Death and Life and your Tongue

“Proverbs warns us of the power of the tongue, which is to say, the power of our words…”

– Tim Challies has some good advice for all of us.

AnglicanTV Interviews Bishop Mark Lawrence

45 minutes, here. And a good reminder to pray for the people of the Diocese of South Carolina.

St George’s Tron last Sunday in Church of Scotland

“The congregation of a Glasgow church has held its final service before leaving the Church of Scotland. …”

– BBC News report.

Assisted suicide: No room for error!

Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower writes –

“Sobering, indeed frightening letter (I have bolded some text for clarity): Friday, December 7, 2012.” – See why here.

Twitter Christmas sermons for Anglican bishops

“Britain’s senior Anglican bishops will be tweeting their Christmas Day sermons for the first time this year. …

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, his soon-to-be successor the Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu will be tweeting. …”

– BBC News.

How evil was Herod the Great?

“Tony Reinke has a helpful podcast interview with Dr. [Paul] Maier about the paranoid tyrant who ended up killing three of his sons on suspicion of treason, putting to death his favorite wife (of his ten wives!), killing one of his mothers-in-law, drowning a high priest, and killing several uncles and a couple of cousins.

They also talk about Herod’s plot to kill a stadium of Jewish leaders, and whether there are any doubts in Dr. Maier’s mind about the historicity of the slaughter of the innocent male children recorded only in Matthew 2 — and why there isn’t any collaborating evidence in the historical record.”

– Justin Taylor draws attention to an illuminating interview. In addition, John Piper speaks about his Hope for the Hurting This Christmas video.

Feed My Lambs

“Simon Peter, you will recall, was a fisherman, not a shepherd by training. He was used to nets and boats and water. Now he is called to feed sheep. These are very different tasks. The fisherman does not stay up at night, protecting his fish from slaughter. He does not lovingly tend the fish, knowing that they will surely perish without a fisherman. As a matter of fact, the fish should rightly fear the fisherman, who hardly takes their personal welfare to heart.…”

– At today’s Commencement of Ministry service at Southern Baptist Seminary, Albert Mohler will remind graduates of the nature of Christian pastoral ministry. Here’s the text of his charge.

Preaching resources from Tassie

The Diocese of Tasmania has posted some new preaching resources on its website – most recently a section to help a local church incorporate Scripture Union’s E100 Bible reading challenge into a twenty week preaching programme.

How the Incarnation humbles me

Tim Challies on the Incarnation –

“This is not the Mary of Roman Catholicism who was without sin and, in that way, the most suitable mother in all of human history. No, she is a sinful girl who stands in desperate need of the very Savior she is carrying. …

Of all I love about God—and there is a lot I could list!—this is very near the top, that he chooses such unlikely people to benefit from his gifts and his grace.” – Read it all here.

Understanding Sydney Diocese

What is it that makes Sydney Diocese what it is?

Between March and August 2012, Dr Mark Thompson, then President of the ACL, penned a series of articles on the topic.

We’ve also added them to our Resources page.

“Here I want to look at some of those things which, while not by any means unique to Sydney Anglicans, nevertheless are important characteristics of the diocesan ethos.”

Sydney Anglicans I. Biblically confessional
Sydney Anglicans II. The congregation as the centre
Sydney Anglicans III. Complementarian ministry
Sydney Anglicans IV: The Primacy of the Word
Sydney Anglicans V: A commitment to mission
Sydney Anglicans VI: An evangelical episcopate
Sydney Anglicans VII: The value of theological education

Proc Trust Autumn Ministers Conference 2012

The Proclamation Trust has made available the audio files from its 2012 Autumn Ministers Conference (12-15 November). Speakers were Doug Moo, Vaughan Roberts, Adrian Reynolds and Prof. Glynn Harrison. Downloads here.