Some thoughts on Gospel-Centered Ministry

I can’t remember which blog lead me to this article by Scotty Smith, but it’s a good read. Scotty Smith is a pastor at Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN, and this article was published in the June 2009 volume of Tabletalk Magazine.

Scotty Smith:

So how would I love to finish the race, and how do I pray the next generation of leaders will begin it? There’s no better example than Paul.

Gospel astonishment versus theological cockiness

I learned the lyric of the gospel long before I loved its music. As pastor, husband, dad and friend, living from my head has always been easier than engaging from my heart, and not nearly as messy. But leaders who delight in the imputed righteousness of Christ seem to defend it the best. Paul never seemed to have “gotten over” the hyper-abundance of grace, faith, and love given to us in Jesus. While the gospel does free us from childishness, it should make us more and more childlike in awe, joy, and humility.

Chief repenter versus former sinner

When, in writing to Timothy, Paul referred to himself as “foremost sinner,” he wasn’t engaging in hype or hyperbole. His whole body of writing shows us he really meant it. A former blasphemer, persecutor, and violent man was still a current sinner, in need of the mercy and grace of God. Imagine how encouraging and empowering this was to Timothy. His spiritual father lived a life of ongoing repentance before his very eyes. God’s perfect patience for Paul must have made it easier for Timothy not to live as a poser or pretender.

When we first planted Christ Community Church in 1986, Dr. Jack Miller preached our constitution service, challenging me and our leadership family to be the chief repenters in the church. When we’ve forgotten or ignored that charge, our congregation has suffered the most. For what is as insufferable as self-righteous leaders?

Preaching Christ to yourself versus preaching yourself

Paul never used an audience or epistle as a vehicle for self advertisement or personal aggrandizement. He preached Christ, not himself (2 Cor. 4:5), and yet he was constantly preaching Christ to himself. Leaders who make the most of Jesus are those who make the gospel the most beautiful and believable. Leaders who preach themselves master the effective technique of transparency, but they remain clueless about the redemptive trauma of vulnerability.

Oh, that the King of the ages might be made visible through an emerging generation of leaders who will live and lead as genuinely as Paul.  

Read the whole article here.

Blessings…

~Donovan

Josh Mack Sermons

Lord willing, Heather and I will be helping Josh and Marda Mack with their ministry in South Africa by this time next year. Josh is the pastor of Living Hope Church (a church plant in inner-city Pretoria), and he and Marda also run a mercy ministry called 1Hope.

Josh’s sermons are now available on-line. You can find them here.

Tim Challies’ Top 9 Books of ‘09

I very much appreciate Tim Challies’ blog and his many helpful books reviews. He read over 100 books this year, and lists his 9 favorites of ‘09 here.

             

Clever Christmas Video

You need to watch the whole thing… If you don’t, you may get the wrong idea!

Parenting in Weakness

Dave Harvey visited Crossway Church this last Sunday, November 29.  He brought the message and looked at parenting through the lense of 2 Corinthians 11:30-12:10. It was a fantastic message! You can listen to the message here or download it here, and you can access a summary of the message and application questions here.   

Blessings…

~Donovan

P.S.: In the intro to the sermon you’ll hear Dave Harvey referred to as an ”apostolic leader”. Sovereign Grace uses the term “apostle” to speak of leaders who help oversee several churches and provide counsel and leadership to their pastors. They don’t mean that these men have seen Jesus in person or could write Scripture!

D.A. Carson sermons on the Holy Spirit

As Justin Taylor points out, these sermons were the basis of D.A. Carson’s book, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14. I always benefit from Carson’s work and I’ve been wanting to read this widely recommended book for a while (eg: it is one of CJ Mahaney’s recommended books on the Holy Spirit). I look forward to listening to the sermons:

1. The Unity of the Body and the Diversity of Gifts (1 Cor. 12)
2. The Most Excellent Way: When Does Perfection Come? (1 Cor. 13)
3. Prophecy and Tongues: Pursuing What Is Best (1 Cor. 14:1-15)
4. Order and Authority: Restraining Spiritual Gifts (1 Cor. 14:26-40)
5. Unleashed Power and the Constraints of Discipline: Toward a Theology of Spiritual Gifts

~Donovan

HT: Justin Taylor

Great sermon on Philippians 2

Philippians 2 is one of my favorite Scripture passages: it puts the sacrifice of our Savior into wonderfully clear perspective, and it’s one of those very helpful and practical passages that succinctly and vividly sums up so much of the Christian life. If you really ponder this passage, you’ll be more and more amazed by your Savior. You’ll also realize that we will never fully obey the call this passage places on our lives – there is always room for growth in living it out.

A couple Sundays ago, Tim Shorey was the guest preacher at Crossway church. His sermon on Philippians 2 was  a huge blessing, and I encourage you to listen to it if you can. You can hear it here, download it here, and find a summary of the message with application questions here.  

Blessings…

~Donovan

A couple new posts on our Masimdumisene Blog

Heather just put together a couple new posts on our Masimdumisene Blog:

• God’s glory in fall colors
• Thanksgiving with the Hollingsworths

Blessings…

~Donovan

Best of Tim Challies

I guess this has been available since February, but I only just found out about it. Tim Challies has selected his favorite blog posts from over 6 years of copious blogging and put them together in a free E-book, available here. I haven’t read it all yet, but anticipate it all being quality reading.

~Donovan

Thankful??

Are you genuinely thankful, or simply happy about certain things? If you’d like to see what I’m getting at, you can read a post I wrote at Thanksgiving a few years ago here.

Happy Thanksgiving! Blessings…

~Donovan