David Platt interviews Mark Dever on Evangelism and Discipleship
A 50-minute interview in 8 parts – via The Gospel Coalition.
Sermons from the 2013 Presbyterian General Assembly of Australia
The Sermons from the Presbyterian General Assembly of Australia 2013 (just concluded) are now available to hear and download.
All encouraging and challenging, including –
- David Jones (the immediate past Moderator-General) “Why are we here?”
- David Cook (new Moderator-General) “The Apostolic Pattern”, Acts 20.
- David Burge (Minister at Walcha) “The Christian’s Boast and Works”, Galatians.
- Ligon Duncan (from Jackson, Mississippi), three expositions.
Take the time to listen, and to pray for our Presbyterian brothers and sisters around the country, as they, too, seek to reach men and women with the gospel.
(Photo: David Cook.)
9Marks Journal — Evangelism. Part 1
“What does it mean to think through evangelism in a church-centered way?”
That’s the theme of the latest 9Marks Journal (September–October 2013), just released in several formats, for your edification.
Bad news and Good news in the Church of England
“First, the bad news. There are more examples of heresy in the hierarchy…”
– Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream writes for the American Anglican Council’s International Update.
Ten ways Gay activists shifted culture
“Whether you are a proponent of same-sex marriage, homosexuality or not, you have to respect the way gay activists have fundamentally transformed American society in one generation.
The plans and strategies of gay activism and how they went from being an oppressed minority to an elite protected status in mainstream culture is written in a book called After the Ball [published in 1990]…”
– from Charisma News.
What a Muslim teaches us
“Back in 1981, Christian hearts thrilled to see a mainstream popular film treat Christian conscience positively. The film was Chariots of Fire and the Christian conscience was that of Eric Liddell, the man who refused to run in the Olympics on a Sunday. It was just so different to see a man of genuine faith presented in a film as a hero instead of a moral failure or a narrow-minded hypocrite. …”
– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column “From the Dean”.
Religious freedom in America today — Bp David Anderson
“Sometimes, the battle you or I or some other Christian might face touches directly on our freedom of religion, and attempts to infringe or deny that to us because the exercise of our religion somehow offends someone else. At other times our freedom of speech is infringed or denied when what we say from a Biblical perspective is prohibited, punished or marginalized with the label of ‘hate speech.’ …”
– Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, takes a quick survey of recent challenges to religious freedom in the USA.
‘Kevin — Good Heavens!’
Sydney Anglicans has a roundup of responses to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s statements this week on the Bible.
Related:
- The Prime Minister on Q&A, Monday 2nd September.
- The Prime Minister amplifies his comments, Tuesday 3rd September.
- And Sandy Grant looks at some of the responses he received to his post yesterday – at The Briefing, Thursday 5th September.
(Photo: SydneyAnglicans.net.)
Shellfish, slavery and same-sex marriage — How not to read the Bible
“This confused way of handling the Bible springs from an ignorance of the Bible’s own narrative.”
Archbishop Glenn Davies writes for the ABC’s Religion and Ethics –
“In recent days a number of strange claims have been made about slavery and shellfish in the Bible. The line normally goes something like this: although the Bible prohibits God’s people from eating shellfish and also endorses slavery, we can disregard these ethical instructions because we have come of age and can see things differently. …”
Here it is formatted as a 2 A4 page handout (330kb PDF file) suitable for copying.
Free e-Book — The Universal Compass: Why Study the Bible?
People from all walks of life would benefit from getting to know and understand the Bible.
George Whitefield College in Capetown has made available, as a free e-Book, “The Universal Compass: Why Study the Bible?” by Dr David Seccombe (Principal, 1993-2012). From the first chapter:
“From the death of the last apostle, the Bible has been the determiner of true Christianity. Almost all churches have accepted it in their statements of belief as the written Word of God, and as the final authority in matters of faith. …
However, although most modern denominations still subscribe in their statements of faith to the Bible as the final authority, some have abandoned it in practical terms. This collapse of confidence stems from the philosophical mood of the past two centuries. Man has placed himself at the centre and rejected all forms of authority not based on his own discovery of truth. …
[This book] is written in the hope that you will begin to read the Bible for yourself, or be encouraged to study it more deeply, if you already are a Bible reader. My prayer is that you may also consider the possibility of full-time study in a Bible-believing theological or Bible college.”
– The book is available as a 4.4MB PDF file from this page on the College website.
Get a copy and pass on the link to others who would benefit.
‘PM misrepresents the Bible’
“Last night, on a serious Australian current affairs program, Q&A, our current serving Prime Minister, a self-professed Christian, grossly caricatured the Bible. ….”
– Sandy Grant responds to the Prime Minister’s statements on Q&A last night.
And Eternity Newspaper’s John Sandeman spoke today with the Prime Minister’s questioner, Pastor Matt Prater –
“I did get attacked a lot on social media last night. And got called a lot of nasty names. I just want to make it clear to anyone reading this that I am not a homophobe. I don’t hate homosexuals. I love everyone with the love of Jesus.”
(Images: ABC TV.)
Update:
The Prime Minister further explained his response (YouTube) in Launceston on Tuesday 3rd September.
Question lands pastor ‘in lion’s den’ – The Australian.
“The first time Pastor Matt Prater interviewed Kevin Rudd, the year was 2006 and the then opposition foreign affairs spokesman was deeply obliging. …”
And Sandy Grant reflects on the whole thing at The Briefing.
The answer to dull and boring preaching
What’s the place of illustrations in preaching? Or emotion? How can we make our preaching better?
Dr Peter Bolt is interviewed for the latest instalment of Preaching Matters from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London.
See it here. Invest 10 minutes of your time.
What is the Problem?
“Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, has issued his most serious and straightforward diagnosis of the crisis within the Anglican Communion.”
– The American Anglican Council’s Canon Phil Ashey thinks the Archbishop of Canterbury has made a serious misdiagnosis. Related: Tearing the Fabric. (PDF.)
Church of the Triune God
New from Aquila Press is Church of the Triune God, a Festschrift to honour Dr Robert Doyle.
From the Publisher’s blurb: “Church of the Triune God explores the work of the Trinity in the Church today in conversation with key theologians such as Calvin and Augustine, and explores how the three persons of the Trinity are active in the different aspects of church life, such as prayer, preaching and mission.”
Contributors, sample pages, and ordering information.
Barnabas Fund urges prayer for Syria and Egypt this weekend
“This Sunday (1 September), we are urging churches and individuals to hold a time of prayer for Syria and Egypt’s Christians.”
– Details from Barnabas Fund.
And you can find a prayer for ‘the Forgotten Church in Syria’ here. (h/t Carl Trueman.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…