Five Favorite Finds.

It's Thursday...you know what that means :)

You get to peer inside my brain/Safari tabs and see what I've been reading this week!

1.  Teach Children the Bible is Not About Them

Sally Lloyd-Jones, author of The Jesus Storybook Bible

via Desiring God

"When we drill a Bible story down into a moral lesson, we make it all about us.  But the Bible isn't mainly about us, and what we are supposed to be doing -- it's about God, and what He has done!"

2.  Missions and the Great Commission

Bradley Johnson (yes, this is my boyfriend)

"He alone knows how to best steward His glory.  

He will use you in the Great Commission exactly how He wants."

3.  Escape into Grey

Lori Byerly

"The problem is that reading erotic novels is like eating Twinkies to stop your hunger.  It's sweet.  It gives you a sugar high.  It makes good food taste bland.  It doesn't give your body the nutrition it needs and all you do is crave more sugar, more Twinkies."

4.  How the Gospel Changes Our Apologetics, Part 1

Tim Keller (aka Yoda)

"We need to be careful of saying, 'Just believe', because what we're really saying is, 'Believe because I say so."

5.  3 Reasons Why We Won't 'Be Still'

Josh Reich, via The Resurgence

"We don't stop because deep down, we want to be God."

What's the best article that you've read as of late?

Five Favorite Finds.

It really is crazy that the Lord would grant any of us wisdom.

He has granted us conviction of sin, awareness of our own depravity, desperation for a savior, and knowledge of His Son and the relationship He desires with us.

Granting wisdom to His children is a little superfluous, don't cha think?

Well, I'm grateful that He does. It allows me to be edified and refined through His work in other people. 

Even people I've never met:

1.  Preach the Gospel, and Since It's Necessary, Use Words
Ed Stetzer

"...since the gospel is the saving work of Jesus, it isn't something we can do, but it is something we must announce."

2.  Read Your Bible More and More
John Piper, via Desiring God

"Legalists trudge with their Bibles on the path toward justification.  Saints sit down in the shade of the Cross and plead for the blood-bought pleasures."

3.  Love Notices Wet Hair
Tim Henderson, via The Gospel Coalition

"...the chief responsibility of our lives is to love God and others as we love ourselves.  But we don't.  If we're honest, it's not even close.  We don't love anyone with the vigor and thoroughness that we love ourselves."

4.  Trusting God Is Not Easy
Ray Ortlund, via The Gospel Coalition

"There is something about coming to the end of ourselves and our own strength and wisdom -- that's when our hearts finally crack open, and the love of God pours in."

5.  Obeying God Comes After Grace, Says Tim Keller
Lillion Kwon

"Christians who obey God and then expect grace and blessings have got it all wrong."

When was the last time an article made you repent?

Five Friday Finds.

Seeking wisdom is the largest part of me recognizing the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Daily scripture reading, sharing and listening to peers and particularly older, wiser women and men, listening to sermons/talks, and yes, even leisurely reading articles is part of me seeking wisdom.

Have the words of the Bible and other people draw me to the throne of justification and grace is beautiful, and makes me worship Him more.

This week, by the grace of God, has been no different.

1.  Children and Salvation
JD Greear, my pastor (Summit Church)

"As my kids grow older, they will certainly have moments of insight in which they understand better His grace, and defining moments in which they "own" that posture.  But it is a posture I can encourage them toward from the beginning."

2.  Are You Young, Restless, and Reformed?
Hugh Whelchel, via The Gospel Coalition

"...young men and women are still striving for more substantive and experiential Christianity."

3.  How Jesus Saved My Dad and Family
Tony Evans

"...she could not understand how the more she rejected him, was unkind to him and tried to prove that believing in God was wrong, he kinder he was to her and the more he invested in God's Word."

4.  Rebuilding a Healthy Schedule
Joe Thorn, via The Resurgence

"It wasn't just that I was working too hard, but that I had also started listening to the devil's lies."

5.  Why My Husband of Three Years and I Go To Marriage Counseling
Sharon Hodde Miller, via Hermenutics

"In a culture of instant gratification and entitlement, many couples feel duped and unprepared when they realize they must word hard to make marriage succeed."

What are some articles you've recently enjoyed?

Five Favorite Finds.

Can I just say how much I love not having schoolwork having extra time to read, dwell, and meditate on scripture and life-giving, worshipful pieces of writing?

Well, I love it.

Enjoy these fantastic articles I found this week:

1.  Snuggling Is Holy Work, Too
via The Resurgence
Alex Early

"It is heart-wrenching news for a child to learn that Jesus takes Daddy away from the family to go do 'holier' things than play in the floor, telling bedtime stories, learning about their interests and snuggling."

2. Quantity Time, Quality Time, & a Clingy Son
Ben Reed, Small Groups Paster, Grace Community Church

"...you can tell what you value by what fills up your calendar."

2.  When Grace Goes Violent

via Desiring God

David Mathis, quoting Matt Chandler's book Explicit Gospel

"...he wants sin starved to death, and he will hunt and pursue the death of every sin in his heart until he has achieved success."

4.  J. Gresham Machen: "Liberalism Has Abandoned Christianity"

via The Resurgence

Justin Holcomb

"Machen writes, 'In trying to remove from Christianity everything that could possibly be objected to in the name of science...the apologist has really abandoned what he started out to defend.'"

5.  Is a Wife's Submission Culturally Outdated?

via Desiring God

Tony Reinke

"Husbands typify Christ by sacrificially loving their wives, and wives typify the church by following their husbands...the balance between leadership and trust...points to the unending submission that the church will experience under Christ's headship (Ephesians 5:24-25)."

What are some great articles you've read recently?

Five Favorite Finds.

Summertime is great for a bajillion reasons.

Being able to read and re-read (instead of skim) fantastic, worshipful pieces of writing is one of them.

Here is some of what I've been intrigued and edified by this week:

1.  Good News vs. Good Advice

via The Resurgence blog

Tim Keller

"...when you hear a message that it's all been done for you, that it's a historical event that's happened, your salvation is accomplished for you, what do you want to do?  You want to obey the Ten Commandments, you want to pray, and you want to please the One who did this for you."

2.  Exchanging Fear for Fear

Kevin DeYoung

"...there is no sin so prevalent, so insidious, and so deep as the sin of fearing people more than we fear God."

3.  5 Reasons I love Church-Based Counseling

Pat Quinn

"People expect to be listened to compassionately and cared for wisely and they know that this means that we will use the Bible to point and lead them to Christ."

4.  Why a "You Complete Me" Romance is Incomplete

Mike Glenn

"But what happens if we approach a relationship not from a sense of need but from a sense of our "yes"?

5.  Where Are All the Revivals in Islamic Countries?

via The Gospel Coalition

John Starke

An interview with my pastor, JD Greear.

"'Where are all the revival stories in Islamic countries?' They remain to be written by God."

What are some great articles you've read recently?

Five Favorite Finds.

This is my updated version of "Friday Finds" (don't worry, I still have something in store for Friday, don't fret :)

...also, I realize it is quite a feat to have five "favorites", since the word "favorite" insinuates one. 

Just go with it.

Here are my top five favorite articles that I found this week!

1) Jesus Also Had Unbelieving Family Members
via Desiring God
Jon Bloom

"Don't give up praying for unbelieving family members.  Don't take their resistance as the final word.  They may yet believe..."

2)  What Does it Mean to be Biblically Balanced?
Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church

"...to be 'Biblically balanced' is NOT to allot equal airtime to every Biblical theme."

3)  Desperate, Breathless, Dependent Parenting

via Desiring God
Rachel Pieh Jones

"No, brave is not the right word for parents. Dependent is."

4)  Today Was Supposed to be My Wedding Day
via The Gospel Coalition
M. Conner

"He promises much more, and I wasn't going to find it in a marriage with an unbeliever."

5)  Rob Bell and the Judgmentless "Gospel": Holy Love Wins
via The Gospel Coalition 
Trevin Wax
(I apologize for the extremely old post--but the ideas that he dismisses are unfortunately still present in the church.)

"...the judgmentless gospel is not gospel at all.  It leaves us with a diminished God and no need for grace."