Today, I want to recommend a sermon. But first, some background.
In the last few years, I have heard sermons from many churches. I have heard sermons at many churches that I have visited, but I have also listened to many sermons online. However, I believe that the best sermons that I have heard were given by my own pastor, Aaron Baker, who is a minister in the PCA. Baker is the head pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church of Chicago. Jill and I attended Covenant when we lived in Chicago, and we miss it dearly. The people were wonderful, the music was superb, and the preaching was tops. Also, the sanctuary was beautiful. It was hard to leave. Baker is not the only pastor at Covenant, and the other pastors are excellent teachers as well. But I have never heard preaching like Baker's, and I don't expect that I will hear its like again, at least not any time soon.
Unfortunately, the administrator of the website for Covenant Presbyterian has removed Baker's best sermons, which were given in 2009 and 2010, but you can find his sermons from 2011 and 2012 on the website, and these are very good too. One of my favorite sermons by Baker was given two Sundays ago. It was called "The God Who Gives Life to the Dead", and the sermon text was Romans 4:16-25. I highly recommend that you listen to the sermon. It can be found here. The sermon contains some important teachings on faith, grace, and regeneration. These teachings are powerful, and they are firmly rooted in the Bible, but they are also simple and easy to grasp. I really needed to hear the message of this sermon, and I am still pondering it. Anyway, if you decide to listen, I hope that you find it as valuable as I have.
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI will definitely check him out...if he makes you ponder deeply, he must be a very good pastor indeed. :)
Sorry I haven't posted much lately, my sinuses have been giving me trouble since I got back from my trip, so it makes me more tired out than usual. I have a physically demanding job, therefore I usually get a little sore and tired out, but lately I've really been feeling run down. Combine that with the fact that I have so much on my plate right now, sigh. I will hopefully post soon, if it is Jesus will for me to do so, that is. :)
What do you think of John MacArthur?
I hope that you get better soon. You work in a hospital, right? Do you think that you might have picked something up there? I hope that you are able to get some rest the next few days. Life can be challenging when you feel tired all the time.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of John MacArthur before, but I just looked him up, and I will definitely check him out.
Thanks, Leslie, I really enjoyed his preaching, very powerful and sweet. I like how he explains the meanings in very down to earth and comprehensive ways. He makes it personal and close and intimate and passionate, he takes a passage that I've gone over time and time again, and makes it fresh and new again. I love when he said that God's gift of forgiveness is one of God's most ASTONISHING gifts and that the church should always continue to be astonished by it....that makes so much sense to me. Here I still try to fix what I broke, thereby still not fully grasping the astonishing fact that God's forgiveness makes that kind of attempts on my part, a terrible sin against His complete and astonishing forgiveness, so astonishing that I cannot grasp it so I still try something to bolster up my lack of comprehension, and thereby lessen the amazingness, the miracle, the wonder and splendour of what He has FINISHED. Why do I still think I can somehow do something that can improve on it? Why? Because I don't fully comprehend how simply astonishing it is that He has done it. Very true. :)
Deletethe astonishing fact that God's forgiveness makes that kind of attempts on my part...
DeleteI mean "those kinds of attempts"...sheesh, yeah, past my bedtime, gnite and sweet dreams, we'll talk again soon :D
I really like the way that you put things. We are often tempted to think that we need to do something to improve our standing with God, but how could we improve on what God has already accomplished in Jesus? Or, to put it another way, do we really think that Jesus was not enough? What more could there be to do other than to accept what Jesus has done? I really like that way of presenting the Bible's teachings on grace. I think that it answer a lot of the questions that people have about it. Thanks for your comments.
DeleteI listened to this sermon yesterday, it was very uplifting. I think I will look at your other recommendations, too. I don't know a WHOLE lot about the PCA, but a friend of mine left our church (an E-Free church) to go to a local Reformed Presbyterian church.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you enjoyed the sermon. I don't know much about the Reformed Presbyterian church. The PCA and OPC are similar in many ways, though I think that the OPC may be slightly more conservative when it comes to issues like six day creation. Both affirm the Westminster Standards as their doctrinal standards, though there may be some differences in how these are applied in their churches. I should learn more about them myself. But I can say that both churches are strongly Reformed. Anyway, I have some friends in Chicago who attend an E-Free church, and they like it a lot.
DeleteI found the website that has more of Pastor Aaron Baker's sermons here:
Deletehttp://www.covenantchicago.org/sermons2011.htm
:)
Thanks for looking into this Susan. Unfortunately, the website administrator seems to have taken down most of his 2010 sermons and all his 2009 sermons. Maybe there will come back...
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