Jeff Ling

This is a startling and oh so welcome announcement. For many of us, the hope of ever purchasing series such as Romans from the MLJ Trust was just out of reach. No one would ever fault the trust for charging – it was just prohibitive for those with limited funds. Now, with their official announcement at Together For the Gospel 2012, ALL of the recorded sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones can be downloaded for free! Amazing! This is such a gift from the Trust to the Body of Christ around the world. Many of us have benefited from “The Doctor’s” writing over the years and consider him to be one of the finest expositors the church has ever known.  You can visit the trust here to sign up for free.  Consider a donation to their ministry while you are there! Thanks be to God for this wonderful gift.

Here is there announcement in full:

This is probably the biggest announcement the MLJ Trust will ever make. Starting from tomorrow, April 12th, all 1,600 recorded sermons by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones will be available to download, at no cost, to anyone who wants to listen to them! There are no exceptions, so the Ephesians sermons, Romans sermons, etc. will all be available (it will take a few days to make sure that they are all included in the library). All one has to do is join the MLJ Library (membership is free of course) and start to download! Simply go to our newly updated site at http://www.mljtrust.org and click on “MLJ Library”.

This is a decision that the UK Board has been wrestling with for a long time, because by moving away from the sale of MP3 discs (and tapes before that), which has kept the Recordings Trust in existence for 30 years in God’s grace, they will become completely dependent (as we are in the United States MLJ Trust ministry), on the voluntary donations of brothers and sisters who feel called to support the ministry while downloading sermons.

In the end, however, and after much prayer and discussion, our brothers in the UK felt that as the world of low-cost distribution through the internet was now far reaching enough that most people around the world (even in developing countries) can gain access to this ministry through a computer, and as many other ministries have had a positive experience shifting to a voluntary donation approach to on-line sermons, they felt (as we do) that this change might be in accordance with God’s will.

While there is some nervousness about such a big change, it our our most earnest hope, on both sides of the Atlantic, that this announcment will help us to fulfill the objective that has fueled this ministry since its inception 30 years ago: To preserve, and make as widely available as possible, the doctrinal exposition of God’s word by the late Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a man who could never quite believe how God had used him for the benefit of the Gospel over his long ministry in the pulpit of Westminster Chapel.

This announcement eMail has been timed to coincide with our formal announcement at “Together for the Gospel”. This morning (Wednesday, April 11th), we will be making the announcement on stage to the approximately 7,000+ Christian leaders and teachers who will be attending, and we never forget that the participation of the MLJ Trust at this conference was made possible by the kind support of our subscribers.

To those who have been able to donate to our ministry, we thank you so much. For those who have not had an opportunity, but would like to help us continue funding this ministry, a link to our donations page is at the bottom left of this eMail (Your GeoTrust secured contribution will be processed by Network for Good). As a reminder, the MLJ Trust is 501 (c) (3) charitable consisting of four Board members who volunteer their time, and no staff. You can learn more about us at www.mljtrust.org.

To my fellow pastors….

Tony Reinke had this up on his excellent Miscellanies blog. What a great word of comfort.

“When I feel my own poverty, my heart wandering, my head confused, graces languid, gifts apparently dormant; when I thus stand up with half a loaf, or less, before a multitude, and see the bread multiply in the breaking, and that, however it may be at the time with myself, as to my own feelings, the hungry, the thirsty, the mourners in Zion, are not wholly disappointed; when I find that some, in the depth of their outward afflictions, can rejoice in me, as the messenger by whom the Lord is pleased to send them a word in season, balm for their wounds, and cordials for their cases; then indeed I magnify mine office.” – John Newton (Works, 6:271):

Adventures in cell phones: This morning, during my message on Amos, I reached a dramatic moment talking about the “famine of the Word” and declaring rather strongly that “God went silent!” There was a hush in the room. Suddenly a cell phone alarm went off. “Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack..” I almost didn’t recover from laughing. The one minute audio clip is below.

Audio:The Quack Heard Round the Church

Adrian Warnock brought this to my attention on his blog. Jack Hayford is one of my ministry heroes, a man of tremendous integrity and full deep and practical insights into God’s word.

JackHayford from Jubilee Church on Vimeo.

Spurgeon in the Piulpit

Why Expositional Preaching Is Particularly Glorifying to God