The 1.21 Blog

Now blogging over on the church website: http://tcchinckley.org/blog

2011-07-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Now blogging over on the church website: http://tcchinckley.org/blog

Mostly videos, but some written stuff. Will still post stuff here from time to time.

Gospel in a sentence, or two

2011-06-15T03:38:00.000-07:00

The gospel can be briefly defined as something like this:

"Jesus, God’s promised Rescuer & Ruler, lived our life, died our death & rose again in triumph as the promise of the New Creation. He calls us together as forgiven sinners to live under his gracious rule by the Holy Spirit, who causes us to wait for & point towards his New Creation"

Steve Timmis

Core commitment

2011-06-15T03:34:00.001-07:00

"Our core commitment must be making disciples through gospel teaching, in the context of a community on mission together. This is church. Whatever structures we adopt must serve discipleship, mission and community, to the Glory of God, for the formation of Christ in peoples’ hearts. That is authentic gospel Christianity"

Jonny Woodrow, Acts 29 blog

Contentment

2011-01-24T03:57:00.001-08:00

“Christian contentment…is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at his disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provision He is pleased to make.”

Sinclair Ferguson, In Christ Alone, (Orlando, FL: Ligioner Ministries, 2007), 190

Acts 29 Western Europe

2011-01-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

Acts 29 Western Europe now have our own corner of the Acts 29 website. Yours truly is interviewed there this week: http://www.acts29network.org/w-europe/

Big church & missional commmunities

2010-12-22T05:35:00.000-08:00

Justin Anderson & Matt Carter talk Large Churches and Mission. from Redemption Church on Vimeo.

Packer on Evangelism

2010-12-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

'Such was evangelism according to Paul: going out in love, as Christ's agent in the world, to teach sinners the truth of the gospel with a view to converting and saving them. If,therefore, we are engaging In this activity, In this spirit, and with this aim,we are evangelizing, irrespective of the particular means by which we are doing it.' J I Packer

Enjoying God

2010-12-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

“Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? An understanding of the perfections of God, merely, cannot be the end of the creation; for he had as good not understand it, as see it and not be at all moved with joy at the sight. Neither can the highest end of creation be the declaring God’s glory to others; for the declaring God’s glory is good for nothing otherwise than to raise joy in ourselves and others at what is declared” Jonathan Edwards

Here it is again, in other words:

“God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. God made the world that he might communicate, and the creature receive, his glory . . . both [with] the mind and the heart. He that testifies his having an idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation [i.e., his heartfelt commendation or praise] of it and his delight in it” Jonathan Edwards

We Are Waiting

2010-12-02T06:21:00.000-08:00

At this time of year we always say to the kids that we're looking back to Jesus first coming at Christmas and looking forward to his second coming to renew all things. That's the theme of this new advent song from the guys at Austin City Life here. Nice.

Touched to the heart by a little sacred excess

2010-11-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

And shout for joy, all you that are upright in heart. (Psalm 32)

"Our happiness should be demonstrative; ... men whisper their praises decorously where a hearty outburst of song would be far more natural. It is to be feared that the church of the present day, through a craving for excessive propriety, is growing too artificial; so that enquirers' cries and believers' shouts would be silenced if they were heard in our assemblies. This may be better than boisterous fanaticism, but there is as much danger in the one direction as the other. For our part, we are touched to the heart by a little sacred excess, and when godly men in their joy over leap the narrow bounds of decorum, we do not, like Michal, Saul's daughter, eye them with a sneering heart." Spurgeon

Take note, unaffected Brits.

2010-11-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

"And the duty of singing praises to God seems to be appointed wholly to excite and express religious affections. No other reason can be assigned why we should express ourselves to God in verse, rather than in prose, and do it with music but only, that such is our nature and frame, that these things have a tendency to move our affections.

The same thing appears in the nature and design of the sacraments, which God hath appointed. God, considering our frame, hath not only appointed that we should be told of the great things of the gospel, and of the redemption of Christ, and instructed in them by his word; but also that they should be, as it were, exhibited to our view, in sensible representations, in the sacraments, the more to affect us with them.

And the impressing divine things on the hearts and affections of men, is evidently one great and main end for which God has ordained that his word delivered in the holy Scriptures, should be opened, applied, and set home upon men, in preaching." Jonathan Edwards

Building on this Edwards passage Sam Storms writes:

"Some actually orchestrate worship in such a way that the affections of the heart are reined in and, in some cases, even suppressed. People often fear the external manifestation of internal zeal and love and desire and joy. Though they sing, they do so in a way that the end in view is the mere articulation of words and declaration of truths. But if that were what God intended, why did he not ordain that we recite, in prose, biblical truths about him? Why sing? It can’t be simply for the aesthetic value of music or because of the pleasure it brings, for that would be to turn worship manward, as if we are now the focus rather than God.

We sing because God has created not only our minds but also our hearts and souls, indeed our bodies as well, in such a way that music elicits and intensifies holy affections for God and facilitates their lively and vigorous expression.

The same may be said of how God operates on our souls in the preaching of his Word. Books and commentaries and the like provide us with “good doctrinal or speculative understanding of the things of the Word of God, yet they have not an equal tendency to impress them on men’s hearts and affections" (115). So, with a view to affecting sinners and not merelyinforming them, God has appointed that his Word be applied in a particularly lively way through preaching.

Therefore, concludes Edwards, when we think of how public worship should be constructed and what methods should be employed in the praise of God and the edification of his people, “such means are to be desired, as have much of a tendency to move the affections. Such books, and such a way of preaching the Word, and administration of ordinances, and such a way of worshiping God in prayer, and singing praises, is much to be desired, as has a tendency deeply to affect the hearts of those who attend these means" (121).

When people object that certain styles of public worship seem especially chosen for their capacity to awaken and intensify and express the affections of the heart, they should be told that such is precisely the God-ordained purpose of worship. What they fear, namely, the heightening and deepening of the heart’s desire and love for God, and the expansion and increase of the soul’s delight and joy in God, what they typically call “emotionalism” or even “manipulation”, is the very goal of worship itself. For God is most glorified in his people when their hearts are most satisfied (i.e., when they are most “affected” with joy) in him (John Piper)....

Hear me well. Just as certain as that rose will turn brown and brittle and lose its allure, so too will our souls if they are not deeply and securely rooted in the soil of Holy Scripture. We may flourish for a season, perhaps even impress people with the color of our spirituality or the fragrance of our good deeds and the tenderness of our love for others. But in the absence of a continual supply of truth and knowledge and devotion to cultivating a mind aflame with the revelation of who God is in Christ, we will become like a wilted rose. Affections such as joy and love and hope and peace are essential to true Christian living, the sort of living that honors and glorifies and exalts Jesus. But they cannot long survive if severed from the rich soil of truth and doctrine and ever-expanding understanding in the mind of the splendor and majesty of God."

Storms & Edwards On Getting Excited for Jesus

2010-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Sam Storms 'Convergence: The Spiritual Journey of a Charismatic Calvinist' at the moment. I'm especially appreciating his thoughtful evaluation of much of the cultural conservativism which I have been raised in. Ironically among Christians who put so much value on scripture, too much of what we have believed and done has been governed by the abuses we've seen rather than the scriptures we've read. Storm's chapters on affections really speak to the frustrations I have been experiencing in this regard. He draws heavily on Jonathan Edwards, with quotes like this gem:

"In matters which concern men’s worldly interest, their outward delights, their honour and reputation, and their natural relations, they have their desires eager, their appetites vehement, their love warm and affectionate, their zeal ardent; in these things their hearts are tender and sensible, easily moved, deeply impressed, much concerned, very sensibly affected, and greatly engaged; much depressed with grief at worldly losses, and highly raised with joy at worldly successes and prosperity. But how insensible and unmoved are most men, about the great things of another world! how dull are their affections! how heavy and hard their hearts in these matters! here their love is cold, their desires languid, their zeal low, and their gratitude small. How they can sit and hear of the infinite height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of God in Christ Jesus; of his giving his infinitely dear Son to be offered up a sacrifice for the sins of men, and of the unparalleled love of the innocent, holy Lamb of God manifested in his dying agonies, his bloody sweat, his loud and bitter cries and bleeding heart; and all this for enemies, to redeem them from deserved, eternal burnings, and to bring to unspeakable and everlasting joy and glory; and yet be cold, heavy, insensible, and regardless! Where are the exercises of our affections proper, if not here? what is it that more requires them? and what can be a fit occasion of their lively and vigorous exercise, if not such as this? Can any thing be set in our view, greater and more important? any thing more wonderful and surprising? or that more nearly concerns our interest? Can we suppose that the wise Creator implanted such principles in our nature as the affections, to lie still on such an occasion as this? Can any Christian, who believes the truth of these things, entertain such thoughts?"

Mission is like radioactive fallout

2010-11-09T07:53:00.000-08:00

LOVED reading some Lesslie Newbigin on holiday, notably The Gospel in a Pluralist Society (SPCK, 1989). I think I'll blog some 'best bits' over the next while. Here's some nice stuff to kick off:

"Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the church in the pages of the new testament is more like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving. One searches in vain through the letters of St Paul to find any suggestion that anywhere he lays it on the conscience of his readers that they should be active in mission. For himself it is inconceivable that he should keep silent... It is a striking fact that almost all the proclamations of the gospel which are described in Acts are in response to the questions asked by those outside the church... In every case there is something present, a new reality, which calls for explanation and so prompts the question to which the preaching of the gospel is the answer" p116

"The real government of the universe, the final reality which in the end confronts every human being, is the crucified and risen Jesus." p117

"To be baptized is to be incorporated into the dying of Jesus so as to become a participant in his risen life, and so to share his ongoing mission to the world. It is to be baptized into his mission." p117

The beginning of wisdom

2010-10-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Got kids? You probably need to read this.

"So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do."

Some missional church videos

2010-10-16T02:24:00.000-07:00

Missional Community = a small community of people mobilised around a common mission (neighbourhood, campus, etc...) pursuing gospel transformation.

Imago Dei and finding your joy

2010-10-13T08:19:00.000-07:00

I love the applications Driscoll makes with this doctrine. What I need for my joy is exactly what Christ is doing in me, and the universe - redeeming & restoring the created order. What a God! I love too the way Driscoll so clearly exposes the vacuum of the evolutionist worldview while establishing the Truth in its place. For me, gospel application is where Driscoll's genius lies. Grab a cuppa and watch this for 15 minutes.

Not just difficult, impossible

2010-10-12T09:50:00.000-07:00

Feeling Schaeffer's motto today: 'What we are doing is not just difficult, it's impossible.' Little wonder when we consider Baxter's description of the ministry: 'We are seeking to uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ's death, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil, and demolish his kingdom, to set up the kingdom of Christ, and to attain and help others to the kingdom of glory.' No wonder Paul compares this vastly important work to going to warfare (1 Cor 9:7; 1 Tim 1:18).

How To Ensure Your Kids Leave The Church

2010-10-10T04:32:00.000-07:00

From DiscipleLikeJesus.com (USA):

Between 75% and 94% of children from Christian homes are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school. 99.5% of young adults between the age of 18 and 23 do not have a biblical worldview. What are the top ways that parents can keep this trend going?

We admit this is a rather negative and cynical list, and in some cases extreme. But believe it or not, this is the way that some children from church-going families are being raised.

The good news is that Jesus showed us how to do the very opposite of this top ten list!

10. Don’t develop a relationship with your children. Spend very little time with them. Take jobs that require travel and start hobbies and activities that allow you to take a break from your family. When you are with your children, stay busy with watching television, social networking… anything that keeps you from interacting with them. Don’t listen to your children or talk with them. Let your children solve their bothersome issues with their peers. Or half-listen to your children while you are doing other things. Whatever you do, don’t make eye contact.
9.   Send your children to be taught and trained by unbelievers. Don’t bother to correct errors that are being taught to your children. Assume that the trained professionals will teach safe, non-threatening curriculum that is required by the school system.
8.   Make sure your child is taught relativism, macro evolution and unbiblical lifestyles as normal. After all, children need to make their own choices. It is normal to believe that we are all here by random chance. What did God have to do with that? Don’t be concerned with any promotion of promiscuous (safe) sex between members of the same sex or opposite sex.
7.   Don’t teach your children scripture and biblical principles. Don’t worry about obeying scripture to teach to your children the Bible. Allow clergy to do the job once or twice per week. After all, you are not a trained expert. Let the experts do their job! Just be sure your children make a profession of faith.
6. Immerse your children in popular television, movies, social networking and music. Don’t limit or monitor what your children engage in. Make sure they have their own television, cell phone, computer and boom box. Occult? No problem. Alternative lifestyles? Whatever. Take your children to see all the popular movies and make sure you listen to all the popular music. Get all the cable channels and let them watch it as much as possible!
5.   Normalize promiscuous sex and violence with your children. Buy your son popular video games that include sex and violence. Allow your son to kill as many bad guys as he wants to, and what’s the harm with a little fantasy sex? Encourage your daughter to watch television and movies with lots of teen romance and sex. Buy her romance novels. Children need to have fun and take out their frustrations with media; after all it’s only “pretend.”
4. Allow your children to go alone wherever they want and with whomever they want. Don’t keep your children under your protection and don’t monitor what they are doing. Make sure your children are with unbelievers all day long so they can be “salt and light.” Forget about the fact that Jesus was always with His adult disciples when they were “salt and light.” The fact that He sent them out in twos with other Christian adults for protection is irrelevant. Your children should be able to choose their own friends; they will be a positive influence.
3. Make sure your children go off to the best secular college and sow their wild oats. You want to make sure your children can make lots of money so don’t worry about what your teens are being taught. Co-ed dorms are acceptable; your teens need to sow their wild oats. Just make sure no one gets pregnant, and make sure they keep their grades up.
2. Rather than involving your family in a ministry, be a spectator at church. Drop your children off at all the entertaining programs. Don’t worry about ministering to others in need; that’s the job of the pastors and ministers.
1. Don’t enthusiastically discuss the Lord with your family. Also don’t pray with and for your children. When you talk with your children, teach them about things that almost everyone is really interested in; sports, television, movie stars, athletes, movies, secular music, buying new things, and having fun. Help your children to see that thinking about God is for Sunday mornings; the rest of the week is for doing what really matters.

In doing the above, you will have ensured that your children have been fully discipled by the world (80 to 100 hours per week), and the minimal time that they have spent at church (1 to 5 hours per week) will make little difference. As statistics show, they will likely join the crowd of those permanently departing the church.

Forgotten Ways?

2010-10-10T04:26:00.000-07:00

TCC: IN the community, FOR the community

2010-10-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

Tripp's Tweets on Grace

2010-10-03T02:55:00.000-07:00

Love Paul Tripp's tweets on grace. Use these to preach the gospel to yourself often:

The unrelenting power of transforming grace is greater than the unyielding idolatry of your wondering heart.

Jesus did for you what you couldn’t do, so that you could give to him what you couldn’t give apart from his grace-your whole heart.

Face it, you and I don’t need to be tweaked, you tweak a poorly written sentence, you and I need to be radically rebuilt by grace.

Grace frees you from the weight of the law, not so you would despise the law, but so you would use the resources of grace to keep it.

Grace frees you to live horizontally what you’ve given vertically. While others hope to get, you can celebrate what you’ve been given.

Grace calls you to abandon your reliance on you because God knows that true righteousness only begins when you come to the end of yourself.

Grace: No love greater, no forgiveness more complete, no hope more secure, no peace more permanent than are found in Jesus.

Grace tells you all the things about you that you don’t want to face, while assuring you that they have all been covered by the cross.

Grace doesn’t excuse your sin, rather it pays the price for what is inexcusable.

Grace means you don’t have to hide what’s already been forgiven, or fear what’s already been defeated, or earn what’s already been given.

HT: Provocations & Paintings

Not only true over there

2010-09-29T00:28:00.001-07:00

John Mark McMillan

2010-09-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Jesus' story

2010-09-19T04:44:00.000-07:00

Jesus Christ is the person most Britons would love to meet.

According to a recent survey, 1 in 3 people polled would most like to meet Jesus Christ, followed by Princess Diana and William Shakespeare1. So what’s the big deal with Jesus? What’s his story? To answer that we need to look to the biggest selling book in history, the Bible.

Simply told, the Bible is a story of radical cosmic restoration with Jesus as the hero. The story is in 3 parts:

1. CREATION

In the beginning God created the universe out of nothing, simply by speaking powerful, life-giving words. God was well pleased with his creation. As the Bible says: “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)2

There was nothing in all creation that did not delight him. His signature was on everything — hypergiant stars, black holes, the changing seasons, golden eagles, snow flakes, every subatomic particle.

Of all the good things God created, human beings were uniquely designed. Unlike anything else in the physical world, we were specially created by God to live in friendship with him.

“God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness....’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

Humans were made to reflect God in ways that nothing else does. Our abilities to think, feel, act and create were designed to be like our Creator. God gave human beings the high responsibility of caring for and developing all he had made: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and govern it” (Genesis 1:28).

With these words men and women were given the job of developing the social world: building cities, governments, families; and the natural world: planting crops, building bridges, designing machines, composing music. Humanity was given a global responsibility to generate a life-affirming, life- sustaining culture in its widest variety, from making babies to making art, from forming families to forming nations.

Human beings were never a meaningless and accidental collection of genes, but creatures of profound value and significance. Of all the creatures, humans alone were made to know God and to develop the full, glorious potential of his creation.

But something happened—something disastrous.

1. Survey conducted to launch Primeval Series 3 on DVD. Reported in the Telegraph, June 8, 2009.

2. The Bible is a collection of 66 books, written over a period of 1400-1800 years by more than 40 authors inspired by God. Bible references like this refer to the book of the Bible, the chapter and the line of the book.

2. FALL

The first man and woman, perfectly representing all of humanity, broke God’s perfect world when they chose to rebel against God. Instead of trusting God’s goodness and doing things his way, they turned against God and did things their own way.

The consequences were catastrophic. Because of their rebellion the entire created order was given over to disorder and decay. Because they turned from the author of life, all people were destined to die and to face God’s judgement. The human revolt twisted everything God created—not only individuals , but all of nature and the human community as well. Because of this rebellion evil, suffering, pain and brokenness entered the world.

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (Romans 1:21)

Although this catastrophic fall distorted God’s image in humankind, it did not destroy it. Even in a fallen, broken state, human beings still reflect God in ways that nothing else does. Humanity still has the unique responsibility to be fruitful, increase, fill the earth and develop culture, though now much of earthly culture expresses our “bad” as well as God’s “good”.

Amazingly, God has not rejected his disobedient and disordered creation. Instead, in his love and kindness he is working out a plan to rescue and restore all things.

3. RESTORATION

Jesus Christ is God the Son. His story is the cosmic good news that God is making everything new ‘in him’. In Jesus God is reversing the curse of decay and death and restoring all things. In Jesus God is reclaiming and renewing his corrupted creation, restoring

it back under his loving rule. God created both the physical and the spiritual, and he’s going

to restore both the physical and the spiritual. As the Bible tells the story, the kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of God, and he will reign forever and ever (Revelation 11:15). God is doing all this ‘in Jesus’.

Jesus was born as a human to recover and restore his lost and broken creation to its original glory and purpose. Jesus is the divine death-crusher and creation-renewer. Jesus Christ lived for us the perfect life we should have lived. On a Roman cross of execution Jesus took our judgement in our place. He died for us the death penalty that should be ours because of our rebellion.

Miraculously, 3 days after his death Jesus, literally and bodily, rose from the dead. As creation’s Hero and Saviour he has crushed death and guaranteed the eventual renewal of all things. Jesus appeared alive to hundreds of people before ascending to heaven where God has made him King of all things.

The benefits of Jesus’ awesome work are both individual and cosmic. They range from personal pardon for our rebellion and individual renewal to the

restoration of the universe and the resurrection of our bodies from death. The benefits of Jesus’ work are freely given to all who turn from rebellion against God and trust in Jesus’ saving work on their behalf.

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31)

Jesus frees everyone who believes in him from the grip of rebellion and death. Jesus will include everyone who trusts in him in his renewed and perfected creation. Now that’s good news!

”...all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty... when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us.” (Romans 3:23-25)

None of this is available for those who remain disconnected from Jesus. Death and judgement remains on everything that continues to be separated from him.

“They will be punished with everlasting destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

We must be united to Jesus, by trusting in his work on our behalf, in order to experience the forgiveness and all the newness God has promised:

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Jesus is not only making new people, but a whole new community, the church:

“Jesus Christ, gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)

Contrary to popular thought, God’s restoration plan is not about taking his people out of this world to start again in a purely spiritual realm. God is restoring all that is true, good and glorious in this physical and spiritual creation. God’s renewal is not away from the body, but of the body; not away from the world, but of the world; not away from the physical, but of the physical. In the prayer that Jesus taught we see that God’s ultimate goal is for earth to become like heaven:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ (Matthew 6:9—10)

God’s restoration plan is to bring heaven to earth—this earth! One day, Jesus Christ is coming back to earth to restore order and make all things perfect again.

He will destroy all the corruption, brokenness, and chaos in his people and his world, removing from it everything that is wicked and messed up. The universe will once again perfectly display the glory of God. This is great news!

“Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28)

Towards the end of the Bible’s story God says, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). In every way, God will put right what’s wrong with his

glorious creation. He will restore not only individuals but also communities; not only people but the universe; not just the spiritual but the material too. Jesus will restore everything to it’s perfect form and purpose, from art and science to commerce and communication—everything!

The Bible is a story of God’s mission to renew and restore all that is broken and messed up. So as Jesus’ people face suffering, we have the sure and certain comfort that one day we will be made well. As Jesus’ people endure hostility we know that one day we will enjoy peace.

God promises nothing short of total cosmic renewal and he invites us to be a part of that. God invites us

to turn to him for forgiveness for rebellion and personal renewal.

God invites us to trust in Jesus’ saving work on our behalf and so be included in this cosmic good news. God invites us to have our

story transformed by his story; a story of new beginnings and a story of new life, a story for ordinary people like you and me.

The new life God gives starts now - knowing and following Jesus, enjoying living for God instead of ourselves and joining in his restoration mission. That means helping to clean up what has been messed up by rebellion, serving the common good, developing the world, and making this good news known to all. Jesus’ people join in this mission together with all his people, the church, and look forward to the day when Jesus will one day return, resurrect and restore all things. Then it can be truly said that we will live happily forever after.

Image from http://gabrielflorea.blogspot.com/

Loving Apple

2010-09-16T03:27:00.000-07:00

Ha ha! Using Apple products does make you a better Christian. I thought so!

On Evangelism

2010-09-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

Helpful quote on loving evangelism from Driscoll:

"We're not imposing Jesus on anyone; we're proposing Jesus to everyone."

While I'm at it, here's some more Driscoll, on the content of evangelism:

“The curious paradox of the atoning death of a bloody Jesus rising above the plane of human history with a mocking crown of thorns is that he is offensive in an attractive way.

It is the utter horror of the cross that cuts through the chatter, noise, and nonsense of our day to rivet our attention, shut our mouths, and compel us to listen to an impassioned dying man who is crying out for the forgiveness of our sins and to ask why he suffered.

Tragically, if we lose the offense of the cross, we also lose the attraction of the cross so that no one is compelled to look at Jesus. Therefore, Jesus does not need a marketing firm or a makeover as much as a prophet to preach the horror of the cross unashamedly.”

Mark Driscoll, Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches

Speak as if you've found a new world

2010-09-09T04:47:00.000-07:00

“In one of the streets of Bedford I came to where there were three or four poor women sitting at a door in the sun and talking about the things of God. Willing to listen, I drew near to hear what they said, for I was a brisk talker myself in matters of religion. But I have to say that I heard, but I didn’t understand, for they were far above, out of my reach. They spoke about a new birth, the work of God in their hearts . . . . They said how God had visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted and supported against the temptations of the devil . . . . And it seemed to me they spoke as if joy did make them speak. They spoke with such pleasantness of biblical language, and with such obvious grace in all they said, that they were to me as if they had found a new world.” John Bunyan

HT Ray Ortlund

Our Main Task As Leaders

2010-09-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've just read this on Tim Chester's blog. Given that both my regular readers (on a good day!) are in church ministry too, I quote it here for your encouragement and mine:

"In Philippians 1 Paul says he is sure he will survive his imprisonment “and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith” (25). It is an intriguing glimpse into how Paul saw the goal of his ministry. His goal was to make people happy, to bring them joy. This, of course, we much more than merely enjoying happy circumstances. Paul himself expresses joy in the midst of persecution, imprisonment and opposition (12-18). This joy is joy in Christ. And for Paul this ministry begins with his own joy in Christ. He himself says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (21) “I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all tings.” (3:8) Our aim is to treasure Christ above everything so we naturally and sincerely extol Christ to our communities so that they might find joy in Christ. Then as they treasure Christ, they too will extol Christ to a lost world so that other join us in treasuring Christ.

We might express this through the following diagram …

The exciting thing is that when we extol Christ we do so to oursevles as well as to other so we nurture our own treausing of Christ. In the same way when our communities extol Christ they do so one another and to us so together we extol Christ the more. These “feedback loops” create virtuous circles.

Consider again our simpler diagram. It highlights our starting point and therefore our main task as leaders: to treasure Christ. My main task is to nurture my own joy in Christ. Everything else flows from this point."

Some recent Twitter favourites

2010-09-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Tullian Tchividjian (@PastorTullian)

Both the Bible and church history prove that God has always unleashed mass movements of his Spirit through people who are desperate for God.

God does everything through those who know they are nothing; he does nothing through those who think they’re everything.

Both the Bible and church history prove that God has always unleashed mass movements of his Spirit through people who are desperate for God.

Wright: It's not so much the case that God has a mission for his church in the world, as that God has a church for his mission in the world

God is on a mission is to redeem, renew, & regenerate all that is twisted & corrupt, broken & crusted over with sin: http://t.co/y23xYGR

The Gospel alone can turn us into people who give everything we have because we understand that in Christ we already have everything we need

A person who get’s the gospel is a person who, like Jesus, loves giving up his place for others, not guarding in his place from others.

Rick Warren (@RickWarren)

@challies A church that doesnt want to grow & wants to stay small is saying to their city “You can go to hell” Lk14:23

Growth requires UNSELFISH members who share their pew, pastor&parking,caring more about the lost than their own comfort

The secret of gospel change (& life)

2010-07-24T15:00:00.000-07:00

“The secret of gospel change is being convinced that Jesus is the good life and the fountain of all joy. Any alternative we might choose would be the letdown.”

Tim Chester, You Can Change (Wheaton, Ill.; Crossway, 2010), 15.

HT: Of First Importance

Back Soon...

2010-07-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Chances are I'll be maintaining 'web silence' for the next month or so. My last Sunday at All Saints and Grace Church was Sunday past and my last official day of duties is tomorrow. For denominational reasons outside of our control at Grace Church it's no longer possible for me to continue there. It's very sad.

After tomorrow a couple of weeks holiday, then the move to Leicestershire to start the new ministry in September. I'm relieved to be in the 'last days' of my Anglican licence and will be ministering in an independent capacity in Leicestershire. That's good.

If you're one or the other of my two regular followers, check back in a month, when I'll be pastoring Trinity Community Church, DV, and blogging the usual sort of stuff.

Purchasing good with pain

2010-07-06T04:38:00.000-07:00

“Paul had rich and original conceptions of love, which he had learned from Christ. Christ had loved him in his unloveliness. He had been patient with him in his blindness. His love had been the love of which Matheson sings, ‘O love that will not let me go.’ It had been the love of which Paul himself sang (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). The man who had this ideal of love realized what it was to be a friend.

It was to love unselfishly. ‘The third time,’ he wrote to the Corinthians who had been such a source of care and grief to him, ‘I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, for I seek not yours but you. I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.’ ‘Though,’ as the King James Version reads, ‘the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved’ (2 Corinthians 12:14-15). He loved men for their own sakes, not for what they could be to him selfishly, though he rejoiced when they poured back such friendship love as his in return. But that was their friendship, not his. His friendship love gave and bargained for no return. It coveted good for its objects and was ready to purchase this with pain.”

Robert E. Speer, Paul The All-Round Man (New York, 1909), pages 68-69.

HT: Ray Ortlund

The Invasion

2010-07-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

Goodwood Festival of Speed

2010-07-03T02:20:00.000-07:00

'For by [Jesus Christ] all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.'

Including the roar of an engine, the thrill of speed and the beauty of a motorcar! Awesome day. Looking good on the Fat Boy, Steve.

Redeem Cities

2010-07-01T03:06:00.000-07:00

Visit redeemercentral.com for more info.

It is Well

2010-06-29T13:32:00.000-07:00

We loved singing these classics this week, and got talking about their authors' testimonies.

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain: It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul.

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul. (Refrain)

3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! (Refrain)

4. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul. (Refrain)

Jars of Clay do an eclectic version of Spafford's hymn which is ace; Jeremy Camp does a contemporary take on the trad tune for the film Amazing Grace, though it's a little sterile for me.

There are lots of versions of Come Thou Fount lyrics around. I favour E. Margaret Clarkson's version, but with one or two of Robert Robinson's adaptions, as follows. The italics are Robinson's parallel lines mentioned in the video, but Clarkson's words are plainer.

1. Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by angel tongues above.
Praise His Name I'm fixed upon it
Name of God's redeeming love.

2. Hither to thy love has blessed me (Here I raise my Ebenezer:)
Thou has brought me to this place (Hither by Thy help I've come)
And I know thy hand will bring me
Safely home by thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Shed for me His precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.

Dave Crowder Band do the best version I reckon.

Now if we can just find a tune for 'Immortal Honours Rest on Jesus Head' in the key of rock I'll be a happy man. Suggestions anyone?

Piper on the Spirit & Preaching, EMA 2010

2010-06-28T02:55:00.000-07:00

The HS transforms us by killing sin (Rom 8:13) and by bearing fruit (Gal 5:22) through hearing with faith.

i. Hearing with faith kills sin, e.g. Romans 8:13

What's it mean to kill sin by the spirit (that is, by hearing with faith, Galatians 3:1-5)? The Spirit brings to mind a text, you ponder it, embrace it, savour it, delight in it, preach it to yourself! For example, with anger, the key to forgiving people is to marvel at being forgiven.

ii. Hearing with faith bears fruit, e.g. Galatians 5v22

e.g. fruit of love, 2 Cor 8:1-2. The Spirit produces joy rooted in grace, and faith is an embrace of that. Hearing with faith is savouring that.

1. The aim of preaching...

... is that ppl experience hearing with faith, Galatians 3v5

Faith is the key. Faith is not merely decision or affirmation of truth, faith is a receiving of Christ for who he is as the infinite treasure of our lives. This kind of faith is what the Holy Spirit produces because he's in the business of glorifying Christ by thrilling ppl with him and making Jesus look great and making him infinitely valuable to people. Faith is a Spirit given treasuring of Christ as infinitely precious

2. The content of preaching...

...is Christ as valuable above all, Ephesians 3:8

...is the infinite riches of Christ

... is beholding the glory of the Lord, by lifting the veil so people behold the unsearchable riches of Christ, 2 Corinthians 3-4.

...is placarding the glory of Christ before the world, 2 Corinthians 4:5

So that people change from one degree of glory to another.

3. The manner of preaching...

..is expository exultation through heralding, 2 Corinthians 4:5. The heralding of authorial intent.

A spirit filled preacher sees Christ for his exposition and savours Christ for his exultation.

4. The preparation of preaching

Authentic exultation - your way, through your personality
Obvious savouring - your way, through your personality

Lucid exposition and lucid savouring comes from hard thinking and hard praying. 2 Timothy 2:7: We think and the Lord gives understanding. BOTH are necessary. Study and inspiration.

5. The praying of preaching

I. Incline. Psalm 19 v36. Psalmist didn't want to read Bible!

O. Open. Psalm 119v18. understanding & feeling

U. Unite. Psalm 86:11. B/c my heart is taken with a million other things.

S. Satisfy. Psalm 90:14. Because we're not!

S. Send. Isaiah 6:8

6. The delivery of the message by the Spirit

1 Peter 4:11: "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God." How?

A. Admit I can do nothing, John 15:5
P. Pray for the help you need
T. Trust a specific promise. Ask for a promise specific to this situation before preaching.
A. Act.
T. Thank.

Piper Pearls

2010-06-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

Piper's 7 observations from Galatians 3.1-5 on living by the Spirit at EMA today:

Make a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit the hallmark of our ministry.

"1You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? 4 Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? 5 Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?" (Galatians 3:1-5, NIV)

We begin living by the Spirit by 'hearing with faith'.
We go on living by the Spirit by 'hearing with faith'.

The way we receive the Spirit and the way we go on in the Spirit are the same (cf. v2&v5)
The single way of receiving and going on in the Spirit is called 'hearing with faith'
The parallel of receiving in v2 is and going on in v5 is confirmed by 5v25.
Walking by the Spirit is also described as bearing the fruit of the Spirit in 5v22.
Galatians 5v6 confirms we're on the right track
Our trusting in the promises of God and the giving of the Spirit to us are simultaneous, but the Spirit is causally decisive.
The Spirit binds himself to the Christ exalting word of the gospel in his work of saving and sanctification. So the more we preach the Christ exalting gospel, the more we might expect the Spirit to work in power. If we get the gospel wrong, we have no reason to expect the Spirit to work.

The Spirit works miraculously among us through 'hearing with faith.' Paul's emphasis in Galatians is that living by the power of the Spirit is pursued in the same way that life by the Spirit is given; namely by the hearing, believing and empowering of the gospel word.

Thus the key to living by the power of the Spirit is taking hold of the promises of God at every step.

On God on Mute, or 'Brother, You're Wrong!'

2010-06-23T01:19:00.000-07:00

Because this book is getting one or two mentions around the place at the moment I thought I'd link to my previous cautions about it. Pete Grieg seems a really nice bloke and we've corresponded regarding my review. In God On Mute I reckon Pete subtly advances the old heresy Socinianism (the pic on the right is Faustus Socinus - proof that a cool name gets you nowhere), which has undergone a recent revival as Open Theism. To my mind, the danger is in the subtlety.

The view of God upon which Pete builds his

response to pain and unanswered prayer is difficult to perceive. Where his theology does emerge clearly it seems quite compelling at a quick read (which is the way we tend to read this sort of book). But if we stop and think more seriously about where Open Theism leads we find a God who can offer no hope or comfort in suffering whatsoever. I fear Christians will read this, absorb the theology by osmosis, and then find their faith wanting when they most need it rock solid.

In the face of pain and unanswered prayer we need a book of hope, comfort and profound biblical insight. God On Mute is full of empathy, but it is not that book. Turn instead to Jerry Bridges, ‘Is God Really in Control: Trusting God in a World of Hurt’ (NavPress, 2006).

Consider carefully how you listen

2010-06-22T03:14:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited about hearing Piper & co. teach the Word of God at EMA over the next couple of days, so it's been good timing to be provoked by Mark Driscoll this morning to “consider carefully how you listen” (Lk 8:18, NIV). Driscoll quotes this helpful stuff from George Whitefield. 1 and 4 are especially helpful before sitting at the feet of some of my preaching heros.

How to Listen to a Sermon by George Whitefield

Keys for getting the most out of what the preacher says

Jesus said, 'Therefore consider carefully how you listen' (Luke 8:18). Here are some cautions and directions, in order to help you hear sermons with profit and advantage.

1. Come to hear them, not out of curiosity, but from a sincere desire to know and do your duty. To enter His house merely to have our ears entertained, and not our hearts reformed, must certainly be highly displeasing to the Most High God, as well as unprofitable to ourselves.

2. Give diligent heed to the things that are spoken from the Word of God. If an earthly king were to issue a royal proclamation, and the life or death of his subjects entirely depended on performing or not performing its conditions, how eager would they be to hear what those conditions were! And shall we not pay the same respect to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and lend an attentive ear to His ministers, when they are declaring, in His name, how our pardon, peace, and happiness may be secured?

3. Do not entertain even the least prejudice against the minister. That was the reason Jesus Christ Himself could not do many mighty works, nor preach to any great effect among those of His own country; for they were offended at Him. Take heed therefore, and beware of entertaining any dislike against those whom the Holy Ghost has made overseers over you.

Consider that the clergy are men of like passions with yourselves. And though we should even hear a person teaching others to do what he has not learned himself, yet that is no reason for rejecting his doctrine. For ministers speak not in their own, but in Christ’s name. And we know who commanded the people to do whatever the scribes and Pharisees should say unto them, even though they did not do themselves what they said (see Matt. 23:1-3).

4. Be careful not to depend too much on a preacher, or think more highly of him than you ought to think. Preferring one teacher over another has often been of ill consequence to the church of God. It was a fault which the great Apostle of the Gentiles condemned in the Corinthians: 'For whereas one said, I am of Paul; another, I am of Apollos: are you not carnal, says he? For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but instruments in God’s hands by whom you believed?' (1 Cor. 1:12; 2:3-5).

Are not all ministers sent forth to be ministering ambassadors to those who shall be heirs of salvation? And are they not all therefore greatly to be esteemed for their work’s sake?

5. Make particular application to your own hearts of everything that is delivered. When our Savior was discoursing at the last supper with His beloved disciples and foretold that one of them should betray Him, each of them immediately applied it to his own heart and said, 'Lord, is it I?' (Matt. 26:22).

Oh, that persons, in like manner, when preachers are dissuading from any sin or persuading to any duty, instead of crying, 'This was intended for such and such a one!' instead would turn their thoughts inwardly, and say, 'Lord, is it I?' How far more beneficial should we find discourses to be than now they generally are!

6. Pray to the Lord, before, during, and after every sermon, to endue the minister with power to speak, and to grant you a will and ability to put into practice what he shall show from the Book of God to be your duty.

No doubt it was this consideration that made St. Paul so earnestly entreat his beloved Ephesians to intercede with God for him: 'Praying always, with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and for me also, that I may open my mouth with boldness, to make known the mysteries of the gospel' (Eph. 6:19-20). And if so great an apostle as St. Paul needed the prayers of his people, much more do those ministers who have only the ordinary gifts of the Holy Spirit.

If only all who hear me this day would seriously apply their hearts to practice what has now been told them! How ministers would see Satan, like lightning, fall from heaven, and people find the Word preached sharper than a two-edged sword and mighty, through God, to the pulling down of the devil’s strongholds!

This excerpt is adapted from Sermon 28 from The Works of the Reverend George Whitefield. Published by E. and C. Dilly, 1771-1772, London.

A Personal Wake Up Call

2010-06-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

More David Platt. Turn it up loud. Read this caution. Ponder. Pray. Obey Jesus.

The Gospel in Four Words

2010-06-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

“‘Come unto me,’ he says, ‘and I will give you.’ You say, ‘Lord, I cannot give you anything.’ He does not want anything. Come to Jesus, and he says, ‘I will give you.’ Not what you give to God, but what he gives to you, will be your salvation. ‘I will give you‘ — that is the gospel in four words.

Will you come and have it? It lies open before you.”

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1950)

(HT Ray Ortlund)

On an Eternal Perspective & Radical Compassion for the Lost

2010-06-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

On the Nations and the Western Dream

2010-06-17T00:16:00.000-07:00

Dropbox sermon, II

2010-06-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

OK, the below doesn't work, so I'm trying this. Click here and see what happens!

Dropbox sermon

2010-06-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Apparently you can use Dropbox to post sermon MP3s online. I'm giving it a try with my sermon on Exodus 15 preached yesterday at Grace Church. Blame the sound quality on us, not Dropbox. Listen online here or right click to download.

Exodus 15:3 "The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name."

Charles Spurgeon, Jesus Admired in Them That Believe:

“Satan and his defeated legions, and the lost spirits of ungodly men, shall bite their lips with envy and rage, and tremble at the majesty of Jesus in that day. By their confessed defeat and manifest despair they shall glorify him in his people, in whom they have been utterly overthrown.

They shall see that there is not one lost whom he redeemed by blood, not one snatched away of all the sheep his Father gave him, not one warrior enlisted beneath his banner fallen in the day of battle, but all more than conquerors through him that loved them.

What despair shall seize upon diabolic spirits as they discover their entire defeat! Defeated in men who were once their slaves! Poor dupes whom they could so easily beguile by their craftiness, defeated even in these!

Jesus triumphant by taking the lambs from between the lion’s jaws, and rescuing his feeble sheep from their power, will utterly put them to shame in his redeemed.

With what anguish will they sink into the hell prepared for them, because now they hear with anger all earth and heaven and every star ringing with the shout, ‘Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, and the Lamb hath conquered by his blood.’”

"I will sing to the LORD,

for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its rider

he has hurled into the sea.

The LORD is my strength and my song;

he has become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him,

my father's God, and I will exalt him."

Psalm 51

2010-06-13T13:13:00.000-07:00

If you happen to be a British Christian film maker, please could you start producing stuff like this with an English accent? Thanks.

On the need for forward and strong stuff

2010-06-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Church attendance in the UK is on the decline, down to around 4.8% in 2010. Peter Brierley, formerly head of Christian Research and expert on these things, has recently commented that all the main denominations, except Pentecostals, are set to decline further in the next 10 years, with the Church of England set to experience the sharpest drop in attendance. By 2020 Brierley predicts a national drop to around 3.8%.

These are shocking figures for a nation with so great an inheritance. Brierley believes the decline is due to less evangelism, which is sad. However, one area of the UK church not in decline, Brierley notes, is the black majority church and other ethnic churches. Brierley has said many of these churches were growing because their members were inviting friends and neighbours, but also because they were friendly and offered good sermons.

“People like their energy and relevant preaching. It’s forward and strong stuff sometimes, but it’s appreciated!” he said.

If we are to serve Jesus in advancing the Kingdom in the UK, we desperately need to raise a generation of Jesus followers with a heart for the glory of God and of mercy for our own nation. From among them we need to identify and equip the evangelists and those gifted with the grit, character and ability to be forward and relevant preachers of 'the strong gospel stuff' and we need to free them from institutional shackles which may restrict their labours and their fruit. I love what Spurgeon has to say on the call to such a ministry. He is characteristically forward ('We want soldiers, not fops, earnest labourers, not genteel loiterers... men who earn their spurs before they are publicly dubbed as knights' - it's no surprise Spurgeon is Dricoll's hero).

First, on the necessary signs of being called:

And then the forthright cautions:

Friends who are considering this ministry, 'diligently labour to fit yourselves for such a high calling... You will have to run with horsemen, let not the footmen weary you while you are still in your preliminary training... May the Lord prepare you for the crucible and the furnace which assuredly await you.' Read Spurgeon's whole lecture online here and Brierley's article here.

Gospelling One Another

2010-06-03T03:17:00.000-07:00

'Gospelling' one another. Is that verbing a noun? Anyhow, I like it because it's obviously descriptive of the activity - we speak the gospel to one another. This doesn't mean we sit each other down and continually remind each other of Two Ways To Live with a sketch on the back of a beer mat. The gospel is expansive and all embracing. To gospel one another is to bring the redeeming Word to bear upon one another and our circumstances through loving conversation. It's speaking the truth in love rather than just making small talk over coffee after church or merely listening to our friend's concerns with an empathetic 'mmm'. Gospelling one another is loving conversation; it's talk as a fountain of life; it's sweet to the soul and healing to the bones speech.

On the importance of speaking the truth to one another in community Dietrich Bonhoeffer has this to say:

"Christians are persons who no longer seek their salvation, their deliverance, their justification in themselves, but in Jesus Christ alone. They know that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces them guilty, even when they feel nothing of their own guilt, and that God’s Word in Jesus Christ pronounces them free and righteous, even when they feel nothing of their own righteousness … [So] ‘they watch for this Word wherever they can. Because they daily hunger and thirst for righteousness, they long for the redeeming Word again and again … The Christ in their own hearts is weaker than the Christ in the word of other Christians. Their own hearts are uncertain; those of their brothers and sisters are sure. At the same time, this also clarifies that the goal of all Christian community is to encounter one another as bringers of the message of salvation." (Life Together, 34)

Let's rebel against vacuous conversation in the church. Let's gospel one another.

HT: Tim Chester

The Greatest Cause in the World

2010-06-03T01:00:00.000-07:00

“God created us to live with a single passion; to joyfully display his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. The wasted life is the life without this passion. God calls us to pray and think and dream and plan and work not to be made much of, but to make much of him in every part of our lives.

If our single, all-embracing passion is to make much of Christ in life and death, and if a life that magnifies him most is the life of costly love, then life is risk, and risk is right. To run from it is to waste your life.

Oh, how much is wasted when they do not risk because of God! Risk is right. And the reason is not because God promises success to all ventures in his cause. There is no promise that every effort because of God will succeed, at least not in the short run. John The Baptist took a risk with King Herod and got killed. Jesus had no criticism for him, only the highest praise. Paul took risks in completing his ministry and was beaten, thrown in prison and executed. And he did right to risk his life for the cause of Christ. ... And now what about you? Are you caught in the enchantment of security, paralysed from taking any risks for the cause of God? Or have you been freed by the power of the holy spirit from the mirage of Egyptian safety and comfort? Do you men ever say with Joab, "For the sake of the name, I'll try it! And may the Lord do what seems good to him"? Do you women ever say with Esther, "For the sake of Christ, I'll try it! And if I perish, I perish"?

Many of you are simply not satisfied with what you are doing. As J. Campbell White said, the output of your lives is not satisfying your deepest spiritual ambitions. We must be careful here. Every job has its discouragement and its seasons of darkness. We must not interpret such experiences automatically as a call to leave a post. But if the discontent with your present situation is deep, recurrent, and lasting, and if that discontent grows in Bible saturated soil, God may be calling you to a new work. If, in your discontent, you long to be holy, to walk pleasing to the Lord, and to magnify Christ with your one, brief life, then God may indeed be loosening your roots in order to transplant you to a place and a ministry where the deep spiritual ambitions of your soul can be satisfied.

It is true that God can be known and enjoyed in every legitimate vocation; but when he deploys you from one place to the next, he offers fresh and deeper drinking at the Fountain of his fellowship. God seldom calls us to an easier life, but always calls us to know more of him and drink more deeply of his sustaining grace."

Extracts from John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life (of course!)

What Did You Expect?

2010-06-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

'What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage' by P D Tripp.

As Tony Reinke puts it, 'Don’t let Tripp’s walrus mustache, or the book’s clipart cover, fool you. This book is the fresh and pointed work of a soul surgeon."

Surprised by Grace

2010-06-01T03:09:00.000-07:00

I've not read this yet, but I love Tullian's other stuff and warmly recommend this on that basis alone. It seems I'm always recommending stuff from the States lately, am I missing good current stuff from the UK? Let me know via comments tab.

The Simplicity of Mission

2010-05-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

Taking it that mission is the 'thing' which we followers of Jesus should be busy about even in our own towns, is this mission, and church planting in particular, something which should overwhelm us? Is it so difficult that much knotty planning will always be required and deferment often necessitated? Is the cost often prohibitive? Will the means often prove beyond us? Roland Allen addresses the question:

"The spontaneous expansion of the church reduced to its elements is a very simple thing. It asks for no elaborate organisation, no large finances, no great numbers of paid missionaries. It's beginning may be the work of one man, and that a man neither learned in the things of this world, nor rich in the wealth of this world ... what is necessary is faith. What is needed is the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ, sets him on fire."

(Roland Allen, The Compulsion of the Spirit)

Fabulous. But though the beginning of this simple work may be the burning heart of one man or woman of faith, the expansion of the church is generally a community activity. What is needed is not for that community to be large, wealthy or exceptionally taught, but faithfully radical.

"Basic to God's economy which he accomplished in Jesus Christ, head of the church, is the life and witness of the Christian community, the church. Radical Christianity is not a system of doctrine but the experience of the body of Christ as a community of discipleship... What the world needs now is radical Christianity. In 2000 years the church has not noticeably improved on the gospel or on the biblical picture of Christian community and discipleship. One of the clearest lessons from 20 centuries of experience is that the church has always been most faithful when it has gotten back to its biblical, spiritual roots. Then it is freed to be the most creative in challenging the spiritual, social and economic crisis of the day."

(Howard Snyder, The Radical Wesley)

As I read the Bible, a faithful system of doctrine leads to faithful men and faithful communities of discipleship. Biblical truth births biblical community. There's great danger in enthusiastic but doctrinally allergic and theologically anorexic Christians setting up churches alone; you get a new community but not a church. But neither does every mission team and every church plant need a Professor of Theology and a renown preacher.

It seems to me the recipe for mission and planting churches is something like this:

Take one faithful man, with the kind of faith which uniting a man to Christ sets him on fire.
One small, or large, community committed to radical (i.e. normal Christ like) discipleship.
One biblical gospel.
A bunch of bibles (where possible).
NB Lower the bar on church services, raise the bar on discipleship.
Mix in to a local community (tribe, nation, language, socio-economic status irrelevant).
Put in oven (metaphorically speaking, obviously, not everyone need be Daniel & Co.)
Pray and wait patiently.
When another man is set on fire, repeat process.

Simple. Cheap. Quick.

Add large spoon of sovereign grace: EXPANSIVE.

(Main image: Missional Church Network)

Making a Difference for Christ by Being Different

2010-05-28T02:08:00.000-07:00

How can you live your life to the fullest, and make the biggest difference with the years that God has granted you on this earth? How can your life really count for something BIG and EXPLOSIVE. This book sets out a course for Christians to really think through those things, deeply. Tremendous. Buy it, read it, live it.

Slammed - To Our Shame

2010-05-27T04:57:00.000-07:00

In his recent book Slam Nick Hornby's character comments, “If Tony Hawk let me be 11 again, I wouldn't mess it up a second time. I'd become a Christian or something, one of those people who never do anything.”

What a shameful disaster that Jesus' people with so great a commission could be perceived as 'those people who never do anything.' Such a snipe could never be said of Richard Baxter and William Carey.

Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

"Oh, then, let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: did I die for them, and you will not look after them? Were they were my blood, and are they not worth your labour? Did I come down from heaven to earth, to seek and to save that which was lost, and will you not go to the next-door street or village to seek them? How small is your labour and conversation as to mine! I'd based myself to this, but it is your honour to be so employed. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation; and I willing to make you a co- worker with me, and will you refuse what little lies in your hands?"

William Carey, An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens

"As the blessed Lord has required us to pray that his kingdom may come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it becomes us not only to express our desire of that event by words, but to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name. ... this is an object we should be prompted to pursue not only by the gospel of the Redeemer, but even by the feelings of humanity ... conscientious activity therein would form one of the strongest proofs that we are the subjects of grace."

"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest."

Church Planting: What's The Rush?

2010-05-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

What's the rush to plant churches? Shouldn't we plan more, pray more, wait and see more? While there is a place for patience in church planting, patience is not usually the problem I come across. Inaction is. Going for it for Jesus is. Taking risk for the kingdom is. In an effort to overcome our natural caution and procrastination it is worth dwelling more often on the answer than the question. Question: 'Why rush to plant churches?' Answer (glaringly obvious): 'Love for God and love for others.' If we love God we won’t delay more than absolutely necessary to do what he has commanded for his glory. Jesus said, ‘Go…’ not ‘wait until…’. If we love others we’ll be burdened for souls that are perishing now.

J. Oswald Sanders points out, “A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution than of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution."

It is tragic that many churches are too busy procrastinating to send people to show and tell the perishing the gospel. In 1791 Andrew Fuller preached these words. The title of this sermon was, The Instances, Evil Nature, and the Dangerous Tendency of Delay in the Concerns of Religion.

"There is something of this procrastinating spirit running through a great part of life, and it is of great detriment to the work of God. We know of many things that should be done, and cannot in conscience directly oppose them; but still we find excuses for our inactivity . . .

We quiet ourselves with the thought that they need not be done just now. This plea . . . prevents us from undertaking any great or good work for the cause of Christ or the good of mankind . . . There are difficulties in the way, and we wait for their removal. We are very apt to indulge in a kind of prudent caution (as we call it) which foresees and magnifies difficulties beyond what they really are ... It becomes us to beware lest we account that impossible which only requires such a degree of exertion as we are not inclined to give it... Perhaps the work requires expense . . . Perhaps it requires concurrence, and we wait for everybody to be of one mind, which is never to be expected . . . Instead of waiting for the removal of difficulties, we ought, in many cases to consider them as purposely laid in our way in order to try the sincerity of our religion."

Later he goes on:

"Let it be further considered whether it is not owing to this principle that so few, and so feeble efforts have been made for the propagation of the Gospel in the world . . . Are the souls of men of less value than heretofore? No. Is Christianity less true or less important than in former ages? This will not be pretended. Are there no opportunities ... to convey the Gospel to the heathen? ... The truth is, we wait for we know not what: we seem to think 'the time is not come, the time for the spirit to be poured down from on high' . . . We pray for the conversion of the world and yet we neglect the ordinary means by which it can be brought about . . . How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?"

Or as Spurgeon said, “Christian man, while you are sleeping, remember time is running on. If you could stop the hands of time you might afford yourself a little leisure; if you could, as we say, take him by the forelock, you might pause awhile; but you must not rest, for the tremendous wheels of the chariot of time are driven at such a fearful rate that the axles thereof are red-hot with speed, and there is no pause in that tremendous rush? On, on, on it goes, and the century has fled like a watch on the night.”

What shall we do then?

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, "Behold, we did not know this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?” Proverbs 24:11-12

Jesus never said wait until it's safe, comfortable or convenient, simply, 'Go...' When his disciples were all for waiting he corrected them: “Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” (John 4:35)

Be like the Bereans

2010-05-25T04:13:00.000-07:00

Coffee break? Listen to 4 minutes of wisdom to make you wise here.

Needing to be reminded of the very obvious

2010-05-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Most of us Christians often need to be reminded of the very obvious. Francis Chan struck a number of us last week at Passion London (official pics in sidebar) with these simple words:

'Something strange happens when Christians act like Jesus; non-Christians see Jesus!'

Want your friends, family, village, town, city to meet Jesus? Here's an idea - let's act like him and introduce them.

That's My King!

2010-05-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Dwell London

2010-05-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

Top day at Acts 29 conference. No doubt the MP3s will be online ASAP but here's some of my notes, which I include here mostly for my remembrance.

Steve Timmis, To Boldly Go, Romans 15

Biblical hope = 'a firm confidence in the abilty and willingness of God to keep his promises.' For Gentiles that means trusting that God will keep his promises to Abraham, as vv8-12. That is big and expansive and glorious hope!! Too often we have a theologically anorexic idea of hope, but biblical hope includes the entire creation not just the individual. That's why biblical hope is intimately bound up with the spread of the gospel. Hence Rom 15 is all about spread of gospel.

Taking the gospel to new frontiers in the UK must include redesignating UPAs as GPAs: gospel priority areas. Biblical hope impels us to take God's gospel of blessing to all nations to all the frontiers of the biblical wildernesses where people have no hope. EG UPAs! That's unnattractive and exceedingly hard and that's why Paul prays 15:13 - because a full grasp of biblical hope is what will motivate us to boldly go where no one has gone before with the gospel.

What's Romans about? The spread of the gospel. Rom16:25-26 confirms that. Paul's only purpose in life is to take Christ where Christ has not been named. There is no final frontier for the gospel!

NB Always have ideas 'above your station' for the gospel!

Terry Virgo, The Place of Prayer in Planting, 1Kings18:41ff

1. Elijah withdrew

Pattern: Prayer-ministry- prayer. Jesus does the same. Imitate the model.

2. Elijah prayed specifically

Elijah prayed what God says he will do. Elijah knew God's will for Israel and prayed accordingly.

Prayer = vital prerequisite for the release of God's power. Lay hold of God's willingness and power to advance the gospel in UK through prayer.

'God's promises are awaiting their fulfilment through prayer' Andrew Murray

'Ask and you will receive' Jesus

3. Elijah prayed fervently

Pray yourself into prayer! Prayer stimulates prayer.

'Lose the importunity of prayer, the conflict of will on will, the wrestling with God, and you lose the reality of prayer' PTForsyth

To lead your people in to prayer is one of the highest callings as a shepherd in God's flock.

4. Elijah prayed with importunity

7 times Elijah prayed! We're like the naughty boy who knocks once and runs away! Jesus said always to pray and NOT GIVE UP!

In prayer 'God trains us in the school of 'answer delayed" A Murray

'Christ meant prayer to be the primary way that the church's work is done.' Murray

Does not neglect of prayer explain the lack of power of the church? PLAN TO PRAY.

Ed Stetzer, Missiology

The church is to be

- a biblically faithful
- culturally relevant
- counter cultural
- community of the kingdom

A characteristic of church is essential only when it can be found in all places at all times that the church has existed.

We tend to ask 'what is my preference?' instead of 'how can the gospel best transform this culture?' Model a church plant not by who we're sent by but for who we are sent to.

Missional churches should look similar to their culture but live radically different from that culture for the gospel.

Blog roll

2010-05-21T11:57:00.001-07:00

What are the best blogs to add to my blog roll? Let me know via the comments tab.

Sovereign Mercy & Cracked Skulls

2010-05-20T06:44:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Talitha base jumped from a shopping trolley and knocked herself out cold. Blue lights sped her to the hospital asap. On Monday Eden did the same, though more so - from a fence in to a carpark. As far as we can tell his head took the full impact of the 10ft fall on to the concrete. More blue lights ensued and an emergency scan revealed a cracked skull. Ouch! He is now home and recovering well. We thank God for His kindness that things were not a lot worse. I guess an angel or two must have caught him on the way down and broken his fall. Reflecting on the kindness of God amidst the apparent unkindness of His providence John Piper's majestic poem 'The Mercy of God and the Misery of Job' has been a delight. In Part 4, 'Unkindly Has He Kindly Shown Me... God', Piper recalls a conversation between the restored Job and his new daughter, Jemima:

The little girl looked up and smiled:

"What are you thinking, Papa?" Job

Thought for a while, then said, "You probe

Perhaps, Jemimah, where the road

Is rougher and the mental load

Too heavy for your little mind."

"I like it, Papa, when you find

A story you can tell about

Your life. Why were you sick?" "I doubt

That you would understand," he said.

"Do you?" she asked. "Your little head

May not perhaps grasp all the Why,

But it may do us good to try.

Your daddy once was very rich.

And you had three big sisters which

I loved with all my heart. They died

With seven brothers all inside

A great big house that fell because

A giant wind broke all the laws

We thought we knew. How little did

We know! And then one day amid

The grief I got so sick no one

Could tell that it was me. I'd done

All that I knew to do. But still

It came and vexed my soul until

I almost lost my faith."

"Do you

Think God made you so sick?" she drew

Her breath and swallowed hard." "I know

You'd like to think that there's a foe

That hurts and God who heals. and that

Would not be wrong; but I have sat

And pondered months in pain to see

If that is true — if misery

Is Satan's work, and happiness

Is God's. Jemimah, we must bless

The Lord for all that's good and bad."

"But, Papa, God's not mean or mad.

He's not our enemy. He's kind

And gentle, isn't he?" "Your mind

Is right, Jemimah, but it's small.

He's gentle, kind, but that's not all.

I have some friends who thought they knew

The mind of God, and that their view

Of tenderness exhausted God's,

And that severity and rods

Could only be explained with blame,

To vindicate his holy name."

"So you think it was God who made

You sick?" "I think God never laid

Aside the reins that lie against

The neck of Satan, nor unfenced

His pen to run at liberty,

But only by the Lord's decree."

"So you think God was kind to make

You sick?" Jemimah asked, "and take

Away your health and all your sons

And friends, and daughters — all the ones

You loved?" "Jemimah, what I think

Is this: The Lord has made me drink

The cup of his severity

That he might kindly show to me

What I would be when only he

Remains in my calamity.

Unkindly he has kindly shown

That he was not my hope alone."

"O, Papa, do you mean your friends

were right?" "No, no, my child, to cleanse

An Upright heart of toxic stains

With searing irons is not like chains

Laid on the soul in penalty

For guile and crimes no one can see.

No, they were wrong. And kindly has

The Lord rebuked good Eliphaz,

And I have prayed for him, and all

is well. You see, their mind was small,

And they could not see painful times

Apart from dark and hidden crimes.

Beware, Jemimah, God is kind,

In ways that will not fit your mind.

Illustrations by Christopher Koelle

Buy the book: http://www.desiringgod.org
Watch the video: http://www.jobthebook.com
Listen to the audio: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

New look

2010-05-20T04:11:00.000-07:00

Hope you like the new look. I had migrated to blogging over at the Grace site but since Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite got all hot under the collar and scheming about Grace stuff I'm back here. It does me good to blog - it's just a kind of public online journal thing - so I hope to post a bit more again now. With any luck, it might do my 2 followers some good too. A wise man said that it's good for pastors and their congregations for pastors to blog, and I like to do what wise men say. Obviously they don't know me or my blogging - no perfect wisdom or hilarious analogies here I'm afraid - but if I can recommend a bit, share a bit, link a bit, think aloud a bit, teach a bit and interact a bit then blogging is time well spent I reckon.

In His Grip,
Stuart

In a sentence

2010-04-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Passion For Life, 'What's the gospel in a sentence?' challenge. No doubt there are better sentences, but here's mine:

Jesus Christ is both God and man; he died to pay the penalty for our guilt and he rose again so that we can be reconciled to God to glorify him and enjoy him forever.

The semi-colon's a cheat. It's really two sentences, but hey, there's a lot to pack in. Also, reunited might be easier to understand than reconciled, but reconciled is richer. The problem with cutting out jargon is that we usually end up cutting out depth as well.

Got a better sentence? Add a comment.

2009-12-10T00:23:00.000-08:00

"The things that I longed for in my relationship with God were wrapped up in the very things that I was so sure could do me no good. I didn't understand that theology, doctrine and orthodoxy were the pathway to knowing the living Jesus Christ."

2009-12-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

This is interesting from Dr Russell Moore on children, the Bible and 'Where the Wild Things Are' (or aren't!). I love this paragraph:

Too many of our Bible study curricula for children declaw the Bible, excising all the snakes and dragons and wildness. We reduce the Bible to a set of ethical guidelines and a text on how gentle and kind Jesus is. The problem is, our kids know there are monsters out there. God put that awareness in them. They’re looking for a sheep-herding dragon-slayer, the One who can put all the wild things under His feet.

Brilliant description of Jesus!

(RED) PLUS

2009-12-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

Click to help:

Too busy - a very common malady

2009-11-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

"No single mortal can be sufficient to do everything however many and various may be the endowments wherein he excels. Let then God’s servants learn to measure carefully their powers, lest they should wear out by ambitiously embracing too many occupations. For this propensity to engage in too many things is a very common malady and numbers are so carried along by it as not to be easily restrained."

Calvin on Exodus 18:15ff

HT: David Field

Wartime Living

2009-11-05T03:58:00.000-08:00

"One of the marks of this peacetime mind-set is what I call an avoidance ethic. In wartime we ask different questions about what to do with our lives than we do in peacetime. We ask: What can I do to advance the cause? What can I do to bring the victory? What sacrifice can I make or what risk can I take to insure the joy of triumph? In peacetime we tend to ask, What can I do to be more comfortable? To have more fun? To avoid trouble and, possibly, avoid sin?

If we are going to pay the price and take the risks it will cost to make people glad in God, we move beyond the avoidance ethic. This way of life is utterly inadequate to waken people to the beauty Christ. Avoiding fearful trouble and forbidden behaviors impresses almost no one. The avoidance ethic by itself is not Christ-commending or God-glorifying. There are many disciplined unbelievers who avoid the same behaviors Christians do. Jesus calls us to do something far more radical than that.

People who are content with the avoidance ethic generally ask the wrong question about behavior. They ask, What's wrong with it? What's wrong with this movie? Or this music? Or this game? Or these companions? Or this way of relaxing? Or this investment? Or this restaurant? Or shopping at this store? What's wrong with going to the cabin every weekend? Or having a cabin? This kind of question will rarely yield a lifestyle that commends Christ as all-satisfying and makes people glad in God. It simply results in a list of don'ts. It feeds the avoidance ethic.

The better questions to ask about possible behaviors is: How will this help me treasure Christ more? How will it help me show that I do treasure Christ? How will it help me know Christ or display Christ? The Bible says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). So the question is mainly positive, not negative. How can I portray God as glorious in this action? How can I enjoy making much of him in this behavior?

Oh, how many lives are wasted by people who believe that the Christian life means simply avoiding badness and providing for the family. So there is no adultery, no stealing, no killing, no embezzlement, no fraud--just lots of hard work during the day and lots of TV and PG-13 videos in the evening (during quality family time), and lots of fun stuff on the weekend--woven around the church (mostly). This is life for millions of people. Wasted life. We were created for more, far more.

There is an old saying: "No man ever lamented on his dying bed, 'I wish I had spent more time at the office."' The point being made is usually that when you are about to die, money suddenly looks like what it really is, useless for lasting happiness, while relationships become precious. It's true. When my mother was killed in 1974, I wrote to the chairman of my department at Bethel College, where I was teaching, and reversed my request to teach an overload the next semester to make more money. Standing beside your mother's grave with a wife and child makes things look different. Money loses its pull.

But that saying about spending less time at the office can be misleading. We need to add this: No one will ever want to say to the Lord of the universe five minutes after death, I spent every night playing games and watching TV with my family because I loved them so much. I think the Lord will say, "That did make me look like a treasure in your town. You should have done something besides provide for yourself and your family. And TV, as you should have known, was not a good way to nurture your family or your own soul."

John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life, page 118-120

Scripture Wallpaper

2009-11-03T01:43:00.000-08:00

This is nice.

Click here to download as wallpaper.

X-Factor Excellence

2009-10-28T02:04:00.000-07:00

Here.

Godly Giving

2009-10-28T02:01:00.000-07:00

This Sunday at All Saints is ‘Stewardship Sunday’ – when we are all encouraged to review our stewardship of the abundant good gifts God has given us. In Ephesians 4:28Paul writes: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” Put simply, there are three ways to live with money and possessions: 1) we can steal to get; or 2) we can work to get; or 3) we can work to get in order to give.

Too many of us Christians live on level two, urged on by the pressures of the culture we live in. But the Bible calls us to be different from the world. The Bible urges us on to level three. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8) Why does God give us all we need and, for many of us, plenty besides? So we can have enough to live on and then use the rest for all sorts of good works in love and service of Jesus and others.

The way of Jesus is not how we usually live - abundance for us, just enough for others - but rather the extraordinary way of love - abundance for others, just enough for us. It’s not about how much we have. The more we have, the more opportunity (and responsibility) we have to pass on God’s grace to others. However much you’ve got, use your money wisely: enjoy everything you have, but set your hope fully on God, and joyfully overflow in abundant generosity to a lost and needy world.

Paul taught Timothy: “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”

Our God is good and loves us to be happy! He commands us to be generous and willing to share, not so that we lose out but so that we gain – life that is truly life.

HT: John Piper (of course!)

The Badman Review

2009-10-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Petrified that the family might actually have some freedom beyond their observation, the state is planning a crack down on home education. Put simply, they don't trust parents to care for our kids. Given original sin I can understand that. But can the government be trusted to care for our children? Consider this case:

"A school dinner lady who saved a seven-year-old girl from being viciously bullied and then told her parents what had happened has been sacked for breaching pupil confidentiality. Carol Hill - who has worked at Great Tey Primary School in Essex for eight years -rescued Chloe David after she was tied to a fence by a gang of boys and whipped with a skipping rope.

The boys' parents were called in to discuss the violence, but Chloe's parents were only told that she had been hurt in an incident with a skipping rope. They only discovered the truth after bumping into Mrs Hill at a Scout meeting. The school claims that she broke confidentiality rules by telling them what had happened, and she has now been fired by a disciplinary tribunal." (26 September 2009)

Here is a case of state teachers covering up horrific bullying and lying to parents because they care for themselves and not the children under their care. What's more, the tribunal then sacked the school staff who cared for a child in her care and told truth to the child's parents. Hadn't the government better get their own house in order before presuming to tell us how to run ours?

I know you probably don't home educate your kids and you probably send them to a local school but the government's attitude effects you nonethless. Your absolute right as a parent to choose to educate your child in the way in which you choose is as much at risk as mine as the state over regulates and invades family life. Mr Badman's proposal to allow a child to be interviewed in his or her own home by an official of the state without a parent being present would give the local authority official more rights than a police officer. We teach our kids not to trust strangers, but Mr Badman proposes we be coerced to allow strangers to chat to our kids alone. Badman's proposals require a substantial shift in law away from the parent towards the state in regards to the responsibility to raise a child. This redefinition of the role of the parent and the state in raising children has wide implications for all families outside of the home education community too.

DWYL Weekend

2009-09-23T07:24:00.000-07:00

Fools quoting fools being fools

2009-09-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, the Daily Telegraph published what they called ‘The Top 10 worst Bible passages’, taken from shipoffools.com who have been asking those who visit their website to vote on their least favourite verse. The top 10 were the following:

1. The ban on women teaching in church (1 Timothy 2:12)
2. Samuel’s instruction to ‘totally destroy’ the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:3)
3. Moses’ command ‘Do not allow a sorceress to live.’ (Exodus 22:18)
4. The ending of Psalm 137 ‘Happy are those who seize your infants and dash them against the rocks’
5. The gang rape and murder of a concubine (Judges 19:25-28)
6. The condemnation of homosexuality (Romans 1:27)
7. Jephthah’s vow which led to his daughter being sacrificed (Judges 11)
8. God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac (Genesis 22:2)
9. The instruction that wives submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22)
10. The instruction that slaves submit to their masters (1 Peter 2:18)

Clearly some of those are hard to deal with, though just because the Bible describes an event it doesn't mean God approves. However, 1, 6, 9 & 10 are not hard to deal with. They are very clear. They are also very unpopular. We would expect that from non-Christians, but for Christians to turn their noses up at God's word is daft, rude and plain faithless.

As Keven DeYoung points out: "Christians should not only believe what the Bible teaches, they should like what the Bible teaches. All Scripture is not just tolerable, but profitable and breathed out by God (2 Tim. 3:16).The law should be our delight (Psalm 1:2; 119:77; Rom. 7:2). We should love the commandments of God (Psalm 119:47; 1 John 5:3).... The Bible is true and the Bible is good. When we accept its truth without actually liking it, we have only come half way to mature faith. We are like kids saying "I'm sorry" while rolling our eyes, like a husband getting flowers so his wife won't be ticked, like a lover skimming through a letter from her beloved when she should be cherishing every word and every truth in her heart. Read the Bible. Believe the Bible. Delight in all that it affirms. Anything less is not good for your soul."

Ship of fools seems appropriately named. For more wisdom from DeYoung's post go here.

Desperately in need of grace

2009-09-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace, nor are your best days ever so good that you are beyond the need of it.”

Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace

DWYL

2009-08-19T01:47:00.000-07:00

Don't Waste Your Life...The greatest cause in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure he is.

Punishment and Righteousness

2009-08-18T02:52:00.000-07:00

“God requires two things of us: punishment for our sins and perfection in our lives. Our sins must be punished, and our lives must be righteous. But we cannot bear our own punishment, and we cannot provide our own righteousness. Therefore, God, out of His immeasurable love for us, provided his own Son to do both. Christ bears our punishment, and Christ performs our righteousness. And When we receive Christ, all of his punishment and all of his righteousness is counted as ours.”

John Piper, This Momentary Marriage

The Missionary Heart

2009-08-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Following the tradition of soldiers going to war, and possibly sacrificing their life for a cause greater than themselves, a missionary recently killed in Iraq, Karen Watson, wrote this letter:

Dear Pastor,

You should only be opening this letter in the event of my death. When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations. I wasn't called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward...

The missionary heart:
Cares more than some think is wise
Risks more than some think is safe
Dreams more than some think is practical
Expects more than some think is possible

I was called not to comfort or to success but to obedience...

There is no Joy outside of knowing Jesus and serving Him. I love you and my church family.

In His care,

Salaam, Karen

Having been accused of 3 of those 4 things quite recently, I get this letter. I get the heart expressed. I hope that I will care more tha some think is wise and do great things in service of King Jesus like Karen did. I hope that my kids, and the kids at our church, grow a heart like hers and that we won't stop them when they want to do courageous things in Jesus' name.

HT: Ed Stetzer

Shrivelled into an ambassador

2009-08-10T08:02:00.000-07:00

What kind of people from our churches ought we to be sending to unreached people groups, at home or abroad? Put simply, the best people we've got. William Carey believed preaching the gospel to unreached people was the highest work to which anyone could aspire. In 1814 Carey's son, Felix, resigned as a missionary to become ambassador of Calcutta for the King of Burma. Carey wrote home saddened: 'Felix is shrivelled from a missionary into an ambassador.' I wonder, would we see things in the same light for our own kids?

A similar sentiment is found in this quote from Steve Ayers' blog: “If a man is called to preach the gospel, woe to him if he stoops to be a king.”

More than moral philosophy

2009-08-09T12:24:00.001-07:00

In response to Adam Rutherford's take on the resurrection in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago, Tom Wright had this to say, among lots of other things:

"Just as Christian faith is far more than a moral philosophy or spiritual pathway (though it includes both as it were en passant), so it is more than a "how to get saved" teaching backed up by a dodgy "miracle". Christian faith declares that, in and through Jesus, the creator of the world launched his plan to rescue the world from the decaying and corrupting force of evil itself. This was (if it was anything at all) an event which brought about a new state of affairs, albeit often in a hidden and paradoxical way (as Jesus kept on saying): the "kingdom of God", that is, the sovereign, rescuing rule of the creator, breaking in to creation. If this stuff didn't happen then Christianity is based on a mistake. You can't rescue it by turning it into a philosophy."

Nice.

The Instances, Evil Nature, and the Dangerous Tendency of Delay in the Concerns of Religion

2009-08-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

Souls are perishing now. That's tragic. Another tragedy is that many churches are too busy procrastinating to send men to tell them the gospel. Apparently, us Brits have been busy doing that for quite some time. In 1791 Andrew Fuller preached these words. The title of this sermon was, The Instances, Evil Nature, and the Dangerous Tendency of Delay in the Concerns of Religion.

"There is something of this procrastinating spirit running through a great part of life, and it is of great detriment to the work of God. We know of many things that should be done, and cannot in conscience directly oppose them; but still we find excuses for our inactivity . . . We quiet ourselves with the thought that they need not be done just now.

This plea . . . prevents us from undertaking any great or good work for the cause of Christ or the good of mankind . . . There are difficulties in the way, and we wait for their removal. We are very apt to indulge in a kind of prudent caution (as we call it) which foresees and magnifies difficulties beyond what they really are ... It becomes us to beware lest we account that impossible which only requires such a degree of exertion as we are not inclined to give it... Perhaps the work requires expense . . . Perhaps it requires concurrence, and we wait for everybody to be of one mind, which is never to be expected . . . Instead of waiting for the removal of difficulties, we ought, in many cases to consider them as purposely laid in our way in order to try the sincerity of our religion."

Later he goes on:

"Let it be further considered whether it is not owing to this principle that so few, and so feeble efforts have been made for the propagation of the Gospel in the world . . . Are the souls of men of less value than heretofore? No. Is Christianity less true or less important than in former ages? This will not be pretended. Are there no opportunities ... to convey the Gospel to the heathen? ... We have opportunities in abundance: the improvement of navigation and the maritime and commercial turn of this country furnish us with these; and it deserves to be considered whether this is not a circumstance that renders it a duty particularly binding on us. The truth is, we wait for we know not what: we seem to think 'the time is not come, the time for the spirit to be poured down from on high' . . . We pray for the conversion of the world and yet we neglect the ordinary means by which it can be brought about . . . How shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?"

An even better preacher commanded:

"Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation."

Not wait until your sent. Not wait until it's safe, comfortable or convenient. Simply, 'Go...'

Better get on with it then.

Forgotten Ways

2009-08-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

"A working definition of missional church is a community of God's people that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible. The mission of God flows directly through every believer and every community of faith that adheres to Jesus. To obstruct this is to block God's purposes in and through his people."

Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways

Ramp Camp

2009-08-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

For an increasing number of young people in the US there is more to skateboarding than stunts and jumps - it is also about spreading the word of Jesus. Check out 'Ramp Camp' here.

HT: The Urban Pastor

Christ as the only need of every heart

2009-07-09T04:54:00.000-07:00

I'm off later to muck around in boats and sand for a couple of weeks, so nothing here for a while. Really looking forward to hanging out with Rachel and the kids and with my bro' and his family. Hoping to catch some rays, some fish and some ZZZZs, and watch some sailing and some House Season 4. Oh, and Eden and I have just brought some new rubber dart guns - let battle commence!

Here's some juicy Spurgeon to chew on while we're gone. What an example of preaching Christ to every type of hearer and Christ as the only need of every heart:

'Remember, sinner, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves thee - it is Christ ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee — it is Christ ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that is the instrument — it is Christ's blood and merits; therefore, look not to thy hope, but to Christ, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Christ, the author and finisher of thy faith; and if thou doest that, ten thousand devils cannot throw thee down. . . .

There is one thing which we all of us too much becloud in our preaching, though I believe we do it very unintentionally - namely, the great truth that it is not prayer, it is not faith, it not our doings, it is not our feelings upon which we must rest, but upon Christ, and on Christ alone.

We are apt to think that we are not in a right state, that we do not feel enough, instead of remembering that our business is not with self, but Christ. Let me beseech thee, look only to Christ; never expect deliverance from self, from ministers, or from any means of any kind apart from Christ; keep thine eye simply on Him; let His death, His agonies, His groans, His sufferings, His Merits, His glories, His intercession, be fresh upon thy mind; when thou wakest in the morning look for Him; when thou liest down at night look for Him

So aswell as all the capers above, on holiday I'll be trying to keep my eye simply on Him. All in all, an ace couple of weeks ahead.

A twit and a giant

2009-07-06T23:45:00.000-07:00

I've joined Twitter recently and to my surprise I've found it super encouraging. Here's a gem of a tweet from Steve Timmis:

To be God honouring, Jesus loving, Spirit fIlled ministers who do everything for the sake of the gospel. Motivation? The cross.

And some more Murray on the giant that was Spurgeon while I'm here:

Spurgeon came to London conscious that God had been hiding his face from his people ... if God continued to withhold his face, he declared to his people, nothing could be done to extend his kingdom. It is not your knowledge, nor your talent, nor your zeal, he would say, that can perform God's work. "Yet, brethren, this can be done-we will cry to the Lord until he reveals his face again." "All we want is the spirit of God. Dear Christian friends, go home and pray for it; give yourselves no rest till God reveals himself; do not tarry where you are, do not be content to go on in your everlasting jog-trot as you have done; do not be content with the mere round of formalities. Awake, O Zion; awake, awake, awake!"

Some people say quoting others is lazy blogging, but I never intended anything else from this cyber common-place journal thingy. It's for my good really, and if it helps anyone else along the way, great.

BTW, I've added a few new sites on the right if you want to take a stroll through the links.

Psalm 55

2009-07-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

HT: Jam Cary

The Forgotten Spurgeon

2009-07-06T01:02:00.000-07:00

I read "The Forgotten Spurgeon" on a recent flight. Spurgeon, as ever, is provocative, inspiring, and ever quotable.

Christian man, while you are sleeping, remember time is running on. If you could stop the hands of time you might afford yourself a little leisure; if you could, as we say, take him by the forelock, you might pause awhile; but you must not rest, for the tremendous wheels of the chariot of time are driven at such a fearful rate that the axles thereof are red-hot with speed, and there is no pause in that tremendous rush? On, on, on it goes, and the century has fled like a watch on the night.

John 4:35 Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.

More Forgotten Ways

2009-07-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

More great quotes from The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch:

"We can only live changes: we cannot think our way to humanity. Every one of us, every group, must become the model of that which we desire to create." Ivan Illich

"The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief." T.S.Eliot

"The only way to propagate a message is to live it." Jim Wallis

"...it seems to me we have lowered the bar for participation in Christian community to the lowest common denominator... we seem to make church complex and discipleship too easy" Hirsch

"The quality of a church's leadership is directly proportional to the quality of discipleship [in that church]." Hirsch

"If you can't reproduce disciples, you can't reproduce leaders. If you can't reproduce leaders, you can't reproduce churches." Neil Cole

"If disciple making lies at the heart of our commission, then we must organize it around mission, becuase mission is the catalyzing principle of discipleship. In Jesus they are inexorably linked." Hirsch

The Forgotten Ways

2009-06-30T06:51:00.000-07:00

Quotes to activate the missional church from Hirsch's 'The Forgotten Ways.'

"If you want to build a ship, don't summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs, and organize the work, rather teach people the yearning for the wide, boundless ocean." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"A church which pitches its tents without constantly looking out for new horizons, which does not continually strike camp, is being untrue to its calling. ...[We must] play down our longing for certainty, accept what is risky, and live by improvisation and experiment." Hans Kung, The Church as the People of God

"A great deal more failure is the result of an excess of caution that of bold experimentation with new ideas. The frontiers of the kingdom of God were never advanced by men and women of caution." J. Oswald Sanders

Rich insights and inspiring challenges. The church is a dynamic movement not a dying institution. See also, 'My Orders Are To Fight' below.

Trust God

2009-06-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed this Colin poem with the kids at All Saints yesterday:

If you are scared, if you are sad, trust God
If you’ve done something that is bad, trust God
Just think a prayer and God will hear
He always cares, he’s always near
His love will never disappear
Trust God.

If you’re enjopying something good, trust God
If you’ve been blessed you really should, trust God
Give your thanks and praise to him
Ask for help, confess your sin
In bad and good, though thick and thin
Trust God.

Jesus is like an Anderson Shelter

2009-06-29T00:41:00.000-07:00

In our house we love Colin Buchanan's Super Saviour titles for Jesus - 'death crusher' and 'sin smasher'. After yesterday at StRichard's@4 we can now add 'wrath shelter' thanks to P-J Guy. It's a great image, as P-J put it Jesus is like a world war Anderson Shelter. What a Saviour!

Kids@4

2009-06-29T00:36:00.000-07:00

The animation wizard that is Olly Brown has put together some terrific stuff for Kids@4 here. Thanks Olly - it's ace!

God, Sin & the Devil

2009-06-25T01:49:00.000-07:00

'How do we reconcile God's sovereignty over the works of the Devil and sinners without making God the author of sin?'

It's a great question because it makes us think about God and the glorious comfort of who he is and how he works (see the last paragraphs below).

Charles Spurgeon once said, “You are not such wiseacres as to think or say that you can expound the Scripture without the assistance from the works of divine and learned men who have laboured before you in the field of exposition … It seems odd that certain men who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.” (Commenting and Commentaries) So looking to the works of divine and learned men in the historic, orthodox, public confessions of the Reformed churches, here are some responses to the above question.

The Confession of Faith: Which Was Submitted to His Imperial Majesty Charles V At the Diet of Augsburg in the Year 1530

Article XIX: Of the Cause of Sin.

Of the Cause of Sin they teach that, although God does create
and preserve nature, yet the cause of sin is the will of the
wicked, that is, of the devil and ungodly men; which will,
unaided of God, turns itself from God, as Christ says John 8,
44: When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own.

The Second Helvetic Confession

Chapter 8 - Of Man's Fall, Sin and the Cause of Sin

GOD IS NOT THE AUTHOR OF SIN, AND HOW FAR HE IS SAID TO HARDEN. It is expressly written: "Thou art not a God who delights in wickedness. Thou hatest all evildoers. Thou destroyest those who speak lies" (Ps. 5:4 ff.). And again: "When the devil lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44). Moreover, there is enough sinfulness and corruption in us that it is not necessary for God to infuse into us a new or still greater perversity. When, therefore, it is said in Scripture that God hardens, blinds and delivers up to a reprobate mind, it is to be understood that God does it by a just judgment as a just Judge and Avenger. Finally, as often as God in Scripture is said or seems to do something evil, it is not thereby said that man does not do evil, but that God permits it and does not prevent it, according to his just judgment, who could prevent it if he wished, or because he turns man's evil into good, as he did in the case of the sin of Joseph's brethren, or because he governs sins lest they break out and rage more than is appropriate. St. Augustine writes in his Enchiridion: "What happens contrary to his will occurs, in a wonderful and ineffable way, not apart from his will. For it would not happen if he did not allow it. And yet he does not allow it unwillingly but willingly. But he who is good would not permit evil to be done, unless, being omnipotent, he could bring good out of evil." Thus wrote Augustine.

The French Confession

Article 8

We believe that he not only created all things, but that he governs and directs them,a disposing and ordaining by his sovereign will all that happens in the world;b not that he is the author of evil, or that the guilt of it can be imputed to him,c as his will is the sovereign and infallible rule of all right and justice;d but he hath wonderful means of so making use of devils and sinners that he can turn to good the evil which they do, and of which they are guilty.e And thus, confessing that the providence of God orders all things, we humbly bow before the secrets which are hidden to us, without questioning what is above our understanding;f but rather making use of what is revealed to us in Holy Scripture for our peace and safety, inasmuch as God, who has all things in subjection to him, watches over us with a Father's care, so that not a hair of our heads shall fall without his will.g And yet he restrains the devils and all our enemies, so that they can not harm us without his leave.h

a. Ps. 104.
b. Prov. 16:4; Matt. 10:29; Rom. 9:11; Acts 17:24, 26, 28.
c. 1 John 2:16; Hos. 13:9; 1 John 3:8.
d. Ps. 5:5; 119; Job 1:22.
e. Acts 2:23, 24, 27.
f. Rom. 9:19, 20; 11:33.
g. Matt. 10:30; Luke 21:18.
h. Job 1:12; Gen. 3:15.

The Belgic Confession

Article 13: The Doctrine of God's Providence

We believe that this good God, after he created all things, did not abandon them to chance or fortune but leads and governs them according to his holy will, in such a way that nothing happens in this world without his orderly arrangement.

Yet God is not the author of, nor can he be charged with, the sin that occurs. For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that he arranges and does his work very well and justly even when the devils and wicked men act unjustly.

We do not wish to inquire with undue curiosity into what he does that surpasses human understanding and is beyond our ability to comprehend. But in all humility and reverence we adore the just judgments of God, which are hidden from us, being content to be Christ's disciples, so as to learn only what he shows us in his Word, without going beyond those limits.

This doctrine gives us unspeakable comfort since it teaches us that nothing can happen to us by chance but only by the arrangement of our gracious heavenly Father. He watches over us with fatherly care, keeping all creatures under his control, so that not one of the hairs on our heads (for they are all numbered) nor even a little bird can fall to the ground without the will of our Father.

In this thought we rest, knowing that he holds in check the devils and all our enemies, who cannot hurt us without his permission and will.

The Childhood Pattern of Genius

2009-06-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Most people react to home educators with bewilderment and concern (yes, we have considered our kids 'socialisation'), so it's nice to come across this gem from H.McCurdy on 'The Childhood Pattern of Genius':

The Smithsonian Institution's recipe for genius and leadership: (1) Children should spend a great deal of time with loving, educationally minded parents; (2) Children should be allowed a lot of free exploration; and (3) Children should have little to no association with peers outside of family and relatives.

(3) isn't our approach, but as many people automatically assume it is, it's nice to know we can now retort with a comment on how we're following a proven recipe for genius and leadership!

My orders are to fight.

2009-06-23T07:21:00.000-07:00

I love these words from the Welsh poet Ethelwyn Wetherald. Here is the task of all faithful disciples:

My orders are to fight;
Then if I bleed, or fail,
Or strongly win, what matters it?
God only doth prevail.
The servant craveth naught
Except to serve with might.
I was not told to win or lose-
My orders are to fight.

Our men especially need to know this, and our churches need to stop holding back young men who want to live and die fighting. Let's teach them to fight, give them their armour and send them in to battle instead.

Wake up, my soul!

2009-06-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

'In the Bible worldliness is exposed as an internal, invisible problem before it's an external, visible problem, which makes it much harder to detect. The challenge of worldliness is that its influence goes largely unnoticed. It seeps in like the tide rather than crashing in like a tidal wave.

A worldly way of thinking is any mind-set that, unconsciously or consciously, eliminates God and his revealed truth (the Bible) from how we approach life. The biblical notion of worldliness is a sleepiness of the soul in which the status, pleasures, comforts and cares of the world appear solid, stunning, and affecting while the truths of Scripture become abstractions - unable to grip the heart or guide our everyday activities. Worliness, according to Iain Murray, 'is departing from God. It is a man-centred way of thinking... It judges the importance of things by the present and material results. It weighs success by numbers. It covets human esteem, and it wants no unpopularity. It knows no truth for which it is worth suffering. It declines to be a fool for Christ's sake."

Full of penetrating stuff like this, I recommend from what I've read so far Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian. As Packer puts it, it's plain (I think he means in the puritan sense of accessible rather than dull!), powerful and pastoral, Christ-centred, church committed, kingdom-countoured, future-focused and counter cultural all the way. Contrary to the aneamic, vapid Christianity so familiar, so unattractive and so unsatisfying to many of us Tullian calls us back to thick Christianity and heavy Kingdom living. This is the radically challenging, refreshingly courageous, excitingly orthodox, utterly life and soul transforming Christianity of Jesus Christ lived out today. For the joy set before you, and if you've got the guts to really follow in the steps of Jesus, this is a summer must-read. I pray that I might be up to Tullian's challenge - to make a difference in the world by being different from the world for the sake of the world.

Churches that plant churches...

2009-06-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

Say Cheesy!
With 'Total Church Man',
and Acts 29 Western Europe Director, Steve Timmis

As expected Rachel and I had a hugely stimulating and inspiring time at the Acts 29 Church Planting Foundations conference this week. Here's a couple of notes I found especially helpful.

If we're to be churches that plant churches that plant churches, consider these 3 questions:

1. Is the church you're building easily reproduceable?
i.e. Is it simple enough for that?

2. Is the church you're building easily transferrable
i.e. Can others take the model as they are sent out to plant elsewhere?

3. Is the church easily sustainable
i.e. Can it continue without the lead pastor?

Make disciples who make disciples, leaders who make leaders, elders who make elders, pastors who make pastors, planters who make planters, and churches who plant churches.

Make others excellent.

Give away your best, again and again and again, so that others gain, again and again and again.

What is the gospel?
'Jesus Christ, God's promised Rescuer and Ruler, lived our life, died our death, and rose again in triumphant vindication as the first fruits of the new creation to bring forgiven sinners together under his gracious reign as His kingdom people.'

I love that holistic kingdom emphasis, so often lacking in evangelical gospel summaries. There's no singular personal pronouns and it's all about Christ's purposes and achievements, not us. Of course, it's only good news if we're included in it, so we might want to add 'Repent and believe the good news!'

American, but probably not that different...

2009-05-28T12:49:00.000-07:00