How Many Motivations Are There For Godliness?: Is there just one proper gospel-centered rationale for holiness? Should we, in speaking about sanctification, avoid threats and warnings and coming judgment and focus simply on our acceptance in Christ? How many motivations does the Bible have for godliness? I see at least twenty. In the three chapters of 2 Peter alone.

5 Things To Look For In A Bible Teacher: If you’re looking for a preacher to learn from, or if you aspire to teach the Word to others, here are five traits of a good Bible teacher that we learn from the legacy of Levi.

So Much More Than Manners: Recently, I thought it would be good for me to go back and do a little study on thankfulness in the New Testament. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Not only was the study huge, it was hugely convicting.

An Imperfect Mom Is Still A Good Mom: I guess every mom gets to this point: “Perfect Mother was out of the question.  My blotted record had shown me that already.  But maybe Good Mother could be enough for my little ones.”

4 Lessons From The School Of Suffering: For all Christians, the likelihood is rather that as our discipleship continues, God will make us increasingly weakness-conscious and pain-aware, so that we may learn with Paul that when we are conscious of being weak, then— and only then— may we become truly strong in the Lord. And should we want it any other way?

How Eternity Changes Everything On Our Restlessness: You will know what other challenging questions you must ask yourself. We are all different, with different characters and enjoying or enduring different circumstances. So the temptation to locate our contentment in an aspect of our life right now will look different for all of us; but it will be there. There may well be a question you need to ask yourself, where you complete this sentence: "Have I settled for now in . . . ?" The way you and I finish that sentence shows us the part of our life where we need to let our future begin to affect our present; where our place in the new creation should transform our view of our life right now.

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Weekly Once-Over (10.03.13):

Riot Evangelism: We live in a day when everyone is okay with your Christian faith as long as you keep it private. But the Apostles in Acts do the opposite, offending many with their public testimony about Jesus. Welcome to riot evangelism.

Tremble At The Word: Scripture gets examined like it’s behind glass and you need to be covered in sterile clothing with gloves to approach it. The word gets treated as something solely to be studied and examined for its contents and data to be reported, rather than something to be encountered which actually reads you better than you read it.

20 Quotes from Walking with God through Paid and Suffering: Tim Keller has written one of the year’s most important books (a line I seem to recite annually). His newest — Walking with God through Pain and Suffering — is a wise, Christ-centered, comforting book for readers who hurt, and offers counsel to readers who anticipate future suffering. It’s a book for everyone, and it releases tomorrow from Dutton. To mark its arrival, I pulled my favorite quotes from the book and narrowed the list down to my top 20.

How To Start Managing Your Time Better Beginning Today: You know the frustration. You put in a full day. You worked hard. But you didn’t even touch that important project. You’ve been meaning to. You intended to do it. It was first on your list. But the message isn’t written. The strategic plan isn’t done. The analysis that could turn your organization around didn’t even get started. All of this despite the fact that you stayed late and showed up at home tired and barely in time for dinner. Okay, you missed dinner. So why is that? Here’s an insight I hope can make a significant difference not only to your productivity at work, but to your life.

Five Reasons People Aren't Volunteering At Your Church: Churches everywhere need to mobilize more volunteers to get ministry done.  But before you start signing people up and filling slots, it might be helpful to take a look at why people are NOT volunteering. Here are FIVE REASONS people might not be volunteering at your church.

Am I Still Crazy Busy?: As I’ve done interviews, engaged in conversations, and read a few reviews about Crazy Busy, one on the recurring questions is whether I am actually any less crazy busy after writing the book?

"Mission is not a strategy we adopt, but a culture we nurture and the very air we breathe as the people of God." @Porterbrook

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