Sex in the Sermon – Melissa Kruger writes about the Bible’s frank discussions of sexuality. “While parents have a clear duty to initiate these discussions with their children, they also need the church to provide repeated input and guidance. Deliberate preaching of the ‘whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27) will naturally encourage parents to continue…
Seven Things to Pray For Your Children – Jon Bloom offers seven helpful, specific things to pray for your children. “Some years back a good friend shared with me seven Scripture texts that he and his wife prayed for their two daughters from the time they were infants. The girls are now grown. And it’s…
You cannot follow the news these days, and especially technological news, without reading about the perils of sitting. Yes, sitting. In a recent TED talk Nilofer Merchant explained “People spend 9.3 hours per day on their derrieres, eclipsing even the 7.7 hours they spend sleeping. Their sedentary lifestyles contribute 10 percent of the risk of…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Reformation Heritage Books, a publisher that is a regular sponsor of these giveaways. This week they are giving away five prize packages, each of which contains five books (with a combined value of $86). Each of the winners will receive: Let me single out just a couple…
23 Days – “You spend more than three weeks a year looking at your phone, according to new figures that illustrate just how central to our lives the mobile phone has become.” It doesn’t sound like a particularly rigorous study, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is just about accurate. (True of other people,…
Gospel-centeredness is all the rage today. We are told to live gospel-centered lives, to pray toward a gospel-centered faith, to have gospel-centered humility, to be gospel-centered parents, to form gospel-centered churches, to have gospel-centered marriages, to say goodbye at gospel-centered funerals. The gospel, we are told, must be central to all we are and all…
A Surrogate’s Dilemma – This is a horrible story from CNN that so clearly displays the horrors of a culture that devalues life in the womb. “Crystal Kelley was offered $10,000 to have an abortion after ultrasounds showed the baby she was carrying for another couple had severe medical problems.” The Link Between Spirituality and…
I recently finished reading Peggy Noonan’s When Character Was King, a life of Ronald Reagan. Noonan is a former speech writer for Reagan and an unabashed admirer of her former employer. While her account of his life is hardly objective, it is nonetheless fascinating, at least in part because Reagan himself was a fascinating individual…
Lifestyle Liberalism – “A friend of mine who is generally liberal in his politics, cultural and otherwise, wrote the other day to describe a crisis of sorts that he’s going through in his family.” It is always fascinating to see someone realize the inherent insanity of liberalism when applied to all of life. Smithsonian’s Photo…
I am often asked to comment on Calvinistic theology and its impact on my life. I was raised in the Reformed tradition and continue to hold fast to the tenets of Calvinism, but always try to distinguish between Calvinism as a kind of theological shorthand, a means of summarizing a lot of theology under a…
The Bible – CNN covers Mark Burnett and his miniseries The Bible (which I’m sure you’ve been hearing about). The hotel I was in on Sunday night didn’t offer the History Channel so I didn’t get to see it. Melinda Penner of Stand to Reason offers some positives and some negatives. Peace that Trumps Tribe…
I am in the unique and enjoyable position of receiving copies of most of the latest and greatest Christian books and I like to provide regular roundups of some of the best and brightest of the bunch. Here are some of the notable books that I’ve received: Heroic Boldness of Martin Luther by Steven J.…
This weekend I spoke to a group of men down here in Nashville, Tennessee. The pastor asked me to speak to the men about reading and, specifically, why Christian men need to be readers. While what I prepared was directed specifically to men, it is applicable to both men and women. Here are four good…
A Wedding Speech – I enjoyed this little clip of a father giving away his daughter at her wedding. Passion Week Infographic – “This week’s infographic, The Passion Week, is a chronological timeline of the major events that happened that happened during Jesus’ last week before he died and rose again.” Monergism Books – Monergism…
Sequestageddon – I guess the best reason to read this article is that Mark Steyn deals so well with the radical overstatement that is happening. “If I understand correctly, by the time you read this, the planes will be dropping from the skies; the drip-feeds in every emergency room will be dry; every creature on…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Banner of Truth and they are giving away three great books by Iain Murray. Murray is one of our most important contemporary biographers; he has written several excellent biographies and many other great works besides. Today Banner of Truth is giving away five prize packages, each of…
March is upon us, and to get the month started right, here are some wallpapers calendars to dress up your computer, tablet or cell phone. This month’s wallpaper comes courtesy of Nathan Davis of Destiny Creative, a full service media company based in Oklahoma City, OK. A few notes: Your desktop or laptop may take…
Baseball and the Christian Walk – Because baseball season is nearly upon us. “The reality that baseball is a game of managed failure for every player, even the great ones, is one of the reasons the game imbedded so deeply in the fabric of American culture.” Page CXVI – Page CXVI, which is a project…