Yesterday I found myself out and about with Suzie.  We needed to pick up a quick bite to eat.  Don’t tell my cardiologist, but we really enjoyed a visit to 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.

Instead of focusing on 5 guys who fed me too much fat and too many carbohydrates, I wanted to share with you 5 guys who feed me through their sermons and their lives.

I have some wonderful friends who serve as pastors.  I am challenged and strengthened when I listen to them preach sermons from the Word of God.  I have not seen most of these guys in a long, long time.  But with the technology of the internet, they still minister to me.

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I try not to do this very often, but I am posting a full sermon here for your benefit.  You absolutely must watch and listen to it.  It is a sermon preached recently during chapel at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  The preacher is Daniel Montgomery.

I cannot tell you how much I love this brother.  In the video he mentions that he recently celebrated 10 years of being pastor of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville.  It must have been about 9.5 years ago that the two of us sat in a coffee shop on Bardstown Road – and my life was changed.  He has been my pastor and my friend.  God has been using him in a remarkable way.  Please grab a cup of coffee, sit down and watch.

Preaching from Isaiah 6, David Platt reminds us of God’s holiness and the scandal of the Gospel.

Rick Warren

Rick Warren recently spoke to the Desiring God 2010 National Conference which was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Due to family concerns, Warren’s message was sent via video from California.  This is a sermon that will benefit you much.  I encourage you to click on the link below to watch the sermon and follow along with the sermon notes on the same page.  After you watch the sermon, come back here and leave a comment with either your impressions or something that you are taking away to apply in your life.

For me, I am going to focus on the discipline of having godly things enter my mind.

* Rick Warren – The Battle for Your Mind

I hope to add one sermon each week to the blog (SOTW).  This one is by Dr. Timothy George speaking in chapel at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary on September 28, 2010. Dr. George has one of the sharpest theological and historical minds. This sermon is titled, “The Perspicuity of Scripture.” This subject relates to our opportunity to read and understand the Bible for ourselves.

George uses the text from Acts 8:30 in which Philip asks the Ethiopian eunuch if he understands what he is reading in Isaiah. He provides great historical data on the Reformers and their understanding of this doctrine.

Today Pastor Daniel Montgomery preached a sermon from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament at Sojourn Community Church in Louisville.  Drawing from Isaiah 1-5, Montgomery identified 9 marks of a godless culture.

A godless culture is marked by:

1. Rebellion
2. Empty Religion
3. Injustice
4. A Worship of Youth
5. A Feminist Authority
6. Godless Leaders
7. Excessive Greed
8. Confusion Over Right and Wrong
9. Arrogance

A culture might apply to a national, regional or ethnic people.  It might apply to the environment in a business.  It might also be the culture of a family.  Do these characteristics describe where you live, your people, your work place or your family?  If so, the people and leaders of that culture need to demonstrate repentance and honor God in their culture.

Daniel Montgomery

Yesterday at Sojourn Community Church, Pastor Daniel Montgomery continued the series through the Old Testament with a sermon on Song of Solomon.  His approach and the structure of the sermon provided a means to understand and apply the teaching of this book of the Bible.

Intro

Sex is not a human invention.  It is God’s design and gift.  Therefore it is good, as the Song of Solomon attests.  Like all of God’s good gifts, sex can be sinfully abused.  We are built to be lovers.  We can choose to be submissive or selfish lovers.  Submissive lovers experience the joy of God’s design.  Selfish lovers experience broken hearts.

The structural theme is built around the imagery of caring for a garden or vineyard.

1.  Build the Wall

The ultimate goal is to enjoy the fruit of one’s garden or vineyard.  Prior to this is the necessary preparation.  We are taught to build a wall around the field which will be our garden.  For single people this means to not awaken nor arouse love before its time.

Sex is not for boys and girls.  It is for married men and women.  The prescribed pattern is for a godly man to purse a godly woman in a godly manner to a godly end.  Sex is sacred and it is serious.

For those who are married but did not build the proper wall, a rebuilding process is necessary.  Each garden should have a strong wall protecting from outside forces.

Submissive Lovers – Recognize that God gave sexual desires and therefore has the best design for them.  They find joy in this fact.

Selfish Lovers – Ignore God’s design and only pursue what pleases them in the moment.

2.  Cultivate the Garden

We cultivate our gardens with our speech.  A strong connection exists between how we speak to our spouses and our sexual relations with our spouses.  Husbands should speak lovingly and avoid harsh language.  The words and the tone should demonstrate spiritual leadership.  The wife’s words should demonstrate respect for her husband.

Submissive Lovers – Express admiration through encouraging words and actions.

Selfish Lovers – Tear down their mates with critical looks, words and actions.

3.  Enjoy the Fruit

This is the sex part.  Solomon writes that we are to be drunk with love.  Enjoy loving intimacy with your spouse.  Be a lover that gives to your partner rather than seeking to get what you want.  In a joyous relationship, sex is neither demanded nor withheld.

Submissive Lovers – Seek to make sexual love a place of refreshment for their mate.

Selfish Lovers – View their sexual relationship as a place for simply satisfying their own desire.

When two people are giving and seeking the pleasure of the other, sex will be much more enjoyable than when two people take and seek to satisfy themselves.

4.  Catch the Little Foxes

The enemies of the cultivated garden are the little foxes.  They burrow into the roots.  This action will eventually rob the gardener of the fruit.

What are the little foxes that run and burrow in your garden?  They could be pornography, lustful thoughts, harsh words, stress, misuse of time or something else.

My wife, Suzie, and I made a list of the little foxes that either do run around or potentially could run around our garden.  We are determined to catch them and be fox-free.

This part will require vigilant work.  The covenant relationship between husband and wife is a weighty matter.  Word hard at it…and enjoy it.