In the course of his Sunday sermon, “Life Is Short—Therefore…,” Ryan touched on the subject of vocation. In view of the shortness of life, in Psalm 90:17 the psalmist asks God to, “establish the work of our hands!” Concerning our every day work, Paul writes in Colossians 3:23, “work heartily, as for the Lord.”

With that in mind, below are some books and DSC sermons on the subject of vocation and the Christian life.

Books on Vocation:

God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life
by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.

Business for the Glory of God: The Bible’s Teaching on the Moral Goodness of Business
by Wayne Grudem

Work and Leisure in Christian Perspective
by Leland Ryken

Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work & Leisure
by Leland Ryken

Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work
by Tom Nelson

Sermons on Vocation:

“The Wisdom of God in Work,” Proverbs
Ryan Kelly

In Sunday’s sermon, “A Better Home,” Ryan preached from Psalm 84, a psalm with the familiar and lofty line, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere” (84:10). While we certainly believe this to be true, we recognize that we don’t always live like it. We believe it, but we know we should believe it more.

That’s why, as Ryan said, the Christian life is a pilgrimage. We are on our way to the perfect presence of God.

On this pilgrimage, the author of Hebrews encourages us with the example of Old Testament saints who looked forward to their heavenly home in Hebrews 11:13-16:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Following in the example of the faithful from the Old Testament means following them, ultimately, in the direction of their hope. This better and heavenly country, of course, is nothing less than the New Heavens and New Earth. And what’s so much better about it? There, we will hear the words, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (Revelation 21:3).

Another help for the pilgrimage comes to us from the English Puritan, John Bunyan. His classic, Pilgrim’s Progress, unfolds the nature of the Christian life by means of a powerful and imaginative story, making sense of the various struggles and temptations faced by every Christian. You can purchase a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress at Amazon here.

For children nine years old and up, Oliver Hunkin’s adaptation, Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress, is an excellent resource.

Below is a two hour version of Hunkin’s adaptation being read with illustrations.

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

HT: Justin Taylor

On Sunday, Ryan preached from Psalm 78, one of six history psalms. The other history psalms are Psalms 105-107, 114, and 136. Psalm 78 is unique, however, for its focused statement of purpose to rehearse the history of Israel in order that the next generation should “set their hope in God.” That’s actually a very nice way of stating the aim of all Christian parenting.

Here are some resources for helping you help your children set their hope in God:

Resources on Parenting

• The Word on Parenting, Seminar Weekend by Fred G. Zaspel
• Three messages specifically on parenting by Ryan Kelly in the series, Proverbs: Wisdom for the Home, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
• Messages on parenting preached at DSC
• The Duties of Parents, J.C. Ryle
• Your Child’s Profession of Faith, Dennis Gundersen
• Gospel-Powered Parenting: How the Gospel Shapes and Transforms Parenting, William Farley
• Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Tedd Tripp
• Instructing a Child’s Heart, Tedd and Margy Tripp
• Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens, Paul Tripp

Resources About Family Worship

• “Family Worship: In the Bible, in History & in Your Home,” Don Whitney
• “Rediscovering Family Worship,” Jerry Marcellino
• “Leading Family Worship,” a message by Joel Beeke at the Desiring God 2011 Conference for Pastors
• “Do Not Forget: The Message of Deuteronomy,” (Part 1, Part 2), sermons by Ryan Kelly

Tools for Family Worship

• The Big Picture Story Bible, David Helm
• The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name, Sally Lloyd-Jones
• The Gospel Story Bible: Discovering Jesus in the Old and New Testaments, Marty Machowski
• The Child’s Story Bible, Catherine Vos
• “And for Older Children…Respect Their Desire to Read and Learn,” an article by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. about The Child’s Story Bible with tips for reading Bible stories to school-age children
• Bible audio from Bible Gateway or of the ESV from Crossway
• ESV Children’s Bible, Crossway
• A Catechism by Ryan Kelly (This is not yet complete, but is more than enough for a few years of memorization. This pdf is intended to be printed and folded as a booklet. Here’s an alternative layout).
• The Heidelberg Catechism
• My ABC Bible Verses: Hiding God’s Word in Little Hearts, Susan Hunt
• Mighty Acts of God: A Family Bible Story Book, Starr Meade
• The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan
• Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrim’s Progress, Oliver Hunkin
• Long Story Short: Ten-Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God, Marty Machowski
• Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God, Bruce Ware
• Grandpa’s Box: Retelling the Biblical Story of Redemption, Starr Meade

Resources About The Church’s Ministry to Families

• “The Family Together in Corporate Worship,” sermon by Ryan Kelly
• A Vision for Ministry to Children and Their Parents, Bethlehem Baptist Church
• “The Family: Together in God’s Presence,” article by John Piper
• Worship: Together for the Glory of God, Saturday Seminar by Ryan Kelly

In Sunday’s sermon, “God Wants to Bless You…but Maybe Not Like You Think,” Ryan preached from Psalm 67 about two not-so-obviously related themes: blessing and mission.

Psalm 67 begins this way:

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

The Psalmist prays for God’s blessing on His people in order that God’s name might be praised among the peoples of the earth. John Piper captured the implications of this prayer well in this statement:

If God blesses his people for the sake of the nations; then God is most likely to bless us when we are planning and longing and praying to bless the nations. If God wants his goods to get to the nations, then he will fill the truck that’s driving toward the nations. He will bless the church that’s pouring itself out for unreached peoples of the world. And this blessing is not payment for a service rendered; it’s power and joy for a mission to accomplish. When we move toward the unreached peoples, we are not earning God’s blessings, we are leaping into the river of blessings that is already flowing to the nations.

As those who live on this side of Jesus’ great commission to “make disciples of all nations,” we are experiencing the magnificent fulfillment of the prayer we read in Psalm 67. God is, by His Spirit, displaying His saving power among the nations and winning praise for Himself among the peoples of the earth.

Since this is both our prayer and our mission, it is no surprise that a ministry like The Joshua Project exists in order to highlight the least reached people groups of the world. This is a site worth bookmarking on your browser.

Learn more about The Joshua Project here, and check out their pages devoted to the Rabinal Achi, and pages devoted to the Jemez and Zuni peoples, both New Mexico people groups with little access to the gospel. Several informational videos are also helpful for learning more about unreached peoples around the world.

At DSC, we are privileged to be used of God for the spreading of His glory throughout the world. Here are several helpful links from the Missions section of the DSC site:

• DSC’s Global Missions Priorities
• DSC’s Church Planting Vision (including information for how to start giving to DSC’s “$1.00 Per Day” giving strategy for church planting)
• DSC’s SNAP Initiative and how to get involved.

Here are several sermons related to the global mission of God’s people:

• “Spreading God’s Glory Broader and Deeper…via Church Planting,” Ryan Kelly
• “Joining God’s Purposes for Global Glory,” Ryan Kelly
• “The Calling and Cost of Global Church Planting,” Clint Moore
• “The Mission,” Carlos Griego
• “God Speaks in the Book of Third John,” Trent Hunter

For a catalogue of sermons preached at DSC on the subject of global missions, click here.

Easter weekend meant two services and two sermons at DSC, both of them worth hearing again or passing along to a friend.

Here are links to audio, along with the sermon texts:

Good Friday: “Three Criminals”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
–Luke 23:39–43

Easter Sunday: “Raised with Christ”

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
–Ephesians 2:1–10

For sermons from previous Easter weekends, click here.