The influence of psychology on pastoral ministry

This is an excellent analysis of how secular psychology has invaded a fundamental responsibility of the Christian faith. This takeover was really pretty overt when you listen to Powlison's analysis. CCEFs mission statement becomes more compelling after you listen to this.

Restore Christ to Counseling and Counseling to the Church.

The Center of the Universe: You, kind of...

About a year ago, John Piper received a sort of exhortation from a woman in his church whom he really respected and which he heeded. He talks about it here. The crux of the matter is that in all of his (right) emphasis on God being the main point, he unintentionally downplays how God feels about us. One way he often puts it is this: do you feel most loved when God makes much of you, or when you are allowed by God to make much of him? This is a good distinction, especially as ballast in our boats as we sail through the frothy seas of our culture's "self-esteem" talk (though my sense is that the current of the self-esteem movement from the 80s and 90s is ebbing and being replaced with other currents to achieve self-actualization). But the question still lingers a bit--God is gospel and therefore our chief hope in heaven ought to be union with him and not merely the absence of pain, reunion with loved ones, etc; however, how do we experience some of God's massive affection for us and do so joyfully in a way that doesn't ultimately make much of us? Or to put it yet another way, how do we seek God in a way that sees him as an end and not as a means to other ends for which we might seek him?


I don't exactly know the answer, but this post (thanks RP) by Kevin DeYoung points to a biblical way to think a little more about it:

Do not think that salvation comes to sinners because God has a cosmic purpose for the universe and individual sinners happen to be a part of that universe. The movement of salvation is not from everything to individuals, but from individuals to everything. Don’t mistake regeneration, redemption, and adoption as byproducts of the larger work God is doing to restore creation. That logic is backwards. Biblically, it’s the renewal of all things that rides in on the coattails of the salvation of sinners. “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-21). The creation is waiting to experience the freedom and glory we already experience as the children of God. The next time you are tempted to feel sorry for yourself, or feel unappreciated, or imagine yourself ignored by God, remember: In Christ, you have what the universe is after.

More on Biblical Counseling

As I listen to David Powlison's lectures, I am more and more convinced of his approach and more and more aware of how much secular psychology we have swallowed in the church. And it is really unhelpful--even harmful--to do not correct our wrong thinking here.

Here is an example of some of his wisdom, "couched" in a little humor. (Video only below.)

Some Resources to Help Us Think About Forgiveness

The Forgiveness Project (Tim Keller)
Relating to Someone who Really Hurt You (John Piper)
The Forgiveness Quiz (Chris Brauns)
Forgive us our Debts as We Forgive our Debtors (Piper--a less practical approach than the aforementioned)
So Far as it Depends on You (Piper)
Keller Audio -- Several Messages. Free if you click on the Titles, pay if you click on the "listen" links.
Ligon Duncan message audio or manuscript.

And, well, a bunch of good ones over at Gospel Coalition

Are we excited about the gospel?

"There are some wonderful instances of ordinary Christians, not least the young, who are concerned to preach the whole gospel unabashedly and do good first to the household of God and then, as much as is possible, outside as well. That has got biblical mandate behind it. . . .
My warning would be to those who are coming along and talking a lot about, “I want to be faithful to the gospel, but I also want to do social justice and good works.” My warning would be: it is not just what you do, it is what you are excited about.

If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.

If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn’t all that important. You won’t be saying that—you won’t even mean that—but that’s what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.

Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow."

– Don Carson, lecture, “Is the Culture Shaping Us or are We Shaping the Culture?” delivered at the CBMW Different By Design Conference (Feb. 2, 2009, Minneapolis, MN)

(HT: CJ Mahaney via Tony Reinke via Desiring God)

Tools for seeing and preaching Christ in/from the OT

Here.

Holiness--currently un-hip.

Francis Chan talked in his message at Desiring God's THINK conference about the connection that James speaks of between our righteousness and our prayers being answered. This article draws that out more. And excerpt:

When is the last time we took a verse like Ephesians 5:4–“Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving”–when is the last time we took a verse like this and even began to try to apply this to our conversation, our joking, our movies, our you tube clips, our t.v. and commercial intake? The fact of the matter is if you read through the New Testament epistles you will find very few explicit commands that tell us to evangelize and very few explicit commands that tell us to take care of the poor in our communities, but there are dozens and dozens of verses in the New Testament that enjoin us, in one way or another, to be holy as God is holy (e.g., 1 Peter 1:13-16).

Another false gospel exemplified.

Extreme Gospel Makeover

Under Authority: The Bad with the Good

Please give the Scripture authority over you in the areas that you don't want to hear because of you don't how will he ever heal you? [...] What's going to happen when your heart is broken and you feel like a failure (condemnation) and the bible says "when our hearts condemn us he is greater than our hearts"? How can God come in and give you hope and give you love unless you give the bible the authority over you to give you the good things? If you don't let God have authority over you to tell you the bad things, how will he ever heal you? -Tim Keller

Good point. If we can't trust him with the "bad" things, it diminishes our ability to trust him with the good things. Trust and obedience in what is hard makes trusting the great and precious promises plausible.  If we reject his authority over us, we will eventually reject his benevolence upon us.

Kevin DeYoung on being an ordinary Christian.

"In the grand scheme of things, most of us are going to be more of an Ampliatus (Rom. 16:8) or Phlegon (v. 14) than an apostle Paul. And maybe that’s why so many Christians are getting tired of the church. We haven’t learned how to be part of the crowd. We haven’t learned to be ordinary. Our jobs are often mundane. Our devotional times often seem like a waste. Church services are often forgettable. That’s life. We drive to the same places, go through the same routines with the kids, buy the same groceries at the store, and share a bed with the same person every night. Church is often the same too — same doctrines, same basic order of worship, same preacher, same people. But in all the smallness and sameness, God works..."

Two Chapters that Go Great Together

On a fluke that I won't try to explain here, I ended up listening to Luke 16 and Luke 24 back to back. Try it, paying attention to the themes of resurrection, and Moses and the Prophets.

A Needed Corrective to My Achellies Heel

This is an important observation. I think it is safe to say that the gospel-centered movement has as it's main "prefect" Pastor Tim Keller. And while I really doubt that he is liable to make the error described in said article above, it is entirely possible for those of us who see (rightly) the value of gospel-centeredness to forget the vary things that this article talks about. Namely, don't forget the God of the gospel we are excited about nor forget about his work in those who are not necessarily gospel-centric in the sense that we understand that term. They still love the gospel and the God of it. Don't overlook that. [Last phrases to be said in front of mirror.]

Flying Car for the Gospel

What does this have to do with the gospel?
Well, it could be used for missions.
And it will be.

Poem from Newton

From DG:

Prayer Answered by Crosses
By John Newton
I asked the Lord that I might grow 

In faith and love and every grace, 

Might more of his salvation know, 

And seek more earnestly his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray; 

And he, I trust, has answered prayer; 

But it has been in such a way 

As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that, in some favoured hour, 

At once he’d answer my request, 

And by his love’s constraining power 

Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel 

The hidden evils of my heart, 

And let the angry powers of hell 

Assault my soul in every part.

Yea, more, with his own had he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe, 

Crossed all the fair designs I schemed, 

Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

Lord, why is this? I trembling cried; 

Wilt thou pursue this worm to death? 

This is the way, the Lord replied
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I now employ 

From self and pride to set thee free,
And break they schemes of earthly joy, 

That thou may’st seek thy all in me.

Erik Raymond

So I ran across his blog today and so far I like what I see. Below in an excerpt from one post that really resonates with why I even post anything here on Gospel Media Tour.

The pastor still shows God’s requirement (law) and exposes our shortcomings (sin). However, instead of bidding the Christian to look inward for righteousness, the pastor lovingly and faithfully raises his brother or sister’s eyes to Christ and what he has done for us.
Don’t get me wrong. I am NOT saying that pastors should not preach the commands of Scripture. I am not even saying that Christians should not feel guilty when they sin. But what I am saying is that when we experience this guilt we are not to look inward for our righteousness but outward. The guilt is not a dark cloud of despair that we sit under until we outrun it through our good works and obedience, instead guilt over sin is to be a divinely dispatched chauffeur that drives us to the cross where we see the culmination of Jesus’ obedience for us.

Imperative vs Indicative

"The challenge, often times, is to make certain the indicative (what Christ has done) before unloading (or confusing) the imperative (what we must do)." -Erik Raymond

I need to find somewhere that unpacks that more, but it is such a crucial distinction.

UPDATE: Thanks to RP for his comment below, which I bring up here to provide the link to more on this idea.

Get the gospel in there.

The Gospel is what we are to proclaim. Obviously, it ought to be central then to our lives and message. In numerous places on this blog I have referred to what it is, so I won't reiterate it here. No, what I want to talk about here is how central the message of the gospel of the cross of Christ needs to be in preaching. There are a ton of reasons for this, but here is just one.

The Bible is not our message, though the message is in our Bibles. It seems to me that we who are passionate about getting our exegesis right forget a cardinal rule: context--specifically, context at a macro level. We are quick to make sure that the verse we are looking at is understood in light of the sentences around it, the flow of the rest of the book and the intent of the author in that book (especially in the epistles) and as long as we have our exegesis right within that scope we've done our job. And this is right and good to do. But at a macro level, we have to not only look at the context of the verse in the chapter in the book; but also the context of the book in the Bible.

What is the Bible about? We cannot preach rightly without taking that into consideration. In numerous places we find Jesus telling people that the Bible is about Him. On the road to Emmaus after his resurrection Jesus said the scriptures were about him. To the pharisees in John he scolded them for studying the scriptures because they thought the right understanding of them gave them eternal life but they missed it because they didn't see that the scriptures were about him. In 1 Corinthians 15, the gospel is outlined "according to the scriptures"--that Christ's death was foretold there. Paul reminds us that his central message was the cross and that he wanted to know nothing more than Jesus and him crucified among his hearers. In 2 Corinthians, the ministry of every believer is the ministry of reconciliation--the gospel of God restoring his relationship with man through the cross. This is what the bible is about. This is what we ought to be about. It is the only hope for those sick with sin.

When our preaching does not drip with blood of the Lamb, what then have we proclaimed? The blood of Christ must splatter upon those who hear our message or our message is not the message of the Bible. Lord give us blood-soaked preachers.

More Old News

This time in song. You may have to imagine the melody. Because of a gifted friend, I don't. If he finishes what he's started, others will get to hear it too. I'm looking forward to that day but this song points to an even better one. Oh what hope we have!

Let us love and sing and wonder,
Let us praise the Savior's Name!
He has hushed the law's loud thunder,
He has quenched Mount Sinai's flame.
He has washed us with His blood,
He has brought us nigh to God.

Let us love the Lord Who bought us,
Pitied us when enemies,
Called us by His grace, and taught us,
Gave us ears and gave us eyes:
He has washed us with His blood,
He presents our souls to God.

Let us sing, though fierce temptation
Threaten hard to bear us down!
For the Lord, our strong Salvation,
Holds in view the conqueror's crown:
He Who washed us with His blood
Soon will bring us home to God.

Let us wonder; grace and justice
Join and point to mercy's store;
When through grace in Christ our trust is,
Justice smiles and asks no more:
He Who washed us with His blood
Has secured our way to God.

Let us praise, and join the chorus
Of the saints enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him before us,
Now their praises fill the sky:
“Thou hast washed us with Your blood;
Thou art worthy, Lamb of God!'

Hark! the Name of Jesus, sounded
Loud, from golden harps above!
Lord, we blush, and are confounded,
Faint our praises, cold our love!
Wash our souls and songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to God.

The Old Good News--Again

This is why I try to find the things I try to find and post on this blog.

The Gospel and Ministries of Mercy

An article by Tim Keller on the gospel and how it plays out in ministry to the poor. An excerpt:

So what does it mean to be committed to the primacy of the gospel? It means first that the gospel must be proclaimed. Many today denigrate the importance of this. Instead, they say, the only true apologetic is a loving community; people cannot be reasoned into the kingdom, they can only be loved. "Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary." But while Christian community is indeed a crucial and powerful witness to the truth of the gospel, it cannot replace preaching and proclamation. Nevertheless, the primacy of the gospel also means that it is the basis and mainspring for Christian practice, individually and corporately, inside the church and outside. Gospel ministry is not only proclaiming it to people so that they will embrace and believe it; it is also teaching and shepherding believers with it so that it shapes the entirety of their lives, so that they can "live it out." And one of the most prominent areas that the gospel effects is our relationship to the poor.

Chan: Preaching and Teaching Preparation

From the DG Blog:


In his message at the National Conference, Francis Chan highlighted the importance of loving the people to whom he preaches. He mentioned seven questions that he asks himself in preparing to preach. Here are the seven questions:

1. Am I worried about what people think of my message or what God thinks? (Teach with fear)
2. Do I genuinely love these people? (Teach with love)
3. Am I accurately presenting this passage? (Teach with accuracy)
4. Am I depending on the Holy Spirit's power or my own cleverness? (Teach with power)
5. Have I applied this message to my own life? (Teach with integrity)
6. Will this message draw attention to me or to God? (Teach with humility)
7. Do the people really need this message? (Teach with urgency)

Theological Triage

Al Mohler on prioritizing which doctrines are essential, which are important, and which are less important.

Biblical Counseling

I actually can't believe I didn't post this link given that I spent so much time listening to these this summer. David Powlison did a seminar at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. It is four parts. Here is part one. You can poke around on the site for parts 3-4.

Sin so that grace may increase. Well, maybe not. But...

 Adding to Our Sins While Repenting of Them

Spurgeon, writing reflectively on Ephesians 2:8-9--

What does faith exclude? Well, I am sure it excludes boasting. 'He that believeth is not condemned' (John 3:18). Oh, if it said, 'He that works is not condemned,' then you and I might boast in unlimited quantity. . . .

No, Lord, if I am not condemned, it is Your free grace, for I have deserved to be condemned a thousand times since I sat down to write this. When I am on my knees and I am not condemned, I am sure it must be sovereign grace, for even when I am praying, I deserve to be condemned. Even when we are repenting, we are sinning, and adding to our sins while we are repenting of them. . . .

Our best performances are so stained with sin that it is hard to know whether they are good works or bad works. . . . Ah, then, we cannot boast! Be gone, pride! Be gone! Quit boasting, Christian. Live humbly before your God, and never let a word of self-congratulation escape your lips.

--Charles Spurgeon, Faith (Whitaker House 1995), 88
 Thanks RP.

The Importance of Ignoring Your Wife

That is--ignore her in order to worship Christ. Here is what I mean...

As men placed in nurturing authority over our families and homes, we often fail to do what we should to lead well. Sometimes we do poorly, and sometimes we do really poorly. And to one degree or another, our/my failures in this area result in a kind of amplification of my wife's insecurities (which is not at all to say we men don't have our own insecurities). Her discontent or discouragement may lead her to be more open to the temptations to find comfort or security in other things--perhaps a more certain financial situation, or a better-suited home, or more money in the emergency fund, or some new clothes, or any other number of things. Then, when we men become aware of these desires for these kinds of things, we can aim to remedy the situation by working in whatever way to provide the very things she wants to feel more secure or desirable.

At least two problems arise at this point. First, we may not want to do those things. We may not have energy or resources even if we did want to. Second, we're enabling her fall into the temptation and sin of seeking security outside of Christ. And furthermore, give it enough time and you'll see (or you already know)--this simply doesn't work. She doesn't grow more secure.

So the remedy is this: ignore your wife. That is, ignore these messages that she may overtly or subtly send and instead, worship God every chance you get. Sing to God. Pray to God. Confess to God. Read the Word of God. Get into meaningful relationship with another man of God. Worship God. Worship is the only way we'll be transformed into the kind of men and husbands who will be courageous enough to be humble enough to pray with our wives (though we haven't in years), and to lead in our homes, and teach the Word in our homes and live and love sacrificially in our homes, and lovingly guide our wives in the gospel that will save both them and us from finding security and meaning outside of Christ.

So ignore--or better yet, wage war to keep your sights on the real battlefield--your worship, and not on the side skirmishes that sap your energy for the real fight of faith.

Peacemaker Conference Audio

Here.

Keller on guidance and trusting God

 From this Tim Keller sermon.

Proverbs 16:3 - “Commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans will succeed."

The word commit is a word that literally means "to roll over onto--to put all your weight on". And this is saying, unconditionally trust God for all things that happen in your life. Unconditionally trust God. Radically, unconditionally trust God and you slowly will become a person who makes wise plans--plans in accord with reality. Plans in accord with who God is, who you are, human nature, things. [...]

Why do I call this paying the price? I don't mean paying the price earns guidance. I'm saying paying the price receives guidance. Why do I call it paying the price? Elisabeth Elliot in a book she wrote years ago on guidance puts it like this:

"The more we pay for advice, the more we are likely to listen to it. Advice from a friend, which is free, we may take or leave. Advice from a consultant we have paid much for personally, we are more likely to accept, but it's still our choice--we can take it or leave it. But the guidance of God is different. First of all, we do not come to God asking for advice, but for God's will--and that is not optional. And, God's fee is the highest one of all: it costs everything. To ask for the guidance of God requires abandonment. We no longer say, 'If I trust you, you will give me such and such.' Instead we must say, 'I trust you. Give me, or withhold from me whatever you choose.' As John Newton says, 'What you will, when you will, how you will.'

See, she says, finding God's will is not coming to God and saying 'If I trust you, you will do such and such.' That's the way we read the proverb before we thought about it. She says, no, if you want guidance, you come to God and say 'I trust you. Give me or not give me whatever you choose.'

What does it mean to unconditionally trust God for everything in your life? I think it means, to say, "Lord, from this moment on, I will obey anything you tell me, whether I understand it or not. And I will accept anything you send me whether I understand it or not. But I'm not gonna bail on you no matter what." and the Bible is saying, only if you go through you life like that, (not bailing on God, obeying unconditionally, trusting unconditionally, committing everything) as time goes on, both your good times and your bad times will turn you into the kind of person whose plans are wise.

[...]

"Nobody has ever learned they were a sinner by being told. No one has ever learned about their flaws by being told. You have to be shown. You have to be shown. You're mother's been telling you about your flaws for years, but you've got to be shown. And, until you see your flaws via experience, they're going to control your life. And secondly, no one ever learned that God loved them by being told. You know, I tell you every week, and you go home and say 'well, the preacher told me that I'm loved. I believe it.' No you don't. No you don't. You wouldn't live the way you do if you believed that. You know what you need in order to really know? You have to be shown. Over and over and over as life goes on, you have to be in positions where you are absolutely sure God has abandoned you and then find out later on that you were wrong.

That has to happen over and over and over and over. You can't bail. You have to commit everything to him. But as time goes on, you will find that you are finally becoming wise. You're understanding for the first time your flaws and then your plans are more careful than they would be otherwise. And secondly, you're learning that God loves you, and therefore, your plans are more bold than they would be otherwise. And therefore, by paying this price, by committing everything to him, by then saturating yourself in his Word, so that you not only see the solid lines to your decisions, but also the dotted lines. (I mean, there a lot of things that are biblically, technically okay, but you can see inferences out of biblical principles.) The more you saturate yourself, and seek to do what this verse says--Commit your entire life to him--unconditional trust, you will become, more and more, a wise person.

Spiritual Remembering

You know, the Bible talks about remembering. [...] A basic biblical concept is the sinful tendency to forget the Lord and the need to remember. This cannot mean, mainly, a matter of intellect and information because when God uses the word 'remember' he's not talking about it this way. When he says, "I remembered my convenant to Abraham" this does not mean, "Oh yeah. Abraham. I forgot." When God uses the term 'remember' what it really means is I'm acting now. My heart is engaged. It's not just intellectual.

And what that then means for us is, the problem is that the information we have we spiritually forget. It doesn't automatically become real to us unless someone is fanning the flame all the time. 2 Peter 1:8&9 says "You've forgotten you were cleansed from your former sins." If you're not growing, he says you've forgotten you were cleansed from your former sins. Now, does he really mean that one day you woke up and said "my gosh, it's been three weeks--I forgot: I'm a Christian. Or I forgot that I was saved?" No! What does he mean? He's talking about spiritual forgetting. It's not vital anymore. You're not engaged. It's not real to your heart.

In Joshua 4:21-24, God tells the children of Israel to take 12 stones from the place where he dried up the Jordan in order to make the pillar of remembrance.  It would seem ridiculous to imagine that people could forget such a remarkable miracle. [...] The main difference between a Christian and a nominal Christian is that the truth has become spiritually real to the heart of the Christian. The main difference between a growing Christian and a stagnant Christian is that the truth has been refreshed regularly in the growing Christian. [...]

What is the Lord's Supper about? Remembering. It's not primarily an intellectual thing. The Lord's Supper and the worship service in general is designed to recreate sensible ideas (that is sense-affecting ideas) of the gospel. Hebrews 3:13 says we need, at the very least, Christian community daily to exhort us lest we be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. All our problems with worry, temptation, guilt, anger, etc. are due to the fact that God and his salvation is unreal to us. We're not remembering Jesus.

From the end of #31 here. 

Abba Father

So I did the same thing again and again. I would kneel down in front of them at eye level and say, "Please look at Daddy's face. Do you know how much I love you? Do you know that your Daddy is not a mean, bad man? Do you know that I would never ask you to do anything that would hurt you or make you sick? I am sorry that you can't understand why Daddy is asking you to do this. I wish I could explain it to you, but you are too young to understand. So I am going to ask you to do something—trust Daddy. When you walk down the hallway to do what Daddy has asked you to do, say to yourself, 'My Daddy loves me. My Daddy would never ask me to do something bad. I am going to trust my Daddy and stop trying to be the Daddy of my Daddy.'"

God does the same thing with you, over and over again. He meets you in one of the difficult hallways of your life, kneels down before you in condescending love, and asks you to trust his loving and wise rule, even though you don't have a clue what he is doing.  -Paul Tripp

Edwards on Worship with the Body

Among those things that I find dissonance in within the church, this is perhaps one of the more evident. We sing songs about lifting our hands, dancing, and the like, and stand there like statues as we quietly sing these very words. Somethin' ain't right. And Jonathan Edwards says a few things about it here and further here.

Motive for Preaching

The Bible is enough.

Who is your real God?

"If you go to the Christian God, ask for forgiveness, and never feel forgiven, it means that the Christian God isn't your real God. And therefore, you have to go underneath and say, "There is something besides God who is your salvation"--and that thing won't forgive you. And the fact of the matter is, no god but God--the real God--will ever satisfy you if you get him or forgive you if you fail him. All other gods are wood and hay and stubble and idols--I mean, they're dumb. They're not alive. They can't do anything for you. [...] When someone says, "I can't forgive myself" it means that some standard, or condition, or person is more central to [their] identity than the grace of God. God is the only god who forgives. No other god will. So if you can't forgive yourself, it's because you've failed your real god. Your real righteousness is holding you captive. The moralists false God is usually holy and demanding but not gracious: the pharisee's god, a god of wrath who will not be propitiated. The pragmatists false god is usually some achievement or relationship that they are using as a substitute for God to get some sense of self-worth." (From Tim Keller's Westminster Lectures with Edmund Clowney, Session 8, Getting Down to Earth Part 1 available for free on iTunes U)

Time Management (vs Maker-agement)

This doesn't have a lot to do with the gospel directly. But if you are a pastor, who preaches the gospel to your people weekly, then this article on managing time is worth a gander. In summary, makers (and in this context, those who make sermons) need larger chunks of time (think half-days) whereas managers think in terms of hours. Knowing how to navigate the difference can mean more fruitful ministry.

Chapell and Keller on Christ-Centered Preaching

Here are two great seminars by Bryan Chapell on preaching Christ in every message. If the question of whether that is even necessary comes to mind, then all the more reason to listen to these.

A great quote from the second one as he contrasted Christ centered preaching with two other forms: (a) preaching to the will (Christian duty and obedience) and (b) preaching for increased knowledge (Christian doctrine):

"If what we are doing [in preaching] is not creating greater intimacy and obligation to the Savior out of love for Him, then no matter what science [of preaching] we have pursued, we have not got the goal accomplished that God intended from his Word."

1.  http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/a/The-Heart-of-Christ-Centered-Preaching

2.  http://thegospelcoalition.org/resources/a/The-Hope-of-Christ-Centered-Preaching

Along these same lines, iTunes U has an entire seminar by Edmund Clowney and Tim Keller on this kind of preaching (free--along with other Westminster Seminary lectures. Likewise, Gordon-Conwell has a half-dozen messages too (for a well-worth-it price).

Two options for Training

Here are two options I have been mulling over that are (a) affordable and (b) sound and (c) rigorous.

Ligonier's Certificate Program.

CCEF's Training Program.

CCEF on Youtube

Smorgasbord.

Justin Taylor's 15 Powlison Q&As

Justin:

P&R gave me permission to republish a very helpful Q&A from David Powlison’s essay, “I Am Motivated When I Feel Desire,” included in his excellent book, Seeing With New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture.

He asks and answers 15 questions. I’ll post two per day over the next week.

Here they are.

Rough Winds of Discipline--Spurgeon

From Spurgeon's Morning by Morning devotional, June 11:

“After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
— 1 Peter 5:10

You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no “baseless fabric of a vision,” but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being “stablished in the faith” is gained. The apostle’s words point us to suffering as the means employed—“After that ye have suffered awhile.” It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.

A great metaphor for conversion.

Thanks RP for this.

You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons.  Our hearts are multi-divided.  There is a board room in every heart.  Big table.  Leather chairs.   Coffee.  Bottled water.  Whiteboard.  A committee sits around the table.  There is the social self, the private self, the work self, the sexual self, the recreational self, the religious self, and others.  The committee is arguing and debating and voting.  Constantly agitated and upset.  Rarely can they come to a unanimous, wholehearted decision.  We tell ourselves we’re this way because we’re so busy with so many responsibilities.  The truth is, we’re just divided, unfocused, hesitant, unfree.
That kind of person can “accept Jesus” in either of two ways.   One way is to invite him onto the committee.  Give him a vote too.  But then he becomes just one more complication.  The other way to “accept Jesus” is to say to him, “My life isn’t working.  Please come in and fire my committee, every last one of them.  I hand myself over to you.  Please run my whole life for me.”   That is not complication; that is salvation.
“Accepting Jesus” is not just adding Jesus.   It is also subtracting the idols.

Resources for Parents

From the Children Desiring God blog.

The content contained in this booklet was summarized from two workshops delivered at the 2007 Children Desiring God Conference: Preparing Children to Hear the Gospel and Presenting the Gospel to Children. You can stream or download audio from both workshops in English and in Spanish.
If by now you are curious about the Ten Essential Truths of the Gospel presented in the booklet, here they are:

1. God is the sovereign Creator of all things.
2. God created people for His glory.
3. God is holy and righteous.
4. Man is sinful.
5. God is just and is right to punish sin.
6. God is merciful. He is kind to undeserving sinners.
7. Jesus is God’s holy and righteous Son.
8. God put the punishment of sinners on Jesus.
9. God offers the free gift of salvation to those who repent and believe in Jesus.
10. Those who trust in Jesus will live to please Him and will receive the promise of eternal life—enjoying God forever in heaven.

And related to the last post: ORDINARY pastors.

Especially funny but poignant is from 8:00 to 11:30.


T4G 2010 -- Session 9 -- C.J. Mahaney from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Competing with Famous Preachers

Given that this blog points to a lot of the very kinds of things that this blog article addresses, I post it here as a balance to the other posts. It is so true that a local pastor can have far deeper impact when he invests in his people than one of these famous preachers can when congregants listen to their sermons online. But you do have to do the shepherding work to accomplish this.

Gospel Math

Motivation and the gospel from Justin Taylor's blog.

What is the Gospel? (2)

An interview with Greg Gilbert of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and 9marks on the gospel and his new book.

And a memorable outline to explain it:
God
Man
Christ
Response

"Just Do Something" for those who don't like reading...

The book is great, but here is the topic addressed by the author himself. And a teaser quote (and there are more like it): "How many girlfriends does Jesus have to have?!" (@ 41:50 in the context of about 40:00 to 42:00)

New Books in the Good Reads Bin -->

On the right side of the screen there is a box you may not pay a lot of attention to. But as I listen to interviews at 9 Marks, I am constantly bombarded with book recommendations. So I write them down and plug them into the list there on the right. I recently added a few more. Categories? Two from RC Sproul that are kids books, and a few others on discipling kids. And then a bunch on church discipline and polity. Check them out.

Assurance: Ice Skating Metaphor

From a message by Kevin DeYoung in one of the sermons from a series on the Holy Spirit.  (beginning at 41:30)

"If the seal of the Spirit marks you out as belonging to God, that is true whether you have a deep assurance of that or not. If you get out and skate on the ice, it's not your faith in the ice that holds you up--it's the thickness of the ice. You may be wobbly. You may feel like "I'm gonna fall through any minute." But if the ice is two feet thick, even if your faith is weak, it is the object of your faith that holds you up. But the goal is to experience the freedom of skating around on the ice knowing that you have no possible way of falling through."

DG on Forgiveness

A crucial distinction between granting forgiveness to someone who repents and being ready to forgive those who don't repent. The more thorough treatment can be found at the link at the end of the article.

Gospel Motivation: Seeing Christ

I wish that I had the patience to transcribe from minute 21:00 to 23:15 from this sermon by Kevin DeYoung. [You may have technical diffficulties getting to it from here. If so, go to his sermon page and find "The Holy Spirit Equips and Promises" from January 24, 2010.]

If I could summarize it, he is essentially teaching the truth of 2 Cor 3:18:

"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."


We become like Christ (in, among other things, his obedience) by beholding the glory of the Lord. Look at how glorious Christ is. Meditate on it. Swim in it. Gaze upon Jesus in his word and in your past and in the work he is doing around us. When we do so rightly, we find ourselves wanting to be like him. Not merely following the rules because we are supposed to--but because we really want to. And this is precisely what the Holy Spirit does: "For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." He points our hearts to Christ and there we find joy to obey.

Kevin uses a great analogy of how when we marvel at someone truly talented at what they do (like a figure skater, or Michael Jordan in the 90s, or any other exceptional person we admire), we find in ourselves an amazement that pushes us in some degree to want to be like them. And so it is when we behold Christ.

Kevin is also making the point that becoming like one of these "greats" requires effort--but it is not an effort of loathesome burden, but of joy from inspiration.

This song is one means of so meditating on the character and value of Christ. Enjoy

Keeping the Gospel in View While Preaching

How important is it for a preacher to preach Christ from every text of Scripture? 
 
It's an ambiguous question. Let's see if I can give the two ways I'm hearing it.

It's important that every sermon from a Christian preacher be a Christian sermon, that is, a sermon that, if a Jewish or Muslim person heard it, they wouldn't like. If they like it, something is wrong with it, because they reject Christ as Messiah and crucified and risen as the forgiver of the sins of the world.
And since they reject it, if they hear a sermon that they're totally OK with, then something is missing. The sermon should somehow communicate that this is all based on and aiming toward the work of Christ and the glory of Christ.

However, I don't think there's any particular way that that needs to be made explicit. In other words, when you preach on Proverbs, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise," you want to preach what's there and show that there are moral lessons to be learned from God's providence in the world.
But you will somehow connect that with what makes you a Christian. You're not a Christian because you look at ants and feel them to be especially helpful morally in setting a good example of discipline. That doesn't make anybody a Christian.

So if you just preach, "Let's all be more diligent because ants are, and God says to," that's not a Christian sermon. Somehow it's got to be connected to the bigger redemptive-historical thing that God is doing that saves sinners and strengthens sinners.

What makes that sermon finish is that what you want in preaching discipline is Christian discipline, discipline that is dependent on the Holy Spirit, discipline that is not earning your salvation, discipline that is the fruit and not the root of your acceptance with God. And all of that takes you to the cross.

So preachers, wherever they're preaching in the Bible, must somehow make it plain that this is a Christian sermon. It has Christian roots and the glory of Christ is at stake. And I think there are hundreds of ways to do that.

Praying for the Sick in a Hospital

A friend sent me this via email. This will put another item on the blog roll for sure.

Pastor Dad

Good stuff for Dads on being shepherds at home. Download the free ebook at the end.

Thanks RP.

Ben Patterson on Prayer: Several Messages

Ben spoke at the Magnify Conference at Kevin DeYoung's church. Here are some motivating and insightful messages on prayer. I first heard of Ben Patterson through an article (well, two actually) in Leadership Journal that revolutionized the way we led our worship team in prayer. An exemplary model and messenger on the subject.

Session 1 Why we Must Pray
Session 2 Why we Don't Pray
Session 3 Why we May Pray
Session 4 A Concert of Prayer
Session 5 Q&A with Ben and Loretta Patterson
Bonus: Ben Preaching Sunday Morning

Sinners don't go to hell because they don't know Jesus

From Ray Comfort's blog:

An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?" "No," said the priest, "not if you did not know." "Then why," asked the Inuit earnestly, "did you tell me?" -ANNIE DILLARD. Abe

The priest wasn’t telling the truth. I have used the same scenario in The Evidence Bible to show the foolishness of such a thought. God would be unjust to send anyone to Hell for not knowing something:

"No one will go to hell because they haven’t heard of Jesus Christ. The heathen will go to hell for murder, rape, adultery, lust, theft, lying, etc. Sin is not failing to hear the gospel. Rather, "sin is the transgression of the Law" (1 John 3:4). If we really care about the lost, we will become missionaries and take the good news of God’s forgiveness in Christ to them."

The confusion comes from misinterpreting the meaning of John 16:9: "Why will sinners go to Hell? Much damage has been done to the cause of the gospel by telling the world that they will go to hell 'because they don’t believe in Jesus.' This makes no sense to the ungodly. It seems unreasonable that God would eternally damn them for not believing something.

"However, the verse can be explained this way: If a man jumps out of a plane without a parachute, he will perish because of the results of gravity. Had he put on a parachute, he would have been saved. In one sense, he perished because he didn’t put on the parachute. But the primary reason he died was because of the effects of unforgiving gravitational pull.

"If a sinner refuses to trust in Jesus Christ when he passes through the door of death, he will perish. This isn’t because he refused to trust the Savior, but because he transgressed the Law of God. Had he 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ' (see Romans 13:14), he would have been saved; but because he refused to repent, he will suffer the full consequences of his sin. Sin is not 'failing to believe in Jesus.' Sin is ‘transgression of the Law’ (see 1 John 3:4)." From,The Evidence Bible.

Research on Parenting from Pediatricians

While this site (below) isn't about the gospel, apologetically and practically, it has some good resources on parenting from the American College of Pediatricians. Based on, from what I can tell, sound research methodology. Spanking: does it teach kids to be violent? Homosexuality: innate? And dozens of other topics.

Chill the Heck Out

The fact is some Christians do need to chill the heck out. There is such a thing as pathological seriousness. It is possible to be too intense. Young Christians, especially when they are getting meaty theology and God-centeredness for the first time, can be prone to manic bouts of self-flagellation, spurts of judgmentalism, and unhealthy hyper-watchfulness. I know because there have been times in my life when I’ve been prone to all three.

Disappointment in/with the Church: DeYoung

Over at Kevin DeYoung's blog, he's listed three really practical and helpful posts for pastors and church members on dealing with disappointment with the Church. Good stuff.

Number One: An Introduction.
Number Two: Questions Pastor's Should ask Themselves.
Number Three: Questions Members Should ask Themselves.

Sandra Hymn

Practical Advice for Pastoral Visitation

Great blog entry here on pastoral visitation. While it may be more applicable to smaller one-pastor churches, this advice offers practical thoughts on when to visit, how long to visit, who to visit and how to manage the rest of your week.

Happy Easter

The Indomitable Life of Christ

April 4, 2010  |  By: Tyler Kenney  |  Category: DG Resources

When Jesus was dead and buried, with a big stone rolled against the tomb, the Pharisees came to Pilate and asked for permission to seal the stone and guard the tomb. Pilate said, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can” (Matthew 27:65). So they did. They gave it their best shot—in vain.
It was hopeless then, it is hopeless today, and it will always be hopeless. Try as they may, people can’t keep Jesus down. They can’t keep him buried. They may use physical force or academic scorn or media blackout or political harassment or religious caricature. For a season they will think the tomb is finally sealed. But it never works. He breaks out.
- John Piper, from his article "They Gave It Their Best Shot—In Vain"

Adoniram Judson

Because a friend asked me about a biography on him, I started poking around and here are some places to start on one of the most fascinating stories of God's work through a faithful missionary.

Advice to Missionary Candidates.

The Popular Biography.

John Piper's biographical message. 

Was 3 Hours of Suffering Enough?

A Vision for a Church's Ministry to Children

David and Sally Michael offer a challenging and inspiring vision for ministry to children. I had the privilege a few years ago to sit with Sally and some other pastors over lunch. Very bright, God-loving, passionate person. In this interview you hear more of their heart on the matter.

J.I. Packer on Seeker Sensitivity...

From an interview @ 9Marks: "One of the ways in which the entertainment culture expresses itself today is, it seems to me, is in the kind of [...] entertainment that's presented so often in churches that call themselves seeker friendly, and which say, if asked to explain themselves, "Well, we are orienting everything we do to attract the uncommitted outsider." I think there are two things wrong there, not just one. One is that we shouldn't cheapen or limit the worshiping and teaching life of the congregation in order to concentrate on people who are not yet members of the congregation. Otherwise the congregation will starve and I can tell you frankly that I have met members of congregations that have gone overboard in being seeker friendly and the saints are starving. But there's a second thing wrong, and that is that God himself is being dishonored by establishing a wavelength of entertainment which means gratifying people's present interests, which means worldliness, which means unspirituality. Which means that if the outsider is allured by the skits and the songs and the drama and all of that, [then] he or she will either have to learn at a late stage about the greatness and the majesty of God or, he or she will be an immature, juvenile, stunted Christian for the rest of their days. As a way of forming people in Christ, the seeker-friendly, seeker-sensitive way of structuring church life seems to me to be absolutely wrong at that level too.

J.I. Packer on false conversions...

From a 9Marks Interview: The preacher says, mistakenly, "If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, you'll be forgiven and justified and saved." Then the preacher offers him the wording of a sinner's prayer and he prays it and he goes out of church saying, "I'm a Christian now." And nothing has been said to him about repentance. Nothing has been said to him about saying good-bye to the old life of self-centered self-indulgence. Nothing has been said to him about the fact that henceforth, he has a new life given him by the Lord and he belongs to the Lord who's given him the new life--he's bought with a price, hes not his own--and therefore, his whole business in life (I say "he"--it'll be "she" as well) their whole business in life is to glorify God in the way they live day by day.
     Where those things aren't said, you have an inadequate presentation of the gospel and you're simply asking for false conversions. That is: people believing they've become Christians when in fact they haven't. No one becomes a Christian who hasn't repented. No one becomes a Christian who isn't consciously saying good-bye to the old life and welcoming the new one.

J.I. Packer on Owen's Death...

I read this awhile back and it is so worth reading. Perhaps one of the best explanations of true Calvinism I've read. Packer is brilliant.

“But wait a minute,” says someone, “it’s all very well to talk like this about the gospel; but surely what Owen is doing is defending limited atonement—one of the five points of Calvinism? When you speak of recovering the gospel, don’t you mean that you just want us all to become Calvinists?”
These questions are worth considering, for they will no doubt occur to many. At the same time, however, they are questions that reflect a great deal of prejudice and ignorance. “Defending limited atonement”—as if this was all that a Reformed theologian expounding the heart of the gospel could ever really want to do! “You just want us all to become Calvinists”—as if Reformed theologians had no interest beyond recruiting for their party, and as if becoming a Calvinist was the last stage of theological depravity, and had nothing to do with the gospel at all. Before we answer these questions directly, we must try to remove the prejudices which underlie them by making clear what Calvinism really is; and therefore we would ask the reader to take note of the following facts, historical and theological, about Calvinism in general and the “five points” in particular.

Paul Tripp

Counterfeit gospels. 

Seminary's role in pastoral preparation.

I don’t think seminaries can do everything. And I get very tired of hearing young men or pastors who are seasoned, blame the seminaries for their inadequacies. I don’t think seminaries are designed to make complete pastors. Pastoring makes complete pastors. Life makes complete pastors. Families make complete pastors. Seminary is a little slice of influence in life. They’re good for languages. They’re good for theology and they’re good for historical theology. They’re good for apologetics. And they’re good for a few techniques here and there. And that’s pretty small. I mean, just think of what the challenges are in ministry. And if you go into ministry and say “Oh, the seminary didn’t prepare me for this!” I’m going to say to you: “Why do you think it should?” […] I skipped every practical course I could and took exegesis instead. And I would do it the same today. Why? When I took my first pastorate, I had never baptized anybody. I had never buried anybody. I had never dedicated a baby. I had preached fifteen sermons at age 34. I had done two weddings. I had never sat beside a hospital bed while anybody died. I was totally green. And I went to school for five years—the school of life. I did a funeral every three weeks for 18 months. And the old people fell in love with me. It was the best gift I ever got, because they all showed up at the funerals. The young people never came to the funerals. All the old people came to the funerals. They heard me preach over and over again and began to like this young fella who helped them die well—who helped the families. I didn’t know how to do a funeral. I just opened my bible and read about death and resurrection and gospel and thought: “Whoa! I’ve got good news!” I didn’t need a course of funerals—what a useless course. The month before I took the church I went to David Livingston on vacation at a motel and I said “I’m gonna be a pastor in a month. Show me how to baptize people.” He took me to the swimming pool and he said, “take your left hand, put it on their right hand, leave the right hand free to hold their nose, grab ‘em by this arm right here, put your hand behind their back, push ‘em under and pull ‘em up.” That didn’t take a course! And it was free! […]

Here’s the point: I want guys to come out of seminary loving their bible, knowing as much of it as they can. I want them to be broken and humble. I want them to be prayer-filled. I want them to be full of the Holy Spirit. I want them to love people and care about the lost. I want them to have a vision for the world. And a few skills and a willingness to make a lot of mistakes and learn heaps in their first years.    

Keller at The King's College

Two Tim Keller Studies

The Prodigal God

Gospel in Life

You'll have to fork out a little $$ to get them, but...

It takes All Types

Kevin DeYoung on planting and pastoring churches of all shapes and kinds. Must read, especially for those younger pastors who want to reach people like them. Not a reproof, but a reminder.

If You Can, Go. T4G2010.

Worth Saying Over and Over

From Coming Clean:

Graeme Goldsworthy:

The gospel is saying that, what man cannot do in order to be accepted with God, this God Himself has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. To be acceptable to God we must present to God a life of perfect and unceasing obedience to his will. The gospel declares that Jesus has done this for us. For God to be righteous he must deal with our sin. This also he has done for us in Jesus. The holy law of God was lived out perfectly for us by Christ, and its penalty was paid perfectly for us by Christ. The living and dying of Christ for us, and this alone is the basis of our acceptance with God.

Chan on Devotion: Penetrating

Stott on Missions

From John Piper's introduction to the newest (3rd Edition) of Let the Nations be Glad:

John Stott has sounded the note I love to hear and echo:
The highest of missionary motives is neither obedience to the Great Commission (important as that is), nor love for sinners who are alienated and perishing (strong as that incentive is, especially when we contemplate the wrath of God . . .), but rather zeal—burning and passionate zeal—for the glory of Jesus Christ. . . . Only one imperialism is Christian . . . and that is concern for His Imperial Majesty Jesus Christ, and for the glory of his empire.

The Multifaceted Role of Preaching

The God-ordained means to save, sanctify, and strengthen his church is preaching. The proclamation of the gospel is what elicits saving faith in those whom God has chosen (Ro 10:14). Through the preaching of the Word comes the knowledge of the truth that results in godliness (Jn 17:17; Ro 16:25; Eph 5:26). Preaching also encourages believers to live in the hope of eternal life, enabling them to endure suffering (Ac 14:21–22). The faithful preaching of the Word is the most important element of pastoral ministry.

(John MacArthur, Jr., “Preaching” in Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry, John MacArthur, Jr., ed. (Dallas, TX: Word, 1995) p 250)

Why Expository Preaching

All good things require reminders. Contrary perhaps to my mother and grandmother's wisdom: "if it was important you wouldn't have forgotten it"--which is not altogether untrue; however, many times, things that are worth remembering are worth repeating so as to not forget them. The why of expository preaching is no exception.

McLarenism--another gospel

I read Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian a few years ago. I did so tethered to a friend in order to not be deceived by someone's unique communication skills during one of my "questioning phases". For those who don't have such friends to tether to, try on Kevin DeYoung. He writes a great response to McLaren's new book, which he is bold enough to call a New Christianity. Christianity is about the gospel of Jesus. A new Christianity then, must be about a new gospel or a new Jesus or both. Seems to me that the apostle Paul had words about this kind of thing.

Why Worship is Important for the Soul

A couple of clips from a couple of great men. Kauflin is worship pastor at Covenant Life Church. David Powlison is one of the founders of CCEF. In an age when worship can be dry (on one hand) or over-emotionalized (on the other hand)--and where counseling can be so behavioristic, it is refreshing to hear these two men give Christ-centered, gospel-saturated insight into both.

Mahaney for Pastors

Great message my CJ Mahaney for pastors. Particularly: being patient with your flock's growth; encouraging (not admonishing ) the weak; hanging with the flock immediately before and after the message to temper and tender our tone while presenting the message. Good stuff.

Exegetical Fallacies

At Thabiti Anybwile's blog, one of several great articles.

Piper on Retirement

Biblical Theology @ 9 Marks Interview

This interview points to a few good books probably worth checking out on Biblical Theology. They also talk about the difference between that and systematic theology and the place of each in the church's understanding of the Bible.

9 Marks Interview: Darryl G. Hart

While I am not so sure about what Darryl talks about during the first 3/4 of this interview, he is certainly provocative. One of the things he talks about is eschatology and how that should create within us a kind of contentment (of already-not yet kind) and what the implications of that are for living in a secular place. He advocates the separation of church and state in what I believe are compelling ways. He advocates tolerance and separation at the same time. He has written a few books on these topics as well that are probably worth checking out--maybe from a library IF they carry them.  One of the specifically interesting things is his desire for the eschewing of the "evangelical" label. His arguments for doing so are compelling and I have anecdotally  found them helpful in evangelism with secular academic culture.

Strength-based Stuff

One of my favorite practical blogs is Matt Perman's What's Best Next. A couple of items I need to bookmark for later...for self and for parenting. This parenting one would be good given that we are home schooling and our oldest daughter at age seven devours books: 1-2 a day at a 4-8th grade level. She is learning a lot this way. And while she is not that into math, she is learning a ton more than how to read by reading. Her strength is evident here. The other three kids...need to work on identifying that.

Far Too Easily Pleased: Video

What I love about this video is that I couldn't figure out where it was going until the end. Simple, but made a point well.

APs article on Matt Chandler

Piper on order of regeneration and faith

John Piper talks in this video excerpt about the order in which new birth (regeneration) and faith come. John Murray writes about this in great detail (as well as other elements in the chain from regeneration up to glorification in his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied. This may seem unimportant, but it seems to me that understanding what the Bible says about how someone get's saved is perhaps one of the most important things to understand in the universe. 

The Centrality of the Gospel

Great paper by Tim Keller--classic Keller really--the stuff echoes through everything he says, writes or does.

Mini Books on Big Topics

From CCEF, these mini books are supposed to be good. I haven't checked them out yet, but Mark Dever commends them in an interview with David Powlison.

David Powlison on Bob Newhart "Stop It!" Sketch

We watched the video embedded in this blog at our men's retreat last year with Norris Williams. Good to be reminded of the humor, the memories of the retreat, and the truth that David Powlison shares here.

One Reason to Memorize Scripture

What about those who never heard the gospel?

Piper: The Gospel in 3.5 Minutes

Plan, Event, Achievement, Free Offer, Application, To Bring Us to God

Dever: The Gospel in 2 minutes

Keller on how religion wrecks the world

What is the Gospel?

What Tim Keller says to Pastors RE: Family

Mark Dever Interviews Donald Whitney

So now I want to move to Kentucky to take a couple of classes from Donald Whitney. Extremely practical advice regarding the spiritual disciplines in this interview. He's written a few books too. The next one I want to get is Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. In the interview, he talks about infusing joy  back into spiritual disciplines in a way I actually believe would work. Specifically, he talks about praying through scripture as a way to keep prayer fresh. The point? We generally pray the same words about the same things and get bored. He points out that we will generally be praying about the same things (about 8 categories--ie family, future, un-believers, etc); but, if we use the same words all the time, it will grow stale easily. Praying through scripture is his remedy.

Dever Interview with Kevin DeYoung

This is a great interview of Kevin De Young. He wrote a few really good books. I've read one of them (Just Do Something) and found it very practical and refreshingly biblical. It have to admit that I was somewhat surprised to find that he holds the pedobaptist position, but even in holding it he defends it well (though not convincingly enough to dissuade me).

At one point in the interview, Mark Dever reads a blurb (start at 50:34-52:13) from one of his books (Why We Love the Church...) that is really insightful regarding criticisms (start at 49:15 regarding church criticism in general) often put forth against organized religion.Excellent stuff.

The interview covers polity, the emergent church and specifically a critique of Brian McLaren and other interesting tid bits.

Because of Haiti--a second listen

Piper's NPR interview following the Tsunami is just as appropriate today as it was in 2005 in light of the tragedy in Haiti.

Going to prison makes you a theologian

In an earlier post I mentioned Piper going to Angola Prison in Louisiana and how his account of it was helpful. I listened to the message he passionately preached there, as well as the Q&A with inmates after the message. These guys know their bibles--and probably BECAUSE they are in prison. And as always, Piper is seemingly at his best when he is preaching in a specific milieu. He also shares with the men about some of the struggles he personally has as a pastor dealing with suffering of people he knows--like the funeral of a suicide for someone who did not know Jesus.

Sound Advice for Marriage/Conflict

Tim Keller, in an excellent seminar with his wife Kathy on marriage said this, which I thought was applicable not only to marriage, but whenever someone comes to you with a complaint:

Your first response ought to be “I didn’t realize that. I didn’t understand that. Please tell me more.” It’s probably more important to communicate love than it is to communicate content. And very often when a person comes to you and says “I’ve got a problem…” …at least this very often happens—you start to say, “Well, here’s the reason for that…” and you start to explain. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Never answer a feeling with a fact. Answer a feeling with a feeling. And very often when a person comes and is complaining, they really aren’t that interested in the content, they’re looking for love. And that’s where you have to learn to communicate love in a way that the person understands.