Blogs

5 Questions Leaders Should Be Asking All the Time
“Leaders should ask these questions both on a daily basis and during critical moments. Of course, these aren’t the only questions to ask; context certainly matters. But I have found these five to be a very practical and useful way to ensure understanding, generate new ideas, inspire progress, encourage responsibility, and remain focused on what is genuinely important.”

On Family Worship and Failure
You’re bound to pick up some tips here. Most important point: “It’s better to do 4 minutes of something than no minutes of nothing.”

You Are Not Your Pain
“Perhaps our wounds have become so entangled with the identity we now claim that surrendering them would require also surrendering who we mistakenly believe ourselves to be.”

2 Ways Boredom Destroys Ministry Leaders
“Don’t let boredom ruin you. Look to Him and you won’t get bored. Seek new ways to fulfill the mission the Lord has given, but don’t seek a new mission. Seek ways to communicate the message in new ways, but don’t seek a new message.”

The Wisdom of Sex
“Marriage involves the encouraging of purity in each other by making ourselves delightful to our spouse and giving ourselves to each other regularly. That is, I believe, one of the best ways to preserve ourselves from the troubles of impure hearts and impure people.”

Disability Makes a Church Strong | Desiring God
This from a pastor and fatehr of a child with special needs: “Without intending to add one ounce to an already heavy Sunday morning load, as both parent and pastor of the disabled, I offer to families with disabilities seven pleas from my heart.”

Kindle Books

The Great Exchange: My Sins For His Righteousness by Jerry Bridges $2.99.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: A Devout Muslim Encounters Christianity $2.99.

Drawn by the Father by James White $2.99.

Video

Introducing the New City Catechism
Beautifully produced catechism, simpler and shorter than the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and way shorter than the Heidelberg. Might be a great starter if you are feeling intimidated. See also 10 Things You Should Know about Catechesis.

Blogs

The Jewish Intellectual Who Predicted America’s Social Collapse | Bruce Ashford, TGC
“The great American sociologist Philip Rieff (1922-2006) stands as one of the 20th century’s keenest intellectuals and cultural commentators. His work was stunning in its intellectual breadth and depth. Rieff did sociology on a grand scale-sociology as prophecy-diagnosing the ills of Western society and offering a prognosis and prescription for the future. Although he wasn’t a Christian, his work remains one of the greatest gifts-even if a complicated and challenging one-to Christians living today. ”

How the Psalms Speak to Our Emotions | Christina Fox
“…But the Psalms do more than just mirror our own heartaches. They aren’t simply there to provide catharsis or help us know that we aren’t the only ones who have suffered.I n fact, there is much more that we can learn from the Psalms, especially the Psalms of Lament, those dark, sad, and emotion laden Psalms many of us turn to when life is hard and the future seems dark and bleak.”

5 Reasons You Need the Westminster Shorter Catechism | Andrew Conway, TGC
Five reasons why the Shorter Catechism is worth engaging.

A Note to Ph.D. Students: Here’s What We Are Really Looking for in a Job Interview | Michael J. Kruger, Canon Fodder
We’ve just gone through this hiring process for our new PhD program at PRTS. This is great advice.

Responding to the Moral Whiplash | Erik Raymond, TGC
“As Christians we wake up, read the news, and yet again get whiplash. ‘What in the world is going on?’ And more importantly, ‘What do I do?’”

Feeding on Christ The Least Attended Church Gathering | Nicholas Batzig, Feeding on Christ
Four reasons why the prayer meeting is so neglected.

Kindle Deals

For your non-Kindle book buying needs please consider using Reformation Heritage Books in the USA and Reformed Book Services in Canada. Good value prices and shipping.

Swiped: How to Protect Yourself in a World Full of Scammers, Phishers, and Identity Thieves by Adam Levin ($1.99)

Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise ($0.99). I loved this book.

Running Scared: Fear, Worry, and the God of Rest by Edward T. Welch ($2.99)

The Hope of Glory: 100 Daily Meditations on Colossians by Sam Storms ($2.99)

The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives by Ravi Zacharias ($0.99)

Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentaries from Zondervan (whole series on sale, $4.99 each)

Video

4 Ways to Help your Teenagers Discover Their Identity In a Confused World | Tim Challies

If you could live anywhere where would you live? We know God’s answer to that question: a tent (that’s His second choice) and a human body (that’s His first choice). In the Old Testament He chose to live in a tent (Ex. 25:8) and in the New Testament He chose flesh and blood (John 1:14). When the Apostle John tells us that “the Word became flesh and dwelt (literally, tabernacled or tented) among us,” he is clearly comparing the Old Testament tabernacle with the New Testament tabernacle (i.e. Christ). Let’s consider four areas of comparison in order to see the superiority of the new tabernacle over the old one.

Compare the Materials

The old tabernacle was made of wood, fabric, metal and precious stones. Multiple chapters in the Bible are devoted to prescribing and describing the building materials and the instructions for the large labor force required to build it. Although parts of the inside, especially the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place, were beautiful, only a few select priests saw that. From the outside, it was unattractive, covered with protective waterproof animal skins. All rather unimpressive, especially when compared with other contemporary structures such as the Egyptian pyramids and the Babylonian ziggurats. Israel was already being taught that God is willing to experience humbling circumstances in order to live with his people.

Compare that wood and fabric tabernacle with the flesh and blood tabernacle of the New Testament. Christ dwelt not in a tent, but in a human nature miraculously created by God without human hands. Although he possessed the glory of deity, this godhead was largely veiled by his flesh. His “tent” was unattractive from the outside – he looked just like an ordinary man. As Isaiah predicted, he was “as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him” (Isa. 53:2). The Word became flesh, just ordinary everyday skin, muscle, blood, brain, etc., and dwelt among us. God was willing to experience this humbling experience in order to live as close as possible with his people. He lived with us, like us, as us.

Despite all the similarities, there is one striking difference. The old tabernacle was a temporary tent-like structure that could be easily dismantled for traveling and which eventually disintegrated and disappeared. In contrast, Christ “was, and continues to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever” (Shorter Catechism 21). God lives in flesh and blood permanently.

Click through to the Christward Collective for three further comparisons.

Blogs

What Are We Aiming At? | Pat Quinn, TGC
“‘What are we aiming at in the people we minister to?’ Four biblical verbs–know, pray, trust, walk–came to mind that seemed to capture what all biblical counseling, preaching, teaching, evangelism, and discipling aim at leading people to do in their process of spiritual growth. Notice that these four verbs are not so much our ministry methodology but our ministry outcomes.”

The Blessing of Teaching the Children | Nick Batzig, The Christward Collective
“Several months ago, I began teaching some of the 7-12 year olds at New Covenant through The Westminster Shorter Catechism. As I have done so, I have been reminded of the multitude of blessings that accrue from teaching the children of the church the precious doctrines of the Christian faith. Here are four of the blessings that pastors and congregants can glean from working to bring the deep truths of the Scriptures to the ears of the next generation of those in the church.”

Puritan Preaching: Westminster’s Directory  | Bob McKelvey, Meet the Puritans
“While the Directory was not intended to be an exhaustive guide to homiletics (the art and science of preaching), it still provides helpful guidance for the preacher in the twenty-first century. ”

On My Shelf: Life and Books with Marvin Olasky | TGC
“On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scences glimpse into their lives as readers. ”

50 Years of Sex Changes, Mental Disorders, and Too Many Suicides | Walt Heyer, Public Discourse
“Early pioneers in gender-reassignment surgery and recent clinical studies agree that a majority of transgender people suffer from co-occurring psychological disorders, leading tragically high numbers to commit suicide. Outlawing psychotherapy for transgender people may be politically correct, but it shows a reckless disregard for human lives.”

What the Church Can Learn From Justice Scalia’s Life | Russell Moore, Reformation21 Blog
“Justice Scalia stood up persistently for the permanent things. Moreover, there are aspects of his life that even those who completely disagree with him legally or politically could do well to emulate. Most of us will not serve as justices or judges or attorneys, but we can still glean some lessons from this life. Here are a few of them.”

Kindle Deals

A Biblical Home Education: Building Your Homeschool on the Foundation of God’s Word by Ruth Beechick ($2.99)

Homeschooling Methods: Seasoned Advice on Learning Styles by Paul and Gena Suarez ($0.99)

NKJV, The Chronological Study Bible, eBook published by Thomas Nelson ($4.99)

B & H Perspectives Series on sale ranging from $0.99 to $2.99. Titles such as Perspectives on Israel and the Church, Perspectives on Tithing, and Perspectives on Family Ministry.

The Test Of Courage: Michel Thomas: A Biography Of The Holocaust Survivor And Nazi-Hunter by Christopher Robbins ($0.99)

Video

Air France 747 Forever – Two jewels of French aviation fly side by side over France

Blogs

Ask R.C. Is it a Sin to be Wealthy? | R C Sproul Jr.
Not a question most of us have to trouble ourselves with.

Three Dangers Associated With Studying Backgrounds | Bible X
Good caution for my students about to start Old Testament Introduction.

Confessions of a (more recent) Bibliophile | Credo: Timothy Raymond
“Should every Christian aspire to be a bibliophile?  Only if every Christian desires to be increasingly conformed to the image of Christ.”

An Introverted Christian | Tim Challies
Like Tim, I’m naturally on the introvert side of the scale. I appreciate his challenge.

Self-Care and Self-Denial | TGC: Amie Patrick
This is such a good article: “Many of us don’t consider the issue of self-care until a crisis forces us to wake up. God, in his kindness, uses these crises to take us to places we wouldn’t choose on our own, but in these places we find greater freedom and joy in him.”

Five Important Theological Pairs | Christward Collective: Nick Batzig
“One of the many wonderful things about the Westminster Shorter Catechism is that it includes several extremely important theological pairs (i.e. joint categories) in the opening questions that help us robustly systematize the biblical truth concerning our relationship to God, God’s work in the world, the nature and effects of man’s sin and the saving work of the Redeemer.”

Hope For The Unhappily Single | Desiring God: Marshall Segal
“There is a new and widespread epidemic in our nation and even in our churches. It’s called the not-yet-married life.”

Kindle Books

A couple of Kindle devices have dropped in price for a few days with the entry level Kindle coming in now at $59.

On Guard: Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse at Church by Deepak Reju $4.99.

Mindscape: What to Think About Instead of Worrying by Timothy Witmer $0.99.

The Happy Christian: Ten Ways to Be a Joyful Believer in a Gloomy World. Price of the Kindle book has dropped a few dollars to $6.99.

Recommended New Book

A Well-Ordered Church: Laying a foundation for a vibrant church by Danny Hyde and Bill Boekestein $5.99 (Kindle).

Video

Stories of God’s Grace: Stephen and Ellen

W.O.W!

The Christian Faith: Teaching Outlines From The Westminster Standards $2.99

Ever wanted help in learning or in teaching the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Westminster Confession of Faith? Here’s a book that will do just that by providing you with simple and memorable teaching outlines for each of these historic statements of the Christian faith.

On the Amazon page, you can click “Look Inside” to see a sample of what the outlines look like for the Shorter Catechism. And here’s a sample of the Westminster Confession outlines.

Thanks to Faculty Assistant Marjolein de Blois for all her help with typesetting this book.

May God use this teaching guide to bring these historic documents to life; instructing the head, igniting the heart, and impacting lives for His glory and our enjoyment.