This is a summary of Tedd Tripp’s wisdom on how to be gospel-centered in disciplining your children:

1. Do it alone in private.
2. Tell your children specifically what they did not obey.
3. Get an acknowledgment from them {you may be wrong!}.
4. Remind them of the objective: restoration to the circle of blessing from the area of danger.
5. Tell them how many swats they are to receive.
6. No spanking should be absorbed by pants. It needs to connect.
7. Hold them afterwards and tell them you love them.
8. Pray with and for them.

You can listen to all 5 sermons by Tedd Tripp from the Biblical Parenting Conference held at Mars Hill Church in 2008.

While we’re at it, Chris Brauns has some great advice for parents:

Below are two messages that parents of young children should memorize.

The Bible instructs parents to love their children. But, the Bible does not define love as squishy sentimentalism that gives children whatever they want whenever they ask for it.

In fact, Scripture says, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” (Pr 13:24) Parents who truly love their children consistently discipline them.

As the parent of four children, I do not enjoy disciplining my children. But, one sentence I learned early on is very helpful. In the context of discipline I have learned to say and think:

Message #1: I love you too much to teach you that you can make bad choices without any consequences. As someone has said, “Choose to sin, choose to suffer.” Don’t be deceived God cannot be mocked. You reap what you sow. (Galatians 6:7-8).

Or, when my children are upset with me because they think I am too protective, I say and think this:

Message #2: All your life, I have been willing to die for you. I can honestly tell you that it came down to your life or my life, I would give up mine on your behalf. So, if I am willing to die for you, then having you upset with me because I am protecting you is a relatively small thing in my world. If protecting you, means you being mad at me, then so be it.”

Parents, if you are unwilling to discipline your children then you are being unloving to them.

“He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” (Pr 13:24)

John Piper and Al Mohler give their reasons for students hearing our President today:

John Piper- “I’ve Read the President’s Speech: Amazing”

Al Mohler- “The Obama School Speech Controversy- What To Think?”

You can read the speech here.

The Vatican is claiming to have discovered Paul’s bones. Read about it here.

I know this will come across as self-serving since I am a pastor, but this is worth it. Most of you readers are not in the church where I pastor but you are in a church that has a pastor. Let these wise words from Dan Burrell, a former pastor, help you better understand your pastor and how you can better pray for him and his family. You can read the posts here:

Part 1

Part 2

Find out why and how John Piper is tweeting here.

{I can’t give you a good reason why I haven’t blogged for over a month!}

I don’t know this girl, but when I watched this video of her baptism, I cried because it reminded me of why I love the Gospel: God saves rebellious sinners!

Just got an iPhone for my birthday and I love it! One of my first actions taken was to set up the ESV Bible on my iPhone. Here are the directions for how to do this, courtesy of our friends at the ESV blog. Thanks!

Add the ESV to Your iPhone Home Screen
The latest version of the iPhone firmware (1.1.3), which came out Tuesday, lets you add the ESV to the home screen of your iPhone for quick access. Here’s how to do it:

Make sure you’re running the latest version of the iPhone firmware. (On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > About. The “Version” should be 1.1.3.) If you’re not running the latest version, sync your iPhone with iTunes (which may also require updating—use Help > Check for Updates) and install the latest version.
Visit www.esv.org/mobile using Safari on your iPhone.
Press the + sign at the bottom of the iPhone screen.
Press the “Add to Home Screen” button.
(Optional.) Change the name from “ESV Bible” if you want.
Press the “Add” button at the top of the screen.
You now have an “ESV Bible” button right on your home screen for easy access to the ESV wherever you are.

This technique will also work with any of the mobile ESV devotions. Just go to the devotion you want and follow steps 3-6 above. You’ll have a button on your home screen that always takes you straight to the current day’s reading.

If you ever want to delete the ESV button on the home screen, just press it and hold it down. The buttons will start wiggling. Press the little “X” in the top left corner of the ESV button, and it will disappear.

Time released it’s top 10 ideas changing the world right now {read it here}

#3 may surprise you! It brought me joy!

Dale Ralph Davis on the structure/big picture of Exodus:

“That is the basic but critical point made in the sequence of Exodus: there is a proper order; law-keeping is not a device for obtaining grace, it is merely a response to grace already given. Get that settled and the whole Bible will make sense.”

The Word Became Fresh: How To Preach From Old Testament Narrative Texts

Tim Challies gives his thoughts on reading. You’ll want to READ this post: Random Thoughts on Reading

What if you knew this morning when you woke up that it would be your last day on earth? Would your day look any different? If you’re a pastor, prepare your sermon {if you are still preparing} and preach your sermon this weekend like it’s the last one that you will get to preach to the body you serve…because it just might be.

I’m not a math guy. I hate numbers. But the Buzzard Blog has done some excellent work with numbers. I share Taylor’s entire post here because I want you to read it. But do check the Buzzard’s blog often.

Algebra For Parenting
A guest post by Taylor Buzzard:

This is a mathematics post. The reason for this different approach is my teething four-month-old’s frequent nighttime waking, which leaves me struggling to think clearly enough to form sentences. Math doesn’t require too many sentences, so I think this is a good plan. Let’s get started.

Your children are your dependents for 18 years. Yes, in some cases children try to remain dependents indefinitely. But, our task is to prepare them for life on their own, and 18 years is the amount of time they are our legal dependents, so 18 is the number we will work with.

Our algebra equation for the day is as follows:

x / 18 = y

“x” is your child’s age.

18 is the number of years your child is your dependent.

“y” is the percentage of time that has passed.

My firstborn is a mere 2.25 years old. He’s so young that I catch myself calling him my baby from time to time. Yet, mathematics tells me a sad truth.

2.25 /18 = 0.125
0.125 = 12.5%

12.5% of my time with him as my dependent is GONE. DONE. OVER. When I first did this calculation, I thought I had set up the equation wrong. It couldn’t be true, there had to be a mistake somewhere. I redid the math, I checked the equation, and had to face the dark reality. Over 10% of my time is done. And he’s still in diapers!

Algebra can help with parenting.

If you’ve had a challenging day with a know-it-all teenager, a pre-pubescent tween, a non-stop question asking child, or a shrieking infant, do the math and watch your heart soften. Our time with our children is fleeting. Be intentional. Seize every moment by the horns. And do the math again, every now and then, to remind yourself of how fast their childhood is going to whiz by.

Please, do the math. The math will help you love your children better today. The math will make you take a giant step backwards, away from the difficulties of parenting, to better see the privilege and delight of parenting. Take your child’s age, divide it by 18. Take the resulting number and move the decimal point over 2 places to the right, and that is the percentage of time that has passed. Leave a comment if the result leaves you a bit shocked.

When I grew up and was learning to play the guitar, I was dependent on my immensely better musician friend Chad to teach me some chops {read 80’s metal here}. There was no youtube or anything like it. Learning an instrument is much easier now, with aforementioned website. My 9 year-old visits youtube often to learn new songs on guitar. He’s been playing for about a year and is better than I am. I blame it all on accessibility, but it probably has something to do with what they call talent or gifting.

But Mac has made learning an instrument easy too, but not by some kid on youtube with a videocamera. GarageBand ‘09 brings not only lessons, but even lessons by the musicians you love to your computer and they show you how to play their songs.

Check out this link/videos {isn’t Sting the coolest? Who ages so well like him?}

2 articles on Starbucks Instant Coffee:

Lauren Shepherd, “Starbucks Via: Instant “Soluble” Coffee Product Planned

Howard Schultz, “Staying Real In An Instant”

I’m actually excited about this. They are guaranteeing that the quality will be there in the taste. There are many days when I sit sluggish in the office and I don’t have time to visit our local coffee shop or a Starbucks and I desperately need some java. Now, I can open a drawer and add water!

Some good “slooge” {as my good friend Gunny would say} on preaching:

“Humor in the pulpit can be very dangerous. It’s like a narcotic. Your people will love it (how much more entertaining to hear you riff on something than to teach Leviticus or talk about sin). You’ll love it (less sleeping, more laughing at how hilarious you are!). And the temptation will be for you to give the people more of what they want and less of what they need. I listen to about 10 sermons a week, and some of the guys I listen to are both funny and really good teachers. But here’s what I notice… they have to tell three jokes for every one that really lands. Two out of three just kind of linger there and die. And so the whole sermon feels like it’s being interuppted by second rate comedy. Over time, my fear is that the people will come hungry for your humor and not necessarily for the word of God. They will be dependent on you and your charisma and your sense of humor, and you’ll never be able to plant churches because you can’t find anyone else as funny as you are, and so you’ll have to pipe your sermons into other locations.” Michael Mckinley

“In his opening chapter The Primacy of Preaching from the book Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea For Preaching Dr. Al Mohler wrote, “Evangelical pastors commonly state that biblical preaching is the hallmark of their calling. Nevertheless, a careful observer might come to a very different conclusion. The priority of preaching is simply not evident in far too many churches.

We must affirm with Luther that the preaching of the Word is the first essential mark of the church. Luther believed so strongly in the centrality of preaching that he stated, ‘Now, wherever you hear or see this Word preached, believed, professed, and lived, do no doubt that the true ecclesia sancta catholica (Christian, holy people) must be there….And even were no other sign than this alone, it would still suffice to prove that a Christian, holy people must exist there, for God’s Word cannot be without God’s people and, conversely, God’s people cannot be without God’s Word.’”

Before he died the great Bible expositor James Montgomery Boice wrote, “I do not think it is too much to say that preaching really is an essential means perhaps even the most important means, of grace. If that is the case, then we should be very careful in our Christian lives to expose ourselves to the best teaching and attend the best churches available.” Caleb Kolstad