I was at my parent's house for most of last week, enjoying a more quiet visit than is typical when we do a "two day run." Dan had to stay back home and work, so it was just me and the kids. On the way home, after tiring of the music I had been listening to, I remembered that I finally downloaded the sermons from the NA conference back in May and I decided to listen to some again.
This would be the 3rd time I listened to Piper's last message of the conference. I have been meaning to blog about it, but it is too full of truth to summarize here. Besides, it would take as much time for me to try to explain it to you as it would for you to listen to it yourself. He spoke on obedience that pleases the Lord and addressed perfectly the idea of future grace and the faulty logic of the debtor's ethic. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take the time to listen to it. I will never sing the line, "Oh to grace, how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be!" the same way again.
Then I listened again to CJ Mahaney's first sermon on discerning your heart. He spoke eloquently, but simply on the topic of idols in our life. He quotes Calvin in saying that we are little "idol factories," capable of conquering one idol, only to be replaced by another. It calls on us to constantly scour our hearts to search for idols that threaten to destroy us. I cannot recommend a clearer, or more focused message on the topic.
On Saturday, after I returned home, we started a new Ladie's study on the book by Elyse Fitzpatrick, Idols of the Heart. The sermon was the perfect appetizer for a book full of the meat of the Word. Taking the short hour to listen to this sermon will be time well spent and your heart will be challenged and blessed.
I don't often recommend sermons to listen to. First of all, because I understand how hard it is for all of us "stay-at-home-moms!" But please listen to these two. Download them onto your iPod, or if you don't have one, and live close to me, give me a call and I will gladly watch your kids while you take a long walk and feed your soul. I mean it; I'm that passionate about these messages.
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7 comments:
Are you referring to C.J. Mahaney's series of messages called "Idol Factory?" I ordered this series and listened to them on a very long car ride in August and was very impacted.
So much so that I told my small group about it and we just spent our last 3 small groups listening to this series. If it's not what you are talking about, I HIGHLY recommend purchasing/downloading this series by him. Again it's called:
The Idol Factory
We are in the midst of our annual missions conference, which is 6 nights long. I am hoping to post some about it in the next day or two. It's a crazy busy week w/activities all week each day. Our speaker this year, which after Paul Washer last year, was difficult for me to have to compare to, is Dave Stitton. John Piper has said him to "be the best missions speaker we've ever had" So I am anxious to hear more of him as the week goes on!
Thanks for this post!
as I re-read your post...I'm thinking you caught a "glimpse" of his 3 hour lessons on Idolatry. He uses the Calvin quote and others.
Seriously, you will be captivated by his thoughts on idolatry. It's just, as you say, can't be talked or written about, it must be heard.
I encourage your readers to download/purchase this message--it is one of those life changing messages for eternity!
Karen
It sounds like we are talking about the same message, only delivered in a different context. The NA messages are free, so if you don't want to spend the $, then check out the link. Otherwise, I believe Sovereign Grace Ministries now offer all their sermons for free. It would be worth it to check it out!
Donette,
If you notice, next time we sing the song "Come Thou Fount" @ church, the lyrics are different. I changed them to "O for grace, I now can praise Thee, Daily lift my song on high. Let thy goodness, full surround me. Draw me closer to Thy side." It may be illegal, or not, but at least it fits our theology. It's also why we don't sing "Jesus Paid It All". (I haven't taken any poetic license with that one yet)
Ryan
I was glad to find your blog, but disappointed that you would use an "astological sign" as part of your identity portfolio.
meant to spell it "astrological"...
Eve,
Thanks for the notice. Slight oversight on my part (never even nknew it was an option). I hope you don't read to far into it. I'm certainly not supporting astrology, but I do like Chinese food.
R E D Hawk
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