The Historical Reliability of the Gospel of Luke — Peter Williams
Dr. Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House in Cambridge, spoke at an event for St. Helen’s Bishopsgate last week.
His topic? “The Historical Reliability of the Gospel of Luke”. The 54 minute audio file and is well worth hearing and passing on.
Update: the video of the slides is now available.
Healed at Last — What promise am I given?
“When we bow our heads and bend our knees in prayer to the God of all creation, we participate in an impossibly privileged activity. To be able to meet with the one whom the Old Testament saints feared even to name, let alone look upon (lest they be consumed by his glory and die), should be a cause for great humility and no small amount of trembling. The Christian holds an astonishing status before God. On any day, at any time of the day, we may approach God to speak with him personally. We are to approach him as his own children—without fear and with confidence, but always in an attitude of reverent awe and deep respect.
Very often, however, it seems we forget that it is a privilege to come before our Father God – a privilege that Jesus won for us by his sacrifice on the cross. Too often Christians exhibit a bawdy familiarity that verges on contempt. Our regular presence in the throne room can cause us to develop a tendency towards carelessness and presumption, and our humble caution turns into disrespect.…”
– In this extract from his book “Healed at Last”, Scott Blackwell looks at how Christians should pray for healing, and what they should expect. But there’s much more to the extract than that.
Read it at The Briefing, and you can order the book here.
Reading the Bible — Regularly, carefully, prayerfully
The latest two posts by David Cook, Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church, deal with sin, and reading the Bible (respectively). Here’s a quote from “Reading the Bible – Regularly, carefully, prayerfully”.
“Do you wonder how many people in church read the Bible regularly? The latest statistics I could find from the Bible Society are 19% read on a daily basis, 14% several times a week, 10.5% several times a moth. That means that more than half are not reading the Bible at all. We need to do something about this.”
The church David attends is seeking to do something.
Both posts are under Moderator General’s Comments (you may need to scroll down to 20 May 2014 to find them).
30 Days of Prayer
This year’s 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World prayer guide is now available from their website.
A very practical and heart-felt way to show love for Muslim people with a focus during Ramadan, June 28 – July 27.
NEXUS registration closes tomorrow
Thinking of going to the NEXUS Conference on Monday May 26th?
If so, bear in mind that registration closes on Wednesday May 21st.
‘How Jesus Became God’: A Review
“Ehrman’s core argument is that Jesus was a mere man who gradually, over time, came to be regarded as more and more divine, until he was ultimately (in the fourth century) regarded as the God of the universe.”
– At Reformation21, Mike Kruger (pictured) reviews Bart Ehrman’s latest book, “How Jesus Became God”.
Why so many churches hear so little of the Bible
“It is well and good for the preacher to base his sermon on the Bible, but he better get to something relevant pretty quickly, or we start mentally to check out.” That stunningly clear sentence reflects one of the most amazing, tragic, and lamentable characteristics of contemporary Christianity: an impatience with the Word of God.
The sentence above comes from Mark Galli, senior managing editor of Christianity Today in an essay entitled, “Yawning at the Word.” In just a few hundred words, he captures the tragedy of a church increasingly impatient with and resistant to the reading and preaching of the Bible. We may wince when we read him relate his recent experiences, but we also recognize the ring of truth. …
– Albert Mohler writes on the famine of hearing the Word of God.
Investigating Paul’s backstory
“Paul Barnett, a leading historian of early Christianity, investigates the period sometimes labelled the ‘unknown years’ of Paul’s ministry (i.e. the 14 years between his Damascus Road experience and first missionary journey), in order to provide a foundation for interpreting Galatians. He convincingly accounts for Paul’s activities during that span, and offers a compelling interpretation of sections of Galatians based on his reconstruction…”
– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Moore College’s Philip Kern reviews Paul Barnett’s new book, Paul in Syria: The Background to Galatians. (Published by Paternoster in the UK, the book does not seem to be widely available just yet, but will be worth getting when it is. The ISBN is 9781842278536.)
Formulary Friday: Taking to heart
“We can tend to have a low view of memorisation – perhaps it conjures up those dreary school lessons spent reciting the kings and queens of England, or, still worse, we associate it with a dead spirituality, all outward forms and vain repetition. But, just as we might want to commit particular Scriptural verses or passages to memory, I’d like to suggest that we might find it helpful to do the same for parts of the liturgy – that liturgical familiarity is more often a friend than it is a foe.”
– Mark Smith at Church Society reckons it’s a good idea to open that Prayer Book. See why here.
The Church Singing — latest 9Marks Journal
Check out the latest 9Marks Journal –
“In this edition of the 9Marks Journal, we start with singing and the song. Why do congregations sing, what should they sing about, and how can they sing better?
We then think more carefully about the music itself, particularly with two different perspectives on whether or not some musical forms are better than others. Finally we think about what is involved in leading music.”
Free eBook on Isaac Watts
“In an age of simplistic and repetitive choruses, many churches are rediscovering the blessing of theologically rich and biblically informed songs. In the latest addition to our A Long Line of Godly Men Profile series, Douglas Bond introduces us to Isaac Watts, ‘the father of English hymnody.’…”
– free eBook from Ligonier Ministries during May 2014.
David Cook on Gospel Preaching
David Cook has been preaching evangelistically for St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London.
While there, he was interviewed about Gospel Preaching for the Preaching Matters series. Most encouraging.
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God – one of J I Packer’s most important books – is this month’s free Audiobook download from Christian Audio. It’s read by American Grover Gardner.
The Legacy I want to Leave — Piper
“When I think of the coming generations, I am not content to only leave them a deposit of books and sermons that celebrate the glories of God and the wonders of Christian Hedonism. A great teacher once told me to ignore the conclusions of commentaries, and only look for their arguments. I have tried to give good arguments.
But underneath all the arguments is the Book. The Bible. If future generations only learn what we saw, and not how to see it for themselves, they will be second-handers. And second-handers cannot last. …”
– John Piper introduces “Look at the Book”.
Tim Challies on Brian McLaren
“Along the way we have visited such figures as Joseph Smith (Mormonism), Ellen G. White (Adventism), Norman Vincent Peale (Positive Thinking) and Benny Hinn (Faith Healing). Today we turn to a man who helped lead the Emerging Church and who was once named by TIME as one of the 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.”
– In his series on ‘The False Teachers’, Tim Challies (who will be in Oz later this month) turns to Brian McLaren.
(Brian McLaren was one of the speakers at the 2008 Lambeth Conference.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…