Pure Church

Read this over at Z, and decided to get back to my sermon for Sunday!

From Henry Cloud’s book The One-Life Solution: Reclaim Your Personal Life While Achieving Greater Professional Success:

The most effective people I know are people who have times when they give their entire focus to whatever they are working on — and there is no way they are going to stop what they are doing to see what just showed up in their in-box or on their BlackBerry. Certain blocks of time are guarded, and an e-mail or a phone call is not going to interrupt them or change the agenda.

Our man in Fulham, London, Mike Gilbart-Smith, posts at the 9Marks blog two video sermonsfrom Stuart Ollyott on "How Not to Preach Boring Sermons." (part one and part two)

"Time spent nourishing a broken heart is time lost for eternity."

--John MacArthur, "Triumphantly Encouraged: The Privilige of Ministry, Part 1" (1997 Desiring God Pastor's Conference)

We're almost home, awaiting our fly from the Miami airport. It's been a great trip, refreshing in all the most wonderful ways.

First, we were able to connect with some of my oldest and dearest friends. It was a real treat for me to have time together with Peter Rochelle, a brother I consider my first pastor and first example of faithful exposition, and at the same time to hang out with Mark Dever, a brother I consider my second pastor and most formative mentor when it comes to the life of the church. A real treat.

Then there was catching up with old friends and new. It was fun for me to introduce Bentley, my assistant pastor, and Stephen, new seminarian at Southeastern and former director of youth and missions, to my brother Clyde Alston, perhaps one of the most faithful servants you'll ever meet and a real Barnabas to me. The ribs at Applebee's were great, and the concrete from Goodberry's hit the spot!

Folks at FBC will be very encouraged at Stephen's start in seminary. He has established some really good routines and is thinking in all the right ways about building fellowship and relationships with others. He's found a really strong church, North Wake Baptist Church. He's enjoying his classes and has some fine teachers. And he says he's probably doing better spiritually than at any point in his life. On a personal level, it was probably most encouraging to get an update on Stephen.

The conference itself was outstanding. In a nutshell, I think the overall unofficial theme that emerged was "God does the work; trust Him." Each of the speakers addressed preaching and pastoral ministry in some way and the Lord instructed us all.

Mark Dever began with an exposition of Mark 4. He unfolded two parables that demonstrate that it's the word that does the work and that the advancement of the kingdom does not depend on us. Listen to this sermon if you're a pastor who has trouble sleeping at night because you worry about anything in your church.

Baptist21 sponsored a lunchtime panel discussion on "Great Commission Churches." Daniel Aiken, Mark Leiderbach, J.D. Greear, Mark Dever and I had a fun but informative time fielding questions on this broad theme. The first few minutes feature a spirited, friendly exchange between J.D. and Mark on multi-site churches.

Dr. Akin addressed us from Ecclesiastes 12:9-14, "The Preacher on Preaching." I found the emphasis on choosing our words carefully very helpful. What a privilege to use the gift of language to communicate about a God who speaks through His word.

My man Mike McKinley, looking very stylish in the new specs, served us from Luke 10 on the centrality of listening to Jesus. Excellent exposition that demonstrated the liberating power of making the word and listening central to our Christian lives.

C.J. Mahaney closed the night with an insightful and encouraging exposition of 2 Tim 4:1-5. If you struggle against impatience and unrealistic expectations as I do, C.J.'s meditation on pastoral discernment and skill and sanctification is pure relief and help.

I had the privilege of addressing the topic, "Will It Preach? Exposition in Non-White Contexts." We considered some objections to expositional preaching arising out of certain cultural assumptions, and then considered Neh. 8 as an example and apologetic of exposition.

There were lively panel discussions following each message. Those exchanges are often some of the most informative.

I assume some audio will be up at some point soon. In the meantime, Andrew Sherwood live-blogged the conference here.

Reading God's Providences is notoriously difficult. Who can peer into the fathomless mysteries of God's wise rulings in creation?

But almost immediately after being told I couldn't board my flight yesterday, the Lord gave me a sense that something precious would be the reward of this providence. I hadn't realized it at the time, but I needed refreshing.

The Lord has used His people to abundantly answer this need. Today I read a couple of tributes given at the funeral of a dear saint back at FBC. the remembrances of this man's life continue to stir in me a desire to live a deeper life of joy in Christ. Five minutes of reading opened my heart.

This morning I sat in on a systematic theology Sunday school class, and as I listened to Paul Miller meditate on the character of God, my God appeared so large and great.

Then, Greg Gilbert preached what must be the most beautiful sermon in the Psalms I've ever heard. My Jesus rose so magnificently from the lines of Psalm 20! How wonderful to see our Lord with the eyes of faith and be left in awe of His love and life! Listen to this sermon attentively, without distraction, Bible open, heart praying and hoping.

Came back for the evening sermon and Chris Erwin preached 1 John 5:14 with such clarity, power, and encouraging care... I was left really desiring to pray and pray long.

I'm missing the saints back at FBC, but I'm rejoicing in how wide and lovely is the body of Christ. I think I needed this spiritual shot in the arm before boarding a flight to South Africa. I praise the Lord His comforts overflow in our lives (2 Cor. 1:5). Romans 1:12 has been so abundantly true in my brief, unexpected time with Christ's people in this small part of the vineyard.

Colin tips us to an uncharacteristically hilarious sermon introduction from Mark Dever. Worth the 6 minute listen.

Here's what's up so far:

A Minister That Gaurds Against Heresies
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

A Sign From God
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

The Abiding Nature of The Moral Law
Pastor Eric C. Redmond

The Christian Writer in the Public Square
Elder John R. Lee

The Great Object of Christ's Mission
Pastor Vernon Allen

The Souls Cry for God
Pastor Vernon Allen

What is the Gospel
Pastor Anthony Carter

This year's theme was "Spreading the Gospel," expositions from the Book of Acts. Audio is here. As is the case every year, the fellowship was rich and refreshing.

The conference talks included:

A Kingdom Mandate (Acts 1)
Thabiti Anyabwile

The...Holy Spirit (Acts 2)
Anthony Carter

Exclusivity of Jesus(Acts 4)
Hensworth Jonas

Purity in the Church (Acts 5)
Thabiti Anyabwile

...Church Planting (Acts 13)
Anthony Carter

The Blessings of Opposition (Acts 16:19-40)
Hensworth Jonas

This year, Sis. Evelina Thomas joined us and blessed us in song. Here's a sample, "There Is A Fountain Filled with Blood," a song that stunningly enough she had never sang before. Enjoy!



Next year's theme is "None Better Than Christ: The Supremacy of Christ in the Book of Hebrews". Carter, Jonas and myself will be returning, Lord willing, along with our dear brother Redditt Andrews, Pastor of Soaring Oaks Prebyterian Church in Elk Grove, California.

Don't miss next year! Make this one of the spiritual investments you make in your life and church!

A clear, compelling, and life-giving sermon on John 3:14-17.

Allistair Begg on gospel ministry. Typical, clear Begg. And laugh out loud funny at about 18 minutes.

Together for the Gospel
Registration is open for T4G '10--The (Unadjusted) Gospel. See here.

The (Unadjusted) Gospel. That’s a topic worth thinking about for several days together with several thousand other pastors and church leaders. Don’t you think?

The good news does not adjust. It’s always the same and it’s always good. Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, proclaims a message that’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. So should we.

We hope you will join us in Louisville April 2010 to think about that message and why it’s the heart of ministry.

Ronald Alexander, son of the Rev. Eric Alexander, has built a website in honor of his father's preaching and teaching ministry. (HT: Challies) The site includes over 20 years of exposition from Alexander the elder's ministry at St. George's Tron in Glasgow, Scotland. You'll also find a brief biography of Alexander.

From the site's welcome page:

Eric Alexander has spent his adult life serving Jesus Christ, in His Church, as a minister of His Word. He has preached Christ exclusively from Holy Scripture, convinced that the Bible is the only reliable and sufficient revelation God has given us of His Son.

The conviction behind all Eric Alexander's preaching is that Scripture is fundamental to the Church's life and continuance, and therefore it is the exposition of Scripture which is fundamental to the Church's pattern of activity.

As the years have passed and the world has changed, he has grown ever more convinced of the urgent priority of summoning the church to the Apostolic priority expressed by the Apostles themselves in Acts 6v4; "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

Some things I trust have benefitted my soul recently:

Mark Dever on "The Pastor and the Church":
The Pastor
The Church

Don Carson:
The Flow of Thought in 1 Timothy 2
Is the Culture Shaping Us or Are We Shaping the Culture?
HT: Titus2Talk
A Holy Nation: The Church's High Calling

Bob Kauflin:
The Fight for Joy (Psalm 42-43)

J. M. Stiles:
Getting the Big Picture (1 Cor. 9:18-27)

Listened to this one twice today. It's the sermon entitled "Spiritual Families" (30 January). Excellent, clear, convicting and encouraging. Enjoy!

Michael Lawrence, Associate Pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, began this past Sunday a series in the book of Philippians. The first sermon, Cause for Joy (Phil 1:1-11), is excellent. I hope to hold this nugget closely over the next few days and weeks:

I listened to John Folmar, pastor of UCCD, on Ephesians 1.

And I watched this YouTube video of a recent baptismal testimony here at FBC.


What a joy to recall the sovereign work of God's grace among us! This is partly why baptism services are my favorite services.

The Lord granted me the privilege today of addressing the students and faculty at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. The chapel talks for this year are available here.



What a great privilege it was to fellowship in the word with the saints here. SEBTS has impacted my life in very important ways. The first pastor to begin discipling me for pastoral ministry and to model commitment to exposition, Peter Rochelle, was a Southeastern grad. While living in Raleigh, N.C., my family had the privilege of serving at Church on the Rock, where the seminary's influence was positively felt through some of the members there. So, it was a great privilege to serve here today.


One of the remarkable things about SEBTS is the sweet spirit that pervades the place. There is just an obvious joy and freedom here. Dr. Danny Akin is a gracious host... "a gentleman and a scholar" as they say. The school seems to be obviously thriving under his leadership. I was really encouraged with the missions emphasis and zeal in the place. A good work is being done here. Please pray that the Lord enlarges the work of His Spirit in this place.

Last week, the Lord granted the opportunity to listen to two sermons on parenting: John Piper on "Fathers Who Give Hope" and C.J. Mahaney on 2 Tim. 3:14-15, “Gospel-Centered Parenting/Leading by Example.” Both sermons are included in the UA roundup.

Two Es focus our parenting in these sermons: Encourage and Example.

Encouraging Our Children
Piper’s sermon was a strong exhortation for fathers not to exasperate but to encourage their children.

It wasn’t so much the exposition or the application in this sermon that helped me, but as you might expect, the impact or impression made on my affections. That’s not to say there wasn’t good truth pulled from God’s word, just to say the overriding impression made on me was to examine whether or not my children are primarily encouraged by my parenting interactions with them or discouraged.

This is a sensitive and important topic for me because emotionally I tend toward intensity. I’ve spent years working on not being so intense both for my own soul’s benefit and for the benefit of others around me. For my own soul, I’m learning that delighting in the Lord has more range than just deep intensity. The best way I can explain this is that I spent most of my formative years in competitive sports, and I was always the “spiritual leader” of the team. I played aggressively and emotionally most every play. I also talked a lot of trash. Now combine that with some serious pride issues and you get a recipe for being demanding, intimidating, impatient, and a host of other sins. Add to that at 6’2” frame now at 250lb and holding, black skin, a deep voice… and lots of people fear you. Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of years learning to be “smaller” and more gentle so others are at ease. And internally, learning to express what I hope is a wider range of emotion, or if not a wider range then a wider set of expressions.

So how does this affect my parenting? I can be discouraging because I can be demanding. I have to control my face, which is too often just shy of a scowl—one eyebrow raised, jaws set, eyes boring. About three weeks ago, without intending to at all, my daughters left an interaction with me where they thought I was angry but I was simply intending to hurry them along to their mother who was waiting for them in the car. When they reached the car, one of my daughters said sheepishly, “We don’t like it when daddy gets that red look in his eyes.”

Ouch!! I’d simply (or so I thought) walked from sermon prep in my office to tell the girls to hurry outside and meet their mom. It was a routine thing in my mind, but the kids were intimidated. And intimidated is not what I want for any of my children.

I’ve never yelled at my children, but then I don’t have to. I can count on one hand the number of times, by God’s grace, that any of our children have needed correction with physical discipline, but perhaps they’re just fearful more often than I think. After all, I must be a giant to them.

Piper’s sermon was a needed exhortation to be encouraging. There’s a lot of applause for our children’s achievements in our home. There’s a lot of hugging, gentle kisses on foreheads, “I love you’s” and “you can do its,” laughing together and joking, and recently a lot more dancing since Titus has discovered a couple scenes from “Stomp the Yard.” Don’t get me wrong; we’re a happy family and we enjoy one another. But for my part, I’ve got to think more about encouraging my children and addressing ways that I may intimidate them unintentionally. And part of that is just simply spending more time with the children in an uninterrupted, unhurried way.

Application: Talk with the children about ways they may be afraid of daddy. Ask my wife for her observations of my interaction with the children.

Teaching Our Children by Example
C.J. chose 2 Tim. 3:14-15 as his text for this sermon.

The main premise of the sermon was “Parenting cannot be defined as biblical if it is not gospel-centered.” Put positively: “The gospel should never be ignored or assumed or simply alluded to in the context of parenting.”

Considering the text, C.J. suggested that gospel-centered parenting involves:
Authentic example…
and scriptural instruction…
for the purpose of salvation.

Most of the sermon was spent meditating on authentic example as reflected in the phrase “knowing from whom you learned it” in the text. Some nuggets from the sermon:

“Modeling precedes teaching. Teaching involves explaining to our children what they are already observing in our lives by example.”
“Any contradiction between our proclamation and our practice undermines our proclamation. All consistency between proclamation and practice confirms the authority of the gospel and indeed promotes the attractiveness of the gospel.”

Application Question:
“What are my children observing as they study me daily and in detail?”

C.J. asked: “If I interview your children and asked, ‘what difference does the gospel make to your dad,” how would they respond? How would your children respond if I asked them, ‘What are your father and mother most passionate about, or most deeply committed to?’”

Obviously these questions go together with the encouragement considerations above.

Other Questions for Reflection:
Are they observing inescapable, undeniable evidences of gospel grace in our lives? Are they observing affectionate and passionate songs and expressions of my love for the Savior? Are they observing a difference between who we are Sunday morning in corporate worship and Sunday evening at home? Do they see love for and devotion to God’s word as evidenced by love for, study of, and obedience to God’s word? Do they observe growth in godliness as evidenced by conviction of sin, progress in sanctification, passion for and involvement in your local church?

Concluding Thought:
“Think of the difference it will make to be able to say to your child because of your example, ‘Continue in the faith knowing from whom you learned it.’ Think of the difference it will make if you can not say this.”

I want to be able to say to our children, “Continue in the faith knowing from whom you learned it.” What a great goal for parenting.

For the past couple years, June has been one of the sweetest months of the year for my family and me. The Lord has granted us the opportunity to attend the New Life Bible conference in Vernon Hills, IL (outside Chicago) and fellowship with the saints of New Life Fellowship Church. To call them "good people" would be an understatement. The Love family (that's really their sir name) is the first family we've ever met that as a family convicted us of our relative joylessness through their almost non-stop joking and laughter. They're a rare combination of deep, serious commitment to big truth and overflowing joy in life. You come home from the New Life conference and your face is tired because you've been laughing for 3 or 4 days straight!

Anyway... for those interested, Lou has gotten around to posting the conference audio. If you see Lou, don't mention CP time! :-)

This week I'm listening to the round-up of sermons on husbandry and parenting posted by UA. Monday I listened to C.J.'s talk ("A Husband's Responsibilities and How to Change") given a few years back at a Covenant Life marriage retreat. It was classic C.J.--filled with the cross, insightful, and practically helpful.

UA has what looks like an excellent round-up of talks on husbands and fathers leading at home. I think this will be my listening agenda for the week. I'm in need.