Making the most of Christmas

“Here are a few rough and ready suggestions I jotted up for our church about “making the most of every opportunity” (Col 4:5 NIV) for the gospel from the Christmas season…”

– Sandy Grant shares some good ideas at The Briefing.

Peter Adam on Powerful Preaching

Dr Peter Adam was interviewed at St. Helen’s in London for their video series ‘Preaching Matters’.

Most encouraging. (h/t Paul Levy.)

Don Carson at Geneva Push – talks online

Don Carson’s talks from this week’s Geneva Push conference (Multiply ’12) are now online.

In Praise of Singing

“Music is emotional: be it happiness or sorrow it engages us emotionally (e.g. Psalm 137, James 5:13). Singing gives voice to our emotions. Congregational singing unites us in expressing our common belief by articulating how Christians feel.

A fortnight ago, at the thanksgiving for the life of John Chapman, the force and beauty of congregational singing was palpable. Maybe it was because I was standing in the middle of the congregation, between the organ and the brass, that I was overwhelmed by the sheer power of the music, but others have commented to me about the effects of the hymns. …”

– Phillip Jensen, Dean of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney, writes.

The Kirk without the People

“In PR terms it has been a disaster for the Church of Scotland and one entirely of their own making.”

– Peter Robertson at St. Peter’s Free Church in Dundee writes a detailed response, from his outside perspective, to the Church of Scotland’s public statement on the departure of the congregation of St. George’s Tron.

Related: A new home for our church family

“The Tron church family has moved. Sunday morning 9 December 2012 was our last meeting in the St George’s building in Buchanan Street and we are now preparing to formally hand over the building as soon as possible to the Presbytery of Glasgow as requested. We have begun a new stage in our life as a church family, meeting as normal but in our new location: 25 Bath Street. It’s just a block away from the old building and we’ll have all our services there from now.”

(To see something of the building, check this video.
And please pray for the members of The Tron.)

A new old translation

A newly digitised text of The Revised Version of 1885 has been added to the Bible translations available at YouVersion. The RV was a key precursor to the RSV and the ESV.

It might not be for everyone, but Dr. Broughton Knox, who would often be seen carrying his battered copy of the RV, would be pleased.

Luke’s Acts as a Historical Source for Paul

“The Acts of the Apostles is critical to historians for establishing (a) the connection between Jesus and earliest Christianity, and (b) a chronology of the life of Paul and its relationship with his letters. In this brief paper we will direct our attention to (b). …”

– Bishop Paul Barnett explores New Testament historicity – at his blog.

Oak Hill magazine – Winter 2012-13

The latest Commentary magazine from Oak Hill in London is now on their website – it’s downloadable as a 12MB PDF file. Individual articles are also available – from this page.

Well worth a read.

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.

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.

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.

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.

← Previous Page — Next Page →