Darryl Dash's Blog, page 82

An Aged Saint, Glorifying and Enjoying God

I’ve been thinking of this sentence ever since I read it. In a recent article, Ray Ortlund says this of his father: “An aged saint, glorifying and enjoying God, is a beautiful sight to behold.”

I can’t get this out of my mind.

An Aged Saint

I’m 51 now. I’m not exactly aged, but I’m not young either. I’m noticing that people become more of who they are as they get older. You either become a crank, or you become someone who is more tender towards God. I don’t see a lot of in between.

Here’s wha...

What Matters Most

On November 26, Joe Boyachek died at age 42 after a battle with cancer. Joe pastored Richview Baptist Church in Etobicoke, a church that I pastored for 13 years before him.

Joe’s wife Heather has written about their lives these past few months on her blog. I’ve been humbled to read it.

This past Sunday, I returned to Richview to preach on the first Sunday after his passing. I don’t usually post my sermons this way — I save that for a different section — but I decided to post it today in place...

Saturday Links

Links for your weekend reading:

“You don’t go to church you ARE the church” … but ARE you?

You can’t stay away from regular gathering with the church and claim to be part of the Church.

8 Principles To Consider Before Leaving A Church You (Used To) Love

Leaving a church is hard. Don’t make it harder by doing it badly.

3 Goals — and 3 Enemies — in Church Planting

We enter into a church plant or pastoral ministry with a dream in mind. But do we have an equally clear set of goals for who we are...

Top Quotes and Takeaways From Preaching to a Post-Everything World

As part of A Year of Books on Preaching, I’m posting a review a month of a preaching book, and then a list of quotes and takeaways.

I posted a review of Preaching to a Post-Everything World earlier this week. Here are some of the top quotes and takeaways from this book.

Top Ten Quotes

We’ve dreamt of making a difference. But what if differences are made by remembering where we’d be without God and then ministering to others out of that knowledge? What if preaching requires something prior to...

Preaching to a Post-Everything World

It’s overwhelming sometimes.

I pastor in one of the most secular cities in North America. I face questions I couldn’t have imagined when I started pastoring. My friends who pastor in other communities not far from here tell me that I may as well be on a different continent because things are so different.

Don’t get me wrong. I love it. I also suspect that some of my friends will find that our secularism is coming their way. It’s why we need a book like Zack Eswine’s Preaching to a Post-Everyt...

Saturday Links

Links for your weekend reading:

What Is the [Functional] Great Commission of Your Church?

At the end of the day, it’s about this: Real Church Growth = Organized Disciple-Making.

Are We Making Jesus Famous or Just Trying to Make Him Sexy?

Making Jesus famous is more than affirming Gospel facts or emphasizing excellence in church services.

Six Reasons You Should “Go” to Church

I’m still “all in” for church attendance, and I think you should be, too.

5 Reasons the Ordinary Means Are Extraordinar...

How to Grow Giveaway

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.

No regular post today, but I am giving away 3 copies of my book How to Grow this weekend. Enter below for a chance to win before midnight on Monday (EST). The contest is open to anyone in Canada or the United States. Enjoy!

The post How to Grow Giveaway appeared first on DashHouse.

Tincture

When Thomas Boston wrestled with a set of theological issues, it changed his ministry. “These things, in these days, while I was in the Merse, gave my sermons a certain tincture, which was discerned; though the Marrow, from whence it sprang, continued in utter obscurity.”

In The Whole Christ, Sinclair Ferguson comments:

I hope it will become clear throughout these pages what this tincture was. There is a perennial need for it in the ministry of the gospel. It is not linked to a particular per...

Saturday Links

Links for your weekend reading:

Choosing Church

There are lots of reasons to avoid church, but here are the reasons to look again.

Local Church, Healthy Partnerships and Sin

The best reasons I need healthy partnerships are to avoid sin and for the gospel.

Eleven Ways Christians Can Love One Another

Here are 11 pithy suggestions for loving one another in the church. I find them helpful. Maybe you will too.

Ecclesiology Matters. Especially for Elders.

Perhaps we think unity on ecclesiology is s...

Learning to Be Content

I’ll admit it: I sometimes struggle with discontentment. It’s why I include a prayer for contentment in my prayer list. I could be more gifted. My church could be more successful. I could have more money. We — especially those who are leaders — live in the land of more. There’s never enough.

But I recently heard Ed Stetzer say that he sometimes wished he was a simple church planter. Ed Stetzer, the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism at Wheaton, a sought-after speaker, author, and pastor, someti...