Sermon Recommendations

  My dad has listened to many, many hours from a lot of different preachers whose sermons are available online. Below is an email containing his top recommendations. Note in particular his comments at the end; this is not a list of ear-ticklers, but rather a resource for where to find men of God who are “brutally honest and forthright with life-or-death issues”.

My favorites on SermonAudio.com are, in loose order of priority: (select Sermons by Speaker)

  1. Dr. William Downing (Sovereign Grace Baptist);
  2. Richard Caldwell, Jr. (Founders Baptist);
  3. John Piper (Bethlehem; Desiring God Ministries);
  4. Jason E. Robertson (Murieta Valley, a transplant from Mississippi to California, with a very earthy Southern style);
  5. Dr. Alan Cairns (Faith Free Presbyterian, Let the Bible Speak Radio, a transplant from Northern Ireland to Greenville SC, trained by Ian Paisley);
  6. William Poss (Bread of Life Fellowship);
  7. Derek Carlson (Covenant Reformed);
  8. Douglas Van Dorn (Reformed Baptist of Northern CO);
  9. Greg Cumbee (1st Reformed Presbyterian);
  10. Paul Washer (Grace Life Church, HeartCry Missionary Society—foreign missions);
  11. Dr. R.C. Sproul (Ligonier);
  12. Kevin Swanson (Generations Radio, Colorado Springs, for home-schooling, social and contemporary issues).

My third favorite is actually my own pastor, Jerry Wragg, on http://www.gibcjupiter.org/index.php?p=sermons.  Pastor Wragg is completing his Doctorate at Master’s Seminary, and his academic mentor is Dr. John MacArthur himself.

I treasure Dr. William Downing and Richard Caldwell, Jr. so much that I have downloaded and saved all of their sermons.  They are worth saving for a lifetime and passing on to Arrow and Stone.  Dr. Downing preaches from Greek and Hebrew texts, and expects his listeners to have an interlinear Bible with them.  He also teaches Greek and Hebrew year-around to his church.  He is extremely learned in ancient cultures and history, so his sermons are an incredible wealth of info.  He pulls no punches.  In his younger days, he was a survivalist, hunter, and deep-sea abalone diver.  He has survived prostate cancer.  He is a man’s man, and God’s man.

All of these speakers were chosen because they are in the Spirit; have sound doctrine; use abundant scriptural/early Church fathers/Reformers/Puritan references; context with ancient language/culture/history/biography that would take years to research on my own; are brutally honest and forthright with life-or-death issues; and with soft hearts love their sheep.  Oh, yes, they are great communicators, too.  Their doctrine is so sound and consistent that I think infant baptism is the only issue that divides any of them.

Love,

Dad