Two Good Podcasts

If you want to learn some solid theology in your spare time, podcasts are the way to go. I enjoy listening to Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Dallas. You can subscribe to these pocasts by clicking on these links for Mars Hill and The Village. The easiest way download podcasts is using iTunes.

Driscoll on The Hour of Power

This weekend, Mark Driscoll is being shown on the Hour of Power at the Crystal Cathedral. Check it out on the Crystal Cathedral website.

Mark Driscoll Preaches "Covenant, God Pursues"

The past week or so, I've been listening to the Doctrine sermon series from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. The message on the Old Testament covenants might be the best message I have ever listened to.

Driscoll goes through the covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. The point of the message is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament covenants. The point of the Old Testament wasn't God's relationship with Israel or any patriarch; it's Jesus.

Watch this message. The covenants are the backbone of the Old Testament, and they all point to Jesus.

Update: Accidentally posted the audio earlier, here's the video.

Why Doing Right Doesn't Please God, Pt. 2

Mark Driscoll said something that puts our efforts to stay away from sin in a new light. Sin is not sin because it is on a list of things we aren't supposed to do. It is sin because it takes away from our love for God.

"Let's say that you're an alcoholic. You don't have an alcohol problem; you have a worship problem. Your problem is, you worship alcohol instead of Jesus. You go to alcohol for comfort, rather than Jesus. You go to alcohol to sleep better, rather than Jesus. You go to alcohol to deal with the pain in your life, rather than Jesus. Alcoholism is an idolatry issue. And the reason that people continue to drink is that the bottle lies to them. It says, "you will be free, you will be happy, you will be relaxed, you will forget your problems." It promises freedom and it delivers slavery.

The same happens with food. If you're a glutton, the problem is not that you eat too much, the problem is that you have idolized food. You deify food. Food is in the place of Jesus. When you do well you reward yourself with food. When you don't do well, you reward or punish yourself with food. Your identity is around what you do and do not eat. Your constant mediation is on food and weight and subsequently appearance, and not Jesus.