Why is false teaching appealing?

“Most heresies, virtually all heresies, are partial truths, mixed with error.” – Al Mohler

This was stated in his radio program yesterday.

Questions to Consider when dating and pursuing marriage

Doug Wilson suggests 21 Questions for a Prospective Suitor and 21 Questions for a Prospective Wife.

(HT: JT)

John Piper on doing your best

7. It is a sin to do less than your best. It is wrong to do [merely] well.

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10 ). But be careful. Sometimes the “best” is a B+ sermon and spending time with your child. In other words, “best” always involves more decisions than the one you are making at the moment. That one means many other things are being left undone. So “best” is always the whole thing, not just the detail of the moment.

You can find the rest of the article here.

I like how John Piper says we must do our best, with all of life and not just one part to the sacrifice of all the rest.  So I’d start with doing your best in your relationship and communion with Christ, and then let him set the priorities and responsibilities for your life and do your best taking all of them into account and the relationships between different priorities and responsibilities.  This is an encouragement and a challenge to my soul.

New D. A. Carson Audio

“New” for my blog post that is:

1. Who is this Jesus? Studies in the gospel of John
   1. Jesus the Word of God
   2. Jesus the Temple of God
   3. Jesus the Gift of God
   4. Jesus the Son of God
   5. Jesus the Bread of God
   6. Q & A
2. Sermons on 1 Peter (this cannot righteously be stored on the computer but can be listened to from the website. It is only up temporarily).
3. On Loving God with All your mind

And one that was down but is now back up:

The So-Called New Pauline Perspective Critiqued.

1. Part 1
2. Part 2
3. Part 3

To go to the post with all the D. A. Carson audio listed, go here.

Loving the poor…

Here’s an article I want to read called, “

Helping the Poor Without Feeding the Beast

Marriage is not about staying in love, but about covenant keeping – by John Piper

Sermon Notes for “Staying Married is Not About Staying in Love, Part 1” by John Piper

 

1.      Marriage is God’s doing (4 reasons)

a.      Because it was design in creation as man as male and female.  Genesis 1:27-28

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

b.      Because he personally took the dignity of being the first father to give away the bride (Gen. 2:22).

c.       Because God spoke the existence of marriage into being (Gen. 2:24)

                                                              i.      Jesus believes Moses wrote this and that God spoke

1.      Jesus said, God said, Genesis 2:24 (Matt. 19:

d.      Because in the becoming of one flesh, a man and a woman are experiencing a union that God himself performs (Gen. 2:24)

                                                              i.      Mark 19:8-9.  God has joined those who are married.  Do you feel the weight of that?  It is not man, fiancé, pastor, or parents who join the two together.  God does that.  God is the main actor in the drama.  God joins people together and no man may separate them!  The world does not know this and that is why marriage is treated so casually.  Marriage is God’s doing because it is a one-flesh union that God himself performs.

 

2.      Marriage is God’s display – There is no other institution of this design as a display of God.

a.      Ephesians 5:31-32.  The one-flesh union refers to Christ and the Church.  In other words, when God planned man as male and female, he patterned it on Christ and his bride the church.  It wasn’t from marriage to Christ and the Church, but from Christ and the Church to human marriage.

b.      All marriages are meant to point to the dying love and eternal union of Christ and the Church for the glory of God.  The magnificence of husband and wife is to say, “That’s true!  That’s true!  And it’s like this!”  This is what we display in our marriages.  It is so tragic when we lie about the nature of marriage to the world in our marriages. 

c.       Marriage is not about staying in love but about covenant-keeping.

d.      Side note: Small sermon hopes – Sermons are building blocks that are changing little by little with God’s grace.  That is the normal effect of hearing sermons week by week. 

e.      Marriage is about covenant-keeping.  There are many wimps in the world.  I am in the business of putting fiber in the back bones of wimps to say to temptation and desires, “You are not my God!  God is my God! Covenant is my life!”

Personal reflections and applications:

1.      I want to take my marriage with my wife more seriously.  I want to fight lust more victoriously.  I want to be able to declare to her and with her, “That’s true!  That’s true!  Christ loves the church and is in covenant with her and it looks like this!” 

2.      I want to focus more on Christ and the Church in my marriage.  I want to think about it more and worship God more for that reality as I see it and think about it in my marriage.

3.      I want to take marriage more seriously and really make it a priority to do well in life, without distorting its relative importance to Christ himself and the priorities and relationship order he sets for his followers.

4.      I want to edify my wife more with encouraging and specific words.

New D. A. Carson MP3

Here’s Carson’s sermon at the PCRT conference in Sacramento called, “The Saving Word” from James 1:12-20.

A Necessary Ingredient for Accountability Relationships

Mark Dever gives us a necessary ingredient for edifying accountability relationships:

The first lesson was provoked when one dear brother reproached himself for not reaching out more to this mutual friend, not asking more questions about how our mutual friend was doing.  I told him that I had met with this friend weekly and often asked him many questions.  I didn’t think he (my self-reproachful friend) was so much in the wrong as our mutual friend was wrong for not being honest.  Lesson number one:  no accountability relationships will work if there is not a commitment to honesty on the part of the person in question.  The problem wasn’t a lack of initiative toward him; the problem was his hiding the truth from us.  If I am committed to my sin above a humble, self-revealing honesty, then I can’t rely on any accountability structure or loving friendships to expose my sin and protect my soul.  I must remember that if I am to war against sin, I must labor to be embarassingly transparent.

We need to be honest and open to our brothers and sisters who are holding us accountable.  Twice, God communicates hi hatred for lying in Proverbs 6:

16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.

Trinity Audio Archives

Here are some good conference MP3 archives for free from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.