#Great Sermon Series

Why the Best Missions Sermon Is All About God’s Sovereignty

David Platt’s sermon at the 2012 T4G conference is one of the most powerful calls to the nations in the last twenty years. What made it so compelling? The title of the sermon says it all: “Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel of Death-Defying Missions.” It’s the next entry in the Great Sermon Series. This video is brought to you in part by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. You can download a free book from Southern and learn more about training for …

How John MacArthur began (and ended) His 42 Year Journey

On June 5, 2011, John MacArthur completed a remarkable feat. He finished his 42-year journey of preaching through the New Testament verse-by-verse. In this episode of the Great Sermon Series, we will examine how John MacArthur began with a sermon that would prove to set the stage for the next 42 years of his ministry at Grace Community Church. Let’s take a closer look at what makes this first sermon so memorable. This video is brought to you in part …

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Forgive Our Dry Eyes

My favorite book on the cross is Frederick Leahy’s The Cross He Bore, a series of powerful meditations on the death of Jesus Christ. Almost any section of the book would make for useful meditation on Good Friday, but this one stood out and merits being shared. Gethsemane means “the oil press.” David could say, “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52:8). Israel in her long history could say the same. But the …

Is Your Gospel Big Enough?

There are not too many stories from the life of Jesus that made their way into all four of the biblical accounts of his life. Each of the authors writes for a different purpose or to a different audience and this leads them to different emphases. Yet one of the stories that each of them tells is Peter’s denial of Jesus. Peter’s darkest moment, his greatest shame, was included by all four of the gospel writers. Isn’t it interesting that …

Christ’s Hour, Satan’s Hour

A few hours from now I will be heading downtown for a Good Friday service that will bring together several local congregations and, we hope, hundreds or maybe even over a thousand, Christians. Together we will remember the death of our Lord. Today I found a few choice quotes from Frederick Leahy’s wonderful little book The Cross He Bore (seriously, it’s an amazing book and bears repeated readings). In this first quote Leahy writes about Satan’s hour. Initially the plans of …

A La Carte (4/5)

He Buried 200 Church Members – Erik Raymond: “There in his office I was struck with so many emotions. Here stood a man who has buried over two hundred of his parishoners. And here I stand, a young-buck having buried a grand total of zero of our members.” RYM Minute – R.C. Sproul hasn’t joined Twitter, but he’s done the audio equivalent with these new Renewing Your Mind minutes–short podcasts that get straight to the point. Praying Past Our Preferred …

Finding Joy, Finding Hope

Paul is not only the greatest theologian of the New Testament, but he is also a man whose life is worthy of emulation. He did not just know theology, but he also practiced it. What amazes me is that though the man endured an amazing amount of abuse and torment, he continued to be full of joy. I went looking for the source of Paul’s joy and found myself in 2 Corinthians 4. There I learned that Paul found joy …

A Dying Savior

Rooting around through some old files today I found a great quote by Charles Spurgeon just doing what Spurgeon did so well–exposing the heart. Here is what he had to say about weeping for Jesus as we picture him hanging upon the cross, suffering for our sake. You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, …

Spurgeon on Weeping For Jesus

“You need not weep because Christ died one-tenth so much as because your sins rendered it necessary that He should die. You need not weep over the crucifixion, but weep over your transgression, for your sins nailed the Redeemer to the accursed tree. To weep over a dying Saviour is to lament the remedy; it were wiser to bewail the disease. To weep over the dying Saviour is to wet the surgeon’s knife with tears; it were better to bewail …

Movie Review: The Passion of the Christ (Part Two)

This is the second part of my review of The Passion of the Christ. The first part can be found here and is a scene-by-scene description of the film. In this part I am going to analyze the movie under several headings. I do not pretend to be an authority on movies so I will analyze the content of the movie – its quality as a representation of the Bible and not its quality as a movie. Analysis Is this …