It’s Wednesday and time for my free audio of the week post. Adrian Warnock has been posting on some sermons that have influenced him. He was able to obtain and get permission to post this sermon by C.J. from a while back. Introduced as one Charles Mahaney, this sermon is C.J. with a younger voice but with the same infectuous passion. Check it Out.

Holiness of God by C.J. Mahaney

For today’s Marriage Monday segment, I want to follow up on last night’s message on God’s Word by reminding you of the importance of God’s Word in your family’s life. In his book Simplify Your Spiritual Life, a former professor of mine, Dr. Donald Whitney writes of the importance of the Bible in family devotions:

The centerpiece of family worship is the Bible. Read a passage of appropriate length for your family, making any impromptu comments that come to mind. Those wtih younger children should emphasize the narrative portions of Scripture and possibly the Proverbs. Eventually, most seem to work up to about a chapter a day, reading consecutively through a particular book of the Bible. I recommend that you ask a few questions to determine comprehension, or just ask the children to repeat what they remember.

A simple procedure like this could work wonders if your family. We regularly use a Bible storybook, since we have children aged 2 and under currently. The Word must be the center of our lives as families. If the Bible is God speaking (and it is), then we had better listen. Center your family life on God’s Word.

Midweek I usually recommend some free audio on the web. This week, I am happy to recommend this sermon from Matt Maka (a pastor of Youth and Parenting at Covenant Life Church). I appreciated Matt’s passion for God’s Word exposed in this text. This is influential to me because this Sunday night, I am starting a new series on God’s Word seeking to stoke the embers of passion for God in His Word in our people. This sermon got at the blessing as well as the discipline required in embracing God’s Word. I highly recommend it.

Matt Maka – Psalms Part 10: The Young

How many times have you sinned and quickly sought to blame someone or some circumstance? If we were honest, we would admit that it happens far to much.

In this post from Ben Reaoch, he exposes 12 specific sins we blame on others. These sins are: Anger, Impatience, Lust, Anxiety, Spiritual Apathy, Insubordination, A Critical Spirit, Bitterness, Gluttony, Gossip, Self-Pity and Selfishness. I encourage you to not only read this post, but avail yourself to the grace God extends to you in Christ to deal with sins such as these. Let’s confess our sins to one another and be healed.

Here is my Wordle of the book of Ruth.

I continue to hear good things about all that God is doing in our congregation through small groups. I thought I would allude to one question that really exposed some weakness when it comes to fellowship. On p.26 of the chapter “Fellowship Rediscovered,” we have a big box with question #3:

Do you have any habits or heart attitudes that keep you from growing in Christ through fellowship? How about these?

• Because of my heritage, I’m naturally stoic and reserved, so I tend to keep to myself.
• I tried that kind of fellowship once, and I gave a whole lot more than I got, so I tend to keep to myself.
• I was an only child, so I tend to keep to myself.
• My brothers and sisters were the ones always clamoring for attention, so I tend to keep to myself.
• Maybe I’ll go along with this fellowship stuff, as long as somebody else goes first.

In my experience, these are probably as a good a sampling as you’ll find in print of the excuses people use for failing to pursue intimacy. I think we just need to continue what Scripture teaches and embrace fellowship with one another. As we walk in this, it is a bit frightening at times to open up ot others, but we get to experience grace from God in the fellowship He has ordained for us. I hope you are encouraged as you live this out in your life.

We had this picture taken Sunday. This is the first family photo (of which I am aware) since Gabe’s arrival.

For today’s Marriage Monday segment, I would like to exhort you to build a trust in God within your family. I’m always interested in growing to deepen my leadership in my family. I was really encouraged, then, when listening to a Piper sermon. He exhorted fathers to recount God’s faithfulness continually for your family. Our role as parents and specifically as fathers (men!) are to be those who are inflating the joy and trust our families have in God throughout their lives. As helpful as teaching them the alphabet, how to build things and the best way to throw a ball can be, it seems that I give much more attention to those things over against the things that matter. In small group last night, we were encouraged to be about practicing fellowship. This needs to be the case in our families. We ought to be on the lookout for and consistently be seeking to learn “How goes it with your soul.” I want my family to have a trust in God. I want them to see me blessing God no matter what circumstance we face. Let’s build trust in God among our family. And as we “trust in the Lord with all our heart” and “don’t lean on our own understanding” we will be “acknowledging Him in all our ways” and “He will direct our paths”. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

In case you were looking for something to read, consider the following lists:

C.J.’s Books for the Beach
Carolyn Mahaney’s 8 Year Reading List
Albert Mohler’s Books for Guys
Mohler’s Ten For the History Books (Part 1, Part 2)
Tim Keller’s Summer Reading Recommendations

Whatever you decide, don’t let your reading keep you from the diligent intake of God’s Word. As John Piper says in his excellent book, When I Don’t Desire God,

One of the ways we can fight against the inclinations that lure us from the Word of God to computers or television or any other substitute pleasure is to remind ourselves often of the immeasurable and superior benefits of the Word of God in our lives. We must put the evidence before us that reading, pondering, memorizing and studying the Bible will yield more joy in this life and the next than all the things that lure us from it. (WIDDG, p. 97)

If you need a simple guide to read your Bible, check out the Discipleship Journal plan or simply subscribe to have the ESV plans sent as a feed.

Read this summer and watch God do amazing things in your life.

I was reminded of simple truths about Gospel Centered Parenting in this 6 minute audio clip from the Sovereign Grace Blog. Listen as both C.J. and Carolyn Mahaney answer the question, “How do parents engage in gospel-centered parenting with children who are too young to comprehend the message of the gospel?”