Weekly Wraps (June 27-July 3)

Jon Bloom on Job’s words, Tim Keller on Lloyd-Jones and preaching, John Piper on loving enemies, and et cetera.

1. I Cry to You and You Do Not Answer Me (Jon Bloom) – Bloom blogs on the word of Job: “I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me” (Job 30:20-21).

2. Lloyd-Jones on the Practice of Real Preaching (Tim Keller) – Keller blogs on preaching. He wisely writes: “If the preaching is of high quality, people will be brought and will come back.” The blog was insightful and helpful.

3. It’s Now or Never: Love Your Enemies (John Piper) – Piper blogs on loving enemies. He writes: “Today is the day God has appointed to love our enemies. Either we will do it in this life, or we will never do it. But Jesus commands it to be done.”

4. John Piper: Reading as Thinking (Alex and Brett Harris) – The Harris brothers blog on reading and excerpts from John Piper’s book, Think. It’s been a while since I last visited the twin’s blog. I hope to visit frequently from now on.

5. Ten Principles for Church Song (Part 1) (Kevin DeYoung) – DeYoung blogs on church music.

6. The Pain of Loneliness (Tim Challies) – Challies blogs on social media and loneliness. He wisely writes, “All the time we spend communicating through our devices must come at the expense of something. We are finding that, ironically, it comes at the expense of genuine, meaningful communication. As we communicate more, we communicate less.” He writes again, “mediated relationships may supplement real-world, face-to-face relationships, but they cannot replace them. A man with 100 Facebook friends is still a lonely man. A man with two significant real-world friends considers himself blessed.” Very powerful article!

6. ONE at the Sydney Entertainment Centre – This is a promotional video for “ONE SAVIOUR. ONE LIFE. ONE NIGHT. DON’T WASTE IT” conference featuring John Piper and John Lennox. Piper’s voiceover is in the video below. It’s a powerful video, resembling David Platt’s promotional video for his book, Radical.