“For the time that is past suffices…”

One of the things that I have benefited by most in my own spiritual growth is the blessing provide our generation of digital media.  In fact, a year and a half ago when I was going through a tough time with God, being in a new place with new challenges and no real Christian community to speak of, my journey back to good was ignited by a decision to add John Piper’s podcast to my iPod and listen to him preach during my daily commute.  Now I have a wide array of preachers and theologians that I subscribe to and devour at various times throughout the week.  Because this has been such a blessing on my life I thought I would share some of the podcasts that provide me with regular spiritual nourishment over my speakers and headphones:

(These are listed by the titles of the podcasts which you can look them up under, followed by the main teachers I listen to in them)

• Desiring God Sermon Audio (John Piper); I have to start with this one as this is the one where my obsession with podcasted sermons began in the first place.  This podcast presents the weekly sermon from Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist in Minneapolis, MN, as well as giving occasional special messages that Piper delivers at conferences or in seminars at The Bethlehem Institute.  Dr. Piper is currently on a several week writing hiatus, but when he returns he will be picking back up in the third chapter of the gospel according to John, a series he began back in September and looks to be going through over the next several years (yes, I said years).
• Mars Hill Church: Mark Driscoll Audio (Mark Driscoll); Though Piper was my first, this is probably my favorite.  Each week I look forward to getting the 65-80 minute sermon that Pastor Mark has delivered at his pulpit in Seattle as it is always challenging and, from the viewpoint of someone who hopes to be planting in an urban context shortly, very instructive at the same time.  One nice thing about podcasts is that once you subscribe to them you usually have access to past episodes (sermons) that you may have missed but that have been archived for future listening.  When I first subscribed to Driscoll’s podcast there were about 100 archived sermons that I added as well (just click ‘GET ALL’).  Once I had listened to the current sermon I would go back to one of these archived sermons and take them in until the new sermon arrival the next week.  At this point I have listened to every archived Mars Hill sermon.  One past series I found particularly interesting was the exposition on the book of Nehemiah.  If you are thinking about planting or pastoring in a major city I would recommend you download and go through these messages.  Currently Driscoll is going through 1 and 2 Peter.
• The Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham, NC, J.D. Greear Sermons (J.D. Greear)- After I heard his message on Romans 9 from the 2007 Building Bridges conference I knew I needed to subscribe to Pastor JD’s podcast and have been listening to it weekly ever since.  If you have not heard of him yet, JD is the pastor of a rapidly growing SBC/Acts 29 church in the bustling area of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Research Triangle, which also conveniently is where Southeastern seminary is located.  I got to meet JD and attend his church a few weeks back and was even more impressed by their ministry in person than I had already been over the airwaves.  Right now JD is wrapping up a series on how their church can work together to reach the goals God has called them to over the next several years.
• The Village Church- Sermon Audio (Matt Chandler); Matt Chandler is another SBC.Acts 29 pastor and is very similar in style to Mark Driscoll (though a little calmer) and JD Greear.  I am really big on Chandler right now following the message he delivered a few weeks ago at FBC Jax and am personally benefiting greatly from his messages right now.  He is certainly a guy, if not to listen to, at least to watch as time goes on.  Our generation is looking for a leader, a voice in the SBC, and Chandler (or JD Greear) may just be that person, and if not, they most surely will help inspire whoever will emerge to fill that role.  Chandler is about to start a sermon series on repentance.
• 10th- Tenth Presbyterian Church (PCA) (Paul Tripp); This is the historic pulpit of Dr. James M. Boice in Philadelphia, PA, now headed by Dr. Philip Ryken.  Though it is no disrespect to Dr. Ryken, the reason I subscribe to this podcast is for the sermons it posts done by Paul Tripp.  Dr. Tripp delivers the evening message at 10th each week and is posted shortly after Dr. Ryken’s morning message.  I like Paul Tripp a lot.  He is very insightful, uses great illustrations, and for those of you who do not have the 50-75 minutes needed to listen to these other guys, Tripp is typically done in 25 minutes to half-an-hour.  Tripp just started a series on living a unified life as believers following the Lordship of Christ.
• Living Grace on OnePlace.com (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones); This podcast is a little different than the others.  It is actually a radio-style broadcast in which old sermons by the late British pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones are cut into parts (usually two) and released each Sunday.  It is a little frustrating having to wait one or two weeks to listen to something new (I won’t just listen to half of a sermon at a time), but to hear the amazing voice and surprisingly relevant commentary of such a great preacher is well worth the hassle of piecing together a couple of episodes to get the whole sermon.  These releases do not seem to follow any particular order.
• The Albert Mohler Program (Al Mohler); The final recommendation I will give is not actually sermons like the rest of them, but is instead a daily (on weekdays) radio program hosted by the president of Southern seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler.  There is probably not a more intelligent theologian alive today when it comes to connecting Christ to the culture (sorry Dr. Piper) and to get a daily view into what he finds important for Christians to be focusing on is quite a blessing.  Usually his show features an introductory 10 minutes of surveying all that is relevant and newsworthy to the Christian community from around the world, followed by 20-30 minutes of interview,  discussion, and call-in (the show airs live on radio) over some predetermined topic.  The best however is every Wednesdays when Dr. Mohler opens the airwaves for assorted random questions which people can call in, email, or even post onto Twitter or Facebook for him to answer.  This can sometimes be frustrating (like the never-ending calls about which version of the Bible is best or if using birth control is okay), but usually there are one or two worthwhile questions that I am interested to hear his response to.  This show is a must for anyone who lives at the intersection of Christian beliefs and the secular world (which should be all of us) and is worth listening to at least every Wednesday, if not everyday.

I hope these suggestions can help you find more resources to grow in your Christian walk.  Of course, I do not recommend any of this as a replacement for a local church that provides your primary needs and gives you a place to serve and grow in community with fellow believers.  This is simply meant to be a supplement to your own daily quiet time and weekly church attendance, a way to keep engaged with the things of God while driving to work, exercising, or browsing the internet.  The more time spent consuming the things of God, the less time you will have for indulging the lusts of the flesh, which is always a good thing.  Plus, it never hurts to see how people from around the country and world are speaking about God and in what ways God is showing up in their contexts.  Enjoy!