Interesting items from the Interwebs, from all over the world.
Friday, June 30, 2017
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Monday, June 26, 2017
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Friday, June 23, 2017
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
David Byrne on music
"We used to have to pay for music or make it ourselves; playing, hearing, and experiencing it was exceptional, a rare and special experience. Now hearing it is ubiquitous, and silence is the rarity that we pay for and savor.". - David Byrne
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Saturday, June 17, 2017
Friday, June 16, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
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Sunday, June 11, 2017
Saturday, June 10, 2017
Friday, June 9, 2017
Thursday, June 8, 2017
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Monday, June 5, 2017
Full time pastors?
"Churches led by bi-vocational pastors should examine their commitments and priorities. Many Christians don't see the necessity of pastors working full-time in gospel ministry and don't perceive the spiritual implications when a pastor's attention is divided. When Paul discusses the call to proclaim Christ in Colossians 1:28, he is speaking about preparing God's people for judgment before God himself. There is nothing of greater importance for the pastor. Even sheer spiritual self-interest should stir God's people to do all they can to enable their pastor to devote himself fully to the work of caring for their souls. A congregation makes a meaningful and tangible impact when they sacrifice so that their pastor can minister on their behalf and labor to expand the kingdom of God.
The full-time pastor, of course, shouldn't squander the sacrifices God's people have made to enable him to devote himself fully to ministry. How severe the judgment must be for those pastors who take this liberty, made possible by the sacrificial commitment of believers, and then waste it through laziness, irresponsibility, or sin."
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He gives sleep to His beloved sheep
Focus Verse of the Week
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. - Psalm 127:2 (ESV)
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. Because the Lord is mainly to be rested in, all anxious care is mere vanity and vexation of spirit. We are bound to be diligent, for this the Lord blesses; we ought not to be anxious, for that dishonors the Lord, and can never secure his favor. Some deny themselves needful rest; the morning sees them rise before they are rested, the evening sees them toiling long after the curfew has tolled the knell of parting day. They threaten to bring themselves into the sleep of death by neglect of the sleep which refreshes life. Nor is their sleeplessness the only index of their daily fret; they stint themselves in their meals, they eat the commonest food, and the smallest possible quantity of it, and what they do swallow is washed down with the salt tears of grief, for they fear that daily bread will fail them. Hard-earned is their food, scantily rationed, and scarcely ever sweetened, but perpetually smeared with sorrow; and all because they have no faith in God, and find no joy except in hoarding up the gold which is their only trust.
This is not the way the Lord would have his children live. He would have them, as princes of the blood, lead a happy and restful life. Let them take a fair measure of rest and a due portion of food, for it is for their health. Of course the true believer will never be lazy or extravagant; if he should be he will have to suffer for it; but he will not think it needful or right to be worried and miserly. Faith brings calm with it, and banishes the disturbers who both by day and by night murder peace.
(Adapted from The Treasury of David, Psalm 127:2.)
A Thought to Keep
Do we believe that God is big enough to provide for us even after we rest and acknowledge our physical limitations? Sleep is a physical humility, an acknowledgement that all our efforts will fall short unless God blesses them.