Christ Jesus Did The Greatest Fast!

 

Jesus Is The King And The Power And The Glory!

 

The Most Influential Sermons I've Ever Heard?

At the Simeon Trust workshop (a meeting to help us read and preach the Bible more effectively), one of our leaders mentioned being asked the question: "What are the top five most nourishing, helpful, influential sermons you've ever heard in your life?"

I thought of a list. Below are some of mine (that I am aware of - and I actually could be wrong - God may have used a certain sermon I don't even remember to spur me on to holiness and Christ-likeness like none of these ever have!):

1. S. M. Lockridge: A sermon on the word "Amen" that contains the greatest 6 minutes of preaching I've ever heard in my life: "That's My King!"

The full sermon is here.

2. John Piper: Is God For Us Or For Himself?

Another like it by Al Mohler: Whatever Happened To The Glory Of God?

3. John Piper: Romans 3:21-26: The Just And The Justifier

4. John Piper: Why Expositional Preaching Is Particularly Glorifying to God

5. John Piper: Boasting Only In The Cross

6. John Piper: Boiling For Christ

7. David Platt: Divine Sovereignty: The Fuel Of Death Defying Missions

Another like it by John Piper: Doing Missions When Dying Is Gain

8. Kevin DeYoung: Never Spoke a Man Like This Before: Inerrancy, Evangelism, and Christ’s Unbreakable Bible

9. Tim Keller and Ed Clowney: A preaching class they team taught: Preaching Christ in a Postmodern Worl‪d

10. John Piper: Any of his biographical sermons at his pastor's conferences.

11. These sermons on every book of the Bible: Pastor Mark Dever's Overview Sermons On Every Book Of The Bible

12. These two sermons by Ligon Duncan confirmed for me that the Father did turn His face away from Jesus on the cross, and the Father was angry with His Son on the cross:

a. Psalm 88: The Lowest Pit

b. Psalm 89: A Psalm For Adversity

These sermons were also published in a book: When Pain Is Real and God Seems Silent: Finding Hope in the Psalms

13. A preaching series on the five points of Calvinism - one sermon on each of the five points - changed my understanding of God and life forever! This is not the exact series I heard, but it's a good one: John Piper: TULIP

14. Old Billy Graham sermons. Sometimes I think everyone else merely lectures - only Billy Graham actually preached 🙂

15. These two lectures by Al Mohler on leading with conviction, which include a testimony of God's faithfulness to him when he became the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: 

a. The Cost Of Conviction Part 1

b. The Cost Of Conviction Part 2

16. And one essay: John Piper: Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained That Evil Be?

17. And one book, other than the Bible: John Piper, Desiring God: Meditations Of A Christian Hedonist

18. And one documentary: American Gospel: Christ Alone

Or a free, shorter version on YouTube here.

God And The Gospel

To learn more about the great and true Triune God, the God-Man, Jesus Christ, and His glorious Gospel message and everlasting Kingship, please watch American Gospel: Christ Alone. You can watch the full documentary here with a free, 3 day trial.

When Quoting Scripture, Jesus Never Uses Quotations!

Dr. Klaas Schilder on why Jesus is never truly quoting someone else when He quotes the Scriptures:

He speaks in quotations because in a strict sense He never uses quotations. The Scriptures are the product of inspiration; the author of Scriptures is the Logos through His Spirit. Thus the Logos is the poet, the creator of the thoughts and of the poems in the Bible. Accordingly, when as man, that Logos feels back, goes back, in experience to that which as the Logos he announced beforehand through the Spirit, we can say that the specifically human in this experience can undoubtedly be characterized by saying: Notice, He is quoting. But on the other hand, Christ, who as a Person remains the Son of God, also in His human nature, is not quoting. As a human being He does indeed refer to a statement of the Bible, but as God, as the Supreme Wisdom He once Himself announced the very statement He quotes. Accordingly, He is not 'quoting' another person whom He recalls, but He is repeating His own words which He had spoken beforehand concerning Himself, and which, as man, He now fulfills and realizes in Himself. (Christ Crucified, 395).

Christ Was Led Into Temptation!