My friend, Brad, taking a cue from John Piper, told me about the Abort73 website.

Here’s a video that gets at the truth:

It would be well worth your time to check out their resources and spread the word.

As Tim Challies said, “Love it or hate it, you can’t argue with the skill and creativity of Mars Hill’s creative department.” He is speaking of Mark Driscoll’s latest sermon series on the Song of Solomon. The website for and the series are entitled The Peasant Princess. Enjoy!

As you know, I’ve done a couple of quotes from and have been totally impressed with the book Total Church. Over at Desiring God, David Mathis conducted an interview with the authors and gives a good overview of the content and passion driving it.

Recently, I quoted from Total Church on this blog, and reading through this book has been a continual joy. Speaking of Why Community?, they write (on p.41):

By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity. To fail to live out our corporate identity in Christ is analogous to the act of adultery: we can be Christian and do it, but it is not what Christians should do. The loyalties of the new community supersede even the loyalties of biology (Matthew 10:34-37; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 11:27-28). If the church is the body of Christ, then we should not live as disembodied Christians.

And later in this chapter, they say (on p.50):

The church, then, is not something additional or optional. It is at the very heart of God’s purposes. Jesus came to create a people who would model what it means to live under His rule. It would be a glorious outpost of the kingdom of God, an embassy of heaven. This is where the world can see what it means to be truly human.

Our identity as human beings is found in community. Our identity as Christians is found in Christ’s new community. And our mission takes place through communities of light. Christianity is “total church.”

As we will see in further posts, the Gospel and Community aspects must work together in practice.

I was really encouraged in reviewing the Scriptural role of a husband this weekend. I am in premarital counseling with some people and this brought this issue front and center. I needed a reminder that loving leadership is my responsibility and role. I was struck again, though, with the way in which Paul goes to great lengths to emphasize love and not leadership. All the verses and exposition on the love of Christ for His bride, the Church. We have the Petrine literature telling us to live with our wives in an understanding way. We are to lead out in loving our wives. So, men, how goes it in loving your wife? In what ways are you sacrificing to show her how much you love her? Does she know security in that love? Is she being encouraged in her role as you model love to her? Love your wife!

I don’t think any of us would want to raise a Pharisee. Here’s a helpful article from Pulpit Magazine (think John MacArthur) with much practical wisdom.

It is coming. Look on the right side of my blog to see a countdown until it releases.

The ESV Study Bible comes out in a month. They just released a bunch of videos.

There’s a Full ESV Study Bible Video (15 minutes on its features, contributors, etc)

J.I. Packer weighs in:

Other videos are worth checking out as well.

Mark Driscoll offers these 6 essentials for Bible Study:
1. Have a good Bible.
2. Have some good Christian books.
3. Have some good (free) online study resources.
4. Have some good Bible software.
5. Have some good websites.
6. Have some good community.

(This Sunday PM, we will conclude our series on the Bible with “How To Study The Bible”)

At my small group Sunday PM, I mentioned a sermon series from Sovereign Grace Ministries on the local church.

This set, The Church: The Dearest Place on Earth, contains the following sermons:
1. A Testimony: C.J.’s Conversion and the Origins of Covenant Life Church (C.J. Mahaney)
2. The Sunday Meeting: The Best Time of the Week (Jeff Purswell)
3. Married to the Church: Commitment to the Dearest Place on Earth (Joshua Harris)
4. Understanding Life in the Church (Mark Mullery)
5. Love for the Local Church (Mike Bullmore)
6. The Church and the Sacraments (Robin Boisvert)
7. Discipline: God’s Gift and Blessing to the Church (Ken Sande)
8. The Church: A Place Built with Small Groups (Chris Silard)
9. Leadership in the Happiest Place on Earth (C.J. Mahaney)

As always, they offer this as a free MP3 download. These would be worth an investment of your time.