Links we recommend 1/16/15

Here are some things from around the internet that we found interesting and insightful. 

The Supreme Court and Same-Sex Marriage: Why This Matters for the Church

"The Supreme Court may or may not do their job. We must make sure, no matter what, that we do ours."

Just today the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will be hearing cases on the constitutional right of same-sex marriage. This is an important development, and in this piece Russell Moore offers some helpful perspective for how we as Christians should respond, whatever the outcome of the ruling. 

Lecrae, John Piper, and John Ensor

In this moving video, Christian rapper Lecrae sits down with John Piper and John Ensor, the president of the pro-life group, Passion Life Ministries. The focus is on the topic of abortion, but they touch on several other things too.




The Things of Earth Will Grow Strangely Bright
Piper writes a few brief thoughts, endorsing a new book by Joe Rigney, on how to enjoy the good things God has created... like bacon. The short video is really good too.

Here is a two-part interview with Randy Alcorn on the topics of his recent book, Hand in Hand: The Beauty of God's Sovereignty and Meaningful Human Choice.

Part 1: Randy Alcorn on Calvinists, Arminians, and Everything in Between

Part 2: Embracing the Holy Tension between God's Sovereignty and Human Choice

A Deeper Well of Joy
This is a review and commendation of a new book about joy by Margaret Feinberg.

A New Convert’s Guide To Understanding Christian Code Words
This one is just for fun. Many of us have probably used this kind of jargon, or "Christianese". I know I have.

Links we recommend 1/9/15

Trading Fear for Fear
Christina Fox offers some clear thoughts about the concept of fearing God.

The Bible is More than Stories of Morality
This post addresses the question, "Is it possible to teach Bible stories without teaching the Bible story?" (One thing I really appreciate about our Children's Ministry leadership is their desire to teach our kids the whole story of Scripture.)

Why the Church Needs Intergenerational Friendships
This is an insightful post on the benefit of relationships in the church that span age groups.

Faithful with Fifteen Minutes
This post gives some good perspective on the significance of regular Bible reading, even if it's just for a short time each day.

5 Reasons We Eat Together as a Family
Tim Challies discusses some of the benefits of families having regular mealtime together.

Links we recommend 1/2/15

New Year's Resolutions: Aim for Godliness and God's Glory
This post looks to the example of Jonathan Edwards and gives a few thoughts on New Year's resolutions.

Resolved: To Read the Bible
Here are some helpful points about regular Bible reading. Notice the links near the bottom of the page.

The Weakling's Secret to Being Filled with Confidence for the New Year
Mark Altrogge offers some simple and profound insight on resolutions.

A Matter of Life and Death: Prayer
Derek Rishmawy reviews Tim Keller's new book on prayer, and offers some encouragement as well.

Links we recommend 12/19/14

Time Is Now for Gospel Transformation in Race Relations
On Tuesday several evangelical leaders and pastors got together to discuss race and the gospel. This post reviews these discussions and includes a link to the video.

Advent: The Announcement

Paul Tripp looks at Luke 2:14 and talks about the Good News of Christmas.

Christmas Traditions: For Progress and Joy in the Faith

Here are some thoughts about Christian Christmas traditions.

3 Christmas Pitfalls for Parents
Christmas can be a dangerous time for Christians, particularly when it comes to parenting. This post addresses 3 potential issues.

5 Questions to Ask Before Posting on Social Media
This post lists a few helpful safeguards against unwise Facebook posting.

Links we recommend 12/12/14

The Role of Singing in the Life of the Church
In this post the author discusses three principal reasons for singing in church.

An Advent Prayer: Knowing and Treasuring Jesus
In the same vein as Wednesday's blog post Scotty Smith writes a prayer for the Christmas season.

The Santa Question
This post gives two things for Christian parents to think through when it comes to Santa.

When God Doesn't Zap away our Sin
This short piece talks about God's grace in our struggle against sin.

10 Plumblines for Local Outreach (part 4, with links to parts 1–3)
These are the guidelines used by the Summit Church in North Carolina for their local outreach ministry. It's a larger church than GBC so the principles apply differently, but generally they are quite helpful to consider.

Links we recommend 11/21/14

3 Lessons Learned from the Demise of Mars Hill Church

5 More Lessons Learned from the Demise of Mars Hill Church

6 Lessons Learned from the Growth of Mars Hill Church

In three parts, Gerry Breshears identifies several lessons to be learned from the sad situation at Mars Hill Church in Seattle.






Prayer in the Facebook Age

Here are some eye-opening and thought-provoking remarks on prayer and social-media.

Mothering in the Internet Age

Continuing the theme of our technological age, Betsy Childs thinks about Titus 2 and the overabundance of advice in today's world.

Choose Hospitality over Entertaining
In this post, Jen Wilkin compares and contrasts entertaining with hospitality. "Entertaining seeks to impress. Hospitality seeks to bless."


Evangelism: It's Too Complicated

Here is some simple, yet true and pointed, advice about evangelism and hospitality.


Russell Moore Speaks on Gospel and Marriage at Vatican

Earlier this week a worldwide group of religious leaders gathered at the Vatican in Rome to discuss the topic of marriage and family. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission addressed the group, offering an evangelical perspective on gender and marriage. At the bottom of the page is a link to the transcript of Moore's whole speech.

Links we recommend 11/14/14

The Case for Idolatry: Why Evangelical Christians Can Worship Idols

This is a tongue-in-cheek post addressing the way some issues are being discussed these days.

On the Wrong Side of History

Here's a video with three well-known pastors discussing a common argument used in debates.

Stop Smurfing the Gospel

In this post Barnabas Piper encourages us to use the word "gospel" thoughtfully.

Lay Aside the Weight of "I'll Never Change"

This piece on the Desiring God website frankly challenges us to deal with sin, confident in God's grace to overcome it.

Hearts, Habits & Happiness

Randy Alcorn recently spoke at Good Shepherd Community Church on the joy of giving. The page linked to here includes the videos of all three sessions.

Cultural Opposition: Lie Down, Lean In, Lay Low, or Leave

This 9Marks article provides four helpful categories related to cultural opposition. 

Links we recommend 11/7/14

4 Ways to Lovingly Discipline Your Children

In light of last week's sermon on Wisdom and Family, this post touches on some practical advice for loving discipline. It's written by Sarah Eggerichs, whose husband, Emerson, wrote the book Love and Respect.

3 Low Cost/High Impact Family Traditions

Kimberly Thornbury suggests a few practical traditions for this time of year.

5 Common Small Group Myths (And the Truth to Help Transform Your Group)

This post gives us some good things to think about related to small groups.

9 Things Everyone Should Do When Reading the Bible
In this post Bronwyn Lea offers good advice for reading the Bible carefully and purposefully.

Why We Need the Church

Here are some great points about our need to be involved in the local church.

Links we recommend 10/31/14

Lord, Help Me to Pray
Here is a powerful prayer on prayer, from the book Prone to Wander, which is a collection of prayers inspired by the classic prayer book The Valley of Vision. 

Glory Reorientation

This post continues a series by Paul Tripp in which he examines Revelation 19:6-8 and what he calls the "best worship service ever."

We Are Not Our Own: On God, Brittany Maynard, and Physician-Assisted Suicide

John Piper addresses the terminally ill woman who plans to take her own life here in Oregon. 


Today being October 31st, here are three posts that give helpful perspective on Halloween and Reformation Day.

What is Reformation Day All about?

Luther's Ninety-Five Theses: What You May Not Know and Why They Matter Today

The Connection between Halloween and Reformation Day

Links we recommend - 10/24/14

Plan for Prayer
John Piper exhorts Christians to be deliberate in our approach to prayer. 

Is Your Church Worship More Pagan than Christian?

The author of this insightful post challenges our thinking on music and worship.

4 Things That Happen When You Study Leviticus More Than 10 Years
This article give some benefits of reading and studying often overlooked Old Testament books like Leviticus.

Here are two articles on male and female value and roles. The authors of both articles represent the same basic understanding on these issues as we do at Gresham Bible Church.

It's a Genesis-to-Revelation Issue
In this post a husband and wife (both seminary professors) talk about the Bible's overarching view of gender roles.

Jesus, Women, and Ministry
Coming from the same general perspective on the roles of women and men, this author highlights the value Jesus placed on women and how counter-cultural that was in his time.


As with all posts on our blog, feel free to share comments below.

Links we recommend - 10/17/14

Value Clarification
This Paul Tripp post offers some good insight about aligning our values with the Lord's.

7 Things Your Church Needs from You
Here are some things for Christians to do that will help make our churches better and stronger. 

Five Ways to Lead Your Wife
Here's a helpful take on leadership and what it should look like in a marriage.

Houston We Have a Constitution
Russell Moore responds to the lunacy taking place in Houston.

Being Ordinary
An interview with Michael Horton talking about his new book Ordinary.

Links we recommend - 10/10/14

How to Wed Scripture and Song in Corporate Worship
We have been starting our Sunday morning service lately by reading Scripture aloud together as a call to worship. This article talks about joining the Bible with singing.

22 Problems with Multi-Site Churches
This piece from 9Marks ministry addresses some of the drawbacks to churches meeting at multiple campuses. 

6 Great Reasons to Study Doctrine
Doctrine is teaching of God or teaching about God. This article gives some reasons to value, study, and know doctrine. 

Turning Bad into Best
Taking Romans 8:28 as his starting point, Randy Alcorn encourages us to trust the Lord to use even seemingly bad things for his good and for our good.

4 Ways G. K. Chesterton Engaged His Culture and Why He Still Matters Today
In this post by Trevin Wax he shows how Chesterton provided a good model for cultural engagement.

Links we recommend - 10/3/14

Each week on Friday we'll post a few links to things we recommend around the internet. Here are a few for this week.


How the News Makes Us Dumb
In this post on The Gospel Coalition site, Kevin DeYoung suggests that the massive quantity of news we can access is not necessarily a good thing.

Traditional Sexuality, Radical Community
This article addresses homosexuality and helps us think about sexuality from the perspective of church and community.

Biblical Theme: Messiah
This latest video from some local guys working on The Bible Project gives an overview of the biblical theme of Messiah.

10 Historical Myths about World Christianity
A history professor from the University of Edinburgh presents what he perceives as the top ten historical myths about World Christianity.

Small Groups and the Transformed Life
In this article from Christianity Today Ed Stetzer lists and discusses some key elements of small groups that encourage life change.

There's More to the End Times Than Being Left Behind
In light of the upcoming release of another Left Behind movie, this article urges Christians to guard against divisiveness on secondary matters like the rapture.