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.

Advent, tyranny and freedom

“‘Free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny.’ These words come from the much-loved Advent carol, ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’. We sing it most years, and it has always moved me. The Lord Jesus comes to set me free.

Tyranny, though. Doesn’t that sound a little odd?…”

– Mike Ovey writes at the Oak Hill blog.

Digital Advent Calendar

In this 2 minute video Greg Clarke at The Bible Society introduces 25 days. 25 people. 25 words. for Christmas.

Sounds like a great idea – and ideal to pass on to your friends.

Indomitable Sydney? The challenge of Sydney Anglicanism

Michael Jensen from Moore College writes for the ABC’s Religion & Ethics –

“Evangelical Anglicans of the sort found in Sydney have good ground for claiming the Anglican heritage as their own and ought not to accept the view that they are in some way the illegitimate children of the Anglican family.”

– Read it all here.

Preaching Christmas 2012

“Suspend your disbelief, pastor. December is about to arrive on your pastoral doorstep. … Advent sermons will soon need preparing. Ere long we will stand before the old and young, the believer and skeptic, proclaiming the message that Angels once declared!

So how can we make the most of this opportunity?”

– Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman has some great advice, under these headings:

1.  Be sure the incarnation is thrilling your soul.
2.  Do not get original with your content.
3.  Keep “the packaging” of Christmas sermons fresh.
4.  Preach the full range of passages that address the Christmas theme.
5.  Consider consecutive Christmas preaching.
6.  Consider preaching individual texts.
7.  Remember to preach the Christmas narratives as fact not fiction.

Daily readings for Advent — free eBook from John Piper

“Advent is just around the corner. It starts the fourth Sunday before Christmas — this year, that’s December 2 — and is a season of preparation for Christmas Day.

The team here at Desiring God did a deep dive into our thirty-plus-year reservoir of sermons and articles, and selected brief devotional readings for each day of Advent. Our hope is that God would use these readings to deepen and sweeten your adoration of Jesus this Advent.”

– free eBook, Good News of Great Joy, from Desiring God. Worth checking out.

Anti-Santy Ranty — Christmas resource

Check out this 3 minute video from Christian book distributors 10ofthose.com in the UK. You can probably think of ways of using it evangelistically this Christmas.
(h/t Gary Ware.)

Now keep calm and carry on

“The reaction of the British media to the result in the ‘women bishops vote’ (I hesitate to call it ‘bishopsgate’ for fear of offending William Taylor) is as predictable as the vote itself was surprising. The essence of most of the commentary I have read is: the church has voted for oppression of women and has made itself irrelevant…”

– Insightful comment from Carl Trueman at Reformation21.

The women bishops vote in the Church of England

Dr Mark Thompson writes on last night’s defeat of the Consecration and Ordination of Women Measure in the Church of England’s General Synod:

“If it had been passed, the dissenters would be excluded even further from the life of the Church of England over the next ten years and before long, as in many parts of The Episcopal Church, acceptance of women in the episcopate would be the litmus test for ordination.”

Full text below. Read more

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