Doug Wilson’s latest book ‘Father Hunger‘ has recently been released. Posted on the Father Hunger website are 7 sermons that cover the basis of the book. Wilson is not only an excellent expositor of Scripture, he is a great teacher who has a gift in writing.
Richard Phillips says of the book:
“Wilson sounds a clarion call among Christian men that is pointedly biblical, urgently relevant, humorously accessible, and practically wise”
Richard Phillips discusses his excellent new book The Masculine Mandate with the team at Christ the Center. Phillips was motivated to write this book after reading Wild at Heart, the horrid, yet popular book by John Eldredge. Phillips observes that Eldredge got the primary text for men right, but took a wild interpretation that isn’t at all biblical.
Phillips identifies masculinity as being both working and keeping (nurturing), which emerge from the responsibilities he had in the garden of Eden. It’s not common to consider man as a nurturer, but that is a major part of what it means to be a man.
Phillips also suggests that many men are consumed with “man idols” that appear to be masculine, but need to be put in their place because they hinder the true responsibilities of men. He suggests many young men need to be admonished to grow up, put away their video games and begin to behave responsibility, and prepare themselves for marriage.
One of the most insightful comments was that the feminism movement in the church has largely been fueled by the movement of masculine abdication. Men have forgotten what it means to be a man in the church, and in the home, and women have responded with feminism.
This discussion is very invigorating, and at the end you will want to have this book ordered, as I did.
Al Mohler invites Bruce Ware onto his radio program. Ware has written a book that encourages and guides parents in teaching their children systematic theology, called Big Truth for Young Hearts. Mohler and Ware have a very enlightening conversation about Ware’s conviction and practice of teaching children systematic theology. Al observes this is one of those books that is unusual in the market, and when you see it you can’t believe there aren’t more like it. Mohler and Ware talk about the need for adults to give more credit to the ability of children to learn challenging theological concepts rather than watering them down to moralities.
First Baptist Church in Killen, Alabama hosted Paul Washer for a summit to speak to the men. Washer challenges men not with the challenges the world or the common challenges that most men’s conferences do. Washer challenges men to do what the plain reading of Scripture says.
Men need to get their jobs and ministries in sync with a true belief in God’s sovereignty. This means we don’t sacrifice our wives or children on the altar of career or ministry. To do so is a denial of God’s sovereignty over your life.
Men are called to serve and sacrifice. Do you care for your wife? Do you sacrifice for her good? Do you truly love her without condition? Are you washing her with the Word. Washer says, “If you’ve been married for 10 years and your wife is not any more presentable to you than she was in the first year of your marriage, you are to blame.” Husbands must be ministering the Word of God to their wives and children, not using Scripture to prop you up as a privileged officer.
Washer also suggests that Christian dating organizations are not God’s will, because God’s will is not that you find someone who is compatible. Very often the wife God has for you is far from compatible. Because God’s goal for your life is Christ-likeness, not compatibility in marriage.
Paul also looks at men as fathers, and considers how our society is loosing our children because we are more concerned about socializing them with other children their age while we completely neglect having them around us while we are with other adults. Children need to be around adults.
This is a very challenging and much needed series of 3 addresses to men. I highly recommend them.
Paul Washer is the founder of Heart Cry Missionary Society.
Raising the Bar Session 1 mp3>>>
Al Mohler interviews Col. Shane Blanton, the president of a Christian boys school. While most of the conversation surrounds this school that Blanton oversees, Mohler discusses some of the current challenges parents face with raising boys.
Children are not the future of the church, as the popular expression goes. Children are of the present church.
William Mackenzie, director of Christian Focus Publications, joins his wife Carine and Sinclair Ferguson in participating in a parenting conference presented at Ferguson’s church. Mackenzie presents a number of messages about the importance of investing spiritually in our children. He begins by presenting the case of how the world is targeting Christian children with atheism, and specifically attempting to turn children away from the Bible. He does so by quoting Richard Dawkins and popular children’s book author Phillip Pullman, both atheists who believe teaching children Christianity is a form of child abuse.
Mackenzie spends an entire message discussing the importance of family worship, and he carefully relates the practice of family worship that he grew up with. This is a valuable insight into a rare Christian home that looked like a mini church.
Mackenzie’s wife Carine, an author of a great many children’s books, and Sinclair Ferguson also each presented a single message. William carried the bulk of speaking at this conference.
This is a great conference, filled with information and exhortation that will challenge you to consider the Godly heritage of children in a sadly unfamiliar light.
William Mackenzie is director of Christian Focus Publications, which also carries the wonderful imprints of Mentor and Christian Heritage. He and his wife Carrie, an author, join Sinclair Ferguson at First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina.
A must-hear message if you have children. If this quote doesn’t whet your appetite, then….
“One of the reasons we are raising a generation of pagans in our midst, is that we are faithful as parents to talk about God, but the God we talk about is not the God of the Bible. Many Children growing up in Christian homes simply don’t know the God of the Bible. They know the god of popular culture, the god of popular piety, they know the user-friendly god of Amercian consumerism; they know the god who doesn’t require much of them; the god who is kindly and sweet and remote; the god who is like an indulgent grandparent; the god who doesn’t take sin too seriously; the god who doesn’t take his people’s allegience too seriously; the god who fits in the gaps where necessary; the god who shows up at a blessing at a meal — hurried and rushed to get to the main purpose of the meal; the god who shows up at a crisis and someone remembers him and speaks of him. There is no wonder, when we think about it, that we are raising pagans, because the god they have come to know in many Christian homes simply isn’t the God of the Bible. He is himself an idol.”
“Too many of our children are innoculated with this false and artificial understanding of God, because they think of God’s Word as something like a greeting card….Do your children know that God kills people?”
Colin Adams has posted links to 9 messages for husbands and fathers. Speakers include John Piper, CJ Mahaney, Ted Tripp, Danny Jones and Voddie Baucham. I’ve listened to most of these and have referenced them in previous years.
Gregg Harris, father to Joshua Harris, the pastor of Covenant Life Baptist Church, spoke at Josh’s church on Psalm 127. And Oh, by the way, he is also father to twin boys, Alex and Brett Harris, who at 19 have written a widely selling book and hold large conferences across the country called ‘The Rebelution’, which is one of the best things going for teenage Christians today.
My youngest will become a teenager later this year, so I’m off to a head start and thankful for the resources of the Harris clan.
C. J. Mahaney is joined by other Sovereign Grace pastors, including Mark Alderton and Rick Gamache, to examine the subject of Bibilical masculinity.
C. J. takes us into Philippians 4 to examine in a clear and masterful way how both the believer and God have a part in actively working out our sanctification.
In the Pursuit of Genuine Repentance, Craig Cabaniss brings us to face how our repentance is far too often remorse for our circumstances rather than a true lamentation before an offended God.
There are a great many other messages in this series.
The Pursuit (church resource page) >>>
There are a lot of messages in this series. You have to scroll down until you see a message with the graphic ‘The Pursuit’ next to it. Unfortunately, these messages are not all collected on one easy to access page.
Faith by Hearing 