Madison = Misdirection!

Ok, I am up in Minnesota visiting my family and the cat is finally out of the bag!  What a hard secret it was to keep!  In case there are any of you out there who do not yet know- Matt, though he was invited for an interview by University of Wisconsin at Madison, he did not actually take a job there.  We just told my family that to throw them off the trail.  The truth of the matter is that Matt was offered a job in Minneapolis which he has accepted.  I have had a lot of fun the last few days surprising my family with the good news.  They are very excited as are we!  ... Go Vikes!

Ryanhood Christmas Gig

Last night Matt and I got to go see our favorite Tucson band, Ryanhood.  I stumbled across this band on Noisetrade.com last spring and downloaded their album because I saw that they were from Tucson.  I immediately loved them.  When Matt and I moved back to Tucson late this summer we found out Ryanhood was playing Sunday nights at a local winebar just down the road from us so we went to see them a number of times.  The bummer thing was they weren't playing together but were alternating Sundays and playing with other local artists.  They told us they were taking a break for the rest of the year because of being on tour for so long.  We thought we wouldn't get to see them before we moved away but then they announced a Christmas gig here in Tucson.  We saw them last night at the Rialto Theater.  We almost didn't make it but were so glad we did once they started playing.  They are an extremely talented guitar duo and we were very blessed by their awesome and fun performance last night.  Here is a video so you can check out their style.

Go Badgers!

Ok, this may be a little bit premature but I am so excited I can't contain it!  As you my readers are aware Matt was off interviewing this week in Reno, NV and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  Yesterday afternoon he was officially offered a job by both places.  Both jobs are good but due to the fact that Madison is just a hop, skip and a jump away from my family he has decided to accept the job in Madison.  The official paperwork is due to be sent to him Monday so you can bet we will be celebrating that night!  My sister is already calling us cheese heads and I have already called her a swampie.  These are the respective  terms of endearment between the rival states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.  Let the rivalry begin- go Packers! Go Brewers!  And most of all go Badgers!!!

The Consequences of Non-Expository Preaching

Recently I listened to a great two part series by John MacArthur on the consequences of non-expository preaching.  In this series he unfolds these fifteen consequences

Failure to preach expositionally...

1.Usurps the authority of God over the mind and soul of the hearer.
2. Usurps the Lordship of Christ over His church.
3. Hinders the work of the Holy Spirit.
4. Manifests a lack of submission to Scripture.
5. Severs the preacher personally from the sanctifying grace of Scripture.
6. Removes spiritual depth and transcendence from the souls of the people, crippling worship.
7. Prevents the preacher for truly speaking fro Christ whom he serves.
8. Depreciates by example the spiritual duty and benefit of studying the Scripture.
9. Breeds a congregation that is weak and indifferent to the glory of God.
10. Robs people of their only true source of help.
11. Creates a destructive disconnect between sound doctrine and life.
12. Dishonors God by omitting these truths that trouble, offend, and terrify sinners.
13. Disconnects people from the legacy of the great theologians of the past.
14. Removes protection from error that is deadly to the church.
15. Deceives people that they have heard from God when they haven't.

I highly recommend this series.  You can read the text or download the audio here:  Part 1  Part 2

Greetings from Lake Tahoe

Matt just sent me this picture from his time interviewing in Reno.  As you can see they are trying to butter him up by taking him to the beautiful Lake Tahoe.  Looks cold, but would be considered a heatwave compared to the weather in the Midwest right now!

Advent Preaching Series- Take a Listen!

The Pastors at my church are currently preaching an Advent series for Advent season.  Last week our Associate Pastor, Luke, preached an awesome sermon on Isaiah 49 called Prophecy of a Savior.  Any pastor who can clearly explain Isaiah so that you can understand it is easily  worth his weight in gold!  The week before that our Senior Pastor, Phil, also preached a very good sermon to kick off the Advent series called Covenant Promises of a Savior.  These are both free for download.  I encourage you to take a listen!

On top of these great sermons there is also a fantastic Sunday school class that has just started this weekend called The Dirty Dozen.  This class will be 12 weeks of 12 different theologians from church history.  The first class yesterday was on Athanasius and the Arian controversy of his time.  I will post the link as soon as it comes up online.

Interview Time!

Here is what it has looked like around my house lately with Matt having a few phone interviews for jobs.  This week he is out on in person interviews in Reno, Nevada and Madison, Wisconsin.  I am especially excited about Madison as it is only  about 4-5 hours away from my family in Minnesota.  I only get to see them about once or twice a year so if we lived this close I would get to see them much more often.  We don't know how many candidates are being interviewed but hopefully we will know something by the end of this week!