Social Justice - A Counterfeit Of The Real Things: This is our role as Christian leaders. This is our role as artists, songwriters, pastors — to lead the charge for seeking justice, renewal and redemption. We demonstrate gospel justice primarily in three steps. I am going to discuss the first of the ways in this post, and I’ll get to the last two in part 3.

What's The Problem With Christian Books: I have a recurring problem in my reading. It is this: that too often I find Christian books uninspiring, compared with how interesting I find so many secular ones.

Why Pray? Because God Is A Forgiving God: Yes, you’re going to get this wrong. Yes, you’re going to pray like a proud idiot sometimes, but that’s no reason to stop praying. It’s only as you go to God with confidence that he hears your prayers even as he forgives them, that you will grow in your walk with God. As you grow in prayer, and you grow in your knowledge of God’s forgiveness, and eventually lose your pride and begin to pray to him the way you ought to. It’s a virtuous cycle. So, why should you be confident in prayer? Because God forgives them.

Your Deepest Identity: More than anything else, your new identity hinges on this one simple truth: You are in Christ. You are united to Christ, and identified with him. Many Christians through the years have said that of all the blessings you receive as a Christian, none is greater than this. Why?

When Prayer Comes Out Of The Closet: Good corporate praying is not just directed to God, but has our fellow pray-ers in view. Which means, like Jesus, we pray most often with “we,” “us,” and “our,” and both with authenticity and with candor that is appropriate for those assembled.

A Prayer For Preaching The Gospel To Yourself: Lord Jesus, these are just verses and doctrines, but my life and joy, peace and liberty. Because the gospel is true, I want to live and love to your glory, until the Day you return to finish making all things new, including me. So very Amen I pray, in your merciful and mighty name.

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The Parable Of The Lawn Mower: We all know that words, without deeds, are dead. All of us have seen the terrible effect of a person who doesn’t practice what they preach, and if we haven’t, then we have read the New Testament and found such people in its pages. But fewer of us recognize that deeds, without words, are also dead.

7 Signs We May Be Worshipping Our Family: By all means, let us enjoy and treasure our families. Let us celebrate the gift they are. Let us pour out our lives and hearts into ministering to our spouse, rearing our children in Christ, and filling our homes with the love and truth of Christ. However, in so doing, let us also be worshippers of the Christ we are seeking to honor. Let us worship Him in our worshipping families, rather than worship our families in the name of worshipping Him.

The Pastor's Kid: Who should read The Pastor’s Kid? It’s a must-read for PKs and their parents. It also is an invaluable guide for church members that will gently correct some misconceptions about how to minister to PKs. Piper speaks with the heart of not just a PK but a parent who is seeking to love his own children well. The Pastor’s Kid deeply stirred my memories of growing up and encouraged me to know that my feelings and journeys were not wasted. Barnabas, from one PK to another: thank you!

Answering Alternatives To The Resurrection: When it comes to the resurrection of Christ, there are an infinite number of possible alternative explanations for the development of belief in a risen Christ other than opting for the most obvious (Christ actually rose from the grave). For centuries skeptics and non-believers have offered their possibilities, but, in my opinion, they are never a probability.

7 Different Ways To Read A Book: Reading is kind of like repairing a bicycle. Kind of. For too long now my bike has been semi-operational. It has one brake that just doesn’t want to behave and all my attempts to fix it have failed. Why? Well it turns out that I haven’t been using the right tool. To get the bike working I need to use the right tool. And when it comes to reading, well, you’ve got to use the right tool—you’ve got to know what kind of reading to do. Here are seven different kinds of reading.

Preaching 'God' And Justifying The Self: Okay, so what I’m saying is, if you can see how that can work in the self-justifying God-rhetoric of the left, isn’t there just a chance those of us on the more conservative end of things can fall prey to this too? I mean, surely, if you’ve got a Reformed understanding of the power of indwelling sin, you can’t put this past yourself, right?

9 Things You Should Know About The Male Body Image Issues: Body image is the mental representation we create of what we think we look like; it may or may not bear a close relation to how others actually see us. Body image issues are often treated as if they were only a problem for women (see here for 9 Things on female body images issues). But men suffer from many of the same debilitating problems caused by skewed perceptions of their bodies. Here are nine things you should know about male body image issues...

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Weekly Once-Over:

Why Does God Allow Burdens?: A quote often attributed to Mother Teresa is, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish that he didn’t trust me so much.” It’s a clever line. But it’s not right.

Mental Illness - The New Leprosy: Jesus Christ directly called those who labor and are heavy laden to seek him for rest. As followers of Christ, it is therefore the responsibility of Christians to care for these souls and the Church’s obligation to cultivate an environment that welcomes this process. However, it must first be understood the missteps that have led the Church to separate themselves from this calling. Here are three overarching mistakes that have led the Christian church to make outcasts of those with mental health problems. (Also Part Two of the Blog Post - "3 Ways To Engaging Those Struggling With Mental Illness")

People Are Books: The famous British historian H.G. Wells is credited with this quote: “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” It is hard to find anyone these days that will truly contest that reality.

Are You Faking or Trying When It Comes To God?: Plenty of people fake it in their spiritual lives. They want to look like healthy Christians or to make it through church without anyone looking askance at them or asking a personal question. That comes from a heart of pride and deceit. Trying until it pays off is different. It comes from a heart of need and an eye on the goal of growth in holiness. Both faking and trying might feel like we are going through the motions, but the end result of one is emptiness and exposure. The result of the other is closeness with God

5 Keys For Reinvention: Growth brings change. Period. That’s true for big churches and small churches, and it’s true for people, families, corporations, and countries. If you want to function well at the next level, reinvention is absolutely necessary.

Porn Brain: Even sex experts, celebrities, and Hollywood are noting the destructive realities of porn in relationships, and its complete rewiring of how individuals approach sex.

The New Year For Your Children: This year, let's be intentional with teaching our children about Christ. While everyone else makes plans and sets goals for all that they will do this year, let's consider specific ways we can point our children to their Savior.

Duck Dynasty Debrief: In the end, let’s take a deep breath and get some perspective. We don’t pin our hopes to a television show, no matter how popular. And we don’t adjust our convictions to fit the culture, no matter how unpopular. Celebrity television stars come and go; it’s the Word of the Lord that stands forever.

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