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Merry Christmas

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May your day be filled with praise to Jesus for His coming and taking on human flesh so that we might be redeemed far as the curse is found. Let’s praise God today for the Gospel! Here’s a link to listen to or download Advent Songs by Sojourn Music:

The song “Glory Be” is my favorite.
At the height of the song, we hear:

Hallelujah, the Lord of life has come
To reconcile the nations to their God
Hallelujah, he’s coming back again
To finish what began in Bethlehem.

This is what we celebrate today.

The Week of Audio…

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After listening to Chandler’s excellent sermon…this week I’ve also listened to:

Sinclair Ferguson kick off advent with a Lord’s Supper message on proclaiming Christ’s death until He comes again. Lots of good stuff on eschatology in this short message.

I also listened (thanks to Thabiti) to an old message from a Piper Pastor’s Conference back in 1989 from Kent Hughes related to his book Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome. It was an excellent reminder of what faithful, cross-centered ministry looks like.

Listen and be encouraged.

Matt Chandler at Southern Seminary…

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I know many of you appreciate the ministry of Matt Chandler. His gifts are amazing and he consistently is used by God to bless my soul (and challenge me to holiness). This was true in a recent sermon I finally got around to listening to. Matt preached at Southern Seminary. Here’s the text, audio and video. Take time to consider his application of an amazing text for ministers.

Matt Chandler Stuff…

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JT posted a link to an interview with Matt Chandler that really gives a great overview of how sanctification should happen in the local church. It would be worth your time to read it.

I also listened to Chandler’s latest sermon on A Little Housekeeping from Romans 12:1ff. This sermon, among other things, was a wake up call to get serious about being involved in the local church. Take time to check these things out.

Some Recommendations…

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I’ve come across some excellent resources in recent days…

Ajith Fernando wrote a work entitled An Authentic Servant: The Marks of a Spiritual Leader for the Lausanne Movement. It is available as a free PDF and well worth your time (especially if you are some kind of spiritual leader).

Mark Dever’s latest 9 Marks Interview is with Kevin DeYoung. The interview begins with Dever pressing DeYoung on his beliefs on infant baptism. I thought Dever was charitable and asked some good clarifications. As a credo-baptist I thought his handling of this issue helped clarify some of the distinctions we have with paedo-baptists. I appreciate Kevin DeYoung so much. This charitable dialogue helped show the unity of the Gospel.

Finally, I just read Arturo Azurdia’s latest book, Connected Christianity, calling us to be “worldly Christians.” One thing that was especially helpful was a discussion on what he called cultural gluttony vs. cultural anorexia. You would be profited by these things and I may have a quote or two from this in a later post.

Josh Harris on Correction.

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Earlier this week, Tony Reinke did a post on Josh Harris’ sermon from this past Lord’s Day. The sermon, Lady Wisdom’s Food and Drink, was based on Proverbs 9:1-18.

I had a chance to listen to this excellent sermon today and was freshly convicted about responding to correction. I think all of us in the church would benefit from this sermon. Here’s a summary from Reinke’s post on the spectrum of responses to correction:

The Wise—(1) Loves correction. (2) Pursues correction.
The Growing—(3) Appreciates correction. (4) Begrudgingly accepts correction.
The Simple—(5) Is open-minded to correction. (6) Is indifferent towards correction.
The Fool—(7) Is annoyed by correction. (8) Judges those who correct.
The Scoffer—(9) Hates correction.

Now, today, Josh has posted a PDF outlining a Correction and Encouragement Evaluation. Take advantage of this great resource and see if you don’t grow in wisdom and the fear of the Lord.