Carl Trueman argues that by neglecting the Psalms in worship, evangelicals have lost the language of lament. “In the last year, I have asked three very different evangelical audiences what miserable Christians can sing in church. On each occasion my question has elicited uproarious laughter, as if the idea of a broken-hearted, lonely, or despairing Christ was so absurd as to be comical–and yet I posed the question in all seriousness.”

What should we do?

First, let us all learn once again to lament. Read the psalms over and over until you have the vocabulary, grammar, and syntax necessary to lay your heart before God in lamentation. If you do this, you will have the resources to cope with your own times of suffering, despair and heartbreak, and to keep worshipping and trusting through even the blackest of days; you will also develop a greater understanding of fellow Christians whose agonies of, say, bereavement, depression, or despair, sometimes make it difficult for them to prance around in ecstasy singing “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” on a Sunday morning; and you will have more credible things to say to those shattered and broken individuals–be they burned-out bank managers or down-and-out junkies–to whom you may be called to be a witness of God’s unconditional mercy and grace to the unloved and lovely. For such, as the Bible might put it, were some of you…

Second, seek to make the priorities of the biblical prayers the priorites of your own prayers. You can read all the trendy sociology and postmodern primers you want, and they may well give you valuable technical insights, but unless your studies, your preaching, your church life, your family life, indeed your whole life, are soaked in prayer and reflect the priorites of the Bible, they will be of no profit to you or anybody else.

And finally, as regards personal ambitions and life-plans, “Your attitude should be the same as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death–even death on a cross.”

Carl Trueman, “What Can Miserable Christians Sing?” in Wages of Spin, p. 163.

The 2009 Church Leader’s Conference organized by Shalom Reformed Baptist is now available online.

http://www.shalomrb.com/clc2009.htm

I am particularly intrigued by Ps En Yi’s sermons on Christs in the Psalms (2 sermons).  He spent many years struggling with this topic. He shared the fruit of his study to date.

Enjoy.

“As it is with a vessel that is full of liquor, if you strike upon it, it will make no great noise; but if it be empty, then it makes a great noise: so it is with the heart. A heart that is full of grace and goodness within, will bear a great many strokes and never make any noise: but an empty heart, if that be struck, will make a noise.” ~Jeremiah Burroughs

By Michael Oh

As I sift through a mountain of emails, I’ve learned to quickly dismiss forwarded “junk mail,” even if it’s from people I consider friends. At the same time I learn to recognize which email “clicks” might actually reap spiritual blessing. When I get an email from my dear friend Jim Chew, who works with the Navigators, I pay attention. Two years ago he forwarded an email from his other Navigator friend, David Lyons, who was quoting yet another Navigator leader. The blessing and challenge of that email made such an impact on me that I’ve saved it to this day. The email said this,

Years ago, I asked Jim Downing, one of the patriarchs of the Navigator work, “Why is it that so few men finish well?” His response was profound. He said, “They learn the possibility of being fruitful without being pure. God is slow to remove his hand on a man he has anointed. One day that man may sin, then experience God’s blessing. Then it happens again and again and he begins to believe that purity doesn’t matter. Eventually, he becomes like a tree rotting inside that is eventually toppled by a storm.”

When Accessibility Leads to Sin
With the advent of the Internet, Satan has overcome the greatest barrier to the effectiveness of one of his most potent weapons—accessibility. What in previous generations could only be obtained through complicated and stealthy means at a bookstore or through the help of older friends can now be accessed alone, unsupervised, free, and without limit. Satan’s isolated traps have now become a world filled with landmines, including in our very own homes. It’s almost like the de-Babelization of sexual sin, where the whole world is now connected for limitless exploitation and indulgence in sin. It is estimated that there are now over 500 million pages of pornography on the Internet.

According to the London School of Economics, ninety percent of children between the ages of eight and sixteen have seen pornographic images on the Internet—usually accessed unintentionally. According to a 2001 Christianity Today survey, as many as forty percent of pastors admit to visiting pornographic websites.

The severity of the challenge has been met with slow, but steady response from the Church and its leaders. Mention of pornography and sexual temptation is becoming less shocking and more prevalent from the pulpit and in small group discussions, at least among the younger generations.

There is still a long way to go for the Church and its leaders in being more transparent about such issues and in dealing with the most practical and sometimes shocking challenges facing Christians. There are literally hundreds of books now dealing with sexual sin. There is, however, a great need for more books in languages other than English and Spanish to help Christians in such struggles. There are Internet tools such as covenanteyes.com that help Christians in their struggles through technological accountability. If you currently struggle with such temptations, I encourage you to seek out help from trusted friends, mentors, and resources.

But what I want to address in this article is not the actual struggle with impurity itself that so many books already deal with; instead, I want to highlight what I think is even more dangerous than the struggles themselves. It is the danger raised in the “junk” email I got from my friend Jim. It is the danger of leaders learning “the possibility of being fruitful without being pure.”

A Holy Life—or a Scandalous One?
A compelling expression of the mission of the Church found in the Lausanne Covenant is “the whole Church bringing the whole gospel to the whole world.” Gospel-transformed, grace-saturated, holy lives of Christians provide a powerfully compelling face to that mission.

There are few things that threaten such global witness and Christ-proclamation more than hypocrisy-revealing scandals leaving churches and ministries struggling for survival. There continues to be a regular flow of scandals in the global Church. On one side of the world a preacher fakes a fight with cancer to cover his shame in losing a battle with addiction to pornography. On the other side of the world a pastor who preached powerfully against homosexual immorality is revealed to have been leading a secret life having homosexual trysts with a male escort. There are countless “successful” and “blessed” ministries rocked by scandal.

I can’t help think about the missed opportunities of both scandals. What if both leaders had been open and honest with their congregations and ministries and had been the ones to reveal their weaknesses and sins rather than a television network? What if they had shared such struggles with other leaders and their church leadership early on? What if they had allowed the gospel to heal and cleanse in community and with accountability? What if, from the pulpit, the message was, “I say these things about the dangers of pornography (or the darkness of homosexuality) because I’ve been there. I’ve struggled through these things, and I’ve seen the power of the gospel to effect change.”

The difference between having tremendous credibility on a particular subject because of the honesty and humility of one’s own struggle (and a sharing of the power of the gospel in addressing such struggles) and having absolutely no credibility at all for having been caught in public hypocrisy and shame is in one sense ever so slight (although they could not be greater in their effects). Winning or losing such heart battles over confession, repentance, and humility is the difference between those who end well and those who do not.

Why hypocrisy often wins the day is, I believe, because leaders learn the possibility of being “fruitful” without being pure. There is, in some sense, the ability to maintain professional administration of ministry and even to see “fruitfulness” in such activities. This, in turn, can deceive one into thinking that confession of heart struggles and personal sins are in some sense unnecessary and mere distractions to ministerial progress.

Christ Cleansing Us
The scary reality is that most of these seemingly spiritually blessed and fruitful ministries led by morally compromising leaders will never be brought to light on earth. Many lives are “successfully” lived and many ministries are “successfully” operated apart from vital relationship to and properly desperate dependence upon Christ. This is the great scandal of Christian leadership; this is what leaders should fear.

The gospel message teaches us that God works and saves and loves and cleanses despite us, not because of us. That is true in salvation “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). And we must not take such amazing grace for granted, thinking that we therefore have a license to sin. We also must not forget that this dynamic remains true throughout our Christian life. God continues to build his kingdom despite us, despite our sin. Of course, there is a human element involved in the blessings of God. But even faith and obedience are gifts from God as we read in James 1:17: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” We serve an amazingly gracious God. He is a God who often works despite us, despite our sin. And this is the glorious gospel: we sin; he forgives; we sin; he fixes; we sin; he still works for our good. DESPITE, DESPITE, DESPITE us.

Let us not take such amazing grace for granted, thinking we therefore have a license to remain isolated and alone and unaccountable in sin and impurity simply because our ministry is seemingly blessed and fruitful. Let us not put the Lord our God to the test.

Preventing the Great Scandal
How can we respond to such tendencies in our hearts and prevent “earthly blessed” but “heavenly scandalous” ministry “success”?

1. We must daily die to pride. I recommend to you a book by C.J. Mahaney called Humility: True Greatness.¹ Last year, I took a five-day personal retreat and was very blessed in reading, meditating, and praying over this short book. One of his key points is that it’s not a question of whether we have pride or not, but what our pride looks like. One subtle and dangerous forms of pride that tempts leaders and threatens God’s kingdom work is the pride of thinking that we can actually do ministry apart from intimate relationship, fellowship, and dependence upon Christ. Jesus, in John 15:5, rebukes the pride in us that we can do anything apart from Christ. The glorious gospel dynamic is that apart from him we can do nothing, but through him we can do everything! Let us have properly desperate dependence upon Christ in our lives and ministries.
2. We must confess our sins to God and one another. We, not Satan, should be the ones who expose our sin. James 5:16 reminds us of the power of confession and prayer: “Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” The greater the “fruit” and growth and publicity of your ministry, the more difficult such confession becomes. Therefore, I urge especially my fellow younger leaders around the world to deal with sin issues, whether sexual or other, while you are young! Do this quickly and early. Seek out mentors who will pray for you, listen to you, rebuke you, and encourage you. Allow the Church to be the Church as Christ intended. There is a proper process of church discipline for the benefit of God’s people that hopefully is exercised within your church. There may come a point where you should humbly submit to such a grace-giving process.
3. We must diligently guard against two “cardinal sins” of leadership. The first is mistaking giftedness for spiritual maturity. Too many young people have been thrust into leadership and responsibility too quickly and without proper supervision and guidance. Leaders tend to be overly eager to give responsibility and authority to young people because almost every ministry has numerous needs and positions to fill. But giftedness must not be mistaken for maturity. And giftedness alone without spiritual maturity can oftentimes do more long-term damage to a ministry after short-terms “gains” fade away.

A second “cardinal sin” of leadership that really is the subject of this entire article is mistaking “fruitfulness” for holiness. This is related to the first “cardinal sin” of leadership. We can often become easily enamored with the shininess and abundance of “fruit.” Perhaps that is part and parcel of being of the seed of Adam. “Successful” ministry is often equated with congregation size, growth rates, and media attention. These numeric indicators, however, can be very dangerous standards. When Christ addresses the seven churches in Revelation, does he commend the larger churches and rebuke the smaller? Does he compare growth rates and highlight numbers? No. Instead, he hits at the heart of character, faith, endurance, compromise, idolatry, and immorality.

If we leaders of the Church will humble ourselves before God and before his people, if we will give proper focus and attention to our purity and holiness, if we will understand and live our lives and do our ministries with properly desperate dependence upon Christ, and if we will simply return to the power and the beauty of the gospel, not only will the Lord bless with personal and ministerial fruit, it will be fruit that will endure and bring his name great glory for eternity. Let’s live and end well for that great name.

Endnote

1. 2005. Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA: Multnomah Publishers.

There are many popular misconceptions about  Who is the true Calvin behind the image? Will Durant, the famous author of the eleven-volume series on the History of Western Civilization, said of Calvin: “We shall always find it hard to love the man, John Calvin, who darkened the human soul with the most absurd and blasphemous conception of God in all the long and honored history of nonsense.” Even the defrocked TV evangelist, Jimmy Swaggart, has something to say about Calvin. “Calvin,” said Swaggart,” has caused untold millions of souls to be damned.” Such judgements, besides being uncharitable, fail to get at the real John Calvin – a man with a strong evangelical heart. One of the most pervasive criticisms of Calvin is that he had no interest in missions. The well-known Protestant missiologist, Gustav Warneck, portrayed the Reformers, including Calvin, as missiologically challenged merely because they believed in predestination. “We miss in the Reformers, not only missionary action, but even the idea of missions… because fundamental theological views hindered them from giving their activity and even their thoughts a missionary direction.” But history tells another story. The city of Geneva, long associated with Calvin, was also an important refugee center in the Reformer’s day. Throughout sixteenth century Europe, persecuted Protestants fled their homelands, many of whom found their way to Geneva. In the 1550s, the population of Geneva literally doubled. One of those refugees who came to Geneva was the Englishman John Bale, who wrote: “Geneva seems to me to be the wonderful miracle of the whole world. For so many from all countries come here, as it were, to a sanctuary. Is it not wonderful that Spaniards, Italians, Scots, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, disagreeing in manners, speech, and apparel, should live so lovingly and friendly, and dwell together like a … Christian congregation?” Since Geneva was French-speaking, the vast majority of refugees came from France. As they sat under Calvin’s teaching in the Cathedral of St. Pierre, the French refugees’ hearts stirred for their homeland. Many of them felt compelled to return to France with the Protestant gospel. Calvin, however, did not want to send uneducated missionaries back to the dangers of Catholic France. He believed that a good missionary had to be a good theologian first. And so he inspired and educated them. He trained them theologically, tested their preaching ability, and carefully scrutinized their moral character. Calvin and the Genevan Consistory sent properly trained missionaries back to France to share the Gospel. Calvin did not just educate them and send men back to France. These missionaries did not just become photographic memories on Calvin’s refrigerator door. On the contrary; Calvin remained intimately involved in all that they were doing. The Genevan archives hold hundreds of letters containing Calvin’s pastoral and practical advice on establishing underground churches. He did not just send missionaries; he invested himself in long-term relationships with them. Concrete information exists from the year 1555 onwards. The data indicate that by 1555, there were five underground Protestant churches in France. By 1559, the number of these Protestant churches jumped to more than one hundred. And scholars estimate that by 1562 there were more than 2,150 churches established in France with approximately three-million Protestant souls in attendance. This can only be described as an explosion of missionary activity; detonated in large part by the Genevan Consistory and other Swiss Protestant cities. Far from being disinterested in missions, history shows that Calvin was enraptured by it. To be a missionary in France was so dangerous that the Genevan Consistory decided not to keep any record of such missionary activity in order to protect their lives. And so the Genevan Consistory deliberately obscured the names and the numbers of missionaries sent out from Geneva. Scholar peter Wilcox has combed the Genevan archives and dusted off some of Calvin’s five hundred-year old correspondence. Much to his surprise, Wilcox discovered a treasure trove of material indicating that the last ten years of Calvin’s life in Geneva (1555-1564) were preoccupied with missions’ Among the dusty tomes were letters written by the Genevan missionaries themselves revealing just how successful they had been. One French church in Bergerac boasted to Calvin: “There is, by the grace of God, such a movement in our district, that the devil is already for the most part driven out, so that we are able to provide ministers for ourselves. From day to day, we are growing, and God has caused His Word to bear such fruit that at sermons on Sundays, there are about four- to five-thousand people.” Another letter from Montpelier rejoiced, “Our church, thanks to the Lord, has so grown and so continues to grow every day that we are obliged to preach three sermons on Sundays to a total of five- to six-thousand people.” And it gets better. A pastor in Toulouse wrote to the Genevan Consistory: “Our church has grown to the astonishing number of about eight- to nine-thousand souls.” Calvin didn’t just plant small fledgling churches; he planted mega-churches that in turn planted more churches. It is difficult to fathom the extraordinary success of these Genevan sponsored missionaries. Even in our modern era, such statistics are unheard of. The French government became so concerned about all these churches being planted that they sent a letter of protest to the Genevan city council. The Genevan city council responded by saying, “What missionaries?” Genevan missionaries planted churches in other European destinations. Records indicate missionaries also were sent to Italy; the Netherlands, Hungary; Poland, and the free Imperial city-states in the Rhineland. The late Philip Edgcumbe Hughes, one of the few modern scholars aware of this extraordinary achievement, concluded that Calvin’s Geneva was a “school of missions… [and] a dynamic centre of missionary concern and activity.” There is still more to the story of Genevan missions. It is one thing to send missionaries to Europe, but what about transcontinental missions? Once again, Calvin earns high masks. As a matter of historical fact, Calvin also sent missionaries across the Atlantic Ocean to South America. It is a little known missionary episode that reads like an adventure story. Because of increasing persecution, the leading Protestant in France, Admiral Coligny, embraced a grand vision for establishing a French Protestant colony in the New World where Protestants would be free to worship. Coligny sent out an expedition that eventually landed in what is now Brazil. Along with his plans to establish a colony in Brazil, Coligny collaborated with Calvin to provide missionaries to the new settlement. We actually know the names of the two missionaries that Geneva sent to Brazil – Pierre Richier and William Chartier. These two Genevan trained missionaries were to serve as chaplains to the settlers and bring the gospel to Brazil’s natives. The French expedition landed in Rio de Janeiro on March 10, 1557, and suddenly things took a turn for the worse. Nicholas Durand de Villegagnon, the leader of the expedition, turned traitor to the Protestant cause. He decided to create his own South American fiefdom. When the French Protestant settlers disapproved, he actually killed a number of them. The Protestant colonists and the Genevan missionaries fled into the Brazilian jungle where they found refuge, believe it or not, with a tribe of cannibals. Over time, the Protestant colonists and missionaries eventually made their way back to France where one of them (Jean de Lery) wrote a book describing his Brazilian adventures. He described how the colonists and missionaries made every effort to share the gospel with the cannibals. Although their efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful, they nevertheless exhibited an abiding missionary interest – even in the midst of a terrible trial. What motivated Calvin’s extraordinary missions interests? The answer, in part, can be found in Calvin’s sermons. Calvin’s sermons typically offer a concluding prayer. These prayers often repeated his most deeply held convictions. After preaching a sermon on 1 Timothy 2:3, Calvin offered this prayer: “Seeing that God has given us such a treasure and so inestimable a thing as His Word, we must employ ourselves as much as we can, that it may be kept safe and sound and not perish. And let every man be sure to lock it up securely in his own heart. But it is not enough to have an eye to his own salvation, but the knowledge of God must shine generally throughout the whole world.” Similar sentiments are found in many of his concluding pastoral prayers. For Calvin, it was axiomatic that the salvation of our souls necessarily carries with it an inevitable desire to share the gospel with others. Calvin was missions-minded because he understood the transformational character of the gospel. He understood that when God saves a person, it makes a profound difference in that person’s life and in the lives of others. If Calvin is taken as a model, Reformed theology ought to produce not only the best theologians. but also the best pastors and missionaries. These convictions reveal the true Calvin behind the image.

The New Calvinism

By DAVID VAN BIEMA

If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard “The Old Rugged Cross,” a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are…well, hark the David Crowder Band: “I am full of earth/ You are heaven’s worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity.”

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin’s 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism’s buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism’s latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination’s logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time’s dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.

Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation’s other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don’t have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by “glorifying” him. In the 1700s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism’s loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.

No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don’t operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, “everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world” — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle’s pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom’s hottest links.

Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement’s doctrinal drift, but can’t offer the same blanket assurance. “A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation,” says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists. “They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God.” Mohler says, “The moment someone begins to define God’s [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist.” Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin’s time. Indeed, some of today’s enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online “flame wars” bode badly.

Calvin’s 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin’s latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country’s infancy.

《诗篇》表达了在情感方面人对上帝的回应的高度和深度，从而为上帝的子民提供了一个永远的宝库，使他们可以表达自己在群体和个人方面的需要和赞美。基督是具有代表性的人，他经历了我们人类的处境，但并没有犯罪，因此《诗篇》成为他向上帝所做出的祷告。(参看, 希伯來書 2:12; 馬太福音 27:46 跟 诗篇 22:1)。所以，我们可以把《诗篇》是为基督的话语。通过我们与基督的联合，基督的话语也成为我们的话语。

By expressing the emotional heights and depths in human response to God, the Psalms provide a permanent treasure for God’s people to use to express their needs and their praises, both corporately and individually. Christ as representative man experienced our human condition, yet without sin, and so the Psalms become his prayers to God (see esp. Heb. 2:12; cf. Matt. 27:46 with Ps. 22:1). The Psalms are thus to be seen as his words, and through our union with him they become ours. – Vern Poythress

“We fear man so much because we fear God so little. One fear cures another. When man’s terror scares you, turn your thoughts to the wrath of God.” ~Chesterton.

Dr. Richard L. Pratt, Jr., is the president of Third Millennium Ministries. He is adjunct professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a visiting professor at Covenant Theological Seminary. He is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and travels extensively to evangelize and teach. Dr. Pratt received his B.A. from Roanoke College, studied at Westminster Theological Seminary, and received his M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary. He earned his Th.D. in Old Testament Studies from Harvard University.

Below are his sermons I find on the web.

Title	Notes	Download
Matthew 6:5-15 – Your Kingdom Come	Richard L. Pratt Jr. (mp3) – Tates Creek Presbyterian Church	Download
The Life of Abraham: Structure and Content (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Third Millennium Ministries	Download
The Life of Abraham: Original Meaning (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Third Millennium Ministries	Download
The Life of Abraham: Modern Application (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Third Millennium Ministries	Download
Is Jesus the Old Testament Messiah?	Richard Pratt (mp3)	Download
Pray with Your Eyes Open #1 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Pray with Your Eyes Open #2 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Pray with Your Eyes Open #3 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Pray with Your Eyes Open #4 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Pray with Your Eyes Open #5 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Confidence in the Gospel (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven Is Not Our Home (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
The Lord’s Prayer (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
A Christmas Message MP3	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Park Cities Presbyterian Church	Download
A Child is Born (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Park Cities Presbyterian Church	Download
For Him and For Them (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Park Cities Presbyterian Church	Download
A People of Kingdom Vision (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Park Cities Presbyterian Church	Download
Resurrection, the Hope of Outstanding Faith (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Ordinary People in the Kingdom of God Session 1 – Romans 1:14-16 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Trinity Presbyterian Church, Plano,TX	Download
Ordinary People in the Kingdom of God Session 2 – Genesis 1 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Trinity Presbyterian Church, Plano,TX	Download
Ordinary People in the Kingdom of God Sermon – The Lord’s Prayer (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Trinity Presbyterian Church, Plano,TX	Download
Session One – Advancing the Kingdom – The Lord’s Prayer (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Christ The King Presbyterian Church, El Paso,TX	Download
Session Two – Advancing the Kingdom – The Lord’s Prayer (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Christ The King Presbyterian Church, El Paso,TX	Download
Session Three – Advancing the Kingdom – The Lord’s Prayer (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Christ The King Presbyterian Church, El Paso,TX	Download
Sunday Sermon – All Things to All Men (I Corinthians 9:19-23) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Christ The King Presbyterian Church, El Paso,TX	Download
Sunday Sermon – How Beautiful (Isaiah 52:7-10) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Christ The King Presbyterian Church, El Paso,TX	Download
Missions Conference (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Tates Creek Presbyterian Church	Download
PM Sermon – The World, Our Neighborhood, My Home (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Tates Creek Presbyterian Church	Download
People of Great Vision (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Christ the Redeemer Presbyterian Church	Download
Vision of the Kingdom (Part 1) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Vision of the Kingdom (Part 2) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Our Place in the Kingdom (Part 1) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Our Place in the Kingdom (Part 2) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Kingdoms and Covenants (Part 1) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Kingdoms and Covenants (Part 2) (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
The Good News of the Kingdom (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Sycamore Presbyterian Church	Download
Jesus’ Vision for You – Matthew 6:9-13 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Grace Evangelical Church	Download
Beauty of the Gospel (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Grace Evangelical Church	Download
Why do we Baptize our Children? (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Radio Apologia	Download
The Vision Of The Mission (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – South Dayton Presbyterian Church	Download
February 10 2007 Vision for Mission (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Reformed University Fellowship, Auburn University	Download
February 11 2007 Strong for Mission (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Reformed University Fellowship, Auburn University	Download
February 11 2007 Obstacles to Mission (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Reformed University Fellowship, Auburn University	Download
February 11 2007 Power for Mission (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Reformed University Fellowship, Auburn University	Download
Gathering Scatters (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven is Not Our Home I (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven is Not Our Home II (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven is Not Our Home III (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven is Not Our Home IV (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Heaven is Not Our Home V (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church	Download
Unfolding the Last Days (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Second Presbyterian Church	Download
Holy War & the Last Days (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Second Presbyterian Church	Download
Suffering and the Last Days (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Second Presbyterian Church	Download
The Hope of Glory (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Second Presbyterian Church	Download
A Kingdom Vision (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Covenant Presbyterian Church	Download
MTW Missions Conference Session 2 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – St. Paul’s Resources	Download
MTW Missions Conference Session 5 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – St. Paul’s Resources	Download
Paul’s Motivation for Ministry (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – St. Paul’s Resources	Download
The Church & the Advancement of the Kingdom (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Evangelical Presbyterian Church	Download
Leadership Development in the Two-Thirds World (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Evangelical Presbyterian Church	Download
Thy Kindgom Come (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Hope Community Church	Download
Christ Is Winning! (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – Tampa Bay Presbyterian Church	Download
Lesson 1: Essential Hermeneutical Perspectives (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Third Millennium Ministries	Download
Lesson 2: A Prophet’s Job (Mp3)	Richard L. Pratt, Jr. – Third Millennium Ministries	Download
Session one: Why the Mission? Genesis 1:26-28 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – SDPC Missions Conference 2008	Download
Session two: What is the Mission? Genesis 1:26-28 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – SDPC Missions Conference 2008	Download
Session three: The War Mission. Joshua 1:6-9 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – SDPC Missions Conference 2008	Download
Worship Service: The Vision of the Mission. Matthew 6:6-9 (MP3)	Richard L. Pratt Jr. – SDPC Missions Conference 2008	Download
Matthew 6:9-13 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – The Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church	Download
Isaiah 52 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Christ the King Presbyterian Church	Download
How Big is Your Vision? (MP3)	Richard Pratt – First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, MS	Download
“The Concept of the Kingdom of God–Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds and Preaching Today” (RAM)	Richard Pratt – Calvin Theological Seminary	Download
“The Role of Humanity in the Kingdom of God–Theocentrism or Anthropocentrism: A False Dilemma” (RAM)	Richard Pratt – Calvin Theological Seminary	Download
“The Mission: From the Beginning” (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Upside Down Worship: The Place of Worship – Psalm 29 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Upside Down Worship: The Purpose of Worship” – Psalm 29 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Discovering God’s Will – Part 1 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Discovering God’s Will – Part 2 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Discovering God’s Will – Part 3 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Upside Down Worship: The Focus of Worship” Psalm 29 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Upside Down Worship” PSalm 29 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“The Heart of a Christian Leader” – 1 Chronicles 29 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Inside-Out Worship” Psalm 50 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Inside-Out Worship” Psalm 34:1-10 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Worship from the Left and Right – Psalm 133 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
The King’s Vision – Joshua 1:6-9 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church	Download
The Gospel Through Abraham – Part 1 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
The Gospel Through Abraham – Part 2 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
The Gospel Through Abraham – Part 3 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
The Gospel Through Abraham – Part 4 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Worship from the Left and Right” – 1 Corinthians 14 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
“Outreach: Who’s Counting Numbers” – Matthew 28 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Outreach: Rejoice in God’s Mercy – Deuteronomy 26 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Outreach: Why Are We Blessed? – Genesis 12 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian Church	Download
Outreach: The Hope of Christmas – Isaiah 9:1-7 (MP3)	Richard Pratt – Independent Presbyterian

As Christians, making friends and having fellowship with other believers is important for our spiritual growth. We are called to share the Gospel, to love, enourage, admonish and speak the truth to one another everyday.

Here is a growing list of sermons I have found on this subject.

Jubliee Church – Enfield, London, UK

1. Friendship (mp3)

Dr. David Powlison

1. True Friendship