Register this week for a special opening week rate of just $29.

We are only making this rate available to the first 100 who register. I would love for you to this training opportunity on how to cultivate gospel communities on mission from Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson, along with local practitioners. More to come . . .

That’s why I want to tell you about my new friend Stephen Miller and his new album God and Sinner Reconcile. I have had the privilege of listening to his new album which releases Jan. 17th for the past month. Again and again and again. Why? Because of how good it has been for my soul. Stephen has gifted our generation a great resource for gospel exultation in his new album.

Below is a video about the new album. After Jan. 17th, you can download God and Sinner Reconcile on iTunes. You can also get it at Bandcamp. My “prone to wander” heart has been brought back to Jesus song after song.  I hope yours will be too.

In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.”  In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel.  Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.”  Packer writes,

“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).

This week, we come to the letter “P”.

P is for Passion

Passion comes from the Latin passio, meaning “suffering.” We celebrate each year the passion of our Lord when we attend to the historic remembrance of Holy Week. Likewise, whenever we partake of the Lord’s Supper together we “proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes.” It is given to us not only to believe in Christ the Suffering Servant but also to suffer for him ourselves (Phil. 1:29). Paul saw his own suffering for the Gospel and for the building up of the church as an active participation in the afflictions of Christ (Col. 1:24; Phil. 3:10-11). We must be forthright in teaching our congregants, by word and by example, that this is part of our calling as well.

In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.”  In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel.  Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.”  Packer writes,

“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).

This week, we come to the letter “O”.

O is for Obedience

The Gospel calls forth obedience (Rom. 1:5) in at least three ways. First, we must obey the Gospel by believing and receiving the Good News (John 6:29). Second, the faith that saves works itself out in obedient living by God’s empowering grace (Phil. 2:12-13). Third, we are to obey Jesus’ command to bring this Gospel to the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). In our ministries of teaching and formation these calls to obey the Gospel must be clear and unequivocal.

The Gospel Prayer

“Father, there is nothing I can do today that would make you love me more; nothing I failed to do yesterday made you love me less.”

“Father, your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”

“Father, as you have been to me, so I will be to others.”

“Father, I’ll measure your compassion by the cross and your power by the resurrection and pray accordingly.”

What would the doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight. (that is, Christian Hedonism)?

Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty and deadness to the deepest joy.

Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed as the overflow of God’s joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.

Limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for us by the blood of the covenant.

Irresistible grace is the commitment and power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.

Perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God not to let us fall into the final bondage of inferior pleasures, but to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of fullness of joy in his presence and pleasures at his right hand forevermore.

Installment two [Jan/Feb 2012] of RRI begins this week, and the focus is the outworking of the gospel.  The goal is to deepen roots in the nature and implications of the gospel individually and corporately.  The two books that we are focusing on are Gospel: Recover the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary by J.D. Greear (January) and Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson (February).

For those interested in the self-feeding initiative of this installment of RRI, here is the reading schedule for the next two months:

Gospel: Recover the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary
January 1-7                         (1-68)
January 8-14                      (69-144)
January 15-21                    (145-90)
January 22-28                   (191-256)

Gospel Wakefulness
January 29-February 4    (1-58)
February 5-11                     (59-112)
February 12-18                  (113-68)
February 19-25                  (169-218)

If you know a church leader or planter  who could be helped/edified by an informal regiment for personal growth and development, please pass this on. Our desire at PLNTD is to facilitate meaningful and accessible ways of teaching and training those leading the mission in the local church.

Your weekly installment of 20 grace tweets from Scotty Smith:

A sign you’re growing in grace: It takes more to bug you, longer to rattle you and less to humble you.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself saying, “How did I ever miss THAT?”, about old familiar Bible verses.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t speed up just to keep from being passed on the inside lane.

A sign you’re growing in grace: The ability to pay for something is no longer an indication of its affordability to you.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re not arrogant, you just get bored quicker in churches without a heart for evangelism.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You use less confetti at your pity parties.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t spend as much time talking yourself out of being generous with money or mercy.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You know spending too much time regretting is like spending too much time eating rotten eggs.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You derive 70% of your peace from the occupied throne of heaven and 30% from getting your way.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You won’t spend as much time today needing to be right, or looking good or spiritual.

A sign you’re growing in grace: When you hear/use the phrase “the poor”, you have faces, names and streets in mind.

A sign you’re growing in grace: For every “buy me” catalog you get in the mail during Advent, you pray for 3 missionaries.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You spend more time adoring Jesus during Advent than criticizing Christmas “folly”.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t try to fix people as often, or just try to talk them out of our their pain.

A sign you’re growing in grace: Approaching you and talking with you is easier than ever for others. You are not as prickily.

A sign you’re growing in grace: While standing in long Christmas checkout lines, you pray more than you seeth.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t need to have children as an excuse to see (and enjoy) the new Muppet movie.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You complain less and encourage more, and you’re more flexible and less irritable.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t have an emotional doghouse in which you put people who disappoint you.

A sign you’re growing in grace: You’d rather give and receive costly heart-gifts than expensive stuff-gifts.

In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.”  In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel.  Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.”  Packer writes,

“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).

This week, we come to the letter “N”.

N is for Narrative

We must ever study the Gospel because it is the apex and summary of the great narrative of God’s redemptive activity in the world.  It is into this Story that we have been called.  In an age when many deny the existence of a single metanarrative that applies to all persons it is more crucial than ever that we know the biblical narrative and tell it faithfully to others, asking God to convince hearers as we do so that this is their Story as well.