To Love the Word

A relative newcomer to my world is Paul Washer, seasoned missionary and pastor for the Southern Baptist Convention. His preaching reflects a deep love and fear of God like none other I have heard. He pulls no punches, and regularly takes American Christianity and his own denomination to task for its reliance upon culture and tradition instead of Bible. I have listened and relistened to hours and hours of his sermons, and go back for more because he takes me to a place I rarely see, but wish to find...a place nearer to God and His holiness. Some may call his preaching "hard"...but I find it challenging and convicting as he uses God's Word to fillet my wicked heart and refill it with God's grace and mercy.

Most recently I have been listening to a series of sermons entitled "To Love the Word"...meditations on Deuteronomy 6:1-9. As I post this, I haven't quite finished the second one...but he spends a lot of time focusing on the application of loving the Word to dad's role of bringing that Word to bear in his family. Thus the appropriateness of commending these sermons on this blog.

You can listen directly at these links, or register and download them in mp3 format for free.

Enjoy!

To Love the Word, Part I

To Love the Word, Part II

To Love the Word, Part III

To Love the Word, Part IV

Voddie's Latest Scribblings

Dr. Voddie Baucham, one of my favorite preachers and authors (as is attested to by the link to his blog over on the left), is out with his latest book, Family Driven Faith. I've been looking forward to its release for some time now. Dr. Baucham certainly "walks his talk" ... and his talk is written in a very readable, yet very direct manner. In the first chapter, he quickly defines the problem...extremely large percentages of the young people in his denomination (Southern Baptist) are leaving the faith as young adults. Then he turns to the root cause...the primacy of human wisdom over Biblical wisdom in most of our life decisions. You will find yourself nodding in agreement...and occasionally twitching from the sting of a point that is too close to home. But you will be drawn to discover the antidote he derives from his study of the Word.

If you resonate with the content of this blog and it's sister blog...you will find this book to be a rewarding read.

Every Day is Mother's Day!

It's now a couple of weeks after the Sunday in which we here in America honor our mothers. Although this post could have been written right at Mother's Day, I chose to wait a bit so as to make it more unique, and not just one more post on mothers at the appropriately timed part of the year.

I write this blog in hopes of collecting my thoughts on discipling my own children and in hopes of possibly inspiring and encouraging others to do to the same. But that discipling is going to be very difficult to accomplish all my myself. There is a good reason God gave Adam a wife and there is a good reason God gave me my wife. Part of that reason is that I am not whole without her nor am I capable of carrying out God's mandate for my family alone.

In one of my original posts in this blog, I wrote of the necessity of putting the marriage before the children. That has not changed. A dad who desires to disciple his children will first romance his wife. He will love and cherish her. He will recognize her as God's second-best gift, second only to His gift of salvation. He will work hard to resist the temptation to put her second to the children. He will honor her in her work in the family. He will remember to work to make sure she remains his best friend.

I have certainly not always done these things; in fact, I have often fallen woefully short. But that doesn't change the fact that these types of activities exhibit leadership, exhibit love, and help to create a marriage that glorifies God as an image of the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church.

Would you join me in honoring your own bride, she who is not only your wife, but an Image-bearer of God and your sister in Christ? And not just on the one day a year as proclaimed by Hallmark, but on every day of the year.... In doing so, you build a family that honors your Lord. In doing so, you set the foundation for discipling your children. In doing so, you set an example for your children of what marriage should be. In doing so, you bring glory to God.