I decided to focus on pastors this last day of the week and I decided to include and article rather than a sermon. Some great thoughts by a great man...
Great sermons by godly men to exalt, encourage and equip to the Glory of God.
One of the things I have been challenged by the most listening to so many sermons for this blog is how to pray. Especially if I listen to a certain preacher more than once during the week, it is really interesting to listen to how they approach the preaching time. I think just listening to C.J. pray before he speaks is worth the price of admission. Regarding this sermon, I really, really love this sermon by C.J. I really mean it. He really does such a phenomenal job speaking about the perils of pride and how to purposefully live your life in humility before the Lord. As always, he speaks with great passion and creativity and honesty, a simplicity and authenticity that brings you into his heart. Beautiful, convicting, practical and inviting. Don't miss out on this amazing 1 hour and some change... He spoke this sermon at pastors conference but it is applicable to everyone!
This is a great follow up to Monday's sermon, a follow-up in some senses, a personal and practical analysis in another and a reminder with some of the similar definitions and examples from the previous message as well. He adds some great new stories, he unpacks Galatians 3 in a great way, and really hammers home the evil and foolishness of legalism in a very eye opening way. If Enjoying Grace and Avoiding Legalism was helpful, this will be a great follow up. Listen to that one first before this one... Very helpful, encouraging and worth your time!!!
Want more? Check out this blog for some more advice on building a Piper library!
I first heard of C.J. Mahaney when I heard a sermon by Josh Harris called "Humble Orthodoxy." In this sermon, Josh shared how C.J. trained and mentored him and C.J. and the church, more or less, then gave the pastorate to him. My buddy was talking to me about this on how few pastors really mentor and train the younger generation of pastors and give them opportunity to grow and fail and succeed. This was a really cool example and so I was immediately impressed by him. And then I heard this sermon. Wow! I am tempted to put this sermon on every day this week. A must hear for new believers, old believers and everyone in between. Heartfelt, funny, compelling... I wish I had heard this sermon in college. So much pain I could have saved myself and judging others and pride and despair and depression...