Tag: Sam Allberry

Links for the Weekend (2025-01-03)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

How Healthy Is Your Soul? Six Questions for a New Year

At Desiring God, Scott Hubbard provides some questions to help us take our spiritual temperature at the start of a new year.

So no, the purpose of these questions is not to condemn, but rather to expose any area where we have cooled insensibly, by degrees, by little and little. And therefore the purpose of these questions is to draw us nearer to the Lord who has warmth enough to melt our coldness, if only we bring ourselves close to him.

3 Illustrations That Help Us Understand What It Is to Be “in Christ”

I linked to several articles related to union with Christ last year. Here’s another one, with a link to a book that looks to be good.

Without an understanding of what it means to be in Christ, our view of the Christian life becomes blurry. The ideas will still be there, of course—we’ll know that we’re justified through the death of Christ alone, that we will one day join him in resurrection life, that in the meantime we’re to commit ourselves to walking in holiness, and that all this is to be understood and worked through in the context of a local church. The pieces will be in place, but they won’t fully cohere—they’ll seem like separate elements, each of which we admire in its own way but which, like Lego bricks poured out onto the table, are meant to fit together and make a whole. Union with Christ is the lens through which all these parts of the Christian life can be seen most sharply and beautifully.

Bible Reading Plans for 2025

Ligonier has rounded up more than 20 Bible reading plans for 2025. Check them out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2024-09-20)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Why a Good God Commanded the Israelites to Destroy the Canaanites

It’s an important question we should consider when talking to unbelievers: How could God command his people to destroy the Canaanites?

To drive a wedge between God and goodness, I’d point to God’s command to the Israelites to “utterly destroy” every person living in the Canaanite cities God was giving them. They were instructed to “not leave alive anything that breathes”—to kill every man, woman, child, and animal (Deut. 20:16–17). Why would a good God have the Israelites exterminate entire groups of people, including women, children, and animals? Here are four principles to remember the next time you encounter this issue.

“Why Have You Forsaken Me?” Understanding Jesus’s Cry on the Cross

This is a helpful, theologically deep article about Jesus’s famous cry on the cross. The authors approach the question from a number of angles.

The crucifixion is a good case study in showing how a careful Trinitarian framework can help work through thorny issues related to the Trinity and salvation. Not only does it bring to the surface the difficult question of what the Father was “doing” (or not doing) while Jesus hung on the cross, but it also raises the question of the Spirit’s seeming absence during the event.

Podcast: Why Christianity Is Not Just about Being a Follower of Jesus (Sam Allberry)

Here’s a helpful interview with author Sam Allberry about the doctrine of union with Christ, which is the subject of his newest book.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called No Images. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2022-11-11)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Am I Resting or Just Being Lazy?

Because we’re sinners, temptation can spring up when we’re doing something very good. We all need to rest, but how do we distinguish between faithful rest and slothful laziness?

Rest, however, reorients us. It reminds us that though work is important, it’s not all there is. We were made to know, love, and enjoy relationship with God. He doesn’t value us based on our productivity. We can slow down and sit at his feet. We can put aside our tasks to commune with him as we explore creation. We can prioritize time with others, making memories and sharing laughter as we were created to do.

The Worshipper

Here’s an article which helps us think about how worship shapes our affections and actions.

There is no doubt about his worship. Everyone knows the object of his worship, because he cannot stop talking about it. Even the way he dresses and behaves declares his commitment to his cause. On a Monday morning he is full of the activity of the previous day, recounting everything that took place in the recent worship. 

What is the Holy Trinity?

In this video, Sam Allberry gives a helpful introduction to the topic of the Trinity.

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (8/6/2021)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

The Purpose of Sunday is the Re-evangelization of the People of God

Here’s a short, insightful article from Jared Wilson on the purpose of preaching on Sunday morning. It always comes back to our need for the gospel.

The sinner’s need for the gospel doesn’t end when he is converted. While the fullness of eternal life is bestowed upon the vilest sinner at that point, he still needs the good news to grow him, mature him, sanctify him. And when we stand before Christ our Judge at the last day, we will be standing on nothing more than the gospel for our acceptance even then.

Body Shaming Demeans Others and Insults God

This article is an excerpt from a book by Sam Allberry about our physical bodies. In this post, he writes about some of the ways we experience shame related to our bodies and how the Bible addresses this shame.

We’re now, it seems, hardwired to feel a sense of vulnerability when it comes to our body. We fear not just literal nakedness but a more general sense of being uncovered. We don’t want to be seen. We fear the shame it could bring. This being so, we need to be careful not to make our own words the cause of someone else’s physical shame.

5 Foundations That Lead to Compromise on Sexual Ethics

This article is a little long, but it’s a helpful diagnosis of the weaknesses of some strains of Christianity when it comes to standing firm on biblical sexual ethics.

In the landscape of contemporary Western Christianity, most roads away from orthodox faith travel through an increasingly populous pit stop called “LGBTQ+ affirming.” It’s a stop that doesn’t just change the route; it reconfigures the whole map. If we ignore, dismiss, or question what Scripture says about sex and identity, it naturally leads to further and deeper questioning of Scripture’s authority and an ever shakier faith. But more and more Christians—even those steeped in Scripture and raised in the church from a young age—are making this move. Why?

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.