Living with the Underworld
Next month, the Equip Book Club looks at Peter Bolt’s very helpful book, Living with the Underworld. In preparation, they’ve published a short interview with Peter.
– at the Equip Book Club.
Rowan Williams and Revelation wrapped up
“Last Sunday, 25th January, the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a sermon at Great St Mary’s Church, Cambridge, England as the Diocese of Ely launched its 900th anniversary celebrations. Although barely noticed by the press, it was an event which brought a lamentable truth into sharp focus — that despite centuries of Christian heritage, what now passes for Anglicanism in England has drifted far apart from the faith which GAFCON reaffirmed last year in the Jerusalem Declaration.
While it is the part the Archbishop has played in the advocacy of homosexual lifestyles over the past twenty years which has attracted the most controversy, the heart of the problem is his understanding of the doctrine of revelation. …”
– Charles Raven at SPREAD reflects on one’s attitude to holy Scripture.
You can read the Archbishop’s Hulsean sermon at his website.
It’s interesting to read something of the history of The Hul’sean Lectures. They began in 1777 with four or six sermons preached each year at Great St. Mary’s, Cambridge.
Some of the sermons are available online, such as this 1867 book of four sermons by The Rev. Edward Henry Perowne in which he upholds ‘The Godhead of Jesus’. He wrote about his own aim in fulfilling the purpose of the lectures –
“It is the duty of the Christian minister to resolve the doubts of others, not to engender them by parading his own. … I shall endeavour to shew from the Gospel narrative that the Jesus, of whom the Evangelists wrote, is very and eternal God.” [pages 5–6]
‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God who giveth to all liberally. Only let him ask in faith, nothing doubting’ the goodness or power of the Most High. It was with the hope of helping such persons to a right conclusion that this Lectureship was established, no less than to confute the assailants of our Holy Religion. My object will be, in the three succeeding Lectures, to state concisely some of the grounds on which we may rest a defence of this doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ.” [page 17]
How do you use Greek in the pulpit?
“Before the ESV was available, I used another translation that was a little freer in its translation philosophy. There were two Sundays in a row where I had to correct its interpretation to make what I thought was the true point of the passage. After the service a new Christian came to me and asked, ‘Can I not trust my Bible?’ Ouch!
So here is one of the big no-noes from the pulpit. Do not correct the English Bible. Ever! Never say, ‘the translators got this wrong.’ The damage you can do to a person’s trust in Scripture is unimaginable. …”
– Read Bill Mounce’s wisdom on the way forward at Zondervan’s Koinonia blog. (h/t Challies.com)
Christian Life Conference 2009: Name Above All Names
Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis ran its Christian Life Conference last Friday to Sunday with the theme “Name Above All Names”.
Scottish-born pastors Alistair Begg (pictured) and Sinclair Ferguson spoke and the audio is now available online, thanks to Second Presbyterian.
Alistair Begg serves at Parkside Church near Cleveland, Ohio, and previously pastored churches in Scotland. Sinclair Ferguson serves at the First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina – and has worked with the Banner of Truth and at St George’s-Tron Church in Glasgow. (h/t Between Two Worlds.)
Why don’t we just quit preaching?
“Considering the widespread popularity of engaging anecdotes and vivid vignettes, wouldn’t it be more effective to simply tell a few captivating stories on Sunday Morning? And why think specifically about expositional preaching — that brand so often associated with excruciating boredom and half-empty pews? In our fast paced society of sports tickers and sound bite infotainment, can we really expect anyone to have the patience for a serious exposition of an ancient text?”
– The NineMarks website has some excellent resources for expository preaching. It’s the first the ‘nine marks’of a healthy church as promoted by Mark Dever.
Split in church is tragically real
“Recent opinion pieces published in the Gazette about divisions in the Episcopal Church reveal more than intended.
One writes that only ‘four bishops’ have left the church and that ‘the vast majority of Episcopal churches’ don’t want to leave. This is the Episcopal Church’s oft repeated mantra — division in the church is numerically minor, therefore wildly overblown. This rhetoric fuels the crisis it seeks to deny. It isn’t helpful to claim that there is some smoke but no fire when there are flames everywhere. …”
– Suzanne Schwank, Chairwoman of the Diocece of South Carolina’s Department of Christian Faith Formation writes in The Beaufort Gazette.
(Photo from the Presiding Bishop’s visit to South Carolina in 2008.)
Just where is the church?
Today I was briefly looking online at a paper by a certain Colin Podmore, titled The Governance of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, to be presented at the next General Synod in February. In it we find what I consider to be the ‘institutional revisionist’ understanding now dominant in the Church of England …
– John Richardson responds to the assertion that ‘the church’ = ‘the diocese’ – at The Ugley Vicar.
Disconnecting Gene Robinson
“Gene Robinson is not confused. He knows where he is going. On hearing the news that Rick Warren had been invited to lead the invocation he told the New York Times that ‘it was like a slap in the face,’ adding that ‘the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.’…”
– writes Charles Raven, Director of The Society for the Propagation of Reformed Evangelical Anglican Doctrine.
Doing my part for the Listening Process
“On Sunday, January 11 Presiding Bishop Katharine Schori visited my old parish for a one-hour question-and-answer session as part of her visit to the diocese of Mississippi. …”
– Greg Griffith of Stand Firm reports on Katharine Jefferts Schori’s responses and reflects on the impact of her visit. (Photo: Greg Griffith.)
What can I pray for my Pastor’s preaching?
Colin Adams at Unashamed Workman shares ten helpful guidelines for prayers for those who labour in preaching.
Why Join a Small Church?
If you don’t already attend a small church, what would you say if someone you didn’t know admonished you that you ought to attend a small church? Would you seriously entertain the thought? …
– Reviewer Mark Tubbs recommends John Benton’s Why Join a Small Church? at Discerning Reader.
(The book is available through Moore Books.)
The definitive D. A. Carson sermon resource
“The Gospel Coalition is now the home of 443 sermons by Don Carson, all available for download free of charge. The search tools at the Coalition site are better than most. …
We have to thank Andy Naselli, Ben Peays and Ryan James for collecting, tagging and uploading all this Carson goodness.”
– Todd Shaffer at Faith by Hearing.
See the entire collection at The Gospel Coalition.
CMS NSW 2008 Annual Dinner talk
CMS NSW has posted online the video of Steve Etherington’s talk given at last year’s Annual Dinner. He spoke about ‘the Intervention that matters’. Very challenging.
The open Bible in England — F.F. Bruce
“When William Tyndale, as John Foxe tells us, uttered his dying prayer at the stake at Vilvorde on 6 October 1536, ‘Lord, open the king of England’s eyes’, he could not have known that his prayer was already beginning to be fulfilled.
Twelve months earlier, a complete English Bible had been printed on the Continent (probably at Cologne, the setting of the first and abortive attempt to print Tyndale’s New Testament ten years before). This English Bible, the work of Tyndale’s associate Miles Coverdale, was largely dependent on Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament, the Pentateuch and Jonah …”
– Church Society has republished this 1988 Churchman article by F.F. Bruce (PDF file direct link).
Atheists play their hand — Probability
The news first broke last year, when atheists in Great Britain announced the intention to put their message on London’s famous city buses. Atheist celebrities including Richard Dawkins and A. C. Grayling joined the campaign and enjoyed the publicity. Now, the atheists are taking their advertising campaign throughout Britain, with 800 buses carrying their message. …
In some sense, this campaign almost looks like a joke on atheists planned and performed by believers in God.
– Al Mohler is not convinced.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…