Sound Words: Rethinking Retirement

For many, “the good life” is a comfortable existence until age 65 and then a carefree existence thereafter. Retirement is “the promised land” where work is over and years of self-indulgence, travel, and relaxation await. Unfortunately, few give any thought to whether or not the Scriptures speak to that modern idea of retirement. They do.
Consider [...]

“Over the Top” Indeed

(Note: This post has been corrected and updated.)
The Sword of the Lord crowd has nothing on Saddleback, as this link proves. Rick Warren was urging people to sign up for last weekend’s Class 101 at Saddleback, hoping to push the number of those enrolled from 2400 to 3000 in order to eclipse the 2000 year [...]

Help for Fighting Lust: A Meditation Plan (3 of 5)

The following is a guest post by Joe Tyrpak, Assistant Pastor of Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, Ohio. In part 1 of his meditation plan he suggested that we “Call to mind the deceptions of sinful sensuality.” In part 2 he suggested that we “Call to mind the destructions of sinful sensuality.” Now he moves [...]

My Jesus, Fair…in the Philippines!

Greg pointed me to these two videos of My Jesus, Fair being used in two Filipino worship services. I’ve rarely enjoyed hearing Christians sing more than I enjoyed both of these:

“May those who love your salvation say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’” (Psalm 40:16b)

What I’m Reading: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Last week I made a third attempt at reading Neil Postman’s well-respected book Amusing Ourselves to Death. The first two attempts were aborted, in part because I had more pressing things to do, but in part because the book just didn’t resonate with me. Perhaps that indicates that I’ve amused myself to death, especially because [...]

Help for Fighting Lust: A Meditation Plan (2 of 5)

The following is a guest post by Joe Tyrpak, Assistant Pastor of Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, Ohio. In part 1 of his meditation plan, he suggested that believers should arm themselves with a specific plan for biblical meditation when they confront sexual temptations. The first point of his meditation plan was this: “Call to [...]

Preach Leadership Qualifications When You’re Not Electing Leaders

I’m wrapping up a 6-part series entitled “Guy Talk” that has focused on men as the leaders of our homes and churches. Yesterday I wanted to deal with the character of a godly leader, and I wanted to preach expositionally through a male equivalent of Proverbs 31. Does the Bible contain such a passage? Sure. [...]

Polity: Plurality of Elders Does Not Necessitate Elder Rule

The following is the first in a series of posts that will address the important matter of church polity. My intent isn’t to “whack” those who disagree with my understanding of church polity, but to provide what I hope will be a perspective that is clarifying and edifying.

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One of the reasons why the biblical norm [...]

Help for Fighting Lust: A Meditation Plan (1 of 5)

The following is a guest post by Joe Tyrpak, Assistant Pastor of Tri-County Bible Church in Madison, Ohio. Though the posts he and I (Chris) are making on the topic of lust will have some overlap, we’re hopeful that together they will cover the topic thoroughly.

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You’ve been tempted to lust many times in the past. [...]

Help for Fighting Lust: Recognizing Flattery

It is often noted that men are aroused by visible stimuli and women by emotional—that men want the act of intimacy, while women want, well, intimacy. I think both concepts are so simplistic as to be unhelpful. First, statistics indicate that women partake of visual stimuli like pornography at a much higher rate than is [...]