That’s Easter — Death to Life

Last year, St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London produced a couple of very helpful short videos for Easter. You may like to consider how you could use this one.

No faith in their hatred

“The Global Atheists Convention in Melbourne last weekend worked a miracle on me. I’ve never felt more like believing in God. Especially the Christian one.

My near conversion occurred because the convention’s speakers managed to confirm my worst fear.

No, it’s not that God may actually exist, and be cross that I doubted. It’s that if the Christian God really is dead, then there’s not much to stop people here from being barbarians. …”

– Andrew Bolt, columnist with the Herald-Sun in Melbourne.

Importantly, see also the preview of Peter Hitchens, “The Rage Against God” – at Between Two Worlds. (Peter Hitchens is Christopher Hitchens’ brother.)

David Cook on ‘Persuasive preaching’

Last month, David Cook, Principal of Sydney Missionary Bible College, was at Oak Hill College in London for their School of Preaching.

His talks focussed “on the evangelism we can do in our preaching, on the theology we need to have in place and the practical areas we need to work on”. Very helpful and encouraging.

Oak Hill has kindly made the audio recordings available.

Honouring Christ

“We are beset by problems.

Outside the Church is the collapsing nature of society as it abandons its Christian heritage; this impacts families, the workplace, school, and the Church. At its worst is the growing antagonism to Biblical Christianity.

Inside the Church we see the fruit of theological liberalism in false teaching, decline and immorality. Ritualism is now accepted as the norm and much so-called evangelicalism now believes what liberals believed a generation ago.

In the midst of all this how can we honour Christ? …”

– David Phillips, General Secretary of Church Society, writes in the Winter 2010 edition of Cross†Way. (PDF file.)

The Trellis and the Vine discussion guide

At The Sola Panel, Ian Carmichael reports:

“We at Matthias Media have recently made available a free and downloadable discussion guide for Col Marshall and Tony Payne’s The Trellis and the Vine. Download it from our Australian or North American store.”

– Read more and get the links here. (Plug from Mark Dever here.)

Are we still responsible for sins for which we may be genetically predisposed?

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds quotes these helpful words from Tom Schreiner at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky–

“Even if some sins could be traced to our genetics, it would not exempt us from responsibility for such sins. The Scriptures teach that all human beings are born into this world as sons and daughters of Adam, and hence they are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).   Read more

What would you want on your tombstone?

What is the resurrection to you? What part does it hold in your thinking?

NSW Moderator of The Presbyterian Church, Chris Balzer, wrote this for the Presbyterian magazine, Pulse:

–––––

“A few months ago a friend and I ‘discovered’ the graveyard at Sofala NSW.

From my perspective, the most interesting inscription on a tombstone was this:

The dust of Vestry Walker, who slept in Jesus 28th August 1875, waits here (until) the morning of the first resurrection.

If you call yourself a Christian, would you be pleased at the thought that your relatives might use similar words on your tombstone? I would.

What theological insight those relatives of Vestry Walker had! Can you see the theology?   Read more

God’s power in our weakness

“I wonder whether the provision of MP3s of sermons of great preachers now available everywhere is in danger of creating another Corinthian problem for our churches…”

– Over at SydneyAnglicans.net, Bishop Robert Forsyth has a good point – see what he has to say here. (Download the mp3 file.)
Photo: Russell Powell.

Of Earthquakes and End Times

“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” (Mark 13:7-8 TNIV)

Not long after the 2004 tsunami that devastated Indonesia and neighboring countries, a document was circulating on the internet, purportedly showing a dramatic rise in earthquakes in recent years and using that to fuel fervor that Christ’s return was imminent. …

– New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg puts earthquakes in their Biblical context. (Photo: Denver Seminary.)

Brothers, We are not Figure-Skaters

Tempted to go soft on proclaiming the Bible? Encouraging words in this 2’25” video clip from Phil Johnson at Grace Community Church in California.

The Phantom Menace: Territorial Spirits and SLSW

Church Society has just republished a very helpful ten-year-old article by Melvin Tinker on popular notions of ‘spiritual warfare’.

“The aim of our spiritual warfare is not to disarm principalities and powers, which Christ has already done (Colossians 2:15). That is why he is seated above every rule and authority and why in principle Christians are seated with him in complete security (Eph 2:6). The objective of spiritual warfare is to ‘stand’.”

It’s available as a PDF file from their website.

On related topics, see also Peter Bolt’s Living with the Underworld (Get copies from Reformers, Moore Books) and Christ’s Victory over Evil (Moore Books, Reformers).

Liverpool’s Muddy Waters flow towards Africa

“The Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd James Jones, has today shown just what a liability the Church of England is becoming to the rest of the Anglican Communion. Liverpool stands to the north of the estuary of the great Mersey River, now cleansed and restored to life after the pollution of the industrial age, but its spiritual waters are being sadly muddied.

In his Presidential Address to the Liverpool Diocesan Synod, Bishop Jones argues that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion should embrace diversity and accept that those who believe homosexual relationships are morally wrong and those who believe that, within a ‘stable and faithful relationship’, they are right can enjoy a peaceful co-existence.

He is of course by no means the first bishop of the Church of England to put this argument forward, but this is a significant moment because he is a prominent evangelical. …

But what is particularly arresting about the Bishop of Liverpool’s address is its scope. It presents a vision which does not stop at the boundaries of his own diocese. His plea is ‘that the Church of England and the Anglican Communion must allow a variety of ethical views on the subject as in this Diocese we do’ and he adds ‘This is I believe the next chapter to be written in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. It is the chapter that is already being written in our Partnership in Mission with the Diocese of Virginia and with the Diocese of Akure in Nigeria.’”

– from Charles Raven’s latest commentary (6th March 2010) at SPREAD.

Read the bishop’s Presidential Address.

See also:

Commentary from John Richardson – “Bishop James Jones and the challenge to unity”

“The number of traditionalist clergy in the Diocese of Liverpool may be large or small, but they must surely be waking up this morning with troubled consciences. The Bishop has declared not only his own position but, ostensibly, that of his diocese as being one which accepts diversity on sexuality.”

Peter Ould also weighs in – “Why James Jones is Wrong”

(Photo: Diocese of Liverpool.)

William Taylor on good preaching, bad theology, training pastors and more

In the latest 9Marks leadership interview series, Mark Dever speaks with William Taylor, Rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate in London.

It’s a fascinating interview covering, among other things, being an evangelical in the Church of England, the New Testament’s emphasis on the substitutionary atonement, and NT Wright. Worth listening.

Rico Tice on why the Resurrection matters

Here’s a very useful 14 minute evangelistic video with Rico Tice, co-author of Christianity Explored. He starts off by drawing six familiar boxes on a piece a paper…

It was produced for A Passion for Life, the [UK] “nationwide initiative that is drawing together local evangelical churches to plan a fantastic variety of missional initiatives culminating in Easter 2010”.

While this particular video is not able to be downloaded (it’s available on DVD in the UK), you could think of other ways to use it, since embedding is allowed – and the URL also could be passed on.

Pornography = Despair, Jesus = Hope

Keep an eye out for these Outreach Posters around Sydney (March 2010) – there may be opportunities for helpful conversions about the One who is our Hope.

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