Yesterday morning, we saw a glimpse of the absolute authority of Jesus as He exposed the religious leaders in Mark 11:27-33. Jesus’ authority truly comes from God and not man. In application of that truth, I offered this point of application at the end:

For those of us who are believers, we have submitted to and embraced the authority of Jesus. There is one word that expresses our allegiance to that authority and it is the word submission. As followers of Jesus, we are called to submit to Him. We are to submit to His control over all things and this is demonstrated in many relationships.

In the Home – Jesus has established leadership in the home through husbands who lovingly lead their wives and wives who respectfully submit to their husbands. In the home, Jesus’ authority is seen as children submit to their parents. Honor Christ in the home by submitting appropriately (Ephesians 5:22-6:4).

How are you doing, then, at submitting to Jesus’ authority in the exercise of your role in the home?

Another Brad Recommendation: Daniel Renstrom

I downloaded this yesterday from ITunes and have already listened to track 2 about 17 times. The song called “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” speaks of how “We delight in the Son, who gives us light and His light has now dawned on us.” One line in v.1 I can’t get over…”Let us love and sing and wonder, let us praise our Savior’s name, He has hushed the Law’s loud thunder, He has quenched Mt. Sinai’s flame, He has washed us with His blood, He has brought us nigh to God, let us love and sing and wonder, let us praise our Savior’s name.”

You will appreciate the doctrinal depth as well and thoughtful, engaging tone of this album. I encourage you to check it out.

C.J. Mahaney’s latest book, Worldliness, is now out. After reading the first chapter, I was (as I usually am with C.J.’s material) struck with conviction, as he pointed the reader to Scripture, and hope, as he directed our attention to the cross. This should be an excellent pastoral resource.

Furthermore, on Sunday nights in October and November, we are going to be looking at worldliness. Here’s the tentative preaching schedule:

October 5 — Worldliness (Intro)
October 19 — Desires of Flesh
November 2 — Desires of Eyes
November 16 — Pride in Possessions

For further info: Read 1 John 2:15-17.

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.