Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 402
October 31, 2011
Book Review: The Barber Who Wanted to Pray by R.C. Sproul
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"Daddy, can you teach me how to pray?" My daughter's asked me this question on at least one occasion, and every time it's a bit awkward for me. I'm not an expert in prayer by any stretch (in fact, I think I rather stink at it). And while I know that God is not impressed with the eloquence of our prayers and I have reminded her of this, nevertheless, I'd love to be able to help her learn to pray more deeply.
Thankfully, I'm not the only one. That's why, in The Barber Who Wanted to Pray, Dr...
October 30, 2011
Around the Interweb
Christianity Today talks to Tullian Tchividjian about the fallout from the Coral Ridge/New City merger and his new book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything:
What was your initial reaction to the resistance?
Well, we expected it. But it's one thing to talk about war and another to be a soldier on the ground when the bullets are flying. It was hard. It was the first time in my life where I was leading a church where I knew many people didn't like me. . . . It was tremendously...
October 29, 2011
Is Higher Education Still Worth the Cost?
One of the big concerns I have whenever anyone asks me about the possibility of seminary is the cost. Realistically, pastoral ministry is not a terribly well-paying job and seminary is crazy expensive. I've also known a number of people gone through school for degrees in English, History and social sciences who've ended up slinging coffee at Starbucks (which I'm not knocking—if I lose my job, it's the first place I'm applying).
So does higher education still matter? Is the cost still worth it ...
The Second Coming Will Be As Different As Possible From The First
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four...
October 28, 2011
The Enormous Cost of Grace
To deny the irresistibility of God's saving grace is to say that God can be resisted, against His will, by mere man. The Scriptures teach us that no one can thwart God's will (Eph. 1:11) or stop His hand (Dan. 4:35), and the electing God is the calling God (Rom. 8:29-30). Thus, salvation is monergistic grace (Eph. 2:1-10); it is not a work that we accomplish in whole or even in part (2 Tim. 1:9). It is not a joint venture between the Holy Spirit and us; we do not even cooperate in bringing...
October 27, 2011
Book Review: Ronnie Wilson's Gift by Francis Chan
Some passages in the Bible are really easy to explain to your kids. Others.. not so much. Matthew 25:31-46, with its image of the last judgment and Jesus declaring that those who cared for one of the least of these His brothers, you did it to Him (Matt 25:40), can get really messy if not handled well. So imagine my surprise when I learned that Francis Chan decided to make it the focus of his latest kids' book, Ronnie Wilson's Gift.
Ronnie Wilson's Gift tells the story of a young boy who, in...
October 26, 2011
Union with Christ and the Provision of the Spirit
Today's post is by Nate Palmer. Nate is the author of Servanthood as Worship: The Privilege of Life in a Local Church (Cruciform Press, 2010). You can follow him on Twitter at @palmernate.
In the book Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind, Henry Hobhouse writes that the most influential plants in man's history are sugar cane, tea, cotton, the potato, and cinchona plant. Most of us are very familiar with nearly all of the plants on Hobhouse's list. The one curious oddity in the l...
October 25, 2011
"What's Your Model?"
I'm reading Darrin Patrick and Matt Carter's book, For the City: Proclaiming and Living Out the Gospel, and I was blown away by this passage:
During our conversations, the assessment team and I had open and honest debate about an appropriate philosophy of ministry. Our interactions were friendly and loving, not adversarial . . . All of my conversations with them, though, came down to one piece of advice and one basic question: "We think you should have a model. Which one will you choose?"
So I...
October 24, 2011
The #T4ACon Roundup
This past weekend saw a flurry of activity as I spent a few days in Phoenix, AZ, live blogging the Together for Adoption conference. So, in case you missed any of them, here's a list of my posts from Together for Adoption:
Pre-Con Special Event with Tim Chester—Missional Church, Missional God, Missional Story:
Session 1 | Session 2 | Session 3
Main Sessions:
Social Justice: The Tension—Darrin PatrickFaith and Grace: Tullian TchividjianDelighting In God the Giver: Dan CruverThe Theatre for...
