do we exist? He drove people crazy. But out of that quest...
October 1, 2022
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
God’s design includes a responsibility for one another.
The Local Church Is Your Spiritual Gifts Test
For generations, the only effective means of assessing one’s spiritual gifts has been the local church.
What Small Churches Teach Us About Meaningful Membership
There are three relational dynamics present in small churches that are crucial for developing a meaningful membership.
What Job Titles Should Churches Use? Two Simple Rules
The...
September 27, 2022
Fall Update
Every year around this time, I find myself shocked that the summer’s over, and that we’re less than 100 days from the New Year.
It seems like it might be a good time for a brief personal update.
Liberty Grace ChurchThis past Sunday, Liberty Grace Church celebrated its ninth anniversary.
Over a decade ago, I sensed a growing burden to see churches started in downtown Toronto. I didn’t think I would ever plant a church; I felt too old and too unqualified. I actually thought I was on my way to joining...
September 25, 2022
Renewing Our Vision of Jesus (Colossians 1:15-23)
Big Idea: Our greatest need is to renew our vision of Jesus.
Earlier this year we visited Banff. We got to see mountains, and those mountains leave me breathless. I can’t believe how grand and beautiful and amazing they are.
Whenever I visit somewhere with mountains, I ask people there: Do you ever start to take those mountains for granted? Do you ever stop being amazed by them? Usually, people say no, but we know the truth: of course they do.
A lot of things amaze us at first, and then get boring ...
September 24, 2022
Saturday Links
Curated links for your weekend reading:
2022 Results Now Available: The State of Theology
What do Americans believe about God, the Bible, and salvation? Ligonier Ministries’ State of Theology survey provides eye-opening insights.
The Distressing State of Evangelicals and Theology
A couple eye-popping stats show that evangelicals are terribly wrong on doctrines of central importance.
New Testament leaders—the pastor-elders—are teachers. Christianity is a teaching movement.
September 20, 2022
Just Enough to Keep Going
“Some pastors, mightily endowed by God, are remarkable gifts to the church,” writes D.A. Carson. “They love their people, they handle Scripture well, they see many conversions, their ministries span generations, they understand their culture yet refuse to be domesticated by it, they are theologically robust and personally disciplined.”
We know those people. We admire them for it. We want to be like them.
But most of us aren’t like that, Carson writes:
Most of us … serve in more modest patches. Most...
September 18, 2022
The Unstoppable Gospel (Colossians 1:1-14)
Big Idea: You don’t need anything more than the gospel. You just need more of the gospel.
Have you ever been part of something big, something unstoppable?
I’m talking about something like a sports team that goes undefeated and then wins the championship, or a company that grows rapidly in both size and profitability, or an election in which the winning party doesn’t just win but crushes the competition. Have you ever been part of something like that?
I have, just once. I was once part of a competit...
