From One Degree to Another

John Piper recently gave an address at ETS (the Evangelical Theological Society) related to his recent book The Future of Justification entitled Justification and the Diminishing Work of Christ. The audio, video and manuscript are online, thanks to the wonderful people at Desiring God.

Since this week is a week devoted to being thankful, and, since God’s Word says, “It is good to give thanks unto the Lord…” (Psalm 92:1), I thought it would be wise for us to use good communication to express thankfulness to God for our wives.

I remember being single. I remember the loneliness I felt going to my 2 bedroom apartment and wondering, “God are you ever going to take care of this area of my life?” God has blessed me, though, in spite of what I deserve. He has graced me with a wife that longs to serve, love and respect me. She wants me to lead and often exhorts me to do that. She is a great mother and has particular gifts to working with children. I am so grateful to God to be married to Meghan. I hope I live my life as a husband who is worthy of the stewardship God has entrusted to me and one who selflessly lays himself down for the good of his wife and family.

Thank you God, for my wife!

I have Elements, the church has the real program. Anyone know of any tips to learn how to use this more efficiently…?

Al Mohler gives some great recommendations on what the best story Bibles are and why.

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.