A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of birth. (Ecc. 7:1)

As we awoke this morning my wife and I received some sad news that we had actually been expecting for some time now. We found out that her 94 year old granddad had passed away in his sleep early this morning. There were/are the normal tears and pains of grief that occur when someone you love dearly is not here anymore. Accompanying those pains were also a peace, happiness, and comfort that only believers in Jesus Christ can have about the death of a brother or sister in Christ.

Times like this are a reminder to us that this is not how it was meant to be! We know something is broken and wrong. Death is wrong. God created this world perfect. Adam and Eve (and we as their children) were to live in perfect peace and harmony with God and His creation forever. But their rebellion brought sin into the world. Because of sin we live in a world of hardships, pain, and death (Rom. 5:12). So for now, the sting of death (sin) is with us. And death has (only) a temporary victory. But, there is coming a day when we WILL mock death! There is coming a day when God will restore all things, including our bodies, to their rightful glory through Christ! In the words of the Jesus Storybook Bible “He will make everything sad come untrue!” Read more →

Though my wife and I haven’t had the most (or as much as some) experience in parenting, we have been blessed to have other godly people speek into our lives. We have been helped through wonderful relationships and by reading many solid parenting books (and blog posts) from a Christian worldview.

Any time I run across resources I believe will be helpful to men raising godly families, I want to pass them on. In his post, Advice for Parenting Young Kids, Steve McCoy has provided a great list of practical advice. We have used many of these techniques and ideas for a long time and I can recommend this list to you without reservation. I have another series concerning practical advice for leading your children spiritually. But McCoy’s post is just solid, helpful, all around parenting advice.

Pam and I currently have three awesome kiddos, our oldest girl (9), middle boy (7), and youngest girl (3) are “my crew.” God has truly blessed us by placing them in our home to shepherd, steward, and lead. By His grace we pray that we will parent them (and any others He decides to sovereignly place in our family) well! May God bless you and give you grace and wisdom as you shepherd your “quiver of arrows!”

Having to put a pretty face on everything is exhausting, even if it is a digital face. Instead of enjoying other people’s success or blessings we feel as if we have to one up them or at least be as glamurous or funny as they are. Otherwise, we think, no one will “follow me” or be my “friend” or comment on my posts. As if acquiring comments, retweets, and likes was the point.

Think about how we broadcast ourselves and our lives on social media. Mike Cosper in his post at The Gospel Coalition says “Social media compels its users to project idealized versions of themselves. A photo of a meal can bear the caption, ‘UnbeLIEVable homemade ravioli!!!!!!!!’ Meanwhile the pasta is chewy, the sauce is tasteless, and the dining couple fights throughout the entire meal. The nature of social media, and its accompanying audience, leads us to glamorize the mundane, leaving no superlatives for truly great experiences.” Read more →

This is the fourth post in the Biblical Masculinity series. Post One: What is Biblical Masculinity?, Post Two: Biblical Masculinity in Marriage, Post Three: Biblical Masculinity in Fatherhood Pt.1.

In part one of Masculine Fatherhood we discussed what God expects of us as Christian dads. We also covered a few key areas of development that you should be working into your child’s life. In this post we will talk about some practical ideas that may help you as you decide what it looks like in your home to raise your children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Keep in mind that these are suggestions, not an exhaustive list. Don’t feel that if you aren’t doing everything on this list that you’re not a good dad. These come and go in seasons at our house – except for worship, catechism, Bible, etc. If God does convict you in an area, don’t beat yourself up. Run to Him, repent, and start doing right.

So here are a few ideas, in no certain order. Read more →

I’d like to start off by laying again the foundation that we keep coming back to and should never forget. We are saved by grace alone through faith in Christ’s work of redemption on our behalf alone. Once this salvation has occurred in our life and shown itself through repentance and a changed life by the power of God the Holy Spirit, it can never be taken away from us!

A lot of the material I cover in this article I owe to Kevin DeYoung, whose book, The Hole in our Holiness, really brought home to me the importance of seeking to live a holy life. It is a doctrinally sound book that encourages born again believers to seek to live in holiness without giving us a bunch of moralistic checklists. I’m thankful to him for writing it and I pray that God uses it in many lives to bring glory and honor to Himself as I pray He continues to mature and build me up in the faith.

The following is a combination of my study notes for the Men’s Group I lead and thoughts and notes from DeYoung’s book which again, is well worth your time in reading. Read more →

This is the third post in the Biblical Masculinity series. Post One: What is Biblical Masculinity?, Post Two: Biblical Masculinity in Marriage, Post Four: Biblical Masculinity in Fatherhood Pt. 2

There is so much more to cover on this topic than I will be able to deal with in this post. At the end of the next article (Biblical Masculinity in Parenting Pt. 2) I have provided a list of books and resources that have helped me and will shed more light on the spiritual aspects of fatherhood. I just wanted to do a brief fly-over of some of the spiritual issues related to fatherhood and then focus in on some practical ideas that may help you lead your family and fulfill your God-given role as a dad.

The big idea I want you to take away from this post is discipleship. God has blessed you with a house full of little disciples. This is one way you are able to fulfill God’s call on your life to be a disciple maker. – Mt. 28:18-20

Teaching & Training

• Fathers are required to raise their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord – Eph. 6:4. If we raise our children in any other way, we walk in disobedience to the Lord and harm our kids in the process.
• This charge is given to fathers, not mothers. It’s not that mothers don’t play a huge role in this instruction (they most certainly do), this means that fathers as the family head are held responsible for seeing to it that this happens.
• We need to lead by example. We should be able to say to our children “follow me as I follow Christ.” Read more →

This is the second post in the Biblical Masculinity series. Post One: What is Biblical Masculinity?, Post Three: Biblical Masculinity in Fatherhood Pt. 1, Post Four: Biblical Masculinity in Fatherhood Pt. 2

This will only be a brief overview of our roles as men in marriage. It won’t be super-spiritual or deeply theological, although I believe marriage is deeply spiritual and theological at its foundation because it is a picture of God’s love for us. There are many wonderful books that cover this topic in greater detail that would be worth your time in reading. I have recommended a few HERE and you can see the full list HERE.

I will try to be a bit more practical in this study since most of us know or have an idea of what God expects from us in marriage. A lot of times, I believe, we just don’t know what we are doing or how we should go about it.

Marriage – We Are to Cultivate Our Wives

• God said it was not good for man to be alone.
• He created woman to help him in his cultivation and they were to work together as one.
• God created marriage, man did not. Therefore He defines its boundaries and purposes.
• God made man the head of the family, man did not. He gives us a picture of male headship all throughout the Bible.
• Some who argue for Egalitarianism say that male headship or patriarchy came as a result of the Fall. Others argue that when Paul made his claims of male headship in the home and church those roles and positions were only binding on that specific culture and time period.
• Paul actually destroys both arguments by taking the basis for his claims all the way back to the Creation story and order before the Fall. He therefore says that the way God set things up are binding on all peoples of all cultures and all time periods. – 1Cor. 11:8-9; 1 Tim. 2:12-13; Gen. 2

• Woman was made for the man.
• Woman was made after and from the man.

• She was not made from the dirt like the rest of the animals, but from Adam’s side showing her equality with Adam in value and worth.
• Equality is not the same as egality (See my previous post for the difference between egalitarianism & complementarianism).

I’d like to take the next few posts and look at what the Bible calls us to be and do as Christian men. What do these Passages mean? What is meant by the terms biblical manhood or biblical masculinity? What does this look like in each of our lives since we are all different and have different wives and children? What does this look like in our specific time and culture?

Some of what we will cover will be doctrinal or theological (what we should believe) in nature, but a lot of it will be very practical (what we should be doing).

This series of posts will be a very brief fly-over of this topic. There is so much more that could be said and has been said elsewhere in many great books and sermons – most of which you can find in the “Recommended Reading” list or “Audio Messages”. I don’t ever want to give the impression that our responsibilities as men involve ONLY our homes. We are Christians. This means the gospel impacts our entire lives. We do not focus on our homes to the neglect of everything else God calls us to in light of the gospel. Our goal is not just to be a better husband or dad, but to grow in Christ-likeness. As we do this (by His grace and the power of the Spirit) our familes will most definitely benefit!

Having said that, this series will cover four areas of life as a Christian man.

• Post 1 – What is masculinity? – What it is, what it is not, and attacks on true masculinity.
• Post 2 – Biblically masculine husbands. – Leading your wife, responsibilities of headship.
• Posts 3 & 4 – Biblically masculine fathers. – Leading/teaching your kids about Christ, responsibilities of being a disciple maker in your home.

WHAT IS MASCULINITY?

Masculinity is not simply maleness. Just because you have male parts doesn’t make you masculine. Read more →

This is a good interview between Matt Chandler (Gospel Project Advisory Counsel) and Trevin Wax (Gospel Project Managing Editor). The Gospel Project is a new curriculum put out by LifeWay that is a three year discipleship cycle that is broken into age groups for children, students, and adults.

This is very intriguing to me because it is designed to show the story of God’s redemption throughout the entire Bible. It shows that the Gospel includes and runs through all of Scripture, not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It is our responsibility as parents and church members to be sure that our children are learning the Gospel. They should be learning that the stories are there to point to Christ and show God’s love, not just for moral character building or entertainment.

Thanks to LifeWay and others for leading the way in this area.

Just so you know right from the start, this is not a “traditional” Advent guide. This guide was created out of a desire to focus on the whole gospel at a time when we usually focus only on the birth of Christ. Celebrating His birth is a very good thing, but if we don’t understand why He came, then we are really just celebrating the birth of a cute little Jewish baby.

My family and I have done an Advent wreath for years and I’ve never found a guide that I was 100% comfortable with. So, this guide is my attempt to produce something for my family that we could use year after year. I pray that you and your family will be able to benefit from it as well. May God bless you as you lead your family in the worship of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!

This guide has five weeks of material if you were to use it 3 – 5 nights a week. It incorporates the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones for the younger kids. It also has a list of suggested activities for your family through this season.

There are two versions. The content is the exact same. One is very visual and graphic-heavy. This one looks better, but is a larger file. The other one still looks good, but is text only. You can get either below.

If anyone out there does decide to use this for your family this year I would love to hear your feedback on how you think it could improve for next year. I would also love to hear any suggestions on activities your family does for the Advent season that aren’t listed in the guide.