This week’s featured (free) audio resources comes as a gift from Sovereign Grace Ministries. As you may or may not know, they offer all their MP3 downloads for free without registration. This is an incredible gift of grace for those of us longing for sermon audio that glorifies God.

This particular message was recommended to me by my good friend, Joe Braden. It is from the 2005 Leadership Connference of Sovereign Grace. The message is entitled “The Functional Centrality of the Gospel In the Life of the Local Church” and is available to download with an outline available as well.

Often in church life, we verbalize an adherance to the Gospel but are often left scratching our heads as to how the Gospel relates to the life of a believer. Bullmore gives practical reasons why the centrality of the Gospel should be the lifeblood of the local church. I highly recommend you listen to this (more than once if possible).

Tim Challies is at it again, this month giving away some incredible audio resources. Check it out by clicking on the above banner, or register to win by clicking here.

This Friday night at HomeWord, we will continue looking at how communication can be enhanced by the power of the Gospel in our homes. In preparation for that this week (and realizing I needed a Marriage Monday post) I came across this wonderful study from Navpress entitled Building Bridges Not Walls by Jeff Rosenau. His helpful summary in the introduction is as follows:

Buiding bridges, not walls, is about:
– Communicating in ways that bear fruit for God’s glory
– Learning to become servants of God
– Living transformed lives
– Maturing in Christ by becoming other-minded rather than self-centered
– Remembering, above all else, our desperate need for Jesus Christ

Hopefully, you can join us as we seek to pursue these things and have our communication impacted. If not, be sure and look for the follow up post and audio next Monday.

I’m really excited about Paul David Tripp’s latest book: A Quest For More-Living For Something Bigger Than You. You can read Chapter 1 online.

HT: JT

In case you were wondering, it is only something like 196 days till the next Hollywood installment of the Chronicles of Narnia comes out. The movie is The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Watch this video on the web.

HT: Tony Reinke

For those of you who don’t know, Meg and I have found out we are expecting (a child) again. Here is the first picture we have (from Monday’s ultrasound). Our due date as of right now is June 8. We are excited and humbled that God would choose to grant this precious one to us. Meg was able to hear the heartbeat. I thought of entitling this blog “Like a bean in the skin of a pod” but thought that might be too weird. I love that verse that says, “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” Right now, our child is like the bean in the skin of a pod… Anyway, enough of me. Enjoy the picture. Oh, and if you want to send a note of encouragement to Meg, you can do it here.

Really enjoyed this article over at the Family Room on grace-directing questions by Merrit Anderson. He writes:

Here are a few potential grace-directing questions that you can ask yourself and your spouse when the temptation to stay sin-focused wants to linger around for too long:

What does the good news of the gospel have to say about your sin or trial? About the result and effects of Christ’s sacrifice for your sin? (Rom 5:6-8; 8:1)

What does the gospel seek to remind you about God’s plans for you? (Rom 8:28-29; Phil 1:6)

What does the gospel seek to tell us about practical help for right now so that change is possible? (Rom 6:22; Heb 4:15-16)

Questions like these are helpful in at least two ways:
First, these questions are good for encouraging your spouse to see and live in the mercy and grace of the gospel.
Second, these questions can provide clear indicators of where you can care for your spouse, if he or she is struggling to live in the good of the gospel.

Use these questions for helpful dialogue in your home.

Today is an incredible day in the Protestant world as we celebrate Reformation Day, which was the day Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany to protest the selling of indulgences. Hope this is a good day for you. There are lots of helpful things out there if you care to take advantage of them.

Ligonier Ministries was offering the Reformation Study Bible (ESV) for $15.17 through today in honor of this event.

Tim Challies has a link to many online tributes to Reformation Day.

Desiring God has audio on the life of Martin Luther by John Piper.

And, Albert Mohler interviews Carl Trueman on the question, “Is the Reformation Over?”

Hope you have a happy and safe celebration. I enjoyed watching Luther last night to celebrate!

Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. (pastored by Mark Dever) recently had a women’s conference featuring Noel Piper (John Piper’s wife) speaking. The audio of all sessions (including Q & A) is online.

I’m on a break of sorts from the normal blogging scene. Yesterday, 6 of our church leaders and I left Hutchinson to come to Tan-Tar-A in Osage Beach, MO for a retreat. We had a great trip and good fellowship yesterday.

We were here to be a part (of all things) of the Missouri Baptist Pastor’s Conference. My good friend, Joe Braden, was serving as President this year. He was able to bring in the men of 9 Marks for a day long seminar on “Building Healthy Churches.” This conference featured the excellent teaching of Mark Dever, Matt Schmucker and Jonathan Leeman. I thought the day was very encouraging. I bumped into a friend of mine from elemntary school (among a lot of other friends). This friend from elementary school, Scott Lamb, is liveblogging the conference.

Our retreat will continue tonight with what I hope is God-honoring conversation and reflection over supper, then a drive home tomorrow. Continue to pray for us.

(HT for the Link to Scott’s Liveblog: Tim Ellsworth)