That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
    • Gospel Coalition Articles
    • Church Society Articles
    • Threads Articles
    • Explore Ecclesiastes
    • Explore Galatians
    • Evangelicals Now Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Join Us
Writing
    Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    Explore Lamentations
    eBook: Good News People
    eBook: Filtered Grace
    Gospel Coalition Articles
    Church Society Articles
    Threads Articles
    Explore Ecclesiastes
    Explore Galatians
    Evangelicals Now Articles
Book Reviews
Interviews
Join Us
  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
    • Gospel Coalition Articles
    • Church Society Articles
    • Threads Articles
    • Explore Ecclesiastes
    • Explore Galatians
    • Evangelicals Now Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Join Us
That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (15/12/19)

If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of previous reflections from Ruth chapter 1-2, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

–

Seven up…

1) Christmas: The Fairy Tale That Must Be True – Loved this from Scott Sauls. As Pascal said, communicate the gospel in such a way ‘that good men wish it were true’.

2) Hope does not disappoint – the way forward after the election – Gav Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, shares his reflections after Thursday’s UK General Election.

3) Pastors & Burnout: A Personal Reflection – Because if there’s a time of year where pastors feel the pressure, Christmas is it – or perhaps as we collapse in a heap after Christmas.

4) New Music – Thought I’d share a few new tracks that have caught my eye recently: Alanna Glover from EMU Music has written Saviour in a Manger, perfect for Advent & Christmas. CityAlight and Colin Buchanan have teamed up for a new track, Jesus, Strong & Kind, which seeks to be a song all ages can cling to through different seasons of life. And I also loved this new arrangement of Sovereign Grace Music’s Behold Our God, with international voices and languages – a moving glimpse of the Revelation 7 picture of people from every tongue praising God.

5) Accusations emerge online that shocking depiction of Jesus in a manger was ‘staged’ by his mother – Can you believe it?!

6) Preaching at Christmas – Ian Paul and Glen Scrivener share their reflections on preaching at this time of year. Actually, Glen managed to get a second article out on preaching at Christmas here!

7) 52 things I learned in 2019 – For something a bit different, as lists go this is pretty eccentric – but fascinating too!

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links interesting? Why not forward it on?

Refill on inspiring Christian links each week and join 1,152 other subscribers...

Thank you for subscribing! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
December 15, 2019by Robin Ham
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (8/12/19)

If you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email but also would like to receive daily (Monday-Saturday) Advent email devotionals from the book of Ruth, you can subscribe to those separately by following this link.

If you want to catch up or get a flavour of last week’s reflections from Ruth chapter 1, you’ll find the links at the top of yesterday’s devotion here.

–

Seven up…

1) But That’s Just Your Interpretation – How often do you run-up against Christians saying something like, ‘Well, we just can’t know that for certain – it’s just your interpretation.’ The latest edition of online journal Themelios is out and this is fantastic from Don Carson.

2) 8 reasons to quit social media before 2020 – Ok, maybe now’s the time. Have a read. Convinced? Even if it’s not a wholesale ‘quitting’, I imagine many of us will read and acknowledge we could do with a serious stock-take on our social use.

3) Top 10 Books of the Year – Yes, it’s that time of the year when the internet seems full of book lists. Now here it can sometimes feel like people are trying to out-do each other in obscurity. I’ll focus on Christian lists (or at least lists by Christians): Russell Moore offers a rich top 10 (my score: 3 on shelf; 1 read!), as does Brit Andrew Wilson (3 on shelf, 1 read). Blogger Trevin Wax also offers his list (2 on shelf, 1 read). The Gospel Coalition also have their 2019 Book Awards with different categories (4 on shelf, 1 read). You might also like the perspective of the New Yorker (0 on shelf and 0 read, but I’ll argue that I tend to get to non-Christian books a year or two late!).

4) Tim Keller’s Moral Universe – The Atlantic interviewed and ran a feature on Keller – and I think it showcases well Keller’s ability to engage with and expose our culture, which is surely one of the things he does best.

5) Theos Annual Lecture: Sally Philips on Human Dignity, Different Lives & the Illusions of Choice – You may recognise Sally from her work as an actress and comedienne, having starred in Smack the Pony, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and more. Motivated by her own experiences raising a son with Down syndrome, she helped make a BBC documentary called ‘A World Without Down Syndrome,’ a few years ago, looking at the ethics of pregnancy screening for Down syndrome. She recently gave the annual Theos lecture reflecting on some of those themes. As you can imagine from Philips, it’s not your average ‘lecture’. I haven’t been able to listen to the whole thing yet, but from the sample I’ve heard I’d like to soon. Not dissimilar, you may also appreciate this talk from pastor Pete Jackson from a different conference: Why I teach my congregation about Abortion Once a Year.

6) One Man’s Mission – It was fascinating to see BBC online do such an in-depth piece on this guy’s endeavours to buy-up old Welsh chapels. What do you make of it?

7) The Piano Guys – All I Want For Christmas Is You (LEGO Music Video) – For something a bit different, if you like your Christmas movies you’ll love trying to identify the different scenes in this impressive video from the Piano Guys and Michael Hickox.

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links interesting? Why not forward it on?

Refill on inspiring Christian links each week and join 1,152 other subscribers...

Thank you for subscribing! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

 

 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
December 8, 2019by Robin Ham
Refill

The Sunday Refill – 7 Links for Your Weekend (1/12/19)

Seven up…

Please note: if you subscribe to the weekly blog round-up email and also want to receive the daily Advent email devotional, you’ll still need to subscribe to that separately by following this link. Thanks!

1) How I’m Planning to Vote – No magic answer here, but this from Andrew Wilson is worth a read, as is David Robertson who is doing a weekly round-up guide ahead of the General Election. The latest of his guides is here, which includes an article he did for Evangelicals Now, ‘How Should Christians Vote?’ Also worth checking out the Christian Institute’s page for a heap of resources. A letter was sent this week to Bishops of the Church of England urging them to respond to understood plans from some parties to extend the legal abortion limit. The Bishop of Newcastle and Bishop of Carlisle responded here.

2) Fourteen Christmas Resolutions We’ve All Made (in Cat Gifs) – One to enjoy when you need distracting.

3) Behold the Lamb of God Livestream – Andrew Peterson has recently released a new 20th anniversary recording of his epic Christmas album, Behold the Lamb of God. But you can also buy a ticket to watch a special live-stream performance on December 9th-10th.

4) The Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter – Ok, slightly left-field, but it caught my eye, so here you go!

5) New Atheism: The Godlessness That Failed – An in-depth take on what happened to the ‘new atheists’.

6) Poem for an Anxious World – Loved this from Glen Scrivener – print it out and stick it somewhere you’ll read it often.

7) Stephen Fry on recording the Harry Potter audiobooks before they were famous – For something a bit different, this is a great little story, told by one of the UK’s greatest living entertainers…

Sharing is caring. Know someone who might find these links interesting? Why not forward it on?

Refill on inspiring Christian links each week and join 1,152 other subscribers...

Thank you for subscribing! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
December 1, 2019by Robin Ham
Page 30 of 82« First...1020«29303132»405060...Last »

About Me

 

Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and ministry. I’m based in Barrow-in-Furness in South Cumbria, England, where I serve a church family called St Paul’s Barrow, recently merged together from two existing churches, St Paul’s Church and Grace Church Barrow.

Available Now: Advent 2021 – Finding Hope Under Bethlehem Skies

A fresh look at Advent through the book of Ruth. Why not order a bunch for your church to read through Advent together here. 100 for £1 each!

‘Not In Vain’ – 1 Corinthians 31-day devotional

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Top Posts

  • What we think about God is the most important thing about us: Discovering Tozer's Wider Paragraph
    What we think about God is the most important thing about us: Discovering Tozer's Wider Paragraph
  • App Review: Lectio 365
    App Review: Lectio 365
  • 2022 Life Audit - Free download
    2022 Life Audit - Free download
Refill on inspiring Christian links each week and join 1,152 other subscribers...

Thank you for subscribing! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

“If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.”
- Martin Luther

© 2018 copyright That Happy Certainty // All rights reserved //
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.