Together for the Gospel on Vimeo

Watched two great sermons last night and today from the Together for the Gospel Conference this past week in Louisville. You can watch them as well (and I would encourage you to do so). So far, I have watched MacArthur and Piper, and I highly recommend both. I cannot speak to the others because I have not watched them.

Here is my analysis...

MacArthur: Spoke about the Parable of the Seed (Mark 4:26-29). Did a great job reminding us that salvation is a sovereign work of God. The sower sows the seed, and then sleeps really well. Therefore, there is no need to adjust the Gospel to accomadate the culture, or draw people. The Spirit blows on who He wants to, and on whom He determines to. Thus, we must sow the seed, and leave the results to God (i.e. sleep well).

Piper: Spoke on the Pharisee and Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). Did a great job reminding us that we must recognize two important elements to justification by faith. Justification includes: 1) Christ's perfect obedience in our place, and 2) His death as a perfect atonement in our place. The good works that we exhibit as Christians is the fruit, not the root of our justification. We have had imputed to us the righteousness of Christ if we have placed faith in Him alone. It is an alien righteousness. The basis of salvation is Christ alone!

Click here for your viewing pleasure.

Angelic Rap Music in Heaven

Click on the following to hear some....
http://vimeo.com/9571314

Proliferating Ignorance

This is an article every Christian should take the time to read. It is article #2 by John MacArthur regarding media in a postmodern age. What ever happened to serious reflection, serious discourse, and serious listening? Note: The church today seems to be allowing cultural drifts to bury them deep in the snow of postmodern communication.

MacArthur writes:

"Meanwhile, the ease, immediacy, and affordability of Internet publishing has leveled the playing field between pundits and the proletariat. Anyone can start a blog, for free. Anyone with a computer (or cell phone) and an Internet connection can instantly broadcast his every opinion worldwide. Novices and scholarly authorities alike can employ the same media. Those who are most adept at gathering an audience are the ones who are being heard, not necessarily those most qualified to speak.

So many opinions and so much information all moving so quickly means a simple, off-the-cuff sound bite may be a thousand times more influential than a meticulously-researched treatise. In fact, whether something is true or false is usually deemed less important than the way the idea is communicated. (Today’s marketing strategies are based on that assumption.) Most people naturally prefer a punchy one-liner to a carefully-written essay. So style takes precedence over content in almost every venue. Sound-bites are simply easier to swallow than a serious discourse."

CLICK HERE TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE (If you have the stamina to read more than a "punchy one-liner".)

- Andy

MacArthur's Comments After Surgery

I have posted this link for you to listen to at your leisure. The link points you to MacArthur's comments to his congregation after his surgery. One of the major highlights of listening to this is the story at the beginning about MacArthur's former football coach receiving the Gospel for salvation.

http://www.gty.org/Shop/Audio+Lessons/90-378

MacArthur's Slightly Opinionated (but very Biblical!) View of Self-Proclaimed Modern Day Faith Healers

MacArthur has preached verse-by-verse through every book of the New Testament except for the Gospel of Mark. However, several weeks ago he began preaching through it. I just listened to his sermon entitled "Kingdom Power" from Mark 1:29-39. This is (as usual) an excellent sermon by MacArthur. In this particular sermon he did nothing that departs from his normal mode of preaching the Gospel with great simplicity and unique boldness. Nevertheless, I point the reader to this sermon because of some content contained under his first main point (the proof of Christ's person). About 3/4 of his sermon (totaling 63 min. +) is contained in this first point. He speaks to the issue of modern day "faith healers" by proving the phony nature of their claims and supposed supernatural healing powers. This is vintage MacArthur because he argues with his three main weapons: logic, Biblical perceptiveness, and Gospel centeredness. He does a superb job arguing that faith healers are not legitimate under any circumstance.

It is worth listening to if you get 63 spare minutes. You can have access to this sermon via video, audio, or transcript by clicking here. If you have a dial-up connection, then it is probably not a realistic endeavor worth considering.

Also, for those of you that might care, I will resume my "posting series" on Calvin quotes (I know that sounds stupid, but I could not think of what else to call it) tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

MacArthur on Discernment in the Life of a Believer

Click on the link below to read a short, but accurate article written by John MacArthur on discernment in the life of the believer. Discernement is a gift from God. MacArthur points out that God's "divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence" (2 Pet. 1:3).

http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/