To Serve is to Suffer
“In a world where physical health, appearance, and convenience have gained almost idolatrous prominence, God may be calling Christians to demonstrate the glory of the gospel by being joyful and content while enduring pain and hardship. People who are unfulfilled after pursuing things that do not satisfy may be astonished to see Christians who are joyful and content after depriving themselves for the gospel. This may be a new way to demonstrate the glory of the gospel to this hedonistic culture.”
– Christianity Today has published this challenging essay by Ajith Fernando, national director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka.
30 days of prayer
Now that Ramadan has begun (August 11 – September 9 2010), it’s a great time to love Muslim people through prayer.
30-days.net has much helpful information, including PDF resources and a 2.2MB downloadable prayer guide. Worth passing on.
Who is Arthur Bennett?
At Between Two Worlds, Tony Reinke shares his research on the author of the much loved collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions, The Valley of Vision.
Federal Election resources
While not supporting any party, the Centre for Public Christianity has assembled a range of material to help Christians to make an informed choice in the coming Australian Federal Election.
As well, the Australian Christian Lobby has just posted a new interview with Julia Gillard, in addition to its earlier material.
August–September DNWA prayer notes
The latest Diocese of North West Australia Prayer Notes and Bishop’s Letter are now available on their website – for your prayers.
Preach Christ
“The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.”
– At Between Two Worlds, Tony Reinke has assembled some challenging reminders from C H Spurgeon.
Killing a Church
“Murchison argues that Old Money helped define, and unravel, the Episcopal Church. Growth and dynamism require entrepreneurship and risk. But who wants that when you have endowments and beautiful buildings? Provocateurs like Pike and Spong could push far, but there was far too little push back. Why risk the conflict?
Meanwhile, comfortable Episcopal elites, ever with a sense of noblesse oblige, embraced the Civil Rights Movement, denouncing segregation in 1955 as ‘contrary to the mind of Christ.’ Ten Episcopal bishops joined Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. The Episcopal Church then and now has few black members. But commendable civil rights activism sated a thirst for social change among Episcopalians that led directly into the feminist movement, including the 1970s ordination of women, and ultimately homosexual causes in the 1980s to the present. No longer mostly confined to saving souls, church elites saw themselves as liberating American society from ‘privilege.’…”
– in The American Spectator, Mark Tooley reviews Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity by William Murchison. (The book was published in 2009.)
Carl Trueman interviewed at Oak Hill
Carl Trueman, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Westminster Theological Seminary was a Visiting Lecturer at Oak Hill College in London earlier this year.
Principal Mike Ovey asked him about the doctrines of Scripture and of Justification in three videos just posted on the Oak Hill website.
Part 1: The doctrine of Scripture.
Part 2: The doctrine of Justification.
Part 3: Holiness and the New Perspective on Paul.
Total running time of about 24 minutes. Worth watching.
New Moore College video: Meet some of our Students
This 3 minute 30 second video from Moore College could be used to promote the college in your church. (The 29MB file is downloadable if you are registered with Vimeo.)
Tim Keller free Audiobook
ChristianAudio’s free audiobook download for August 2010 is Tim Keller’s 1997 book Ministries of Mercy – the call of the Jericho road.
Five top Missions books
Kevin DeYoung writes:
“As you may recall, Greg Gilbert and I are working on a book tentatively titled What is the Mission of the Church? Hence, over the past several months we’ve been reading dozens of missiological tomes. There are tons of missions resources, and we barely scratched the surface with our reading. But from what I’ve read, here are my Fav Five books on the theology of mission…”
– Many of our readers will be familiar with the number one book – and probably the number two book – in Kevin’s list.
Do Christians need a Christian prime minister?
“Recently disendorsed NSW Liberal candidate, David Barker, expressed concern that Julia Gillard was ‘anti-God’ and that a non-Liberal vote would be a vote for Muslims, thus reintroducing religion, kicking and screaming in protest, to the campaign agenda.
Associated with the NSW Christian right, Mr Barker’s comments raise the question of whether Christians in Australia expect a Christian prime minister…”
– Greg Clarke, Director of the Centre for Public Christianity, had this thoughtful opinion-piece published on the ABC’s ‘The Drum Unleashed’ yesterday.
Don Carson on ‘The God Who is There’
This looks to be very helpful. Andy Naselli writes,
“On February 20-21 and 27-28, 2009, Don Carson presented a 14-part seminar entitled ‘The God Who Is There’ at Bethlehem Baptist Church’s North Campus in Minneapolis. This series will serve the church well because it simultaneously evangelises non-Christians and edifies Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way.
The series is geared toward ‘seekers’ and articulates Christianity in a way that causes hearers either to reject or embrace the gospel. It’s one thing to know the Bible’s storyline, but it’s another to know one’s role in God’s ongoing story of redemption. ‘The God Who Is There’ engages people at the worldview-level.
And now MP3s (full) and video (10-minute previews) are available for Carson’s 14-part series…”
– All the links are here. (h/t Justin Taylor.)
Culture and Theology seminar on Homosexuality
Matt Chandler at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, recently addressed a topic he had previously stayed away from. In a 2 hour Culture and Theology seminar on Homosexuality, Matt provides a great deal of food for thought. Well worth your time.
Dated ‘5.21.10’ on the Studies & Seminars page, here’s a direct link to the 35MB mp3 file.
Moving Forward?
“After the strident, disdainful renunciation of the Communion’s official teaching concerning sexuality, as expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10, and in direct opposition to and repudiation of the request of the Instruments of Communion, the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury in his 2010 Pentecost Letter has been as devastating as a feather duster and as effective as an ashtray on a motorbike…”
– Bishop Glenn Davies writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Related: ‘Dialogue’ trumps Scripture — again?
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…