~ UPDATED PAGES ON THE BLOG ~

Book Reviews:

• What’s Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms The Way You Get Things Done by Matt Perman
• The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life by Os Guinness
• Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging by J.I. Packer

Movie Review:  And So it Goes with Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton

Music Review: Terms of My Surrender by John Hiatt

INTEGRATING FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

• Justin Taylor includes this helpful article on “The Church, Faith and Work”:http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2013/09/02/the-church-faith-and-work/
• Here is a very helpful article from Art Lindsey on five points that will help you to broaden your definition of “faith and work”. Read it here.
• Here are six recommended books for those looking for information on how to integrate their faith and work: http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/six-great-books-for-integrating-faith-and-work/
• Here are some suggested summer reads on integrating faith and work. I’m participating in a book club reading/discussion one of them – The Gospel at Work, and the second Visions of Vocation, will be the next book Tammy and I read and discuss after The Five Love Languages. Read about these recommended reads here.
• Here is a helpful article to consider when God feels absent in your work.

 

~ THIS AND THAT ~

MUSIC

• The Decatur Celebration will be held this weekend, August 1-3. Contemporary Christian singer Jamie Grace will be in concert on Sunday at 5:45pm and 8:30pm at the Christian Stage: http://decaturcelebration.com/home/livemusic/stage-schedule/Check out the video for Steven Curtis Chapman’s excellent new song “The Glorious Unfolding” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKMjEvF2Fkw&feature=youtu.be
• Switchfoot performed their new single “When We Come Alive” from their #1 album Fading West on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson on July 22. You can watch their performance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyXu_LbHiDw
• TobyMac will bring his Worship, Stories and Songs tour to Braden Auditorium on the Illinois State University campus on December 11! The tour will feature Matt Maher and Ryan Stevenson. The “Worship, Stories & Songs Tour” will be a totally different TobyMac show, a time where it’s not about the lights, smoke or big stage. Instead, it will be more intimate and personal, a “storyteller’s night” where Toby will share where the songs came from. Tickets go on sale August 4. For more information, go to http://www.awakeningevents.com as well as http://tobymac.com/tour.
• Lecrae’s new album Anomaly is available for pre-order on iTunes. It will be released September 9. With the pre-order, you will get immediate downloads of “Nuthin” and “Fear”. Guests on the album include Andy Mineo, Kari Jobe and King & Country. The pre-order checks in at #2 on the Hip-Hop/Rap charts and #10 on the overall Top Albums charts, with the two downloads coming in at #12 and #13 on the Hip-Hop/Rap chart.
• Speaking of Lecrae, he will be bringing his Anomaly tour to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago on Sunday, October 26. Special guests will be Andy Mineo and DJ Promote.

BOOKS

• Christianaudio is offering a $5 Fiction Sale on a number of their fiction titles. The sale goes through July 31. Check it out here.
• Reformation Heritage Books will be publishing a KJV (King James Version) Study Bible with Joel Beeke as General Editor this fall. To find out more, go this site: http://kjvstudybible.org/

IN THE NEWS

• Our good friend Angela Lusk was recently profiled on local television telling her breast cancer story. Check it out here: http://www.cinewsnow.com/health/buddy-check/Buddy-Check-25-Dont-wait-get-checked-268659072.html
• With the ongoing battle between Israel and the Hamas, you might find this article “Israel, Gaza, ‘Divine Right’ and John Piper” of interest: http://thegospelcoalition.org//article/israel-gaza-divine-right-and-john-piper
• Last week in Iraq, militants belonging to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, knows as ISIS, blew up what was assumed to be the prophet Jonah’s tomb. Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/iraq-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
• Recently Tony Dungy made a few comments about St. Louis Rams player Michael Sams for which he was almost universally condemned. Check out Ted Kluck’s article for an alternate take on the issue: http://thegospelcoalition.org/article/defending-tony-dungys-right-to-have-an-opinion
• Chicago Bulls star Joakim Noah says he can’t sit by idly and watch the devastating violence in Chicago that recently claimed an innocent child sitting inside her home about to make s’mores. So, in an effort to reach the youth, his Noah’s Arc Foundation has filmed a series of 60-second public service announcements he and his mother unveiled Friday at a Near West Side community center. The “Chicago Stand Up” PSA campaign urges Chicagoans to put down the guns and stand up for peace. Watch the video here: http://www.suntimes.com/28869199-761/joakim-noah-urges-chicagoans-to-put-down-their-guns-in-psa.html#.U9OhF40g_3h
• Downton Abbey returns with season 5 on January 4. Read more here: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-tca-downton-abbey-pbs-20140723-story.html

TO MAKE YOU SMILE

• St. Louis Cardinal catcher Yadier Molina, left a little something for his brother Jose, a catcher with Tampa Bay, at home plate when the Cardinals and Rays played last week. Check it out here: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/24634897/video-yadier-molina-leaves-brother-jose-cheese-crackers-at-home-plate
• Check out this guilty dog who showers a crying baby with gifts after stealing her toy: http://www.itv.com/news/2014-07-20/guilty-dog-showers-crying-baby-with-gifts-after-stealing-her-toy/
• One of our favorite things to do these days to watch Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. He is young, energetic and the writing is creative. Last week he had Morgan Freeman on the show. Check out this interview conducted as they take puffs of helium:  http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/25/showbiz/celebrity-news-gossip/morgan-freeman-jimmy-fallon-helium/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

PROBING QUESTIONS

• Do you want to get better at time management? Check out this article from Desiring God on fruitful time management: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/four-lessons-in-fruitful-time-management
• How many people in the U.S. do you think are gay or lesbian? As it has for decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released its annual National Health Interview Survey on the health of Americans. But this year, there was a difference: For the first time, the respondents were asked about their sexual orientation. Of 34,557 adults ages 18 and older, the survey reported, 1.6 percent said they were gay or lesbian. That’s probably much lower than the media would have led you to believe, but is in line with what Dr. Doriani told us in his “Christian Ethics” class at Covenant Seminary last year. Read this article from the New York Times for more information: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/how-many-americans-are-lesbian-gay-or-bisexual/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
• Why should we care about the insider movement? Tammy recently wrote a blog post on the insider movements. Read this article asking why we should care about insider movements: http://theaquilareport.com/insider-movements-why-should-i-care/
• Planning a trip to Walt Disney World soon? USA Today lists their top rides and attractions at WDW: http://www.usatoday.com/experience/america/theme-parks/10-best-rides-and-attractions-at-walt-disney-world/9963311/
• So do words make a difference? Check out this creative article from Sinclair Ferguson – http://www.ligonier.org/blog/why-christology-matters-dialogue-between-anselmus-modernus-and-boso-brown/

INTERESTING ARTICLES

• David Murray offers some helpful suggestions when confronting sin. 
• Kevin DeYoung asks some good questions about bigotry and discrimination in “What a Difference Six Years Can Make”: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2014/07/23/what-a-difference-six-years-can-make/
• Jeremy Walker considers an issue that we will increasingly face – being exposed to the pornography that others around us are watching. Check it out here: http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/07/other-peoples-pornography.php

DESIRING GOD – John Piper

• John Piper writes that theologian J.I. Packer turned 88 last week. Packer recently wrote Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging. Piper states that you can call the book Don’t Waste Your Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, and that it is worth reading at any age. See our review under “Book Reviews”. Read Piper’s article here: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/j-i-packer-on-living-to-the-end-flat-out
• John Piper recently introduced Look at the Book: Reading the Bible for Yourself. He writes “This is not the launch of Look at the Book. It’s a preview. It’s a ten-minute demonstration of the kind of thing I will be doing at our National Conference this September, and then with several texts each week when we launch Look at the Book online this fall.” Check out the rest of the article and watch the video here: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/a-first-glimpse-at-look-at-the-book
• Tullian Tchividjian writes that the best is yet to come in this encouraging article “Weary Soldiers Take Heart”: http://www.pastortullian.com/2014/07/18/weary-soldiers-take-heart/

LIGONIER MINISTRIES – R.C. SPROUL

• R. C. Sproul writes that Soli Deo Gloria was a motto that grew out of the Protestant Reformation. Read more about what reformed theology means by Soli Deo Gloria here: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/soli-deo-gloria-god-alone-be-glory/
• One of my favorite aspects of a Ligonier Ministries conference is the “Question and Answer” sessions. R.C. Sproul will occasionally host live “Ask R.C.” webcasts. Here is a link to the most recent one: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/ligonier_webcast_archive/ask-rc-live-july-2014/?utm_source=All+Things+Ligonier&utm_campaign=d7b626433e-askrc_july2014_postall&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_420f754c7c-d7b626433e-241194541
• Speaking of R.C., he wonders if we are too concerned with demons in our present day. Read his article about that here: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/are-we-too-concerned-demons/

JOHN MAXWELL ON DELEGATION

• Here’s a helpful article from the John Maxwell Company on how to delegate.
• John Maxwell writes about his 10-80-10 principle of delegation in these two articles. Read them here: http://www.johnmaxwell.com/blog/the-10-80-10-principle-part-two-the-impact-of-the-final-10

 

The 5 Love Languages Book Club Week Six  

Tammy and I completed week five of our summer book club of Gary Chapman’s The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to a Love that Lasts last week. We covered the fourth love language Acts of Service. Here are a few passages we highlighted:

• By acts of service, I mean doing things you know your spouse would like you to do. You seek to please her by serving her, to express your love for her by doing things for her.
• Such actions as cooking a meal, setting a table, washing dishes, vacuuming, cleaning a commode, changing the baby’s diaper, dusting the bookcase, keeping the car in operating condition, paying the bills, trimming the shrubs, walking the dog, changing the cat’s litter box, and dealing with landlords and insurance companies are all acts of service. They require thought, planning, time, effort, and energy. If done with a positive spirit, they are indeed expressions of love.
• When you were dating Mark, what convinced you that he really loved you? What made him different from other guys you had dated?” “It was the way he helped me with everything,” she said. He was the most wonderful person I had ever met, but after we got married that changed. He didn’t help me at all.”
• In fact, love is always freely given. Love cannot be demanded. We can request things of each other, but we must never demand anything. Requests give direction to love, but demands stop the flow of love.”
• Mark, I want you to list three or four things that if Mary chose to do them would make you feel loved when you walk into the house in the afternoon. If making the bed is important to you, then put it down. Mary, I want you to make a list of three or four things that you would really like to have Mark’s help in doing, things that, if he chose to do them, would help you know that he loved you.” (I’m big on lists; they force us to think concretely.)
• Requests give direction to love, but demands stop the flow of love.
• “I can do those things. In the past, I have felt overwhelmed because no matter what I did, it was never enough.”
• You may be wondering, if Mark and Mary had the same primary love language, why were they having so much difficulty? The answer lies in the fact that they were speaking different dialects. They were doing things for each other but not the most important things.
• When they were forced to think concretely, they easily identified their specific dialects.
• When they started speaking the right dialects, their love tanks began to fill.
• I would like to make three other observations. First, they illustrate clearly that what we do for each other before marriage is no indication of what we will do after marriage. Before marriage, we are carried along by the force of the in-love obsession. After marriage, we revert to being the people we were before we “fell in love.” Our actions are influenced by the model of our parents, our own personality, our perceptions of love, our emotions, needs, and desires. Only one thing is certain about our behavior: It will not be the same behavior we exhibited when we were caught up in being “in love.” That leads me to the second truth illustrated by Mark and Mary. Love is a choice and cannot be coerced. Mark and Mary were criticizing each other’s behavior and getting nowhere. Once they decided to make requests of each other rather than demands, their marriage began to turn around. Criticism and demands tend to drive wedges. With enough criticism, you may get acquiescence from your spouse. He may do what you want, but probably it will not be an expression of love. You can give guidance to love by making requests: “I wish you would wash the car, change the baby’s diaper, mow the grass,” but you cannot create the will to love. Each of us must decide daily to love or not to love our spouses. If we choose to love, then expressing it in the way in which our spouse requests will make our love most effective emotionally.
• What we do for each other before marriage is no indication of what we will do after marriage.
• There is a third truth, which only the mature lover will be able to hear. My spouse’s criticisms about my behavior provide me with the clearest clue to her primary love language. People tend to criticize their spouse most loudly in the area where they themselves have the deepest emotional need. Their criticism is an ineffective way of pleading for love. If we understand that, it may help us process their criticism in a more productive manner.
• People tend to criticize their spouse most loudly in the area where they themselves have the deepest emotional need.
• A doormat is an inanimate object. You can wipe your feet on it, step on it, kick it around, or whatever you like. It has no will of its own. It can be your servant but not your lover.
• When we treat our spouses as objects, we preclude the possibility of love. Manipulation by guilt (“If you were a good spouse, you would do this for me”) is not the language of love. Coercion by fear (“You will do this or you will be sorry”) is alien to love. No person should ever be a doormat.
• Allowing oneself to be used or manipulated by another is not an act of love. It is, in fact, an act of treason. You are allowing him or her to develop inhumane habits.
• Love says, “I love you too much to let you treat me this way. It is not good for you or me.”
• Learning the love language of acts of service will require some of us to reexamine our stereotypes of the roles of husbands and wives. These are changing, but models from our past can linger.
• Love says, “I love you too much to let you treat me this way. It is not good for you or me.”
• A willingness to examine and change stereotypes is necessary in order to express love more effectively.
• Remember, there are no rewards for maintaining stereotypes, but there are tremendous benefits to meeting the emotional needs of your spouse.

Each chapter ends with a helpful discussion question.

Next week we will cover the final love language, Physical Touch. Won’t you join us?