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Audio of the messages are now online from the recent “Don’t Stop Loving the Chruch” pastors’ seminar at West Cannon Baptist Church.

Kevin DeYoung

• Open Basements, Bad Marriages, and Decorpulation: Why People are Chucking the Church
• Original Sin: The Missing Jewel in Ecclesiastical Reflection
• Just Do Something: Following God’s Will is Easier and Harder Than You Think

Ted Kluck

• Why We Love the Church

Mike Wittmer

• Of Centered and Bounded Sets: What If There Is No Church to Chuck?
• Outside the Church There Is No Salvation: The Missing Jewel in Evangelical (especially Baptist) Reflection

Panel Discussion

• Don’t Stop Loving the Church

D.A. Carson on Biblical inerrancy — video after the jump…
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Here’s a quote from Spurgeon’s sermon Salvation by Knowing the Truth that is a noteworthy reminder of the power of God’s unbound Word, of which I preached a couple weeks ago from 2 Timothy 2:8-9. (Via: CBC Evangelism blog)

YOU WHO DESIRE TO SAVE SINNERS. You must, dear friends, bring the truth before them when you want to bring them to Jesus Christ. I believe that exciting meetings do good to some. Men are so dead and careless that almost anything is to be tolerated that wakes them up; but for real solid soul-work before God’ telling men the truth is the main thing. What truth? It is gospel truth, truth about Christ that they want. Tell it in a loving, earnest, affectionate manner, for God wills that they should be saved, not in any other way, but in this way—by a knowledge of the truth. He wills that all men should be saved in this way—not by keeping them in ignorance, but by bringing the truth before them. That is God’s way of saving them. Have your Bible handy when you are reasoning with a soul. Just say, “Let me call your attention to this passage.” It has a wonderful power over a poor staggering soul to point to the Book itself. Say, “Did you notice this promise, my dear friend? And have you seen that passage?” Have the Scriptures handy. There is a dear brother of mine here whom God blesses to many souls, and I have seen him talking to some, and turning to the texts very handily. I wondered how he did it so quickly, till I looked in his Bible, and found that he hind the choice texts printed on two leaves and inserted into the book, so that he could always open upon them. That is a capital plan, to get the cheering words ready to hand, the very ones that you know have comforted you and have comforted others. It sometimes happens that one single verse of God’s word will make the light to break into a soul, when fifty days of reasoning would not do it. I notice that when souls are saved it is by our texts rather than by our sermons. God the Holy Ghost loves to use his own sword. It is God’s word, not man’s comment on God’s word, that God usually blesses. Therefore, stick to the quotation of the Scripture itself, and rely upon the truth. If a man could be saved by a lie it would be a lying salvation. Truth alone can work results that are true. Therefore, keep on teaching the truth. God help you to proclaim the precious truth about the bleeding, dying, risen, exalted, coming Savior; and God will bless it.

Do you treasure Christ above all else? Here’s a challenging video, a Don’t Wast Your Life sermon jam worth watching and being challenged by.

Video after the jump…
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A word from A.W. Pink on the preacher’s duty of prayer:

The preacher’s obligations are not fully discharged when he leaves the pulpit, for he needs to water the Seed which he has sown… [T]he apostles devoted themselves “continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word,” and therein have they left an excellent example to be observed by all who follow them in the sacred vocation. Observe the order, and not only observe but heed and practice the same. The most laborious and carefully prepared sermon is likely to fall unctionless on the hearers unless it has been born out of travail of soul before God. Unless the sermon be the product of earnest prayer we must not expect it to awaken the spirit of prayer in those who hear it. As we have pointed out, Paul mingled supplications with his instructions. It is our privilege and duty to retire to the secret place after we leave the pulpit and beg God to write His Word on the hearts of those who have listened to us, to prevent the enemy from snatching away the Seed, to so bless our efforts that they may bear fruit to God’s eternal praise.

Luther was wont to say, “There are three things which go to the making of a successful preacher: supplication, meditation, and tribulation.” This was taken down by one of his students from his “Table Talks.” We know not what elaboration the great Reformer made, but we suppose he meant that prayer is necessary to bring the preacher into a suitable frame to handle divine things and endue him with power; that meditation on the Word is essential in order to supply him with material for his message; and that tribulation is required as ballast for his vessel, for the minister of the gospel needs trials to keep him humble, as the apostle was given a thorn in the flesh that he might not be unduly exalted by the abundance of the revelations given him. Prayer is the appointed medium of receiving spiritual communications for the instruction of our people. We must be much with God before we are fitted to go forth and speak in His name.

From A.W. Pink, Gleanings From Paul

D. A. Carson’s publications have recently been compiled into a comprehensive bibliography by Andy Naselli. The full list is hosted on D.A. Carson’s page at The Gospel Coalition’s website. Of special interest are the seven full books in PDF format available for download most easily accessed from Andy’s site.

Evangel Baptist Church, Taylor, Michigan where my brother Ken is Senior Pastor recently celebrated the church’s 75th anniversary. Dr. James Grier is one of the former Pastors at Evangel and during the celebration spoke on Revelation 5. During his message he stated something I think is very helpful in addressing the challenges many have when studying Revelation.

In his words:

In the book of Revelation don’t ask questions. Just let the metaphors overwhelm you. Don’t sit there and try to figure out every detail. In point of fact if you want to master this book read it from Revelation 1:1 right through Revelation 22 in one sitting so this whole book comes together in all of it’s wonderful imagery flows over your mind. Don’t ask questions like when, why, how, they’re the wrong questions. We’re in the kind of literature that is meant to be imaginative and to cause us to begin to grasp in categories that we don’t feel comfortable with.

You can hear the audio of this quote in the audio player below.

You may also wish to download and listen to the whole message on Revelation 5 which I highly recommend. Right click, and “save as” this link for the full sermon audio.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:19 — 310.5KB)

I am thankful that the church is responding to the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller with a very clear statement of condemnation. God’s children cannot condone the taking of this man’s life as a response to his willingness to take the lives of unborn children. He was wrong to commit abortions, but there is no Biblical or moral ground for the taking of his life.

Al Mohler responded yesterday saying in an article on his blog:

Murder is murder. The law rightly affirms that the killing of Dr. George Tiller is murder. In this we must agree. We cannot rest until the law also recognizes the killing of the unborn as murder. The killing of Dr. George Tiller makes that challenge all the more difficult.

You can also listen to Al Mohler’s radio program from yesterday and his remarks about this news by clicking here — A Wicked Deed in Wichita — A Test for the Pro-Life Movement.

James MacDonald has also shared an article on this news in which he states:

Where government authorities fail in their job, we are to wait on the ultimate justice of God Himself. Of course Tiller deserved death, but in God’s time and according to the means God has ordained. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TRY AND DO GOD’S JOB FOR HIM!! That is always wrong and a set back for the countless faithful people who war against the evil scourge of abortion with patient reason and Christ honoring, law abiding resistance. We are to focus by faith on what is promised in the future:

Ray Pritchard notes in his recent article:

We need to think long-term because we serve a God whose purposes unfold across the centuries. It may be that our grandchildren will still live with abortion. I hope not, but it may turn out that way. No matter how long it takes we must not lose heart, we must not despair, and we must not turn to violence to advance the cause of life. And we should give no support to those who believe that this killing was anything other than murder.

John Piper on breaking entertainment’s hold on you

Kevin DeYoung shares his thoughts, worth your time this Memorial Day, on “Why Memorial Day is Worth Remembering.”

Dr. Wayne Grudem on the importance of teaching theology to the church.

David Wilkerson has grabbed attention for his recent declaration that “AN EARTH-SHATTERING CALAMITY IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN”. John Piper has weighed in with sound advice that we best “stick with the Bible”.

Says John Piper:

So my take on this prophetic word is that the scare will probably do good for a lot of people. The Bible is a scary book. And the future that is coming on unbelievers is scary beyond anything any preacher could conjure up.

But my own effort to be discerning says: Stick with the Bible, David. It is scary enough. And it is absolutely true. And your credibility will never fall.

To quote A.W. Tozer:

Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.

From The Pursuit Of God, by A. W. Tozer.

Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days. Any man who by repentance and a sincere return to God will break himself out of the mold in which he has been held, and will go to the Bible itself for his spiritual standards, will be delighted with what he finds there.

– A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter 5

Blue Like Jazz, the popular book by Donald Miller has has been brought to my attention a few times lately and with the arrival of Jazz Notes a few months ago which the publisher calls “the literary equivalent of a remix CD — cool sound-bytes strategically crafted from Don Miller’s classic Blue Like Jazz”, I think it’s worth taking a moment to point to few reviews of the book Blue Like Jazz.

From Gary Gilley’s review of Blue Like Jazz:

If he could lead them to God, according to the path of Scripture, rather than on some journey to spiritual jazz-land, then Blue Like Jazz would be a valuable resource. But Miller lacks the map himself. His journey leads him to Gandhi (p. 106, 116), Mother Teresa (p. 106, 201) and Brennan Manning (p. 182). It leads to a world which lacks rules and expectations (p. 210, 214, 215), elevates tolerance (p.216), self-love (chapter 19) and grace — as long as a person is not a Fundamentalist (see p. 15, 33, 79).

And while Tim Challies notes that he enjoyed the book in some ways he also says this in his review of Blue Like Jazz:

This irrational, feelings-based approach to Christianity is consistent with postmodern thought, where experience rather than an objective standard is the arbiter of truth. Miller rarely returns to the Scripture, and instead opts to explain his beliefs through the lens of his own experience. He seems to trust in experience instead of having a rational faith in a rational God who is truly sovereign. In fact, I do not recall any specific references from the Scripture – an oddity considering that the book claims to be thoughts on Christian Spirituality

Bonar died in 1892 and life has gotten no less distracting.

“One of the gravest perils which besets the ministry is a restless scattering of energies over an amazing multiplicity of interests which leaves no margin of time and of strength for receptive and absorbing communion with God.”
- Andrew Bonar

via: Gospel Reminders

John MacArthur takes on the idea that good preaching is aimed at the felt needs of the hearer. He notes: “This is what is wrong with superficial, marginally biblical preaching.”

I’d suggest preachers and parishioners read the whole thing here.

Here’s the summarized list.

1. It usurps the authority of God over the soul.
2. It removes the lordship of Christ from His church.
3. It hinders the work of the Holy Spirit.
4. It demonstrates appalling pride and a lack of submission.
5. It severs the preacher personally from the regular sanctifying grace of Scripture.
6. It clouds the true depth and transcendence of our message and therefore cripples both corporate and personal worship.
7. It prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ.
8. It depreciates by example the spiritual duty and priority of personal Bible study.
9. It prevents the preacher from being the voice of God on every issue of his time.
10. It breeds a congregation that is as weak and indifferent to the glory of God as their pastor is.
11. It robs people of their only true source of help.
12. It encourages people to become indifferent to the Word of God and divine authority.
13. It lies to people about what they really need.
14. It strips the pulpit of power.
15. It puts the responsibility on the preacher to change people with his cleverness.

“So preach the Word, even though it is currently out of fashion to do so (2 Tim. 4:2). That is the only way your ministry can ever truly be fruitful. Moreover, it assures that you will be fruitful in ministry, because God’s Word never returns to Him void; it always accomplishes that for which He sends it, and prospers in what He sends it to do (Isa. 55:11).”