Monday, July 23, 2007

Preaching The Pilgrim's Progress

Spent most of last week at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church in Lecanto, FL. Seven Rivers is a great place to be. Ray and the rest of the pastors have really created a gospel-filled atmosphere which makes it easy and yet challenging to preach. And that is just the way it should be. A church should challenge its preachers to preach the gospel. And when the gospel is preached, the church should receive it with joy. Also, when the preachers fail to preach the gospel, the church should remind the preacher that his calling is nothing less than the gospel. I really get this since at Seven Rivers.

I had the wonderful opportunity to teach at their Annual Family Bible Conference. I taught four nights on The Gospel Pilgrimage in The Pilgrim's Progress. Preaching the gospel as John Bunyan teaches it in The Pilgrim's Progress is a delight for me. Preaching it at Seven Rivers is more grace than this more sinner could possibly deserve.

If you are interested, you can listen to the messages and download the outlines here. Also, there is audio from previous year's conferences as well.

4 comments:

Tree Newt said...

AJ,
I'm slowly but surely going through the talks you gave on Pilgrim's Progress while I drive each day. I'm half-way through talk #3, and I must confess: I stopped by the library and checked out Bunyan's masterpiece this afternoon! It's been a LONG time since I read it. I'm going on vacation next week and hope to spend some time with Christian there.

I had never heard you speak prior to these lectures, and I'm really being blessed by them. Thanks for being faithful to share what God has given you.

Grace and Peace

ajcarter said...

Thanks Mattie. One of my prayers in teaching through The Pilgrim's Progress is that it would spark an interest in people to read or reread this wonderful piece of literature. Thanks for letting me know that my prayers are being answered. And thank God for the faithful life and work of John Bunyan.

Anonymous said...

Good Stuff Aj, I'm almost finished. This make me wnat to read the book again. More sermon should refer us to classic like this...

Anonymous said...

Seven Rivers was as delighted to have you preaching here as you were to be here. Thank you for coming and sharing this timeless classic and the timeless message of the gospel with us!