Josef Tson: Courage in Christian Ministry

Josef Tson, a Romanian follower of Christ, suffered intensely for his faith at the hands of the Romanian government. Josef shared this powerful testimony at Desiring God in 2000.  He entitled this message Persecution and Christ-likeness. It is available to download for free from the Desiring God website.

This message is full of magnificent statements like, "If all of your enemies are God's instruments, why are you afraid?"

Let me encourage you not to deny yourself the tremendous blessing of listening to this excellent message.

"Be Killing Sin or Sin Will Be Killing You"

Piper, while recently at Driscoll's church, delivered this message on the text of Romans 8:13.

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Romans 8:13

The Gospel According to Jonah

The Outrageous Love of God

Ever been outraged at the love of God?  Or overwhelmed by His abounding mercies and grace?

This was the theme of an excellent sermon delivered by a man whom I've previously never heard of, Bob Glenn of Minnetonka, Minnesota.  After having been blessed by marinating in the intense meditation upon the love of God via this message, it is now my goal to pass on this blessing to as many people as possible.

HT:JT

Piper on Preaching

For more on this check out the Desiring God Blog.

A few years ago Piper preached an amazing message on this same theme at Together for the Gospel entitled, "Why Expositional Preaching is Particularly Glorifying to God."

Paul Washer on Christ

Come and SEE

Just finished listening to Piper's recent excellent message, We have found the Messiah. The glory of Christ displayed therein is simply magnificent.

Paul Washer: Preaching Repentance

I watched this message last night and was greatly moved. What a grace it is to have free access to so many great messages.

A Christ-Glorifying & Hope Giving Message

Del Fehsenfeld gave another excellent message this morning at FPBC. He spoke on the text of Colossians 1:15-23.

Download it for free here.

An Excellent Message

Yesterday Del Fehsenfeld III gave an excellent message at FPBC. He entitled the message, "Let's talk about change." This one has already found it's way into my favorites file. It is approximately 45 minutes in length and is available to download for free.

I was greatly impacted and encouraged by this tremendously God-Glorifying and Christ-Centered message which focused on the first few verses of Colossians 3. If you did not have the privilege of being present when the message was given, do yourself a huge favor and listen to it.

Colossians 3:1
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God."

"Declare His Glory Among The Nations"

Yesterday I listened to this great message on missions: Declare His Glory Among the Nations. "We have the best news in all the world. Let's sing it, and let's spread it."

In this sermon on Psalm 96, Piper briefly highlights two websites and encourages us to check them out:

JoshuaProject.net

PeopleGroups.org

Implications...

I have seen in Christianity two types of teaching & preaching: one with powerful implications for life and one without. For example a preacher may wax eloquent and even be very bold and passionate while delivering his message. Those who heard it may afterwards walk away excited about hearing a passionate message but may in fact leave without anything to take with them in the journey of life.

I have often wondered if this implications issue is the acid test with which to assess the strength of a message. (That said I realize that Christ-centeredness is absolutely essential here as well.) I am, however, reminded that God's word Never goes forth void. He is after all very good at taking our few loaves and fish and making it to feed many.

Teaching that seems most powerful is that which comes armed with implications. A preacher may say something like, "Do you get the picture" or "If this is the case then..." However, whether these implications are highlighted by these types of statements or not seems not to matter, and in fact sometimes it seems just as powerful when they are not so stated. This way the heart and truth behind the message is caught by those who would hear it and marinate in it.

For example I (and many others also) have benefited by marinating in an atmosphere in which Jesus is praised and prized during the services at our church. What increasingly emanates from our services is an atmosphere of praising and treasuring the glory of God in Christ as it is sung about, and preached about in God glorifying and Christ exalting ways.

In an amazing message at T4G '06 entitled, "Why expositional preaching is particularly glorifying to God" Piper explained (paraphrase) some people see (the glory of God), if they can see it at all - with their ears. What he meant was that some people will only behold the glory of God as they encounter it in Christ exalting preaching. I do not think that this is what he (nor I) believes should be the case. Rather that this is often the case with many of those in the church who will not grab shovels for themselves in order to dig in search of the great treasures which would otherwise remain uncovered.

This implication packed preaching is kind of like fishing. Sometimes the implications catch those who hear the message. Jesus said it like this, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." The truth is powerful, it has implications for life, it says "if this then that." These are some of the implications that have caught me:

If He is God then I cannot be.
If He is sovereign then what do I have to fear.
If He is infinitely valuable then He is worth seeking.
If He loves us like this then that is how we are to love each other.
If He has given us Christ then what good thing would He keep from us.
If He is does not make mistakes then I must be right where He wants me to be and when He wants that to change it will.
If salvation is by grace through faith then we cannot earn it.
If we cannot earn it, then we are to remain in a constant state of thankfulness for such a priceless and undeserved gift.
If we cannot earn it, then why would we try to pay back the richest King in existence with a few pennies for a debt so tremendous that we could never, nor will ever (including all eternity) be able to pay.
If God could have purposes in Christ enduring unimaginable suffering then He can have purposes if we must endure suffering.