Faith by Hearing
Sanctifying the MP3 RevolutionThe Brothers Karamazov
ChristianAudio is offering an ABRIDGED version of Dostoevsky’s magnificent novel The Brothers Karamazov. The one chapter you don’t want to miss is chapter 5, “The Grand Inquisitor”, which tells the story of Jesus appearing in the 14th century town of Seville, and his arrest by the Cardinal of Seville.
The Cardinal has a lengthy monologue in the dungeon explaining to Jesus how the church has corrected the failure of Jesus in reaching the people. This is a very insightful narrative, and incredibly relevant for the evangelical church today, which has turned to the things of the world to reach people (such as psychology and business models) and rejected the clear commands of Scripture.
Inspiring Lives with Iain Murray
Iain Murray is always a pleasure to listen to. 9 Marks Mark Dever talks with Iain about many lives Iain has met either through biography or through an encounter in his life.
Iain talks about many of the men he has written biographies of, including some men who may be obscure to many of us, yet none-the-less inspiring.
Iain also talks at length about a number of men he has spent time with, including Martyn Lloyd-Jones and John Murray.
I always come away from Iain’s lectures or interviews with fresh insight and new inspiration. This interview will feed your soul.
Church Membership with Guy Waters
Guy Waters joins the Christ the Center panel to talk about the importance of church membership. Today’s familiar aversion to church membership is a relatively new phenomenon, something that wasn’t seen in most of church history. Waters brings many excellent observations and Scriptural support for the necessity of church membership. An excellent discussion.
Desiring God, Free Audio Book
For the month of November Christian Audio is offering John Piper’s classic book ‘Desiring God’ as a free download. Just enter NOV2009 during check out.
N.T. Wrights View of Justification Discussed
Al Mohler moderates a panel discussion with Tom Schreiner, Mark Seifrid, Denny Burk and Brian Vickers at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. The topic of their discussion is N. T. Wrights revisionist view of justification. This was a very good interview about justification and the challenges raised against it today, and the importance that we deal with this kind of error firmly.
Restoration Prophecy in Ezra-Nehemiah
Very interesting discussion at Christ the Center with Matthew Patton about the “already/not yet” eschatology found in Ezra and Nehemiah. Some of the discussion is challenging, but other parts are incredibly helpful, such as the discussion of typology. From the site:
The Christ the Center corporal’s guard spoke with Matthew Patton, PhD student in biblical studies at Wheaton College Graduate School in Wheaton, IL about his paper “Searching for a Truly Repentant Israel: Ezra-Nehemiah and Restoration Prophecy.” A very fascinating discussion was had about such things as the already/not yet eschatology of Ezra-Nehemiah and how even though Israel was back in the land, they had not returned from exile. The significance of typology was also addressed. One of the strengths of Matt’s research is that he shows the intertexuality of the various parts of the Bible. This paper particularly highlights Nehemiah’s prayer and his citations and allusions to Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and 1st Kings. This discussion augers well for future in-depth biblical theological and exegetical conversations.
Piper in Germany at the Hirten Konferenz
John Piper participated in the Shepherds Conference (Hirten Konferenz) in Bonn, Germany. He brought a series of three messages that he has previously given, though somewhat modified for the occasion. Great messages here, however they are difficult listening because of the German translation.
The Life and Ministry of C. H. Spurgeon
Phil Johnson gave a series of excellent addresses on the life and ministry of Charles Spurgeon. Johnson has become something of a Spurgeon expert while running the fabulous Spurgeon archive, and he has given us a tremendous gift in this series of messages. Johnson looks at various aspects of Spurgeon’s life, such as his conversion, his marriage, his gout, his theology, his ministry and his battles. Very interesting and edifying. Don’t miss these gems.
Phil delivered these messages in 2006 at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Rio Rico, Arizona.
Don Carson: Praying with Paul
Justin Taylor has found the messages that Don Carson delivered in Cambridge that led to his fantastic book A Call to Spiritual Reformation. This is a young Carson with powerful messages on prayer.
The conference messages are a good introduction to this book, and covers some of the same material. The book contains more material, and because it is such a phenomenal and important work, I highly recommend you read this book.
God Exposed Conference
Don’t miss the God Exposed Conference, a pastors conference focusing on expositional preaching. This is a much needed conference which was co-sponsored by 9Marks ministry and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.
To begin with, Dan Akin’s message is one of those defining messages that set the standard for what preaching is meant to be. Akin looks at the preacher in Ecclesiastes. He begins his message by stating the phrase, ‘The most important thing about any message is what you say, but how you say it has never been more important.’ Akin comes down hard (helpfully so) on the need for preaching to engage and hold interest in the listener. He even goes so far to say that it is a sin for a preacher to be boring. This is a message you will want to listen to twice (which I did).
Mark Dever opens the conference with a good anticipatory message and concludes it with a fantastic message. In fact, all of the speakers made very thoughtful and engaging contributions to the conference.
One of the unique qualities of this conference is something that I first heard at T4G, and that is that immediately after the message all the speakers gather to discuss the message–a very helpful practice.
God Exposed is a pastors conference on expositional preaching that
- Session 1: Mark Dever – “The Power of God’s Word” (Mark 4:26-34)
- Session 2: Daniel L. Akin – “The Preaching on Preaching” (Eccl. 12:9-14)
- Session 3: Michael McKinley – “The Centrality of the Word” (Luke 10:38-42)
- Session 4: CJ Mahaney – “Expository Faithfulness” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
- Session 5: Thabiti Anyabwile – “Will It Preach? Exposition in Non-White Contexts”
- Session 6: Mark Dever – “Expositional Preaching: A Defense and Charge”
