Over at Desiring God, Dave Mathis is exploring the question of God’s relation to evil. (Be sure and check out the second part of the post as well.)

I’ve recommended on my side bar the excellent site by Bob Kauflin entitled Worship Matters. He has a new look. There are so many helpful pieces of information available here. It would be worth your time to check it out.

(HT: Josh Harris)

You might have heard this in the news, but some of the missionaries captured by the Taliban recently have been released. Let’s praise God for this news.

I’ve already mentioned this in a post yesterday, but for this week’s audio (rather than sermon) of the week, I would recommend you listen to the excellent talk by Mike Bullmore on how personal retreats can help you be more effective in ministry. It is entitled Watch Your Planning and is available as a free download from Sovereign Grace Ministries.

I’ve been doing thinking recently about a personal retreat. I came across a sermon from Sovereign Grace Ministries 2007 Leadership Conference by Mike Bullimore entitled, “Watch Your Planning.” You can even load the notes from the session. Are there any thoughts out there from anyone on personal retreats? Have you taken one? What are some details you worked through to do this? Any counsel you can offer? I would be happy to hear from anyone.

Many often ask me where in the Bible we are taught about church membership. Over at the Pulpit Magazine (of the Shepherd’s Fellowship), you can read Grace Church Elders’ Distinctives on Church Membership: Part 1 & Part 2. These are helpful additions to the discussion. Enjoy!

This week’s Marriage Monday is about this topic of praying together. I know it is sometimes difficult to find the time to do this, but it has great benefits. One man in our church was discussing this with me recently speaking of how God had brought incredible harmony and lack of conflict between he and his wife and the reason for it was praying together. In other words, praying together helped their relationship be stronger.

It makes sense, we know that women are wired for relational intimacy. What better way for your wife to know your heart, husband, than to spend time with her in prayer. It has also been well known that most women long for a man to take the lead in a spiritual way. Men, what bettter way to encourage your wife with loving leadership than to pray with her. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that praying together is a great way to not only build into your relationship with one another, but also to focus on the One who brought you together for His glory. Remember marriage is what God has brought together. Draw near to Him together, then, and see if He isn’t pleased.

This does require some discipline. Recently, God has been stirring my heart about family worship. You see, I was at a place in my life where, after a long day, I wanted to sit in front of the TV and watch Sportscenter updates or whatever else was wrong. I decided to best serve my family, there would have to be some severing of my pleasures. Usually from around 8-9:30ish, we try to have some family worship time with Andrew. Then, after he is in bed, we take some time to build our relationshp spiritually. We have tried to do this by reading D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones book The Sermon on the Mount. Every week, we are studying (at this point) a Beatitude and looking to deepen our understanding and application of it. Then we turn around in prayer together and ask God to work this in our lives. God has been so faithful. Praying together really has brought spiritual fellowship between us.

In conclusion, then, pray together and watch God draw near to you.

Josh Harris recently started a Facebook account and after only one week, decided to end it. Read the chronicles of Josh and Facebook.

You might have heard…

Sovereign Grace Ministries has made all their downloadable MP3’s available for free.

You can access a tool to search for one here.

Maybe you’ve read Carolyn Mahaney’s excellent book Feminine Appeal. Well, she has MP3’s of her speaking some of the content found in that book. There are MP3’s from all their leadership conferences, from New Attitude, from C.J. Mahaney, David Powlison, Wayne Grudem and others. This is definitely an incredible gift to the WWW. Take advantage of this and see if growth in godliness is not the result.

For this week’s Sermon of the Week, I would like to add a resource that relates to this Sunday past’s AM message. The sermon was “Salvation Is Of The Lord” from Jonah 2. C.J. Mahaney has preached an excellent sermon on Sovereign Grace from Ephesians 1:3-14. His approach is one of humility with a longing to serve us by exposing God’s Word. I commend this sermon for your benefit.