Grace to You: Video Podcast

We come now to the gospel of John. Tonight we’re going to look at James, the brother of our Lord, and have a wonderful time looking at that unlikely hero. But for this morning, we’re going to begin the gospel of John, and we’re going to do that for a while to come. And just to kind of get a running start and sort of set-up the importance of this study that we’re about to embark upon, I remind you of something that you well know, that the Lord Jesus Christ is the theme of all Scripture, not just the New Testament, but the Old Testament as well. We all understand that the New Testament is about Him, the four gospels that give us the focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. The first three gospels tell the narrative of His life and death and resurrection. Then the book of Acts tells us about His ascension into glory, and His sending the Holy Spirit and the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. Then the epistles are written to explain the meaning of His death and resurrection. And then the culminating book, the book of Revelation, about His Second Coming, return in glory. So that the New Testament focuses on Jesus Christ widely and deeply... http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/43-1

For the last several years, we’ve had a front-row seat to a vicious, violent attack on one of the Lord’s most precious institutions. And make no mistake about it—the family, as established by the Lord, is under attack...

Well, I am greatly challenged on some occasions, in all honesty, as you well know, to get through one verse. This morning I made it through a whole chapter, and tonight we’ll take a whole book. That’s the book of Esther. You want to open your Bible, if you will, to the book of Esther, and this is in our continuing series on “Twelve Unlikely Heroes,” from the Bible, the Old and the New Testament...

Welcome to all of you as we gather together this evening to continue our series in unlikely heroes. For those of you who are visiting with us, this will all and much more be contained in a book called Unlikely Heroes which will be available, I think, in August or in September. But we don’t want to just have the book; we want to share these amazing accounts of people that God used that appear on the surface to be very unlikely as to their usefulness. And I’ve often said that God uses unlikely people, He uses flawed people, He uses failing people, He uses sinful people, because if He didn’t, He wouldn’t have any people to use. So we hear another account of how God uses for His own purposes and His own plans those who on the surface appear very, very unlikely...

We have been doing a series on Sunday night basically called “Unlikely Heroes,” looking at biblical personalities who are used in a mighty way by God unexpectedly. We started out with Enoch early in the book of Genesis, a man who walked with God right into heaven. The man who was a preacher of righteousness as the model, if you will, for Noah, who became the preacher of righteousness for 120 years warning about the coming judgment of God. And then we looked at the life of Joseph, another very unlikely hero because he was sold into slavery and expected to be disintegrating or dissembled into the life of Egypt and lost forever--but God had other plans. All of these biographies, and a few more than I’ll be able to cover, are going to come out in a book at the end of the summer called Twelve Unlikely Heroes, and you’ll want to read them when that book arrives...

Well tonight in our continuing look at some unlikely heroes in Scripture, and particularly for now in the Old Testament, we come to a man named Jonathan--Jonathan, the man who would not be king. And in order for us to tell the story, we have to begin in 1 Samuel, chapter 8. So take your Bible and open it. And as you know, if you have been with us, this is a little bit of a different approach than taking a text and dealing with that text. We are sweeping through great portions of Old Testament literature and we will essentially do that again tonight as we look at Jonathan. And this kind of fits a Father’s Day, because this is about sons and fathers. And as you will hear, when the story unfolds, all kinds of fathers and all kinds of sons will play roles in this part of the saga of the history of Israel and the purposes of God unfolding through them...

The need for spiritual growth is apparent in the life of every believer. We must be transformed, refined, and sharpened if we’re going to break our old, wicked patterns and grow in grace and godliness. The pursuit of holiness is a lifelong battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil, in pursuit of Christlikeness. However, the means of that spiritual growth is the subject of much debate. Is Scripture alone enough for my spiritual growth? What’s the Holy Spirit’s role in my sanctification? And are there activities and disciplines that will stimulate and advance that growth? During a recent recording session, we asked John MacArthur about the biblical model for sanctification and the rising popularity of intuitive and mystical methods of spiritual formation. Here’s what he had to say. Scripture is the source of all sanctifying truth. It’s the vehicle through which the Holy Spirit does His refining, sharpening work to make us more like Christ. Tomorrow, we’ll look at the steps in that process. In the meantime, what’s wrong with taking a more mystical, subjective approach to spiritual growth? How does that contrast with the biblical approach John described in the video?

It should be clear by now that unchecked anxiety isn’t good for you. It’s a sin expressly forbidden by the Lord, so there is the spiritual cost to consider. But it’s also harmful to your health, your productivity, and your relationships. It wreaks havoc throughout your life, and as we saw yesterday, it strangles your mind... http://www.gty.org/Blog/B121106

We’re going to begin a series on what we’ll called “Twelve Unlikely Heroes.” It was a couple of years ago that I thought it might be interesting to do a book, since people love character studies, they enjoy The Twelve Ordinary Men, The Twelve Extraordinary Women, so why not take a look at some other of the amazing biographies of the Bible under the kind of the title of Extraordinary…or rather Unlikely Heroes. This book will be available by the end of summer. It’s finished and it’s on its way and you’ll be able to take a look at it at the end of summer. You will thoroughly enjoy it. It is…it is a rich and wonderful study... http://www.gty.org/video/television/T8280-387

Now, I want you to turn to the last chapter of the book of Genesis, chapter 50, and we’re going to begin and then do a little bit of a flashback. As you know, we are in a series called “Unlikely Heroes” that is already a prepared book and it will be available to you by the end of August. You’re going to enjoy reading this book and we’re taking a look at some of the…some of the heroes, some of the men and women that God used in remarkable ways who at the beginning were very unlikely to have the level of influence that they have had.

Now, I want you to turn to the last chapter of the book of Genesis, chapter 50, and we’re going to begin and then do a little bit of a flashback. As you know, we are in a series called “Unlikely Heroes” that is already a prepared book and it will be available to you by the end of August. You’re going to enjoy reading this book and we’re taking a look at some of the…some of the heroes, some of the men and women that God used in remarkable ways who at the beginning were very unlikely to have the level of influence that they have had...

For this morning, we’re going to turn to the twelfth chapter of Mark and we’re going to be looking at verses 28 through 34...28 through 34. You’ll notice that I’ve titled this, “Loving God,” and that’s really obvious. And as I was thinking this week about love and loving God, obviously a huge subject, something came across my desk that I thought was interesting, from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. And according to Ripley, the longest expression of love ever written was the work of a Parisian painter named Marcel De LaKurre, who wrote it in 1875. It was addressed to Magdalena DeVilla Lora, his artistic light of love, he said....

Now, last Sunday night we talked a little bit about forgiveness. This is a big subject, but it’s a subject that we need to get our arms around in a practical way. Forgiveness is very, very important to us. Forgiveness is essential to life as a Christian. And I’m giving you a list of principles that demonstrate the importance of forgiveness...

I want to talk to you tonight and next Sunday night about the issue of forgiveness. It probably doesn’t come up as often as it should in our discussions from the pulpit here because it is a very, very important issue. What makes it an important issue in the church, and we’re talking to believers tonight, we’re not so much talking about God’s forgiveness toward us as we’re talking about our forgiveness toward each other. But it is a very vital and a very essential and a very necessary component of life in the church because the church, even at its best, is a collision of sinners...

It may seem like a question with an obvious answer, but sometimes things aren't as obvious as they ought to be for some, so let me ask it anyway. What is the most distinctive benefit that Christianity has to offer the world? I suppose there would be a lot of suggested answers. There are some people who think the great legacy of Christianity is a kind of morality, a kind of ethical approach to life. There are others who think that the great legacy of Christianity is that it provides a certain kind of love and sacrificial affection for people, social responsibility. Others think that it provides a kind of tranquility in life that they call peace. There are some who think that what Christianity really offers people is fulfillment in life, or sense of satisfaction, or purpose. Summing it all up, there are folks who think that Christianity's greatest benefit is to provide people a measure of religious happiness...