Darryl Dash's Blog

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Your Body Was Made to See Jesus

The body is essential to our humanity.

Shame as the Vicious Trap of Sexual Sin

Like salt water, sexual sin masquerades as relief hiding true impact.

What Is Homiletics? An Intro to the Art and Science of Preaching

At its core, homiletics helps us preach well and reflect well on preaching.

How to Prepare a Sermon: 32 Hacks for Preachers

After twenty years of preaching, I have collected a handful of insider “hacks” that can improve yo...

In most professions, one’s personal life remains private. But pastoring is different. How a pastor lives at home profoundly impacts his ministry.

According to Paul, what happens at home makes or breaks his ministry.

His marriage matters. An elder must be "the husband of one wife" (1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1:6). This is perhaps the most disputed qualification on the list. At the very least, it means that the pastor is not a polygamist. He is maritally and sexually faithful to his wife. He is a one-woma...

Big Idea: Romans is from a gospel-transformed apostle who wrote to a gospel-created church about the gospel that changes everything.

Today, we’re embarking on a study of the most important letter ever written. The book of Romans stands as the theological masterpiece of the New Testament, a profound articulation of Christian doctrine that has shaped both individual faith and church history for centuries.

Martin Luther, whose own life was changed by this book, said that it is “the chief part of the ...

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Take It on the Chin

If you’re a pastor and find yourself under the fire of criticism, then you’re in good company.

A Brief Theology of Preaching

The primary task of the Church and of the Christian minister is the preaching of the Word of God.

Have We Sold Church Short on Deacons?

The Bible is clear that work of deacons is vital to the health and smooth-running of the church, but in recent years there has been such a focus on developing word ministry in the churc...

In his book How to Stay Smart in a Smart World, Gerd Gigerenzer poses a scenario.

Imagine a digital assistant who does everything better than you. Whatever you say, it knows better. Whatever you decide, it will correct. When you come up with a plan for next year, it will have a superior one.

At some point, he says, you will probably cede control of your life to this digital assistant. You will let it manage your finances, write your messages, and even order products you didn’t know you needed. You...

Big Idea: Act out who you are in Christ by resisting division and living in unity.

Here’s the tension we face in church.

On one hand, we have been called to something amazing. Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop write:

Of all the ways that the gospel changes this world, the community of the local church is the most obviously supernatural. Its witness even goes beyond this world. “The rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” sit up and take notice, says Paul (Ephesians 3:9–10).

They define local church...

Curated links for your weekend reading:

The Problem Isn't Hell - It's Our Understanding of Justice

The seriousness of sin - and thus the punishment due to sin - is not measured merely by the sin itself but by the value and the worth of the one sinned against.

Always Together: A Lesson From the Early Church

The early Christians sought one another out all week, not just on Sundays.

How to Pray When You Exercise

Whatever body God has given you with its strengths and weaknesses is an occasion to thank him...

I live in an amazing condo. I married a girl I love. I spend my days doing work that’s meaningful to me. My fridge is full of food. And I still find myself grumbling some days. 

On one hand, I understand why. Life is hard, and all of us struggle. Even the good things can’t fully satisfy our souls. Ecclesiastes teaches us to enjoy life without expecting that the blessings of life will ever be enough. Only God can ultimately satisfy us. 

But why is it so hard to cultivate a grateful mindset? And wha...

Big Idea: Work hard at maintaining the unity that God has given us by cultivating the right attitudes.

One of the challenging things about the Bible is that it doesn’t just command us to act a certain way toward each other; it commands us to feel a certain way toward each other.

Take a look around. We’re a bunch of very different people. We have different personalities, different quirks, and different beliefs on all kinds of matters. It would be very easy for us to split apart over any number of t...

Curated links for your weekend reading:

Letter to a Brother Stuck in Pornography

The gospel exists to defeat sin!

A Guide to Meaningful Worship

I got nothing from Sunday. Nothing from Sunday school, nothing from morning worship, and nothing still from evening worship.

Preachers: Here’s a One-Hour Change That Will Improve Your Sermons (And Lower Your Stress)

But if you make the time and do the digging, you will give yourself and your people a precious gift.

3 Preaching Rules

You should preach the gospel ...