My mom sent me a link to this website, in which you can find all the ads for Black Friday.

I was really helped by this workshop from the Gospel Coalition. Crawford Loritts and Lig Duncan do a Q & A on Preaching. It was very encouraging, challenging, and exhorting in the primary work of Gospel Ministry. Take advantage of this and other FREE audio available on the web.

Came across this quote by Paul David Tripp overheard by Phil Ryken:

“Your theology will not always move you in the direction of obedience because your use of theology is governed by the condition of your heart.”

Ryken deems this “as good a brief explanation as you will ever hear as to why Christians and churches with otherwise good theology sometimes disappoint.”

I couldn’t agree more…!

The women of GirlTalk have given us another gift from C.J. Mahaney. Here are book recommendations for the men you know from him.

Here’s a pic of Andrew with his cousins. From l-r, Tyler is holding Anna, then Leah, Andrew and Caleb. They were down here in mid-October and we loaded up and went to a Corn Maze just south of Salina. Was a good day, but thought everyone would like to see Andrew. It’s been a while since I’ve posted about him.

In yesterday morning’s message, we looked at being slow to trust. Click here for audio or here for talksheet.

One thing that continues to stick out in my mind was the fact that the disciples were so slow to trust in Jesus Himself and were overly concerned about not having enough bread. I’ve found that often I am guilty of the same silliness when I am so concerned about the circumstances of life that I can’t see the loving God with me through thick and thin. It was a great, challenging message.

Much happiness filled me this past Thursday when this was released.

Last Friday night at HomeWord, we continued looking at communication. One thing that emerged was the high and incredible challenge we have as new creations in Christ to speak in a way that distinctly glorifies Him. Paul David Tripp calls this a destination. In chapter 8 of his book War of Words, Tripp gives these steps to get to the destination of good communication…

1) Don’t give in to regret. – It is easy to be paralyzed by “if onlys”. We need to rest in sovereign wisdom and remember that God restores.

2) Embrace gospel hope. Grace superabounds where sin abounds. God hasn’t forsaken you and He’s working within us for His glory.

3) Examine your fruit. Humbly examine the harvest of words that pour out of your mouth.

4) Uncover your roots. It is out of the overflow of heart that the mouth speaks. It is not just circumstances but our hearts that control our words.

5) Seek forgiveness. We have 2 options. We can 1) confess our sins seeking forgiveness or we can get into 2) self-justification.

6) Freely grant forgiveness. There is a distinction between vertical, judicial forgiveness (handing it over to God) and horizontal, relational forgiveness (willing to forgive anyone coming seeking it). Both are needed in the restoration process.

7) Change the rules. Learn to cry “foul” when what needs to change that’s been forgiven reoccurs.

8) Look for opportunities. We need a solid change in perspective to live boldly.

9) Choose your words. Prov. 15:28 encourages us to be careful in the words we use. Our communcation, according to Tripp, should flow on 2 tracks 1) God’s glory, 2) neighbor’s good.

10) Confess your weakness. God came because we were weak. Humbly allow God’s power to be seen in your weakness.

11) Don’t give the Devil an opportunity. Tripp encourages 2 things to keep the devil immobilized… 1) courage of honesty, 2) humility of approachability. Tripp says this will render Satan useless in his tracks.

Embrace these tips as ways to have effective communication in your life.

Last night, our church had it annual Men/Boys Chili Feed. It was a great event and we had a great turn out. Our speakers were Jerry and Nate Humes. They did a great job pointing us to Galatians 5:22-23, 25-26 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

They encouraged us to think about INTENTIONAL ACTS OF RELATIONSHIP. In other words, we should look, in all of our relationships, for the fruit displayed (is it of the Spirit?), to whom was the fruit displayed, what was the intentional action pursued that led to that fruit, and what was the result.

This was a great challenge. The audio should be up soon on the church’s audio page.

I’ve posted previously about my anxious anticipation of John Piper’s new book, The Future of Justification. I ordered my copy from Desiring God and expect it any day.

My friend, Josh Seachris, has received a copy and he is enthusiastic about the introductory tone of the theological dialogue. Mathis has a post on how those of us less trained in theological discussions could benefit from this book, which might be a helpful post for you to read. At any rate, evidently you can browse it for free online (PDF). That might be a good place to start. More to come…