Who Do You Listen To?
John Piper was asked who he listened to on his iPod.
Obviously, I was pleased that we had downloaded two of the same people last week; Sinclair Ferguson and J.I. Packer.
Who do you listen to and why?
Who shapes your Christian thinking and interpretation?
Who do you avoid that others like and why?
I didn’t know Packer was on i-pod. I currently have two teachers on my i-pod; Driscoll and Ortize. Tried to put Rolph on, but he doesn’t do that. Gonna check and see if Stipe does…. ooh and FIRST!
Centy
I thought you listened to Neil Diamond. 🙂
iTunes says I have exactly six days of Packer on my iPod…. 🙂
I don’t really listen to anybody…except maybe my wife (BTW any bet’s on how long it takes for someone to post ” I just I listen to the Holy Spirit”?)
I have Steve Brown on my Ipod and my pastor’s Sunday teaching each week as I don’t get to hear it on Sunday mornings when I teach Sunday School. I am going to have Hubby put some Packer on it for me now that I know I can get it on Itunes. (I don’t know how to load anything on it. So I am blessed to be married to a techie man. 🙂
I listen to Fr. Thomas Hopko.
Steve,
With all the riches available, you don’t listen to anybody?
Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Burns and Allen, Fiber Magee and Molly.
Michael
I really don’t. There is some good stuff out there for sure…but I tend to read. Ironically, my learning style is more interactive and visual…go figure
I just listen to the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Tom!
http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/hopko
And coming in at # 10, the winner is…..:-)
Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Burns and Allen, Fiber Magee and Molly. and why, because it was a simpler time, it’s relaxing and entertaining without all the controversy of today. Except all the cigarette adds LSMFT makes me jones…lol
ooh and I have P.O.D. and Danny Daniels on my iPod…… Michael, what is the link for Packer……..
what is an ipod? itunes?
I listen to praise music on the car radio…mixed in with Bible on CD…that’s about it.
How do you guys afford i pods – those suckers are a couple of hundred bucks. I have a$25 tape player and a $39 CD player.
I have a cheap iPod shuffle. You never know what’s going to play next!
At work they have the radio on all day…the station plays a mix of oldies, 80’s., new music, and country…I remember some of the older songs and am shocked at the lyrics…I did not really realize what I had been singing along with back then…and the new songs 😳 oh my…..
On Pandora I listen to classical music, Celtic music and Mariachi music.
Most of my Packer was purchased from Regent.
There are files for free here;
http://www.monergism.com/directory/search.php?action=search_links_simple&search_kind=and&phrase=J.I.+Packer&B1.x=0&B1.y=0&B1=Search
Lots of good stuff from his home church:
http://www.stjohnsvancouver.org/online-sermons/learners-exchange.php
I have a 160G iPod Classic dedicated to sermons/classes/conferences and videos of such.
Chuck of course, but I have not listened to him in about a year, despite the fact that I download CCCM’s video podcasts weekly. Joe Focht, Ed Taylor, Brian Broderson, Raul Ries, Jon Courson, Chad Myhre, Don McClure, Mike MacIntosh, Ken Ortize, John Michaels, Joey Buran, Jim Jacobson, Eric Cartier, Damian Kyle, Britt Merrick, Bob Caldwell, Bill Ritchie, Andy Stanley, Tim Keller, Johnny Mac, Wayne Taylor, Shaun Sells, Mark Driscoll, Ron Daniel, and a whole mess of others, but those are my biggest collections.
I am most proud of my collections of Joe Focht, Ron Daniel, and Mark Driscoll.
Dusty,
The iPod is Apples incredible digital music player.
iTunes is a program for downloading and cataloging music and lectures etc.
I recently dropped a sizable collection of classes by Bryan Chapell (Author Christ Centered Preaching) on that iPod that I am really enjoying.
Dusty, tell Buster you can use them with PCs 🙂
So many new gadgets coming out all the time… ha! and here I thought I was cool ‘cuz I could read PP with my phone. 😉
Oh wait…I think we got one of those for little misty last year for Christmas…it is a very tiny little thing like a walkman? kind of thing?
Mine varies a lot, but right now I have
Matt Chandler on Colossians
John Piper
Gordon Fee
Frog Orr-Ewing
Bruce Hindmarsh
Packer
Brian, buster knows about the latest gadgets and gizmos…I’m the one who has a hard time keeping up.
Reuben,
Chapell is excellent…
The church history classes from Covenant are priceless…
I listen to
Issues etc
The White Horse Inn
The Bible Study at KFUO radio
Wayne Grudem
Just looked at my Ipod and I forgot to mention I also have Joe Focht teaching a series on Discouragement and Jack Abeelen on John. Been blessed greatly by both of those series !
The latest stuff I’ve added are the classes that Westminster Seminary in Philly put out on iTunes U.
Less than exhilarating… I expected way more.
my frequently used iTunes “smart play list” has:
D.A.Carson
C.J. Mahaney
Tim Keller
N.T. Wright (hey, don’t judge me) 😉
M. Lloyd-Jones (I have 100’s of old cassette tapes I’ve been slowly converting into mp3’s. Don’t tell anyone but I may end up putting them on the freebie black market somewhere on the web, because it sickens me that the MLJ trust charges what they do…I’m just sayin)
Bryan,
When the contraband has been completed, shoot me a private email… 😉
MLD: “How do you guys afford i pods – those suckers are a couple of hundred bucks.”
By avoiding Vegas or any other Casino. 🙂
Teaching: Piper, Driscoll, Keller, Chandler, Coy, Grudem…
Audio Books: Piper, Driscoll, Keller, Tchividjian, Sproul, Packer, Calvin, Luther, MacArthur, the Bible….
I have a completely separate player for music. Couldn’t even begin to list that.
@29, OH YEAH!
Listening to the lectures from Christ Centered Preaching (basically the book) now. I want to get the Church History classes. I have only heard portions from a friend who has that set.
Speaking of iPods, I was on the hunt for the best possible earbuds for a long time, and finally landed what I think are the best buds out there. They are made by Monster, called “Dr. Beats”. Aside from the sound which is extraordinary, the cables are made of a super tough rubber-band type stuff. I guess they are for listening to gangster rap or whatever, but man to they rock for everything else. Prior to that, I had a pair of JBL buds that sounded almost as good, but my cat chewed the cable, and I could not find a replacement set. Dr. Beats were expensive, $160 I think, but have been my primary headphones for about a year now.
I used to listen to sermons all the time on my Ipod. But I haven’t listened to a recorded sermon in probably over two years. The reason is that I have become so discouraged by the whole “Christian ministry Culture” thing that it honestly just bums me out.
The most discouraging thing to me is the myriad sermons on how to do this or that in ministry, how to get people to come to your church, stuff like that.
The other problem for me is sometimes the only thing I get from these sermons is, “This is how I have done it. Now do it just like me.” There’s an arrogance there that repulses me. Please know I do understand there are really good pastor teachers out there, and I know they’re not all like that, but I really got burned out on it all.
The other problem is through a very difficult experience in my own life, I found the public persona and the personal reality to be quite duplicitous. We all know that, especially here on the PP, where we have seen it time and time and time again.
Is this really how God wants things to be? I don’t know, I just am burned out on the whole Christian culture scene, ya know?
I have started reading again. I’m reading Nouwen and find him to be humble and transparent. And we have found a church with a pastor who very simply teaches the Bible. No overhead projectors, power point slides, laser pointers or anything. We like it.
Oh well, guess that’s my two cents on the subject.
Podcasts-
The White Horse Inn
GodPod (Anglican)
D. Martyn Lloyd Jones
for culture studies I’m listening to the complete podcasts from the World Economic Forum
You can find a few courses by Packer from Reformed Theological Seminary via iTunesU
I should probably add that the other podcasts I listen to are
EconTalk with Russ Roberts
Philosophy Bites (English)
Oh yeah, why?
The more I listen to reformed guys, the more I like them. Not because they are reformed. They tend to be much more educated and prepared in their sermons/lectures/talks than most of the CC guys I listen to.
(Duck and run!)
I am really blown away by Keller most of the time. I can’t think of any CC preachers that even come close to the absolute researched and prepared presentation that Keller pumps out. However, he puts the common man right to sleep.
(Duck and run again!)
Who can not love listening to and/or watching Driscoll? He takes the kind of common man approach that anyone can follow, and is Christocentric in all presentations to the congregation.
Who shapes?
Again, the more I listen to reformed guys, the more I am shaped, and not because of the reformed theology. Again, I trace this to the preparedness that seems to be unparalleled amongst reformed guys compared to your garden variety evangelical. Guzik seems to be the overwhelming exception to this self imposed rule. These guys push me to dig deeper in preparation for a congregational study.
Who do I avoid that others like?
Sproul. Boring. David Jeremiah. Obnoxious. Ryan Couch. One gear Ryan. (Just kidding buddy!)
Px2
Love your selections!
Cash
I hear ya!
Dave Matthews Band…
Malcolm Gladwell
Rodney Stark
Jason Upton and the Goodtime Band
Jesus Culture music
Malcolm Smith
and me
Emoclew kcab snolybab 🙂
Music wise…
Fifty years of Jerry Lee Lewis and I rarely listen to anything else.
There is no need. 🙂
I did download Tammy Wynettes greatest hits the other night and it was a religious experience…that woman was a primal force…there is no other like her, nor will ever be.
We’ll pray for Reuben to find work… 🙂
I am currently listening to old IMonk podcasts I downloaded from Clark Bunch’s blog (google him and look for iMonk radio).
I also have a couple of Eugene Peterson series from Regent audio; several old White Horse Inn episodes on Romans; some Paul Tripp, Driscoll and Sojourn; some from Steve Brown’s home church; and a Desiring God podcast on eschatology. Among other things.
Cash,
I understand completely.
It’s a big world out there, outside the evangelical subculture.
I hope you can enjoy some, without any guilt!
Michael
Tammy Wynette! Man, you are country. Isn’t she the Stand By Your Man lady?
BTW, Stand By Your Man should be the theme song for some of the pastors spoken of here.
Bob,
She is…and when she lights in to the end of that song on the original the only thing comparable will be the rapture….
She’s gone now…way too soon.
Not really a sermon listening kind of guy. More prone to read. Sometimes if I listen to too many sermons I find myself talking like certain preachers. I think its important to have my own voice.
There are a few messages I could listen to over and over again:
-Mark Driscoll’s message at the Desiring God conference about open hand/closed hand approach to theology
-James MacDonald’s message at the last Preach the Word conference about communicating scripture through preaching
@46,
My one day off a week is Monday. Doing taxes today though. PP is my spot today because the tards at SMP are no fun today. 😛 Except Steve of course.
I miss the banter between PP and SMP. Rarely hear from Chad. Hopkins still posts at SMP?
I’m unworthy of admission to the holy blog…bet my name comes up now and then though.
That pisses me off.
Although I appreciate and respect many who post at SMP, when you have to apply for admittance it come across a somewhat country clubish. That’s just my take, which means I could be wrong.
Who I no longer listen to that I once did…John MacArthur and Phil Johnson.
@54 Chad is my boss, so theres that. Steve is the SMP pain in the KJV donkey. But we love him.
@55 Michael, you would be surprised. A lot of guys over there like you quite a bit. Some of them are regulars here. I thought you were on there at one point, even after it went private?
@56 The application process simply limits the applicants to pastors, or at least someone who is involved in teaching/preaching/leadership ministry. There are reformed aboard SMP. IMHO, it is closed for reasons that have little to zero to do with clubishness, and I have been a part of SMP for a long time. Not an important part, just an obnoxious part. Had it not been for SMP, I would not have uprooted and moved the family across the country to team up with Chad in the ministry work in Charlottesville. Faultless? No. Holy blog? Haha! Not by a long shot! Besides, there are probably far less Mac users on SMP than on PP, so where is the holiness really at? 🙂
“Besides, there are probably far less Mac users on SMP than on PP, so where is the holiness really at? ”
Good point! 😉
I have very eclectic tastes in music. Some is because my 9 year old has an unhealthy liking of hip-hop….much to his dad’s disappointment.
Right now I have:
Andrew Peterson
Academy of St Martin in the fields
Andy Gullahorn
Anything Box
B. Reith
Bebo Norman
Berliner Phiharmonik…(Mozart)
BBC Big Band Orchestra
Big Country
Black Eyed Peas
Casting Crowns
Cat Stevens
Charlie Peacock
The Chipmunks
David Crowder Band
David Wilcox
Deep Blue Something
Elvis Costello
Fernando Ortega
Flame
Family Force Five
George Strait
Jars of Clay
Jerusalem
Johnny Cash
LeCrae
Leigh Nash & Friends
Lost Dogs
Lyle Lovett
Mavis Staples
Nanci Griftith
Native Son & The Foundation
Needtobreathe
Neil Diamond
Over the Rhine
Pierce Pettis
Pomplamoose
REM
Sarah Groves
Sixpence
Train
Talking Heads
Van Morrison
and a few more. 😉
I think I recognize about five names on that list…and one of them is the Chipmunks… 🙂
Remember I worked in radio for 12 years…I learned to like a broad spectrum of styles.
I’m off to drive around in my hubby’s Jeep in gorgeous weather and pick up three little giggly, brilliant amazing boys. Have a good day all.
Yay for David Wilcox!
Reuben
Thanks for the SMP update!
Cat Stevens
Love his stuff from the 70’s!
I tried to get into Reformed hip hop (lecrae) and just can’t.
Pomplamoose is excellent.
Oh, music?
Neil Young
Crazy Horse
CSN&Y
Sam Phillips
Paul Simon
Judy Collins
Joni Mitchell
Bruce Hornsby
Tom Petty
Rosanne Cash
Johnny Cash
Lyle Lovett
Van Morrison
And please, don’t bother telling me I’m a dinosaur. My kids do that all the time.
My frequently listened to podcasts are:
Gospel Coalition (I wish there were more)
TED talks http://www.ted.com/
NPR
White Horse Inn
Renewing Your Mind
Mars Hill Church
A29
Cal Berkley Studies
RTS
WNYC http://www.wnyc.org/
I do like discussion podcasts like White Horse Inn. Appreciate more of a talk radio format than listening to messages. No Ipod though…just through my laptop.
Van Morrison
The Kinks
Paul Simon
Cat Stevens
Bay City Rollers
Mo-town
CSN&Y
Steve Winwood (all bands)
Eric Clapton
North Coast Church Pastors -Larry Osborne and Chris Brown
“Bob and Tom in the Morning”
Bruce Hornsby has some great stuff. I loved his “Spirit Trail” CD from a few years back.
My one Hornsby story:
I met him once at a private party I somehow got invited to go to. After meeting the legendary Steve Cropper (the only time in my life I’ve ever gotten starstruck), I met Bruce Hornsby. He & Cropper were doing the music at the party. I mentioned to Hornsby that I was also a pianist, and he got very excited & started talking shop to me. He was so pleased with his left-hand technique & insisted that I get a good view of his left hand as he played that night. Absolutely incredible. Fantastic dexterity…classical virtuosity, jazz changes, and a pop feel.
It was a great night.
This week, my favorite albums are:
Living Sacrifice – The Infinite Order
Norma Jean – The Anti Mother
Underoath – Lost In The Sound Of Separation
All time favorites that get regular play:
Pink Floyd – Oh By The Way
Norah Jones – Come Away With Me
Mute Math – Armistice
King’s X – Mr. Bulbous
James Taylor – One Man Band
Chris Thile – Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
Antoine Dufour – Development
William Ackerman – Sound of the Wind Driven Rain
Living Sacrifice – Conceived in Fire
Norma Jean – Oh God The Aftermath
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
Trey Anistasio – Plasma
Phish – A Live One
Van Morrison – Days Like This
Nickel Creek – Why Should The Fire Die
Leo Kottke – Standing In My Shoes
Tim, I was a huge fan of Hornsby back in “The Way It Is”, “Night On The Town”, “Scenes From The South Side” days.Did you listen to him when he was with the Dead?
Reuben –
Nope…I never followed the Dead. No reason; I just never got into them.
I didn’t figure you for a dead head, but man, you would be surprised who loved the Dead. Suit and tie, Lexus, $600,000 home, 3 kids, and an entire collection of bootleg tapes in the closet. 😀
John Mac for history and doctrine, David Jeremiah for heart, Allistair Begg for application.
Sometimes James McDonald.
But does anyone really care? 🙂
Concerned,
I really care 😀 and think your choices are pretty good.
My music is pretty eclectic, but you might not think so…………….
The Scottish Festival Singers
Rudy Atwood
Bub Tutmarc
Larry Sparks
Rich Mullins
Ron Diller
Alan McGill
Dailey and Vincent
Keith and Kristyn Getty
The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band
Leroy Troy
Ricky Skaggs
The Whites
Charlie Daniels
Wintley Phipps
Johnny Cash
Jon Courson
The Voetberg Family
Skip Henderson
Harold De Cou
Bill Pearce
Marty Goetz
and on and on and on ………………………
Oh Yeah, J Vernon McGee and Alistair Begg
Ronnie Reno,
Campbell Mercer and the Cumberland Highlander
Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives
and anything Classical or Polka!!!!!!!!
Lutheran- If you are a dinosaur, I’m a fossil!
I left the s off of Cumberland Highlanders…….
I’d love to see Em’s list
Bill Pearce…now there’s an intriguing name on the list…way to go Glenn! He just died about five weeks ago. Night Sounds was a program WAY ahead of its time.
trombones in heaven for sure.
It seems all of this stuff can be found at i-tunes as far as sermons, etc?? So do I download i-tunes and then I can listen to these message or can I put the messages on my windows media player and listen to them?
Love Jesus Culture music. Misty Edwards and Kim Walker.
Barlow Girl
Vineyard.
Maranatha.
Keith Green.
Annie Herring
Oden Fong
Much much more.
Cat Stevens, CSNY, Simon & Garfunkle, Carly Simon, Beatles, Motown, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s pop and rock. Enya, annnnd….. Abba!
Erunner,
Most things can be found on iTunes, but lots of collections are found and downloaded of individual sites. For example, you can download most anything Joe Focht has ever done right of the church website, and then dumped into whatever you want (Windows Media Player, etc…) Anything from Mars Hill can be downloaded directly off the Mars Hill web site.
http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/sermons
In that case, you would not be required to have iTunes, however, iTunes is great for automatically downloading any teacher you wish to follow on a weekly basis.
E
You need to add The BuenO Park symphony orchestra to you list. 😉
Thanks Reuben. Bob……..!!!!!!&^*^%$)(^%*
Been thinking on how our thinking isn’t enough unless it translates into real change. I haven’t had time to read this thread, but just need somewhere to speak my thoughts today. I don’t know if these thought fit this thread or not, but here they are
As I look at the world today, as I look at the conditions of the church, my heart breaks. I see such a need for people to understand and see that life, and all that comes with it, everything we touch, everything we do needs to have it core, it motive come from God and return to God in the Reverence we express in all we do and say. I found what Von Hildebrand said about Veracity to be so absent in the world around us. People today fail to understand that just telling something that is true is not enough. Like when Abraham said of Sarah she is my sister. He told the truth, but denied the most fundamental definition of their relationship. He lacked veracity, and in Egypt he got away with it, and even did it again. It was not until an unbeliever rebuked him that he had to recall the fact that not only did they lie, but many many years before they conspired to lie. Once Abraham confessed he didn’t repeat that sin.
How we all need to learn from the Father of the Faith, not just his triumph but from his failures. I wonder how often what I say lacks veracity and it the result of a pact I made with myself years ago to avoid something uncomfortable or to make myself sound a little better than I was, or a little less of a sinner than I am.
Von Hildebrand writhing cut me to the core, and I spent many months re-examining my life, and I have such a strong desire now that Veracity, not just telling the truth be a ruling principle in my life. And Veracity for me at times means to tell when I did good. It even made me examine my so called humility. A man who has real veracity can share his victories without being self deprecating and making it sound like it was less than it really was.
When Jesus said he was “the Way the Truth and the Life” we know every word he spoke was with perfect veracity.
And what Von Hildebrand said on Faithfulness was so rich and full. Again in the world, even in the church today if you asked a man if he has been faithful to his wife, he only think in the negative and will answer I never cheated on her, as if that was all faithfulness is. And sadly most today think the absence of sexual infidelity is all being faithful is, when faithfulness is the sum total of our whole relationship. Have I been a faithful husband. Well I have never even gotten close to another woman, but after reading Von Hildebrand I have to answer that question with veracity and say no, I have not lived up to all a husband should be. I have failed more often than I have succeeded.
You see people today shoot an arrow into the side of a barn, then after the arrow hits they draw a target around where their arrow hit and call it a bulls eye . When we compare ourselves among ourselves we are not wise. When we see God target is “be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, we come to see the target is not drawn around what we are, but it is a very difficult target, so difficult that none hit the bulls eye. We all fall short, and we have no right to lower the standard because everyone around us is in worse shape than us. We must aim at the true target.
The world and the church as a whole has fallen so low in these days, that it is easy to be impressed with any effort on our part to become a morally good person, but when we take out eyes off of what everyone else says and listen to the words of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we all will see ourselves as empty handed baggers in need of everything, with nothing to offer in return except for our eternal gratitude for Jesus dying in my place, to see he was made sin, that you and I can be make the Righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21* For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
The wonder of God’s love for us. That he freely gave His Son to take our place and die for us, that we might live forever with Him. I will never grasp even the edge of understanding why God would do such a thing for the likes of me. The list of my sins is to long to write out, and he took them all on Himself, and like the Bible says he actually Became Sin — that is just to much for me to comprehend.
Oh how I desire to grow into the kind of moral man that Von Hildebrand describes, but even then I know I would still fall short of that perfect target. O the wonder of the mercy of God. For there is none good, no not one. Only Christ was truly Good, and we killed Him, as he willingly laid down His life for us
John
i’m with Cash who said back up there a ways that people talkin at him have gotten hard to bear… prefer to read 90% of the time… so i haven’t bothered with any portable devices it’s hard enough to remember just why i’m navigating from place to place without being distracted … 😆
CDs in the house sound system right now that play random when i want some background music:
Bob Bennet, a cappella Classic Hymns, some violin concertos, some Haydn and Wylie Gustafson – just whatever i happen to dust off and put in the slots …
DM said, ” The list of my sins is to long to write out” it’s a list that none of us will ever be able to write as it keeps getting longer every minute we live on this planet, i think – but, it’s a list that’s only relevant when it trips up our walk with our Lord. The debt is paid already.
just sayin, Deadman – reading your post blessed me (again)
Music….If I listed everything the .net would crash.
Eric –
Fil – I had no idea about Bill Pearce. I just went to the website and they will be
keeping the program going with recordings.
Em – I’ve never heard of Wylie before, but looked him up and listened to some
clips of his music – now that’s one of my kinds of music. (Not music, but
have you ever heard of Baxter Black?
TOP TEN:
Neil Finn
Liam Finn
The Choir
Lost Dogs
Undercover
Daniel Amos
Altar Boys/Mike Stand
Dimestore Prophets
Neil Young
Elvis Costello
DMW, Thanks for sharing. You really care about us. It shows very much. God bless you.
I like to listen to:
Glenn Beck
Dick Morris
Bill O’Reilly
Shaun Hannity
Michael Savage
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my favorite, Sarah Palin.
Another jewel from DMW 🙂
hi Scott, how are you?
My favorite radio guy is Dennis Miller.
Hey there Dusty. Pretty good. Just sittin’ in Limon, CO. Have a deliver in Fort Collins tomorrow.
Scott, i can just see you in that truck as the day wears on; by the time you get to Savage you must have that gas pedal on the floor 😉
Glenn, I’m not very religious about any style of music (W. Gustafson included), The Mills Bros just finished Up a Lazy River on You Tube here…bet half the folks never heard of them 😉
i hadn’t heard of Baxter, but haven’t done much reading just for pleasure in quite awhile
Em, you must have changed your moniker 😉
Also, it’s a “diesel pedal” 🙂
Scott, yep, – some sweet souls were calling me Psalmy and for some reason that seemed sacrilegious 😆
glad you check in once in a while – i know many keep you and yours on our prayer lists
As i think about Abraham and Sarah having committed a sin in their hearts years before a situation came up to bring it to the surface. how many time to we act based on a decision that we settled years ago. We made a pact with sin, and have long forgoten it until conditions arise and by then we don’t even recognize it as sin, because we made peace with it years and years ago.
We can act, we can sin based on a decision we made so long ago that it is just a part of us.
I think perhaps that is why like David we need to often pray Psa 139: 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Perhaps Some of David’s sins were the result of compromise made in his heart long before the oppoturnity arose to bring life to it.
We need to search our hearts and make up our mind before the opporturnity comes, we need to have a sure plan of action to escape the evil of our own cunning sinful hearts.
More that once in almost 30 years of being a senior pastor, if my mind was not already made up, I would have fallen. Long ago I looked long and hard at Abraham’s and Sarah’s conspiericy to lie. For them back in Ur before they left, I would bet that Abraham througt it was wisdom. But when the day came I wonder how he felt when he left his wife to pay the price while he would go unharmed while she was in essense being raped. Did he sleep well. Was he up all night filled with remorse. I don’t think so, becasue God covered for him the first time, he must have taken it as God’s approval on his wisdom because he turned around and did it a second time. And he only stopped when he was forced to reveal their secret conspiecy to lie that we see him never do it again. Of course God never put him in a position for that to be tested a third time. But we do see that his son learned from his example.
How much of what we see happening today is the result of the example of some getting away with it? How much sin is the result of like Senior Pastor like congregant.
How many congregants have a secret joy to see a pastor fall, because it make room for them to follow their example.
Isn’t that why we are told that when a leader falls to
1Ti 5:20* Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.
A good healthy fear of sin, and a fear of the consequenses is needed today. We don’t fear sin enough, I would say we don’t hate it enough, but truth be know we don’t hate sin.
When i was young in the Lord I fell into drug several times and I would cry out to the Lord ” I hate this Lord please help me stop” – but I fell again, when the Holy Spirit convicted me that he will not answer a prayer that lack veracity. Then I prayed “Lord I love drugs I love them more that I love you or I wouldn’t do them, help me to not love them” — God answered my prayer once my prayer was on honest one, once it had viracity.
Veracity in our Spirit in needed. We need to get really honest with God. He is not a God who will bless a lie. 1 John 2::20* ¶ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21* I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.:
Not an easy read, but worth the effort
http://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/FUNMOR.htm
Thanks, Psalty. I figured that was you from “just sayin'” comment above.
Yes, it’s been an adventure. The Lord has truly led me into this direction vocationally for this season of my life. I have started training other drivers recently and have found real fulfillment and enrichment through teaching and ongoing mentoring.
Re: Von Hildebrand. I had to read it three times to get it But that is true of almost all philosophy papers for me. I’m a bit dense. You have to hold a lot of information in your head as you read, for the next part to make sense. I have tried and tried to find a 5th moral attitude or to narrow it to 4, but I think Von Hildebrand nailed perfectly. There are just 5 basic moral attitudes that make up a moral personality. In our day it seems that everyone just looks at virtues and don’t realize that a virtue is a non-moral attribute. It take a moral personality to be in control of virtues to make them good or bad. So far I have found over 400 things that people consider virtues, but not one of them is worth anything without the Five moral attitudes being in control of the person with any combination of virtues. In the church today if the pastor has the right virtues he is considered a good candidate for ministry. When I always looked for the moral attitude behind the virtue as what really counted. And to realize Reverence is the mother of all moral growth. If we don’t start there and work our way up it is all for naught. If we just reverence God, and thereby reverence all he has created including the bum in the streets and everything we touch leaving every place we go cleaner than we found it, like a camp ground, or wiping down a dirty bathroom if it all things that come from Reverence then we will hear the word that all believer long to hear from their Lord “well done” . To be silent in the Redwoods, to the quiet of the desert, to riding big surf, if we have reverence in our hearts, everything from surfing to our Jobs become something special and Holy so to speak, all of life get pulled up into the heavenly realm if we just do it with Reverence in our heart. Then of course the working into our moral personality means to learn to walk in the other moral attitudes, with Goodness as the outcome – the result of learning to walk in obedience to the rest.
Motive in a way is everything, and motive that does not come from Reverence for God is the wrong motive. It will be our motive that will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ – good or EVIL
In addition, Em, the period of time after my construction business came crashing down was very difficult and trying.
But God has been faithful all along, even though I haven’t been. I really didn’t know what to do. 52 years old, in construction all my working life and the door was COMPLETELY shut on me.
Someone may as well put up iron gates with a chain and lock. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t continue on in that way. So, I had to open myself up to something new and different. Sometimes I felt like a man with a blindfold on stumbling to find the door. That can be a daunting and fearful experience sometimes.
But God was right in the middle of the whole thing. God’s reaction to man’s defection equals grace.
Reuben Dissed Me! I m hurt
Ellvis Costello – that takes me back – love the song “Whats so funny about peace love and understanding”
I was just listening to some old Ozzy Osbourne with Randy Rhoads on guitar like on “Goodbye to Romance” . Also enjoyed “Dreamer”. Enjoy going with the music.
Scott, that’s a story worth telling…
Deadman, i scanned your link
FUNDAMENTAL MORAL ATTITUDES
Dietrich Von Hildebrand
——————————————————————————–
Contents
1. Reverence
2. Faithfulness
3. Awareness of Responsibility
4. Veracity
5. Goodness
my wonderful grandfather and my late step-father understood these concepts and lived by them – Our God was real to them and they understood the fear and the love in reverencing Him – intend to go back a read carefully – it will bring back memories – what a wonderful thing it would be if we could grasp those concepts today
What wonderful attributes Em! Hope all is well in your world tonight..
What do I listen to? I need to rephrase that and say “what did I used to listen to!”
Long ago, I listed to whatever was on Christian radio at the time I had it on…Stanley, Mac Arthur, Haven of Rest, the standard….I loved Haven of Rest…RC Sproul..
On Sunday nights, I was able to listen to part of The White Horse Inn, but it was on so late, I had to sleep! I remember CURE (am I correct MLD?) they changed the name? I called them a few times, received the magazine for a while. I always found my eyes would physically open as I listened to them.
My other all time fav was Jon/John Stewart. Loved him, God used him is a HUGE way in my life. I wish I had the time now to listen like I used to…sigh…I like listening to news radio, Hawaiian music, and everyone from Lutheran’s list! 🙂
Nene,
For great Hawaiian music check out http://www.budtutmarc.com , listen a little and then
go over to Marc records in the links. Great music!
What the hey. The 10 recently released discs I bought are:
Giant “Promised Land”
Scorpions “Sting of the Tail”
Mutiny Within “Self Titled”
Heathen “The Evolution of Chaos”
Overkill “Iron Bound”
Pat Metheny “Orchestrion”
Steve Morse Band “Out Standing in Their Fields”
Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Night Castle”
Transatlantic “The Whirlwind”
Between the Buried and Me “The Great Misdirect”
On pre-order: Ratt “Infestation”.
Out today….new Jeff Beck.
🙂
I am interpreting this as beyond just listening on the iPod.
1. Whom do you listen to and why?
Mainly Alistair Begg, R.C. Sproul, Dave Rolph, John Piper, Jon Courson, and Haddon Robinson because each seems to approach the same passage from a different angle and all of them are people from whom I’ve learned.
2. Who shapes your Christian thinking and interpretation?
I pray that the Holy Spirit does, often through men ordained for teaching. In addition to those mentioned earlier, Augustine, Aquinas, Anselm, Owen, Baxter, Edwards, Spurgeon, Isaac Watts, J.I. Packer, Lloyd Olglivie, and several others.
3. Whom do you avoid that others like and why?
Hank Hannegraaf and Brian Broderson because often I find them what I would term abusive of those who disagree.
Chuck Missler mainly because of Y2K and other questionable predictions.
Jack van Impe because of his decades of failed predictions.
90% of TBN preachers (there are some okay peeps on there – seriously) because I view them as money-grubbing charlatans.
Okay, my asbestos suit is on – ready for the flamethrowers 🙂
Oh Steve, no diss! Nothing but love!
Nene, yes it is a good list, but the article that Deadman linked to above is the source – i intend to spend some time pondering it today – my 96 year old uncle has asked me to write about my grandparents’ life (except for uncle, i am the oldest descendant and i grew up in their home). DM;s list will help me focus my mind on where Godly men of a hundred years ago got their marching orders… (coincides with reading this AM of Jehosaphat(?) and fear of God being prime in running a country)
@60 Sarah–great list, I love the diversity, all good stuff
@21 Rueben–praying for you
@45 Michael-country is manly music-good stuff, Tammy was heartful
@74 Rueben-did that set list come with a bong? 🙂 lol
Glenn, i looked up Baxter Black and got my cowboy wisdom ‘thot’ for the day:
“There ain’t no shame admittin’ you ain’t what you used to be,
The shame is blamin’ Lady Luck when Father Time’s the key!” 😉
Sermon-wise, my choices I listen to most often are Joey Buran, Chuck Smith, and Paul Sheppard…Though I did just download J Vernon McGee’s Through the Bible package.
Music wise: Rich Mullins, Twila Paris, Michelle Tumes, Chris Rice, Peder Eide, Steven Curtis Chapman, and when I’m feeling particularly child-like and want to come to Jesus as a little child, Psalty! (yes, the big singing songbook!) 🙂 🙂 [and don’t you dare laugh! 🙂 🙂
Glenn, thanks for the links, and info! I will have to check it out later, as my dentist is having a “social” in her office. She’s a kick!
Elm, I tend to copy and paste Deadman’s good stuff into my email! I need to re-read it, but my dentist is awaiting. I’m hoping she’ll raffle some free root canals. 🙂
DMW@103 – Thanks for that. It led to prayer here. May we love God more than all else.
I just got an iPod. It’s still in the box. It’ll have more worship music on it than anything else. And YES, Centy and Bob, some Neil Diamond as well. 🙂
I read a lot of authors, Packer, MacArthur, Grudem, Steve Brown, but for listening, my favorites are Chuck Swindoll and James MacDonald.
Swindoll is a lot more influential than he gets credit for…