4 Reasons to Wear a Mask, Even if You Hate It
I know what you might be thinking: “Just what I need; another article about coronavirus and face masks.” For many of us, talking with other people about wearing masks has become wearisome and even annoying at times. If you line up ten different people, you might get ten different answers to the question, “How do you feel about wearing a face mask?” There are many who have written about this topic from scientific or political perspectives. I recently came across this article by author Brett McCracken that offers some encouragement for us Christians who may not be too excited about
The Shocking Words of Christ
By Jimmy Agan.  https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/the-shocking-words-of-christ/ Read:  Mark 7:24-37 [The Dwell App has a variety of voices and background music selections to aid you in listening to the scriptures (we have a 60 day free trial for NWers)! Click HERE to sign up.] It is often said—and rightly so—that Jesus is the hero of every text of Scripture. Yet when we first encounter him in Matthew 15:26, Jesus looks anything but heroic. Instead, it appears that he is failing to be missional, and being entirely rude in the process. Consider the context:[1] Jesus, in “the district of Tyre and Sidon” (Matt. 15:21), is approached by “a
The Making of a Modern Pharisee
By Marshall Segal. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-making-of-a-modern-pharisee Read:  Mark 7:1-23 [The Dwell App has a variety of voices and background music selections to aid you in listening to the scriptures (we have a 60 day free trial for NWers)! Click HERE to sign up.] We are all born legalists, but we are made into Pharisees. Spurgeon once preached, “Beloved, the legalist [in us] is a great deal older than the Christian. If I were a legalist today, I should be some fifteen or sixteen years older than I am as a Christian; for we are all born legalists.” We are all born believing we can earn and
A Prayer To Turn My Back on Evil and Be Allowed to Fight Injustice
A prayer to repent of my own sin, to turn my back on corruption in my land, and to be equipped to fight evil.
Christ the Warrior in Prayer
By R.C. Sproul.  https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/prayer-life-jesus/ Read:  Mark 6:45-56 [The Dwell App has a variety of voices and background music selections to aid you in listening to the scriptures (we have a 60 day free trial for NWers)! Click HERE to sign up.] We are accustomed to understanding the shepherding language in Scripture in warm, pastoral terms of comfort. Certainly, that is appropriate, since the Bible often uses shepherding imagery in such a way (for example, Ps. 23). However, the language of shepherd and sheep also appears in reference to military leaders. It is applied to Assyrian generals in Nahum 3:18. Ezekiel 37:24 likens the
Rest, Play and the Good Life
This past Sunday (06/14/20) I alluded to a short 10 minute “TED talk” concerning Rest that I gave a couple of years ago at SEBTS.  Here’s the link to that talk.  I hope it’s an encouragement to you as you respond to Jesus’ invitation to find rest. - even rest for your souls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTZfbrlUBWs
God Feeds His People…Again
Adapted from The ESV Gospel Transformation Bible, (C) 2013 Read:  Mark 6:6-44 The Dwell App has a variety of voices and background music selections to aid you in listening to the scriptures (we have a 60 day free trial for NWers)! Click HERE to sign up. The feeding of the 5,000 (see also Mark 8:1-10) is a reminder of when God miraculously fed Israel in the desert centuries earlier (Ex 16:31; Deut. 8:16). The same God who provided for Israel is now providing for the needs of this hungry crowd through his Son. God always provides what is best for his eternal purposes, and
Relationships Move at the Speed of TrustÂ
I sat in the worship center processing this sentence that Josh Reed had just uttered. "Relationships move at the speed of trust." The more I mulled it over in my mind, the more it rang true. My deepest and longest lasting relationships are with people I trust the most. My most fragile and tepid relationships are with those I trust the least. When the world gets topsy-turvy and we need advice we can trust, where do we turn? In a day and age where everyone's voice is equally heard over the conduits of social media, filtering the voices we trust
Miracle of Miracles
By Jeff Peabody. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/may-web-only/what-jesus-didnt-do-miracles-faith-silence.html Read:  Mark 5:21-6:6 Off the shores of the Philippines, a fisherman discovered a very large, misshapen pearl. It was not pretty. It looked more like an amoeba, with blobs and folds everywhere. He took the unusual find home and stowed it under his bed. When he moved ten years later, he had no use for it, so he gave it to the local tourism office. It turned out to be the world’s largest pearl, with an estimated worth of roughly $100 million. It’s easy to miss the value of something when it bears no resemblance to what
The Infallible Pilot
By Tony Reinke.  https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-infallible-pilot Read:  Mark 4:35-5:20 In the fall of 1782, a 57-year-old man walked the docks of Deptford, a South London port on the Thames river. Thirty miles inland from the sea, the port was the home of the Royal Navy Dockyards, and the man looked out over the war ships and merchant vessels as he reflected on his own seafaring past. It’s not possible to know all the memories passing through his mind, but he was likely reminded of his time spent aboard a Navy ship, a few merchant ships, and even African slave trading ships. His mind
