New Sermon Series on the Book of Ruth

Beginning this Sunday I will be preaching a series entitled Divine Faithfulness: The Book of Ruth. I can't wait, as Ruth is one of my favorite books of the Bible. As Sinclair Ferguson writes,

The book of Ruth is not a work of deep theological reasoning like Paul's epistle to the Romans, yet it is full of theology. It is not a magnificent symphony on the work of Christ like the Gospel of John, yet it ultimately points to the coming of Christ. It is not full of vivid apocalyptic imagery like the book of Revelation, yet it traces the details of God's working in the unfolding of the events of history. It is not basic instruction about the kingdom of God like the Sermon on the Mount, yet it contains important lessons about life in the kingdom.

If you live in the Flint area, we'd love to have you join us at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings this fall as we examine this Old Testament treasure of a book. Audio of sermons in the series will be posted on our website as well.

TGC Conference Audio Available

Last month around 5,000 people gathered in Orlando for The Gospel Coalition's national conference.  As TGC's founding documents state, their desire is "to serve the church we love . . . in an effort to renew the contemporary church in the ancient gospel of Christ." As such, they have made all of the TGC13 conference media (78 talks) available online for free. What a blessing to have all of this great teaching at our fingertips!

Maundy Thursday Sermon...Denying Jesus

Last night at our Maundy Thursday service, I preached from Luke 22:31-34 on Denying Jesus. Audio is available here and below is an excerpt.

Peter needed to come to a realization and it's the same realization we need to make: We do not strive on the basis of our own strength; we thrive on the basis of God's strength. When we are weak, he is strong through us.

We need to remember at all times that it is not our personal holiness that earns our spot with God. I need to remember that I am a wretched, miserable sinner, saved by grace alone that I might pursue holiness to the glory of God. And I even fail at that having been saved, and yet, as great as my sin is, the grace of God is greater still! And I must remember that always.

God pours out his grace on us. He floods us with his grace. And we must realize too that he does this not merely so that we would be receptacles of his grace, but that it might flood into us and flow through us and pour out of us into the lives of others. We are to be conduits of God's grace, not merely receptacles of it.

Now what does that look like? Well, it means that we ought to serve humbly, realizing that we are no better than anyone else. It means that we should serve selflessly and sacrificially. It means that we should offer forgiveness to those who have offended us, to those who have wronged us, to those who have injured us, to those who are even our enemies. Not because they deserve it, but because they need it, and because when we needed it Christ Jesus gave it to us.

Sunday's Sermon: Discerning the Body

This Sunday I preached from 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 on "Discerning the Body." The following is a brief excerpt from my sermon:

On the night when Jesus was betrayed--literally, on the night “he was being betrayed”--even in the midst of being betrayed, Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper. And it calls our attention to what the Gospels say about that night. What else did Jesus do on that night...in that room...with his disciples? He took a towel and put it around his waist and then he got down on his knees with a basin of water and he washed his disciples' feet, each and every one of them. 

• He washed the feet of Thomas, who would doubt his resurrection. 
• He washed the feet of Peter, who would three times would deny him. 
• He even washed the feet of Judas, who would betray him. 

That is the example of our Lord; that is the kind of love he showed us. And it is the kind of love we are required to show one another. And after washing their feet he issued to them a command…“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35) This should always be the case; we should always have love for one another, but especially when we come to the Lord's table, it is necessary that we have love for one another.

 Click here to listen to this week's entire sermon as well as past sermons I've preached.

Sermon: Living as Sojourners and Exiles

Like most of us, I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about politics, government and the election. A week ago Monday I posted A Christian View of the Election...and the Four Years that Follow which was among the most widely read blog posts I've written. Then on Sunday I preached a sermon entitled Living as Sojourners and Exiles,dealing with how exactly we are to live as Christians in America. The following is an excerpt from it:

Freedom is among our most cherished ideals in America. And America has unquestionably blessed by God. Our standard of living and our set of freedoms are unparalleled in human history. For this, we have much to be thankful.

Even so, America is not the “City of God.” Rather she is the city to which we have been exiled. As such, we must heed the words of Jeremiah when he says, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find our welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:7) But we must not make the mistake Mitt Romney made a couple weeks ago when he proclaimed that “this nation is the hope of the earth.” No! The hope of the earth is Jesus Christ and him alone. For there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. And when the Bible speaks of a city set upon a hill, it is not speaking of America, but of the Church – that Church which Jesus Christ builds and tells us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it! (Matthew 16:18)

Let us therefore, like our father, Abraham “look forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God,” (Hebrews 11:10) for there is a day coming when “The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15)

So we trust not in earthly kingdoms or Presidents. Not in politicians, Democrat or Republican. For if you place your confidence in politicians, you will be disappointed. And if you place your ULTIMATE confidence in them, you will ultimately find yourself devastated.

Rather we trust in our King who has once come and who is to return! And as we await that return, we live as sojourners and exiles: People who are honorable. People under authority. And people who are free.

Click here to listen to this and other sermons of mine in their entirety.

Jesus...Better Than Expected

We are blessed to live in an age where the internet provides us with a cornucopia of good teaching on which we might feast. And while I would strongly speak against making the internet your primary source of church involvement, listening to sermons online can be a wonderful supplement to an already healthy Christian life.

In this sense, I am thankful are Kevin DeYoung's pulpit ministry at University Reformed Church in East Lansing and for the fact that his sermons are so easily accessible via the internet. I regularly listen to Kevin's sermons and benefit both as a preacher seaking to hone his own preaching skills as well as (more importantly) as a Christian who is regularly fed as Kevin opens and expounds upon the word of God.

He recently preached form Acts 3 dealing with Peter's address at Solomon's Portico. In it we see that though Jesus may not be what we thought or were expecting, he is, in reality, far beyond our understanding and even better than our expectations. Kevin states,

Do you notice how Peter paints such a stunning picture showing the contrast between human assessment of Jesus and God's assessment of Jesus? There will always be what men and women think about Christ, and then there is what God says about Christ:

You thought he was a false prophet, Peter says, but according to Moses he was THE Prophet.
You spoke against him, but Samuel spoke of him.
You said his father was the devil, God said he would be the son of father Abraham.
You had no ears to hear the gospel, but the Lord said you should listen to whatever he says.
You considered him a blasphemer but he was the Holy One of Israel.
You treated him wickedly, but he was the Righteous One of God
You gave life to a murderer, and you murdered the Author of Life.
You handed him over to die, God raised him up from the dead.
You denied him before Pilate, God glorified him in heaven
The One you delivered to the Romans, God has made your Deliverer.
And the One you would not save, God sent to be your Savior.

Have you ever known a man like this? Has there ever been such a gulf between what a people thought of someone and what he actually was? And can you hear this Savior speaking to you?

Some of you have been sort of checking out the church, sort of checking out Christianity or you've been sort of sleep-walking through your faith for twenty years, and yet you know  God has been saying something to you. And if you hear the voice of the Good Shepherd this morning, do not harden your hearts. You have never met a Savior like this and you have need of a Savior like this. And if he is calling, you would do well to heed his call.

Sermon: It's Not About Me!

I suppose people in all times and places have had a certain level of narcissism. It is our tendency to see the world from our own vantage point, and such a limited perspective will inevitably lead to a sense that the world revolves around me.

A couple months ago I wrote a blog post about this topic and referenced 1 Timothy 1:15-17. Yesterday I preached from this passage, dealing specifically with our need to gain a better perspective on self, a better perspective on others, and (ultimately) a better perspective on God. Audio is available here for you to listen to or download.

RefNet: 24-Hour Christian Internet Radio

I have long wondered, with such of plethora of options out there, why I could never find a Christian TV or radio station that could be counted upon to offer consistently sound teaching. There are certainly great teachers who are on the air, but inevitably they share the airwaves with others who are somewhere along the spectrum between "poor" and "heretical."

In light of this, imagine my excitement yesterday when I found out about Refnet, a new ministry of Ligonier Ministries. Refnet is an online radio station, streaming with solid content 24 hours a day. You can listen via your computer or through the free app that is offered through the iTunes App Store. Programming includes preaching, teaching, Bible readings, news, music, audiobooks, biblically-based audio drama produced & more.

Lloyd-Jones Sermon Audio Available for Free

If you like great preaching and are not currently at Together 4 the Gospel (I assume there are at least three or four of us), then I have some big news for you. Apparently Jonathan Catherwood, the grandson of Dr. Martyn Llloyd-Jones, announced this morning at T4G that the MLJ Trust will be making audio of ALL of his grandfather's sermons available for free at www.mljtrust.org.

This is great news as over 1600 sermons from one of the greatest preachers of the 20th century will be available to us all beginning tomorrow. I understand the announcement was met with rousing applause at T4G (no surprise). Click here to read the particulars of the announcement.

TGC11 Workshop Audio

Yesterday Zach Nielsen posted a blog entry that had links to audio from all of the workshops at the 2011 Gospel Coalition Conference. I've re-posted them below.  So much good teaching, so little memory available on my iPod...

Training the Next Generation of Pastors and Other Christian Leaders
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. Mark Driscoll, David Helm, Don Carson, and Ligon Duncan

The Pastor’s Counseling Ministry
David Powlison

The Gospel for Muslims
Thabiti Anyabwile

Is Your Church a Safe Place for Sad People? Learning to Walk with Each Other Through Loss
Nancy Guthrie

Old Testament Narrative: Letting the Literature Speak
Kathleen B. Nielson

Women Teaching Women the Bible: A Suggested Model
Jenny Salt

Justification Versus Self-Justification
Ray Ortlund Jr.

Preaching a Christ to Whom We Can Come
Colin Smith

Orphans and Adoption
Russell Moore and Voddie Baucham

Power Through Weakness
Tim Savage

Signs of Grace in Inner-City Church Planting
Eric Mason

Gospel Faithfulness and Business Leadership in Tumultuous Times
Bob Doll

Christianity Explored – A Biblical Strategy for Effective Evangelism in the Local Church
Craig Dyer and Alistair Begg

What Should a Local Church Look Like?
Tim Keller, Crawford Loritts, and Mark Dever

Pastoring with Discernment: Applying the Gospel to the Hearts of Those You Serve
C. J. Mahaney

Asian American Christian Thought and Theological History: Pastoral Implications for Diversity and Innovation in a Multiracial Church
Stephen Um and Julius Kim

An Invitation to Hispanic Pastors and Would-Be Pastors
Juan Sanchez

Humble Orthodoxy
Josh Harris

Gospel-Centered Pastoral Leadership
Sandy Willson

The Feminist Mistake
Mary Kassian

Literary Beauty and Gospel Truth: Celebrating the Biblical Union
Kathleen B. Nielson

Pure Desire: Gospel-Centered Morality in a Sex-Saturated Society
Gary Inrig

Mixing Whites and Colors Without Making Them Run: Building Gospel-Centered, Intentionally Multicultural Churches
John Mahaffey

‘They All Look Alike To Me’: The Implications of a Christ-Centered Identity on the Issue of Racial Reconciliation in the Church
K. Edward Copeland

Writing Corporate Worship Music
Keith and Kristyn Getty

The Spirit-Filled Missional Ministry of Jesus
Mark Driscoll

Trellis and Vine
Tony Payne and Colin Marshall

Fostering a Praying Church
Scotty Smith

The Genesis of Gender
Mary Kassian

When Despair Invades Gospel Work: Learning from Elijah
Paige Benton Brown

One-on-One Discipleship: Grass-Roots Church Growth
Jenny Salt

Biblical Theology: What It Is and Why It Matters
Stephen Um and Richard Lints

Substitutes for the Gospel: A Modest Critique of Modern Evangelicalism
Erwin Lutzer

The Mission of the Church
Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert

Leading Corporate Worship Music
Keith and Kristyn Getty

Seizing Global Gospel Opportunities: Why and How You and Your Church Can Get Involved
Michael Oh

Questioning Evangelism
Randy Newman

The Heart of the Expositor
Kent Hughes

Free Audiobook: The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

Each month Christianaudio.com offers a featured audio book for free.  Past selections have included many wonderful titles, and this month is no different as they have made R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God available for free download.  If you would like to be among those who download it, simply click here and follow the directions in the "Free Audio Download" section.

Free Audiobook - Adopted for Life

Each month Christianaudio.com offers a premium audiobook for free download.  This month's selection is Russell Moore's Adopted for Life.  Click here to take advantage of this wonderful offer.

You can also click here to gain access to many other free resources from christianaudio.com.