A Christian celebrity?
“A few years back I attended a conference celebrating the 300th anniversary of Jonathan Edwards. J. I. Packer was one of the keynote speakers and I was eager to get a book autographed by him. I purchased a hardcover 20th anniversary edition of Knowing God, and made a beeline for Packer after the conclusion of his presentation.
For 30 minutes after his speech he was swarmed by scores of young men, some asking questions, others seeking advice, most simply listening, all seeking to have him autograph something. Two things happened during that time that I will never forget. The first is something Packer wrote, the second is something he refused to. …”
– Josh Gelatt writes on J. I. Packer’s legacy of leading with humility.
A ‘pregnant man’?
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn’t,” the famed literary character Alice quipped. “And contrary wise; what it is wouldn’t be, and what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”
The aforementioned quote from Lewis Carroll’s children’s classic, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” seems to be nonsense. But if you read it again slowly – very slowly – you will see that it adequately sums up the current state of sexual dysfunction in America. …
Kelly Boggs comments on the story that’s gripped many media outlets in the last week – from Baptist Press. (Kelly Boggs’ photo from Baptist Press.)
Don’t waste your life
What does the ‘unwasted life’ look life?
All Christians need to be continually challenged on this. Hear John Piper on The Appearance of the Unwasted Life – Part 1 (audio and video) and Part 2.
Invest your time by being challenged to treasure Christ more.
The Limits of Fellowship – Phillip D Jensen
This important address given by Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, at the Sydney Lambeth Decision Briefing on March 14 has attracted widespread interest.
Although it is already available as a 70 minute audio file and a PDF file, we are also making it available as a web page, for greater accessibility.
Click here to read it all – in our Resources section.
New Tribes of the Internet Age
Writing in The Times, Fleur Britten tells of a class of ‘Digital Nomads’ who dwell in coffee shops and wherever wireless hotspots are found. These new workers are a professional class that needs no office and have nothing but a digital address. …
The Digital Natives and Digital Nomads also represent a significant missiological and evangelistic challenge for the Christian church. …
– on reaching the world of today with the gospel – from SBTS President Al Mohler.
Concerning Preaching
Could it be that the devil considers the best strategy to seduce evangelicals away from the power of true biblical proclamation is actually to focus their attention and energies on preaching more and more?
– William Philip, now Minister at The Tron in central Glasgow, wrote this paper for the Proclamation Trust when he was their Director of Ministry.
Read the paper here – and see what other resources Proc Trust has on offer.
The Reason for God – Tim Keller
Why does God allow suffering in the world?
How could a loving God send people to Hell?
Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive?
How can one religion be ‘right’ and the others ‘wrong’?
Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, has compiled a list of the most frequently voiced doubts skeptics bring to his church as well as the most important reasons for faith. In his new book, The Reason for God, he addresses each.
See the book’s website at www.thereasonforgod.com.
Episcopal confusion in San Joaquin
“In December of 2007, the convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted to remove any constitutional link between itself and the Episcopal Church and affiliate instead with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone… It was not, however, a clean break. Some seven of the diocese’s 47 congregations clearly elected – with no particular surprises here – to remain connected to TEC and therefore sever their relationship with Bishop Schofield and the departing/departed convention. …”
– Commentary in the Midwest Conservative Journal over confusing legal questions around the ‘Special Convention’ to be convened in the Diocese of San Joaquin today by the Presiding Bishop.
See also the website of the ‘reconstituted’ TEC Diocese of San Joaquin.
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
I must admit, once I started Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor, I could barely put it down. This has to be one of the most challenging and yet encouraging books I have read in quite some time.
As far as biographies go, this one was unlike any other biography I have ever read. …
Read this review of Don Carson’s book about his Dad.
Why the Global Anglican Future Conference is Necessary
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Communion Office, Middle East bishops, Episcopal Church liberal bishops, Church of England liberals and some 25 Church of England evangelical bishops wish that the June meeting of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) in the Middle East would either evaporate, or, at a minimum, be little more than a prelude to the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. …
– Opinion from David Virtue on VirtueOnline.
Biographical sketch of D.A. Carson
Professor Don Carson spoke at Moore College in Sydney yesterday. Andreas Köstenberger writes, “While many know D. A. Carson for his mind and his impressive scholarly writings, fewer people know the heart that produces those works.”
Professor Köstenberger (Professor of New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) has written a helpful biographical sketch of Don Carson – available as a PDF file.
(Thanks to Between Two Worlds for the link.)
Christianity vs. Liberalism
What are the main differences between classical vs. liberal approaches to the Christian faith? In the 1920s, J. Gresham Machen argued that these two perspectives were, in reality, two completely different religious systems. Was he right?
Dr. Michael Horton and friends at The White Horse Inn broadcast are continuing their discussion on “Christless Christianity”. Very helpful.
(Preachers: How clear is the gospel you preach at funerals? Are you preaching a liberal ‘gospel’?) Listen to this week’s episode at The White Horse Inn.
On a related topic, Al Mohler asks, “Has the Notion of Sin Disappeared?”
Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
To answer the question of Jesus’ resurrection from a historical standpoint, we must first determine what facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth can be credibly established on the basis of the evidence …
A useful summary by William Lane Craig on Baptist Press.
See also SBTS President Al Mohler’s column on “Must One Believe in the Resurrection to be a Christian?” –
Now, [Deepak Chopra, the New Age president of the Alliance for a New Humanity] writes as one who knows he is “someone outside the Christian faith,” but what makes his point so interesting is that it is almost precisely the argument made by liberal Protestant theology – that it is enough to believe that the Apostles experienced a special consciousness of the risen Christ.
Spurgeon on Preaching Christ
“I believe that those sermons which are fullest of Christ are the most likely to be blessed to the conversion of the hearers. Let your sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to end crammed full of the gospel. As for myself, brethren, I cannot preach anything else but Christ and His cross, for I know nothing else, and long ago, like the apostle Paul, I determined not to know anything else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. …”
Advice from C. H. Spurgeon, via Between Two Worlds.
The Intensity of Christ’s Love and the Intentionality of His Death
The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”
– a meditation from John Piper.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…