• Alistair Begg’s Sermons Available for Free Download
  Truth For Life has made their archive of over 1,000 sermons available for free.

• Free Audio Download of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
  Get Jonathan Edwards’ powerful sermon for free – Narrated by Max McLean.

• The Ultimate Puritan Resource, Part 1
  Monergism offers one of the largest collections of free Puritan resources that I have come across on the web.

• The Ultimate Puritan Resource, Part 2
  Puritan Library offers another one of the largest collections of free Puritan resources that I have come across on the web.

• The Necessity of the Local Church
  Pulpit Magazine posted a brief article by John MacArthur on the necessity of the local church.

• What is Wolfram Alpha?
  Wolfram Alpha is a computational knowledge engine that has been getting a lot of buzz lately. Will it live up to the hype?

Dan Phillips from Pyromaniacs posted something today that really hit the nail on the head for me. The point of his article is that there are some people who have paper pastors and overlook the importance of their local church pastor.

Dan describes people with paper pastors:

“They come in, they sit down. They sing, they may give financially. They may look at you, Pastor, as you preach.

But you know their heart belongs to another.

Their real pastor isn’t you. It’s Dave Hunt. Or it’s John Piper. Or it’s John MacArthur, or Ligon Duncan, or Mark Dever…”

Dan explains what he means by “paper pastors”:

“They are not a real, flesh-and-blood, standing-there, committed-to-watching-over-your-soul-before-God pastor to you.

…They don’t have a family who loses the time you use. They never half-listen, never have an appointment that cuts short their time. Their office hours are your office hours. They’re available 24/7, and everywhere, at your whim, and you always have their undivided attention.

And these paper pastors maintain the perfect distance. If you don’t want to hear something, they don’t press it — or you can instantly shut them up, snap! They never ask you to do something uncomfortable and follow up on you. They never persistently probe an area of sin, in you, in person, eyeball to eyeball… nor will they. Church discipline will not be a threat with them. Ever.

Because they don’t know you from Adam.”

He goes on to plainly state:

“Brother, sister: John Piper isn’t your pastor. John MacArthur knows nothing about you. Dave Hunt never got on his knees and prayed for you. Lloyd-Jones won’t come to your house when you’re recovering from surgery, or one of your children shatters your heart, or your marriage is shaking and rocking and barely hanging on. Charles Spurgeon won’t weep with you as you weep.

…But if you’re in a manageable-size church with a caring pastor and you’re suddenly gone next Sunday, he’ll be concerned. He may call. He may ask if everything’s okay.”

This was a very timely post for me as I have recently been reminded of what a blessing it is to have a caring pastor at my home church. The past couple of weeks, my family has been going through a rough patch of sickness and medical issues. Our pastor, Andy Woodfield, and other church members reached out to us through prayer, phone calls, emails, etc. They offered to help in any way possible and gave us encouragement and support. My wife and I were very touched by their love and compassion.

The point is, I have grown tremendously through the preaching of my home church pastor, and from pastors on my iPod…but John MacArthur has yet to call me up just to check in and see how things are going. Probably because he isn’t my real pastor and has no clue who I am!

• Listen to John MacArthur Preach Rap
  You’ve heard Johnny Mac preach, now listen to him rap. [HT: Cal.vini.st]

• History & Theology of the Puritans available free on iTunes
  Free course lectures by J.I. Packer.

• The Purpose of the Church
  Martyn Lloyd-Jones on the primary purpose and task of the church.

• Video of John 3:16 Sign Being Snatched Away at NCAA Tournament
  Sign Nazi says, “No sign for you.” [HT: Jim Smith]

• Rusty the Narcoleptic Dog
  Poor Rusty.

Andy Woodfield, the pastor from my home church, has been preaching through Ephesians. This past Sunday morning he gave a great sermon on the vital importance of using the sword of the Spirit (God’s word) in our daily walk and as we engage in spiritual battles (Eph 6:17). He exhorted us to be faithful in reading, studying and meditating on the word of God. No excuses. It is crucial to our spiritual lives that we spend quality time in His word. If you say that you are too busy…there’s something wrong. A sword is useless in battle unless it is utilized.

Audio: Andy Woodfield: The Sword of the Spirit

John MacArthur says in his commentary on Ephesians 6:17:

“The effective teacher, preacher, and witness must “be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:2). The more we know and understand Scripture, the more we will be able to march through Satan’s strongholds and lead people from his kingdom to God’s.”

Steve Lawson also gave a very stirring message on the sharp, piercing nature of God’s word at the 2008 Shepherds’ Conference based on Hebrews 4:12-13. This was one of the most powerful messages from the conference. Well worth a listen.

Audio: Steve Lawson: The Preacher’s Invincible Weapon