Jesus is the reason for this?

In the midst of our culture’s materialistic fervor during the “holiday season” does it help for believers to chine in, “Jesus is the reason for the season”? I think Warren Cole Smith — (writing in WORLD Magazine) draws a helpful line for us….
I consider myself a “fellow warrior” with some of these folk. By [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Psalm 103 begins with great words of praise & thanks…
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love [...]

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How families currently function

Today’s “Pastor’s Briefing” email (from Focus on the Family) included the following. Some is encouraging (not as bad as I feared), but overall it is pretty sad…
[my comments are inserted within the brackets]
Families Still Eating Together
According to a new poll commissioned by The Associated Press, 60% of those who live with families said [...]

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Concise Marriage counseling

Jim Elliff put this out on Twitter…

“Be kind to one another” — Eph 4:32.
A marriage seminar in a phrase.

Amen.
pdb

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How the Reformation was won…

I openned our Reformation Sunday sermon with this great quote from Iain H Murray (from a paper presented back in the 1960’s at the Westminster Puritan Conference)….
At the price of great suffering Protestantism won its way … not because of the superior numbers or learning of its adherents, but because through the Scriptures rivers of [...]

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Worldly ways

Back to the book “UNFASHIONABLE” by Tullian Tchividijian, kept near my reading chair in hopes of finishing it soon….
A worldly way of thinking is any mind-set that, unconciously or consciously, eliminates God and his revealed truth (the Bible) from how we approach life. the biblical notion of worldliness is a sleepiness of the soul [...]

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Reliable preachers

Author and new pastor of Coral Ridge Pres. Church, Tullian Tchividjian (grandson of Billy Graham), writes about How To Identify a Reliable Preacher. He has five helpful questions:

#1. Does the preacher ground everything he says in the Bible?
#2. Does the preacher freely emphasize that because of sin, a right relationship with God can only [...]

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Duties of Sermon-hearers

Let us all be reminded of the good counsel that the Westminster Larger Catechism provides about hearing sermons:
Question 160: What is required of those that hear the word preached?
Answer: It is required of those that hear the word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the [...]

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Manton: Knowledge & effect

” We are apt to abuse our knowledge. Saving [spiritual] knowledge makes us more humble; but carnal [sinful] knowledge more proud. … The more we know God or ourselves by a divine light, the more humble we shall be. … When Adam’s eyes were opened he ran into the bushes, he was ashamed; [...]

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Little exhortations from dads to sons

It’s Monday morning again, and I’ve just spent an hour of my day-off writing letters – by hand – to my two oldest kids away at college. And on top of that, I have been texting them each day with a verse from my devotional reading of the Scriptures! Today’s verse was from 1st [...]

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