What are we listening to?

Just thought I'd tell you what I've been listening to lately. To stay spiritually "fit" (or not get disqualified) I read my Bible, try to commune with God, listen to people that contagiously make me want to know God more deeply and tell the world about the supreme worth of Jesus.


Here are the people that help me. If you click on their name, you'll be able to listen to and download the most recent sermon I've heard:


John Piper  (Excellent sermon on "Going out of the camp"
CJ Mahaney (This man has the gift of encouragement)
Mark Dever  (Does God give second-chances? The message of Zachariah)
Francis Chan (Holy Anguish)
Matt Chandler (This is particularly good for anyone that listens to a lot of sermons, attends a lot of conferences and reads a lot of books)
Mark Driscoll (This isn't the most recent I listened to, but the 1st of an excellent series)

Are Demons For Real? Is Satan A Real Person?

We discussed this among other things in our Bible study last night. That same evening, I came home and instead of sleeping, I turned on a Mars Hill Church sermon and listened to over an hour of preaching.


I thought I would post the sermon here. I would love feedback. Mark Driscoll talks about some crazy stuff. So if this sermon gives you a bad impression, first go and listen to Christ Died In Our Place, it's a great sermon. Then come back and listen to Christ Died To Crush Our Enemies. It's perplexing and edgy. God is so real, but so is Satan and so are demons. As a post-it on my computer says, "There's a war for your soul: FIGHT!"

Francis Chan Says: Don't Be Stupid, Live For the Rope

Ok, that title doesn't make any sense. Unless you do as I did and listen to Francis Chan's recent sermon:
Living a Life That Matters: Living Eternally 
The sermon starts from the 4th minute. If you want to download the sermon or listen to others, go to Cornerstone Church Simi. 


It was good and I would love to hear what you thought of it. I heard the name of Francis Chan for the first time last month. Since then I've ploughed through his excellent book Crazy Love  (it's about lukewarm Christians, such as myself). I recommend it to all of you. It's brilliant!


Love you guys… Let's stick close to Jesus.

The Prodigal Sons a Tim Keller Sermon

I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller this weekend. Its entitled, The Prodigal Sons. I was on the train returning home from the TV interview. Its really good, simple yet profoundly gospel-centered. I recommend it. I'd never heard of Tim Keller until a few weeks ago but I will be listening to more. He's a pastor of Redeemer Church in New York.

So I suggest you right click here and download the sermon, listen to it and tell me what you think. I'm definitely the Older Brother, how about you?

Thanks for praying for Thessalonians in Feignies

Things went rather well. I'd forgotten that we had our annual meeting (something required by law in France). A rather official thing, but a good time to check pulses and talk about the future. Our church officially has 29 members.

I'm obsolutely dead tired. My sermon preparation was perhaps the worst I've ever had. I was just too tired. I wonder what it would have been without your prayers! :) I think I might reward myself with a Spurgeon sermon… if I can stay awake.

Remarkable Spurgeon Sermons to be continued

Spurgeon quotes have ceased all of a sudden (last week). This will be remedied as soon as this weekend is over. I've finished reading the first sermon, "Supposing Him to be the gardener" and found it good. Have several more passages I want you to read. The best thing of course is just to read the whole sermon. You can find it on the previous Spurgeon posts of my blog.

Please Pray for Me as I Prepare the Sermon This Sunday

I've been assigned 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 as sermon text for Sunday 22nd of February. I remember reading the passage a few months ago, as we were dividing up the letter into six passages. As I read, I knew who should preach that text. I found it rich, wonderful and so full of questions that needed answers.

I was hoping my father would be assigned the few first verses of chapter four. Instead, here I am preparing to preach on a topic I'm hesitant to speak on, sanctification/holiness.

Please pray for me. Ask God to give me humility, wisdom and strength to preach to glorify God. Pray also that I would have much love for the flock of Feignies (the church I attend). Thank you.

Supposing Him to be the Gardener (#3)

Continued from my reading. A quote from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon.

"Supposing him to be the gardener," there is another duty, and that is, let each one of us yield himself up entirely to him. A plant does not know how it ought to be treated; it knows not when it should be watered or when it should be kept dry: a fruit-tree is no judge of when it needs to be pruned, or digged, or dunged. The wit and wisdom of the garden lieth not in the flowers and shrubs, but in the gardener. Now, then, if you and I are here to-day with any self-will and carnal judgment about us, let us seek to lay it all aside that we may be absolutely at our Lord's disposal. […] 
Depend upon it, happiness lives next door to the spirit of complete acquiescence in the will of God, and it will be easy to exercise that perfect acquiescence when we suppose the Lord Jesus to be the gardener. If the Lord hath done it; what has a saint to say? Oh thou afflicted one, the Lord hath done it: wouldest thou have it otherwise? Nay, art thou not thankful that it is even so, because so is the will of him in whose hand thy life is, and whose are all thy ways? The duty of submission is very plain, "supposing him to be the gardener."

Page 18, Supposing Him to be the Gardener ( Sermon #1699 )

Supposing Him to be the Gardener (#1)

Supposing Him to be the Gardener (#2)

Supposing Him to be the Gardener (#2)

"Supposing him to be the gardener."

John 20:15

“Let your imaginations run along with mine while I say that "supposing him to be the gardener" should be A SPUR TO MANY DUTIES.
One of the duties of a Christian is joy. That is a blessed religion which among its precepts commands men to be happy. When joy becomes a duty, who would wish to neglect it?”

Page 17, Supposing Him to be the Gardener ( Sermon #1699 )

Supposing Him to be the Gardener (#1)

50 Remarkable Spurgeon Sermons (#1)

I've found this first sermon to be most helpful (and beautiful). So here are a few excerpts from it. Remember to read it out-loud, it is the best way to understand the richness of the text.

"Supposing him to be the gardener."
John 20:15

“The wonder is that ever you and I should have been placed among the plants of the Lord. Why are we allowed to grow in the garden of his grace? Why me Lord? Why me? How is it that we have been kept there and borne with in our barrenness, when he might long ago have said, "Cut it down: why cumbereth it the ground?"[…]
I know not how it is that we have been spared, except upon this ground—"supposing him to be the gardener"; for Jesus is all gentleness and grace, so slow with his knife, so tardy with his axe, so hopeful if we do but show a bud or two, or, perchance, yield a little sour berry—so hopeful, I say, that these may be hopeful prognostics of something better by-and-by. Infinite patience! Immeasurable longsuffering! where are ye to be found save in the breast of the Well-beloved? Surely the hoe has spared many of us simply and only because he who is meek and lowly in heart is the gardener.”
Page 16, Supposing Him to be the Gardener ( Sermon #1699 )

Great Spurgeon Quotes Later Today!

Having read the first Remarkable Spurgeon sermon, I just can't keep it for myself. I'll be posting the best quotes without commenting on them. If you think I should comment, I can... 

Remember to read them out loud. Spurgeon MUST be read out loud to get the beauty (and often the meaning!).

First quote: later today. As I've said before, have a great weekend and please be praying for me. Thanks!

50 Remarkable Sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon

While attending a gathering in Switzerland, I visited their second hand book section. I found it rather interesting, although it contained no French books worth reading. Instead, I found old books from authors that have gone to be with Jesus, many years ago.

In the end, I only bought one book (because I'd come by train), but I think it is a rare find, a treasure. A collection of 50 Remarkable Sermons by Charles Spurgeon, printed in 1908. I bought a hundred year-old book of Spurgeon for just over a dollar! I love second-hand books!

As I glanced through the book, I found a wonderful sermon. I'd been longing to read it again, ever since a friend onboard the Doulos read it out loud to me in his Irish accent. The title of the sermon is: High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine (sermon #1762 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle). It is a gem of Bible exposition. To hear the scriptures preached with such force and beauty was a memorable occasion. You'd have to read it for yourself, but until you find the book, you can read the Bible and be amazed for yourself.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37 (KJV as quoted in High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine)

A good weekend to all. Enjoy the extra free time to read your Bibles and be with God!