Aaron Armstrong's Blog, page 51

Grace for those struggling

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This is a strange Easter for me. It’s not strange from the perspective that the details are foreign (certainly not). What makes it strange is how hard it is for me to focus. I want to be present, to fully prepare to celebrate the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection as we do every weekend at our church, but…

I’ll admit, it’s hard.

Right now, there are a lot of questions on my mind about the future—especially the question of what the future holds with our status in America. I know wha...

Links I like (3/29)

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Today I’m on my way for a quick trip to Dallas to do a video shoot for The Gospel Project (we have a cool event coming up that you’ll want to check out). But I still have links to share!

A Tip For Reading an Old Testament Quotation

Mike Leake:

“What’s your favorite Old Testament Bible verse?”

Do you realize that’s a question the biblical authors would have never been able to answer? They didn’t have Bible verses. That was something invented only about 500 years ago. They had various methods...

Why I wrote Devotional Doctrine

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So the other day, I finally got to hold a copy of my new book, Devotional Doctrine. I can’t fully explain how excited I am about this project, which is probably one of my favorite books to have written so far. You’ve read the platitudes before about writing, and how it’s something you have to live, and all that kind of stuff, so I’m going to spare you some of that. But even so, I want to explain why I wrote this book.

See, I discovered a love for theology very naturally—through reading my Bi...

Links I like (3/27)

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Podcast: On the latest episode of The Hero of the Story, Brian and I discuss gospel-motivated generosity, what it is and what it isn’t, from 2 Corinthians 8-9. This was a fun and challenging episode for us. I hope you’ll check it out.

What Counts as a “Gospel Issue?”

Tim Challies:

As I searched my library and Google Ngram Viewer, I found the phrase “gospel issue” has been used quite often over time, but that its meaning has shifted. In the past, it was used in at least four ways: 1) Authors...

S3, Ep. 7: What you really need to know about Millennials

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Reading Writers is back in the studio this week with a new episode—and a special guest! On this episode, Dave and I are joined by our pal Chris Martin, content strategist and co-creator of LifeWay Social, and author of the upcoming book, Ministering to Millennials from Rainer Publishing. In this episode, we spend a LOT of time talking about Millennials, aging, and, of course, reading.

Among the many books we discuss:

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow What the F: What Swearing Reveals About...

Weekend reading (3/24)

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No, Easter Isn’t Pagan, Either

Luke Harrington:

Let’s start at the beginning, though. We’ve all heard the most popular theory that gets bandied about this time of year by the usual cadre of atheists, neo-pagans, and fundamentalist Christians, the one about how the word Easter is actually derived from Ēostre, the name of an ancient pagan goddess of spring and fertility, who was associated with bunnies and eggs. (To which, no doubt, most of her congregants would respond, “What do bunnies and e...

Four books I’m excited about right now

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We’ve entered another season of new releases, with my desk at work becoming cluttered and the occasional book finding its way into my mailbox too. Here’s a look at four books I’m particularly excited about reading:

Growing Down by Michael Kelley. I love when Michael Kelley writes books. He writes like someone who means what he’s writing, which sound strange but isn’t. His new book is intended to remind us what it means to be a mature believer—which counterintuitively means shedding our tende...

Links I like (3/22)

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A Pastor Opens Up About His Struggle with Depression

Daniel Hyun:

In more recent years, there were times when I felt that maybe I was past my depression. Most people who know me might have been surprised to know this was part of my life. As a pastor who had aspirations to get a new church off the ground, there was not much room for my depression. Especially as I encountered so many broken people, I internalized a need to be strong for their sakes and felt like I always needed to be “on.” Of...

A nine-year streak broken

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So this past Sunday, something happened that hasn’t happened in nine years: I didn’t publish anything on the blog. And no one died. Probably no one noticed even.

And that’s okay.

With the way my work schedule has been, I’ve been struggling to maintain a healthy rhythm of work and rest. So I’m doing something about it: Sundays will be an off-day for blogging, in addition to everything else. About a year ago, I couldn’t imagine doing that. I can’t say I would have had a good reason for it: it...

Links I like (3/20)

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Podcast: On The Hero of the Story, Brian and I are answering the question, “What do we mean by ‘gospel culture’?” This was a fun one for us to do. I hope you’ll give it a listen (and if you’d be so kind as to give us a review on iTunes, that’d be fantastic).

Don’t Title People “Pastor” If They Aren’t An Elder

This is an interesting point from Jeff Medders:

For example, if the Pastor for Counseling isn’t also an elder, then he shouldn’t be titled as a pastor. If the Worship Pastor doesn’t hav...