Packer on Preaching
“When did you last hear a sermon that spent 50% of the time on application? J. I. Packer has insightfully analysed contemporary and historic approaches to preaching over his years as a pastor and scholar. In this featured article, drawn from the summer edition of Churchman, Benjamin Dean outlines Packer’s approach to preaching…”
– Today’s post on Church Society’s blog.
Thomas Cranmer and the fear of death
“On 21st March 1556, Thomas Cranmer, was marched out to Oxford’s University Church.
However many thousands of services he had attended in over twenty years serving as Archbishop of Canterbury, this was to be his last. Condemned as a heretic, he was to be burned, like so many of his protestant colleagues and friends under the short but bloody reign of Mary. A small cobbled cross on Oxford’s Broad Street still marks the spot to this day…”
– For Church Society’s Formulary Friday, Sam Brewster draws us to consider the ninth Homily, ‘An Exhortation Against The Fear Of Death”.
Catching up on the Annual Moore College Lectures
If you missed the 38th Annual Moore College Lecture series by Professor Kevin Vanhoozer, you can catch up here.
A Biblical Doctrine of Humanity
Tim Keller spoke at this year’s Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London – on a doctrine of humanity.
You can watch it here, thanks to the Proclamation Trust. Very relevant to many contemporary situations.
(The theme of this year’s EMA: “Identity Crisis: Preaching to a Confused World”. The audio files are already available.)
Creation and new creation
“In this second part of his consideration of Psalm 104, Dan Wu looks at the difference between the world’s sinfulness, the joy of the psalm and how we should respond.”
– from the Moore College website. (Part 1 here.)
Annual Moore College Lectures 2015
Professor Kevin J. Vanhoozer is delivering this year’s Annual Moore College Lectures, starting 7th August. Free and open to the public. Details here.
If you can’t get there in person, the first lecture will be streamed live.
A Clear or Cloudy Gospel? – A review of ‘The Suburban Captivity of the Church’
“An interesting juxtaposition of events happened to me last week. I found myself reading Tim Foster’s The Suburban Captivity of the Church at the same time as eagerly following the consultation conference of the Australian chapter of The Gospel Coalition.
Tim Foster is the Vice Principal of Ridley Theological College in Melbourne and the book has been shortlisted for the Australian Christian Book of the year award. The Gospel Coalition Australia is a local iteration of The Gospel Coalition originating in the US. Two voices labouring to see Australia won for Christ. Yet, given the difference in descriptions of the gospel were so significant, I felt it prudent to review Foster’s recent book.
The major purpose of Foster’s Suburban Captivity is ‘… to develop a theology of gospel and culture, and then illustrate how contextualisation works.’ (p. 5). …
It’s not a pedestrian read. Foster strongly denounces conceptions of the Gospel that centre upon the sacrifice at Calvary, and calls for a reconceptualisation of the Gospel around God’s wider purposes. We are told in no uncertain terms that this is the only way to break the shackles of our suburban captivity…”
– An important review by Mark Earngey, an ACL member currently studying Reformation theology and history at the University of Oxford.
Tim Foster has posted this response.
Creation and the Christian
“One of the most sustained reflections on the nature of created life is Psalm 104. In this article I’d like to offer some thoughts drawn from this psalm on what it means for us to be made by God. These are not the only things that can be said about our created nature but they are very helpful in our approach to life in this world…”
– Moore College lecturer on Old Testament and Biblical Languages, Dan Wu, turns to Psalm 104 at the College’s Think Tank. Take the time to be encouraged by it.
True Repentance — Peter Jensen on Judges chapter 10
From Moore College:
“Former Archbishop (and College Principal) Peter Jensen preached on Judges 10 at St Andrew’s Cathedral on 12 July.
We are convinced this is a message that should be heard by as many people as possible and are pleased to be able to make it available through our podcast.”
Listen to Archbishop Peter Jensen’s sermon here (14MB mp3 file).
Same-sex intimate unions
Moore Theological College Principal, Dr Mark Thompson, has written a very helpful piece to aid Christians in their thinking and discourse in the current debate around same-sex marriage. Read more
‘Redefining Sex and Marriage: how to think, live and speak as Christians’
The next event at the Centre for Christian Living at Moore College is on Wednesday August 26.
The topic is: “Redefining Sex and Marriage: how to think, live and speak as Christians when the world heads in a different direction”.
Sandy Grant and Tony Payne will be speaking. Details here.
The success of the Left
“There are now fewer in our denomination who remember the way the church was pre 1977.
I began to teach Sunday School at Waverley Presbyterian in 1968. The curriculum consisted of situational ethics. There was no gospel being taught, indeed, in the wider church, those who refused to use the imposed Sunday School material were hounded out of the church. Liberalism in the majority is always thoroughly intolerant!
These were the days when our training institutions imposed a deadening liberalism by training clergy with no gospel to preach, no propitiatory sacrifice, no substitutionary atonement, no bodily resurrection, and no new life…”
– In one of his recent opinion pieces, Presbyterian Moderator-General David Cook reminds us of the ever-present danger of theological liberalism.
(Image: St. Helen’s Bishopsgate.)
Expositional Preaching – new 9Marks Journal
The latest 9Marks Journal is out. It’s on expositional (otherwise called expository) preaching.
Did you forget the Cross?
At the recent NEXUS Conference, Chris Braga gave a very helpful 18 minute exhortation.
Does your church or Christian organisation explicitly speak of the Cross of Christ and what it means?
Or is it assumed?
Encouragement: It’s not too long – watch the video in your Parish Council meetings, committee meetings, home groups, staff meetings – at GoThereFor.com.
Related: Mission Minded.
The Huguenot Heart
Bishop Paul Barnett spoke at the Huguenot Heritage Church service for the Huguenot Society at Scots Church in Sydney yesterday and shares his notes from the event –
“I am not of Huguenot descent. But let me speak today about the Huguenot heart…”
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…