Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 45
June 8, 2018
7 things you can’t do without at a conference
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The latest round of conferences is upon me, which means it’s time for me to pack up a whole bunch of gear, hop on a plane and do my best to extrovert for the next week and a half.1 By the time you’re reading this, in fact, I’ll be on a plane and getting ready for a good day of set-up with my teammates before familiarizing myself with the Dallas comic book store scene.
A book or two. You might not get a lot of reading in, but you should still try. For this trip, I’m bringing along The Master’...
June 7, 2018
Links I like (6/07)
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What C.S. Lewis taught me about spiritual warfareJosh Wester:
21 women emerge front a...In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis offers us one side of a conversation between two demons as they correspond by sending letters back and forth. We only read the words of Screwtape, a veteran and distinguished human tempter. He writes to his nephew Wormwood, who is a novice in the trade of temptation, attempting to mentor him as Wormwood seeks to secure his first human soul for the purpose of eternal torment.
June 6, 2018
An Update on The Gospel Project
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As we’re gearing up for the next study cycle of The Gospel Project, I’m getting more and more excited. Our team across all of LifeWay has been working very hard to make sure these resources are the best they can be. And it’s not simply a matter of professional pride (meant in the most appropriate way), nor even solely a desire to live up to the values of our organization. It’s something much deeper than that. It’s because we’re talking about the gospel.
We have a tendency to become overly fa...
June 5, 2018
Links I like (6/05)
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What is the Culture of Your Bible Study Group?Michael Kelley:
That brings us to an important question: What is the culture of the small groups in your ministry? What are the underlying beliefs, assumptions, and widely held suppositions that truly give shape to those groups? This is an important question to answer because unlike rebar, culture is going to be created with or without our help in forming it. Every one of the groups in your church is going to have a culture, and that culture wil...
June 4, 2018
3 episodes of Reading Writers you’ll want to check out
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Well gang, we’re taking a quick break this week to present to you a best-of moment from the podcast. Three actually. Be sure to check out the following episodes:
Books as our biographiesJennifer Lyell from B&H Publishing joined Dave and me on the show for what was a pretty amazing discussion about the story our books tell about our lives. This, I think, is my all-time favorite episode out of 60+ episodes.
When good books become great moviesDave and I had way too much fun on this one—mostly...
June 2, 2018
Weekend reading (6/02)
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They Never Saw This ComingErik Raymond:
Put yourself in their shoes. Have you ever felt this type of remorse? Have you done something like this to someone where you have felt so deeply contrite and remorseful? Their pleading is the number one priority of their lives. They even appeal to the merciful and covenant-keeping God of, notice, your father. They are asking Joseph to be like God and forgive them, if not for their sake, at least for his father’s and for God’s sake. Finally, they offer...
June 1, 2018
What I read in May
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Another month has come and gone, and with it more reading! As you know, I am always consuming books, whether they’re physical, digital or audio. Every month, I like to share a breakdown of everything I read, including the books I abandoned. I do this because it gives me an opportunity to introduce you to books you might not have had an opportunity to read while practicing the art of writing concise book reviews.
In May, I read (and listened to) 11 books to completion, and started a couple of...
May 31, 2018
Links I like (5/31)
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SWBTS terminates Paige PattersonWhoa. Again.
Changing Our Posture Through PrayerMark Dance:
A Warning To Those Who Work With WordsI don’t know of anyone in the Bible who walked with a more prideful posture than Jacob. In Genesis we see Jacob, one of our spiritual patriarchs, bulldozing everyone who got in his way. Jacob means grabber, and he was good at it. Coming out of the womb, Jacob grabbed his twin brother’s heel—thus earning him a name and a reputation.
I normally try to avoid shar...
May 30, 2018
Don’t be slow to recognize God is answering your prayers
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I’m sure most of us would admit that prayer is a struggle for us. Or, at the very least, it’s a spiritual discipline in which we need to grow. Reflecting on my own challenges with prayer, and the actions I’ve taken to try to improve my prayer life, I had a “Shazam” moment. And it came after a day of fretting.
The last two years have been difficult with regard to anxiety and worry for me. Theologically, I know I don’t need to worry, but it’s there.1 I’m working on this, but admittedly, it’s n...
May 29, 2018
Links I like (5/29)
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4 Reasons Why Christians Should be People Who “Remember”Michael Kelley:
One the one hand, you would think that “remembering,” especially remembering those who have fought and died to secure the freedom you and I live with everyday, would be the most natural thing in the world. That is to say, given the importance of what we are remembering, you could make the argument that we shouldn’t need a holiday for commemoration. But we are a fickle and forgetful people. What should be humble apprecia...
