Mortifying the Sin of Immorality Fueled by Pornography

This past Sunday I preached a sermon at FPC Macon on Col. 3:5-9 where believers are instructed to "put to death" or "mortify" deeds of the flesh. I mentioned the plague of pornography, not just in our world, but inside the local church. Here are some links to websites which offer help for our struggles. Some of these ministries offer counseling, resources, e-books, and online accountability tools. The desiring god site has numerous articles written on the subject.

www.blazinggrace.org

www.covenanteyes.com

www.desiringgod.org

www.pureintimacy.org

The Usefulness of the Word of God

I preached a sermon on Dec. 28, 2014 at FPC entitled "The Usefulness of the Word of God." Here are some of the books I used as references:
Misquoting Truth by Timothy Paul Jones. This is a guide to the fallacies of Bart Ehrmans' Misquoting Jesus
The Reason for God by Timothy Keller.
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce
The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible by Benjamin B. Warfield

A Wonderful Learning Experience with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries

I recently completed the initial online course offered by RZIM Academy. It is called the Core Module. Here is a link to a new video which describes what is offered in the course. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Rosaria Champagne Butterfield and her "Train Wreck Conversion"

Although published over a year ago in Christianity Today, I was moved tonight as I re-read her observations and reflections of the work of God in her life from 15 years ago. You can find it here.



Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

The Culmination of a 20 year Bible Translation Project in the South Sudan

Our local church gave about $80,000 two years ago to help publish a Bible which had been translated by Leoma Gilley and the team at Wycliffe Bible Translators. It was for the Shilluk people who live in the South Sudan.  Here is a video from Cedar Springs PC in Knoxville which tells about the completion of this 20 year project.

The Urgency of Reaching the Unreached with the Gospel

A Powerful video from the AsiaLink website.

Tears of the Saints from HistoryMakers on Vimeo.

How to Read the Whole Bible in 2014

Psalm 1 describes some of the amazing benefits of meditating on God's Word. I believe it is the rare person who does not struggle with cultivating the habit of reading God's Word daily, much less meditating on it throughout their waking moments.

Justin Taylor has a very helpful post on "How to Read the Bible in 2014." You can find it here.  He also shares the offer from Crossway on getting the ESV on audio for free during January 2014. Find it here.

Dr. Douglas Kelly also has a helpful plan which I posted many months ago. Here is the post from Sept. 2012:

A SUGGESTED PLAN FOR BIBLE READING (adapted from If God Already Knows Why Pray? By Douglas F. Kelly) This plan has been helpful to many since Puritan times and was designed to cover the Scriptures in exactly 365 days. Its special value is that it gives you a varied diet by exposing you to different parts of Scripture each day while providing continuity by causing you to return to the same section on the same day of the week all through the year.

Jesus Was Cursed on the Cross

Jesus was Cursed for His people. A powerful video featuring the teaching of RC Sproul.

A Powerful Story of Rescue

I came across this video on Justin Taylor's blog. Skip Ryan was an influence on me years ago and his wife, Barbara, went out of her way to minister to my wife, Barbara, when our disabled son was born back in 1997.

A Pastor Addicted to Performance (and Narcotics)

In 2006 Joseph “Skip” Ryan resigned from the pastorate of Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas. It was then revealed that he was an opiate addict, in bondage to prescription pain medicines. His marriage was also falling apart as he and his wife became little more than roommates. You can watch below their painful but hopeful story of forgiveness and humbling and repentance and restoration:

Need a Bible Reading Plan for 2013?

If so, you will want to check out a very comprehensive and helpful list of reading plans on the website of Ligonier Ministries. You can find it here.