Darryl Dash's Blog, page 87
September 15, 2018
Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
Pastor, Have You Been With Jesus?
Sure, you know how to handle to text. But can people tell that you have been with Jesus?
Pastor, Include More Prayer in Your Church Service
Many churches need to repent of prayerlessness, especially in corporate worship.
Confessions of a Reluctant Complementarian
My marriage isn’t ultimately about me and my husband, any more than Romeo and Juliet is about the actors playing the title roles. My marriage is about reflecting Jesus...
September 13, 2018
Two Seemingly Contradictory Truths About Habits
Two things are true about habits. If we ignore one or both of these truths, we’ll suffer. Our challenge is to hold both of these truths in tension.
The two truths: we need habits, and yet they’re not the point.
We Need HabitsAccording to some, we live almost half of our lives by habit. We tend to think that some people are good at this and some aren’t. The truth: we all live by habit. We need them, or else we’d have to rethink everything all the time.
The trick is to choose habits that put u...
September 11, 2018
Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, Wife of Charles H. Spurgeon
I've long been a fan of Charles Spurgeon, the famous preacher of 19th-century London. But I've never paid much attention to Susannah Spurgeon, his wife, until reading Susie, a new book by Ray Rhodes.
I should have paid attention sooner. Susie helps us appreciate both the Spurgeons. I not only know Charles better now, but I'm convicted and encouraged by Susannah's example.
Susie and MarriageCharles and Susannah obviously enjoyed a strong marriage. Charles became her pastor when he moved to L...
September 8, 2018
Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
The First Two Minutes Matter Most
Determine right now that when the service ends, you will do your utmost to give the first two minutes to someone you don’t know or to someone you don’t know well.
Why You Should Go to Church Even When You Don’t Feel Like It
Friends, do you realize how vital it is to gather here together on the Lord’s Day, Sunday after Sunday?
Should We Make Our Children Go to Church?
We can’t be that surprised if our children drift off from the...
September 6, 2018
A Prayer for Overwhelmed Pastors
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the Fall. Summer was nice, but it’s so short, and we don’t always feel ready for the busyness of September. So I’m praying a prayer for pastors who feel the weight of responsibility this time of year, and who may be limping into this next season of ministry.
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A Prayer for JoyI pray that your Fall will be filled with joy.
First, I pray that you will find joy in your relationship with God. I pray that you will be struck again with the wonder that God has saved y...
September 4, 2018
How Bold Is Your Prayer List?
I know. I don't think bold and prayer life are terms that belong together. But maybe that's a problem.
That's my conclusion after wrestling with part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount recently.
Hodgepodge?Matthew 7:1-12 isn't the easiest passage to understand. It seems at first like a series of unrelated thoughts with no apparent structure. Jesus bounces from the command not to judge, to the command to be discerning, to a section on prayer, to the Golden Rule.
"Here in 7: 1– 12 one is tempted to...
September 1, 2018
Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
Pastors & Suicide: What Pastors and Congregations Need to Know
How could a pastor commit suicide? Why are pastors committing suicide at increasing rates? What can you do if you are a pastor to help yourself? What can you do as a congregation to help your pastor?
Can Someone Be Spiritually Healthy and Still Experience Mental Health Challenges?
We should expect to find the same variance in mental health expressions amongst Christians that we find in physical heal...
August 30, 2018
Top Quotes and Takeaways From Encountering God Through Expository Preaching
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 Encountering God Through Expository Preaching earlier this week. Here are some of the top quotes and takeaways from this book.
Top Ten QuotesPreaching occurs when a holy man of God opens the Word of God and says to the people of God, “Come and experience God with me in this text.” (Kindle Locations 231-232)
Like a chef knows knives, and a...
August 28, 2018
Encountering God Through Expository Preaching
“Preaching occurs when a holy man of God opens the Word of God and says to the people of God, ‘Come and experience God with me in this text.’”
It’s rare for one sentence to sell me on a book, but this one did. Encountering God Through Expository Preaching explains this single sentence in three sections:
Part One: The Holy Man, the Holy Text, and the Holy Spirit Part Two: Preparing to Lead the People of God to Experience God: Early Preparation Part Three: “Come and Experience God with Me in T...August 25, 2018
Saturday Links
Links for your weekend reading:
It seems to me that the model was always doomed to fail for at least these 7 simple reasons.
Be a Missionary, Not a Marketer
We have shifted from a call for the church to “go” to a call for the world to “come.”
How Evangelistically Effective is Church Planting?
Church planting is evangelistically effective only to the degree that it is evangelistically focused from the beginning.
