NEXT 2010 Conference Audio

I just downloaded all 7 sessions from the recent NEXT conference hosted by Sovereign Grace Ministries.  I'm almost done listening to Josh Harris' opening message entitled, "What are You Built On?"  In this message, Josh reminds us of the importance of sound doctrine (keep in mind that this conference is focusing on the primary doctrines of the Christian faith:  the doctrines of God, Scripture, Sanctification, Church, etc.)  but also challenges us to be sure that our doctrine is not an end in itself, but rather the means by which we get to Christ.  Doctrine is a pointer.  The Point is Christ.

"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me..." John 5:39

The other reason I'm highlighting this message is because Josh is preaching from one of Jesus' parables (the wise and foolish builders in Luke 6:46-49).  By now you should know that the parables will be our focus this summer during 222, so let me commend these messages to you and especially Josh's opening message from this well-known parable.

Lastly - while poking around on the NEXT website I discovered their monthly webzine.  Looks like some great articles & resources here - not to mention the incredible graphics!!

How Many Wills of God?

Here's the John Piper article referenced in our study on Decision Making and the Will of God. Below is a short snippet.

The most compelling example of God's willing for sin to come to pass while at the same time disapproving the sin is his willing the death of his perfect, divine Son. The betrayal of Jesus by Judas was a morally evil act inspired immediately by Satan (Luke 22:3). Yet in Acts 2:23 Luke says, "This Jesus [was] delivered up according to the definite plan (boule) and foreknowledge of God." The betrayal was sin, and it involved the instrumentality of Satan; but it was part of God's ordained plan. That is, there is a sense in which God willed the delivering up of his Son, even though the act was sin.

Resovled Conference :: FREE Live Stream

California is a long way to go for this year's Resolved Conference. But now you can watch LIVE for FREE! You must register first, but that's free too.

Free Stuff Fridays

Every Friday at Challies.com.

Pastor Jeff - Bible Conference Audio

Last weekend Pastor Jeff Crotts had the privilege of preaching at a Bible Conference in El Paso, Texas on the topic of Holy Spirit Illumination. The conference was hosted by Grace Bible Fellowship and his long-time friend, Bill Cross, who's the associate pastor. Many of you have heard Jeff talk about Bill Cross in his many childhood stories. Jeff & Bill came to know the Lord around the same time and have remained friends for many years.

Below are the mp3 links to all four of Jeff's messages, including a Q & A session. Just click on any link to open or download to your PC.

Enjoy!

Illumination pt. 1

Illumination pt. 2

Illumination pt. 3

Illumination Q and A

2.22 Links

Ok - I've faced reality and will no longer call these "Week Links", since I can't seem to post them weekly. We'll just call them, "2.22 Links":

New Book: Nathan Busenitz from Pulpit Magazine has a new book dealing with science, faith and our Creator.


New Music: From Sovereign Grace Music: Psalms

New Movie: Pixar's next one. (HT: Challies)

New Blog: For all you Greek scholars and wanna-be's, Zondervan starts blogging. Contributors include the likes of Mounce, Waltke, Longman, Bock, Kaiser & others.

Books on Sovereignty, Evangelism & Evil in the World

Tuesday night we heard a great message on the Sovereignty of God from our teaching pastor Lance Quinn. You can go here to listen*. It's part 3 of the "Truth for Life - Loved By God" series. After the message, Pastor Lance answered a question dealing with the issues of God's sovereignty, evangelism and the origin of evil in the world. He recommended several resources that address these issues and we've linked them below

• Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer
• The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, D.A. Carson
• How Long, O Lord? , D.A. Carson
• The Grand Demonstration, Jay Adams
• If God Already Knows, Why Pray? Douglas Kelley

*The Sermon audio may not be up until later in the week.

Are You Guilty of "Greeting Card Worship"?

Have you been watching the Feature Feed in the sidebar? Michael Hamline has & brought this article to my attention. We thought it deserved it's own post here at 222mission. Thanks for the tip Michael!

Have you ever stopped to consider what it must be like to work for Hallmark or another of the companies that create greeting cards? Imagine spending your whole day attempting to come up with wonderful statements of deep feeling—love, remorse, sympathy—yet without feeling any of the associated emotions. Imagine having to write words that express sympathy, yet not feeling any sympathy yourself. Or imagine having to write words that can express the deep, passionate love a man has for his wife as they celebrate fifty years of marriage, but without having ever experienced that sort of love yourself. It must be very odd to spend the whole day writing words of love and passion from a husband to a wife but then return alone to an empty home and a life lived alone.

I fear that all too often I, as a Christian, can worship God in just this way.

Read the entire article.

2.22 Week Links

Another heapin' helpin' from the world wide web:

Politics: Pulpit Magazine is posting a series on the Gospel and Politics.

Study Bibles: In case you weren't aware, Crossway is releasing the ESV Study Bible in October. Justin Taylor announces a "pre-release" sample: Introduction to the Book of Revelation. Download it here.

Summer Reading: Al's list - Part One & Two. CJ's list.

Car Crash: Josh Harris & kids weren't hurt - praise the Lord - but he totaled his friend's car on Father's day.

Feature Feed: Tim Challies

If you haven't heard the name Tim Challies by now, you're probably still using dial-up or you just don't travel the cyberworld that much. Tim has established himself (unintentionally) over the past few years as "The World's Most Famous Christian Blogger" (at least according to the Pyros). He is in high demand all over the country to be the official "Live Blogger" of a who's who list of evangelical conferences. And, his name is virtually synonymous with DISCERNMENT... in fact he actually wrote the book on it... really.

Titled "The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment", Tim's book has gained much attention and would be a great read for anyone. We've heard our own pastor Lance commend & quote from this book as he concluded a Romans sermon on discerning false teachers, it's even being considered as a book study for the men of our church in the fall.

Tim has a sound mind & level head about him that makes him wise as well as winsome. Nancy Leigh DeMoss has just concluded recording a series on discernment prompted by her reading Tim's book and has often commented of how fond she is of Tim & his biblical perspective on many issues.

Tim's blog is devoted primarily to doing book reviews - the guy must be some kind of bionic speed reader for all the reviews he cranks out! (Be sure to check out his review of the best selling book, "The Shack") He also has a feature called "A-La-Carte" from which I modeled our own "2.22 Week Links." Tim has his thumb on the evangelical internet pulse. He's also a web designer by trade.

So pick up the book here, or at least watch the blog feed in the sidebar and familiarize yourself with Tim Challies.

Na Tunes

For those of you interested in the music from Na, Bob Kauflin has posted an exhaustive list of all the songs we sang at the conference, complete with either chords, lyrics or mp3's when available.

Several of the songs are also featured on a new CD recorded by the Na band called "Looked Upon". You can listen & purchase the CD here.

We'll try to learn some of these this summer at 2.22.

Na Pics... all 160 of them!

The photos from the New Attitude conference are now on Facebook! You can view them (even if you don't have a Facebook account) at the links below and please feel free to comment and tag any of them:

• Album One
• Album Two
• Album Three

If you went with us and have posted some of your own pics, let us know in the comments section here, on Facebook or send me an email with a link.

Also, if you didn't get to go, you can listen to the messages and view other resources here. I'll bet if you look at the pictures while you listen to the sermon audio, it'll be like you were right there with us!

Influence

In preparation for Tuesday's last message in the Relationship series, I came across this sermon by Cornelius Tyree called "THE MORAL POWER OF A PIOUS LIFE" or known also as "The Living Epistle". It's long - so you probably won't read it all in one sitting, but you might take a few small bites at a time.

As we talk about being salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16) in the relationships we have, this is just one excerpt that should help us see the importance of letting others see our "good works" that they might "give glory to God."

How can the attention of men be most effectually drawn to the great subject of Christianity? If there can be no sound conversion to God without thought and investigation—then how can men be induced to entertain the gospel proposition? The most effectual way to enlist general attention to the religion of Christ—is for its professors to display it in their tempers and conduct.

The best commentary on the Bible that the world has ever seen--is a holy life of growing likeness to Christ. The most eloquent sermon in behalf of the gospel that the world has ever heard--is a uniform, active life of piety. The best version of the Bible that has ever been made--is a consistent pious example. The Christian whose light thus shines, not only correctly renders--but beautifies the sacred text. His life and conduct are a sort of second edition of the written Scriptures--a living epistle which all can read, all understand, and that convinces and convicts all.

How are others reading your life?

2.22 Week Links

Maybe this should be called "WEAK Links" since my attempt at being weekly is rather weakly. Oh well - here's the latest blog fodder for you:

Music: Hymns or Choruses? The dialogue continues.

Message: If you can't afford fifty bucks to hear Max McLean read the ESV Bible on mp3 CD's, AMG Publishers have a more affordable reading by Stephen Johnston for $16.99. Find out more here.

Manifesto: Heard about the new Evangelical Manifesto? Catch up on it here and here.

Mullet: Once an Arkansan, always an Arkansan.

This post has been brought to you by the letter M.

Together for the Gospel

Jeff has mentioned to several of us how much he and the other BCLR pastors were encouraged by their time at the T4G conference. He has made a special reference to Pastor John Piper's message and encouraged us to listen.

Here is the link to the FREE mp3's from all 8 sessions, including not only Piper, but CJ Mahaney, John MacArthur, Al Mohler and others. Also, if you haven't seen their blog yet, check it out.

NEW 2.22 Facebook Profile

I've created a new Facebook profile for 2.22. We currently have a 2.22 "Group", which doesn't allow me to add photo or podcast apps like you can on a main profile page. Most of you should be getting invitations, but if you don't, you can go directly to the new page and submit a friend request.

And yes - I'll admit... I'm starting to like Facebook.

An Indestructible Relationship

If you weren't at 2.22 Tuesday night you missed a great message from the first two chapters of Job. Pastor Jeff showed us how Job’s indestructible relationship with God manifested itself in two faith-filled expressions, found in Job 1:20-22 & Job 2:9-10.

As part of his message, he quoted from John Piper's poem "The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God". This poem - published also in a book is available as a free online pdf file.

The Desiring God website says this of the book:

Job lost everything: his wealth, his health, and his ten children. All swept away in one satanic storm. Reduced to a heap of flesh, ashes, and tears—rebuked by friends and jeered by strangers—righteous Job wrestled over the purpose and presence of God in the midst of unbearable pain.
In this book, John Piper recounts the story of Job in beautiful, compassionate poetry and revels in God's sovereign and surprisingly joyful purposes in allowing exquisite suffering in the lives of his saints. A deeply moving book, especially for those experiencing great suffering and loss.

Piper is as much a poet as he is a preacher, so you're bound to enjoy this work - which was recently reviewed here (ht:Abraham Piper). We'll have Jeff's sermon audio available on our podcast later today.

New Feature Feed: Josh Harris

Having featured New Attitude's blog for about a month now, we'll narrow it down a bit and feature Na's "founder" and conference speaker, Josh Harris. You'll find on his blog everything from his sermon series to Sovereign Grace goings on to news about his popular twin brothers.

You'll find the Josh Harris Feature Feed in the sidebar. Enjoy!

2.22 Week Links

Survey Says: Read Al Mohler's observations on a recent survey on what America thinks about sin.

Quotes: The author of one of my favorite books has his own blog & almost daily posts some great quotes.

Facebook: I knew this would get your attention. What do Josh Harris & Facebook have in common? Here and here.

Funny: What if worship were like an NBA Game? Watch this.

Forgiveness

Many thanks to Michael Hamline for teaching on the subject of forgiveness this week. He took us through the parable of the unforgiving servant found in Matthew 18:21-35 as we continued our series on Relationships.

As you continue to think about forgiveness, I want to briefly list a couple of helpful books that might interest you. I've just listed them below without any hyperlinks, but you can go to any of the trusted book suppliers listed at the bottom of the sidebar to purchase a copy.

Forgiveness, John MacArthur



Choosing Forgiveness, Nancy Leigh DeMoss



The Healing Power of Forgiveness, Ray Pritchard



From Forgiven to Forgiving, Jay Adams



You might also check out some of these online sermons & articles on forgiveness at Monergism.com.