A smorgasboard from around the web

It’s been a busy week, and I haven’t had a chance to post anything. I have come across several good posts on-line though, and since I don’t know which to link to, here’s a smorgasboard of good stuff from around the web (as usual, I found most of this stuff thanks to Tim Challies and Justin Taylor!):

• John Piper wrote a thought-provoking post entitled, “Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies” . This post also includes a wonderful example of humbly confessing sin. 
• Keith and Kristen Getty have released a new album of modern, celtic-style hymns. Their lyrics are saturated with Scripture and their music is beautiful! You can listen to samples and/or order the CD here.
• Sovereign Grace Music has released another children’s album entitled, To Be Like Jesus. Read about it here.
• Tim Challies asked John Bell, pastor of New City Baptist Church in Toronto, to share about his experience sharing the gospel with the gay community in his city. It is well worth reading - to help us think biblically about homosexuality, and to help us in God-honoring evangelism and church life. There is also some very interesting discussion in the comments, especially involving a number of men who struggle with homosexuality but turn from it because of their commitment to Christ. Read this post here. 
• If you’re compiling a summer reading list, you might find these 2 posts from David Powlison to be of interest. Powlison is a bilical counselor, professor, and author, and he spent some time this week discussing some of his favorite literature with CJ Mahaney. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.  
• What does Kurt Warner, a Christian who plays quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, like most about being a professional football player? His very encouraging answer is here.   

Blessings…

~Donovan

What to do with your Christian Heroes?

These 2 blog posts are well worth reading:

Read John Piper’s post,  Hero Worship and Holy Emulation, here.

Read Kevin DeYoung’s follow-up post, Thoughts on Evangelical Superstardom, here.

~Donovan

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall

Two videos that illustrate the truth of Proverbs 16:18:

And

~ Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

C.J. Mahaney’s Biblical Productivity Series

Sovereign Grace Ministries Blog:

Spanning more than four months on the blog, C.J.’s 17-part series on biblical productivity has finally concluded. Via email and in personal conversations many of you have requested that the series be provided as a single document to make it easier to print and read. And today we are making this entire series available as a single 36-page document. You can view and download the PDF by clicking here (0.6 MB).

You can also access individual posts:

Biblical Productivity:

1. Are You Busy?

2. Confessions of a Busy Procrastinator

3. The Procrastinator Within

4. Just Do It

5. In All Thy Ways

6. The Sluggard

7. Time. Redeemed.

8. Roles, Goals, Scheduling

9. Roles (Part 1)

10. Roles (Part 2)

11. Goals (Part 1)

12. Goals (Part 2)

13. Goals (Part 3)

14. Goals (Part 4)

15. Scheduling the Unexpected

16. The To-Do Lists Are Never Done

17. Self-Sufficient

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

Biblical Guidelines for Loving Each Other Amid Differences

John Piper recently exhorted his pastoral staff towards unity and love amid differences. He boiled his meesage down to a brief blog post, giving 6 points of excellent, biblical counsel that are applicable to all Christians seeking to live in the unity Christ calls us to. Read it here.

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

James MacDonald on Brian McLaren

James MacDonald:

“I do not view Brian as an ‘erring weaker brother,’ worthy of sympathy or olive branches, but rather as a dangerous false teacher who repackages mainline liberal theology. (Have the past 50 years not been adequate to see how liberal theology empties churches and damns souls?)

More dangerous still is that McLaren packages his false teaching and denials of Scripture as  solutions to some of the excesses currently plaguing evangelicalism—the danger being his winning over of young people who have legitimate complaints about the current church, but who lack the discernment to see that his solutions are often unbiblical even when his critiques are fair.”

In the rest of his blog post, James MacDonald explains why he believes McLaren is teaching error, and whay he believes it’s biblical to name such people publically. Read it here.

~Donovan

HT: Tim Challies

Roles (part 2)

CJ Mahaney continues his series on God-honoring time management. You can read his latest post, Roles (part 2), here.

~Donovan

Roles (Part 1)

I’m really enjoying CJ Mahaney’s ongoing blog series about God-honoring time management and productivity. His most recent post is entitled “Roles (Part 1)“. Read it here.

Preceding posts in this series: 

1. Are You Busy?

2. Confessions of a Busy Procrastinator

3. The Procrastinator Within

4. Just Do It

5. The Sluggard (sharing insights from Derek Kidner)

6. Time. Redeemed. (sharing insights from RC Sproul)

7. Roles, Goals, Scheduling

~Donovan

Roles, Goals, and Scheduling

C.J. Mahaney writes: “From my study of this topic and my observation of those I admire (and desire to emulate), it appears to me that being faithful, productive, and fruitful for the glory of God requires that I accomplish three things:

1. define my present God-given roles,
2. determine specific, theologically informed goals, and
3. transfer these goals into my schedule.”

Read the whole post here. 

~Donovan

39 Lessons, 20 Tips and 10 “Don’ts” for Parenting:

Matt and Elizabeth Schmucker of 9Marks ministries wrote this helpful article on parenting. It is based on their personal experience with their five children who presently range in age from 3 to 19. Read it here. 

HT: Tim Challies