Contend Earnestly: Mondays, Sermons, iPods and Cancer

Monday, August 06, 2007

Mondays, Sermons, iPods and Cancer


It's still Monday, right? (barely) So here goes a good 'ol case of plagiarism...

Dr. John Piper has made a great impact on my growth as a Pastor, and a student of the word of God. Last April I had the great privilege of attending the Children Desiring God conference. Dr. Piper was the Keynote speaker, and from a human standpoint, it was a thrill to see him preach in person. For those of you who also strive to be better preachers, you know that I am not saying that in terms of an "audience member" watching a "performer". But as a young preacher, I got to see, in the flesh, a true man of God with a powerful passion to proclaim the word of God.


Related to that, two Christmas' ago, our Senior Pastor, the College/Career group (whom I shepherd) and my incredible wife, chipped in and bought me a 30 Gig iPod (black of course. Yes, Seth followed ME in that. 'Cept he got the 80 gig - newman!) At any rate, I realized the real use of this incredible device; sermon hunting. Any and all sites that allowed mp3 downloads is where I spent my free time. I had a friend who shared with me that the church where he grew up at now offered their sermons online. Their Pastor, Tom Pennington, had been on staff at Grace Community Church when we attended in 1999. I went home that night, and saw that they had the last two and a half years of sermons on their site. The following work day my friend asked if I downloaded any sermons. My reply? "Yes, all of them". So, I have issues (not the least of which were the 300 or so AW Tozer sermons I had downloaded about a month before that incident). Perhaps my post tomorrow will be the links of where I currently get my sermons.

(Where is all this going? Wait for it!....) Then, one of the College Guys tipped me off to the wonderful world of podcasting. What a deal! One of the first podcasts that I subscribed to was Desiring God, and I got to hear Dr. Piper on a daily basis. During one of the intros it was announced that Dr. Piper had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was a shock to hear, as it always is. But later, he released an article that shows a true biblical response to life's severest trials. Click here to read "Don't Waste Your Cancer".

I sent this to a friend of mine who has advanced colon cancer. While I was a bit concerned that it would be received as condescending, he said it was a great encouragement. And looking back, that should not surprise me being that it was based on the word of God. May you or someone else you know be encouraged by these words as well.

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