St Patrick — The Irish Evangelical
“St Patrick’s Day is a Saint’s day. There is nothing wrong with celebrating saint’s days, though there is nothing particularly right either. As our Apostle says: “One man esteems one day as better than another while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5) …
However, the problems of saints and saint’s days should not stand in the way of remembering with gratitude, those whom God has used in the past to spread the gospel and contribute to the welfare of the world. We are to remember our leaders and in particular ‘the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith’ (Hebrews 13:7).”
– The Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, sets the record straight for St. Patrick’s Day – this Sunday.
Free Easter e-book from John Piper
From Desiring God:
“Today we launch a new devotional eBook, Love to the Uttermost: Devotional Readings for Holy Week. Beginning Palm Sunday (March 24) through Easter Sunday (March 31), we invite you to join us in focussing on the self-giving love of our Saviour.”
– Download from this page.
Chappo’s preaching
“From the day that Jesus saved John, there was no-one more impressive or wonderful for John than Jesus. Did he ever get tired of telling people about Jesus in the gospels, or of stringing together the things Jesus did so you could see his greatness?”
– Another reminder that remembering John Chapman means pointing to Jesus. Simon Manchester writes in The Briefing. (Photo: St Thomas’ North Sydney.)
St. Helen’s Thanksgiving service for Chappo
The video from the Thanksgiving service for John Chapman, held at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London a week ago (1st March 2013), is now available on Vimeo.
Participants include William Taylor, Dick Lucas, Richard Bewes and Hugh Palmer.
Dick Lucas remembered the first time he met Chappo – and Hugh Palmer preached from Romans 1.
The video runs for 51 minutes and is most edifying.
Create a Contrast Culture in your Church
“Church leaders who stop by our little house of worship in Washington sometimes ask what we have done to produce all the discipling, evangelism, and hospitality they see. What programs are we using?”
– Jonathan Leeman at Capital Hill Baptist Church shares what they do – at The Gospel Coalition.
Page CXVI 7th anniversary giveaway
US-based Christian band Page CXVI formed seven years ago with the aim of making hymns accessible and known again –
“To celebrate our 7-year anniversary of making music, we’re giving away our entire catalog of music for the month of March…”
Saving Eutychus
“A book about preaching that keeps people awake” is the subtitle of a new book on preaching coming soon from Matthias Media. It’s by Phil Campbell (Moore graduate) and Gary Millar (Principal of the Queensland Theological College).
There’s a review here by someone who knows Phil rather well.
Expository Preaching: Charles Simeon and Ourselves
“Expository preaching is the preaching of the man who knows Holy Scripture to be the living word of the living God, and who desires only that it should be free to speak its own message to sinful men and women; who therefore preaches from a text, and in preaching labours, as the Puritans would say, to ‘open’ it, or, in Simeon’s phrase, to ‘bring out of the text what is there’…”
– More than fifty years ago, J I Packer wrote this article on Simeon and preaching – for Churchman. You can now read it here online (PDF file).
Encouragement from Machen for Sunday
”There is just one reason why I may possibly expect you to listen to me. I may expect you to listen to me if I can bring to you a message from God. If I can do that, then the very insignificance of the speaker may in a certain sense be an added inducement to you to listen to him, since it may help you to forget the speaker and attend only to the message.
It is just that I am trying to do. I am asking you to turn away from me and my opinions; I am asking you to turn away from yourself and your opinions and your troubles; and I am asking you to turn instead that you may listen to a word from God.
Where can I find that word?…. Not in myself and not in you, but in an old Book that has been sealed by the seals of prejudice and unbelief but that will, if it is rediscovered again set the world aflame and that will show you, be you wise or unwise, rich or poor, the way by which you can come into communion with the living God.”
– from The Christian Faith in the Modern World, J Gresham Machen – with thanks to Paul Levy at Reformation21.
A small reminder
Yesterday’s spectacular event above Russia (Meteor strike injures hundreds – BBC News) is a small reminder of the unexpected nature of Christ’s return –
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command….” – 1 Thess. 4:16.
“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” – Matthew 24:44.
2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference talks online
Video and audio files from the 2013 Priscilla & Aquila Centre conference at Moore College have now been posted online – at the Priscilla & Aquila website.
The ‘Must Read’ book in its field
At The Gospel Coalition, Justin Taylor draws attention to Dr Megan Best’s book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Ethics and the Beginning of Human Life – and the strong recommendation by Dr Don Carson.
“At last—a single volume examining beginning-of-life issues that is equally competent in biology, theology, philosophy, and pastoral care. This is now the ‘must read’ book in the field, a necessary resource not only for pastors, ethicists, and laypersons who share her Christian convictions, but also for anyone who wants to participate knowledgeably in current bioethical debates.”
(Tim Challies also makes mention of the book.)
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, as you will remember, was launched last November and is available from Matthias Media.
Why does preaching matter?
St. Helen’s Bishopsgate has added two more interviews in its Preaching Matters video series –
Sydney’s Gavin Perkins is asked about the place of preaching in the church, and Paul Clarke from St. Helen’s speaks about Preaching Evangelistically.
Be edified and watch them both!
Understanding the Parable of the Tenants
Barry Newman’s latest project has been to blog his way through the Parable of the Tenants.
You can now read his completed series here. (PDF)
225 years on — will we be faithful?
Two hundred and twenty five years ago, on Sunday February 3rd 1788, the Rev. Richard Johnson, Chaplain to the First Fleet and first Chaplain to the Colony of New South Wales, preached at the first Christian church service in Australia.
Craig Schwarze has some resources here – and there’s our own page on Richard Johnson here.
And it’s also worth taking the time to read Johnson’s Address to The Inhabitants of The Colonies Established in New South Wales and Norfolk Island (PDF file) published in 1792.
Excerpt:
“This will be my daily prayer to God for you. I shall pray for your eternal salvation, for your present welfare, for the preservation, peace, and prosperity of this colony: and especially for the more abundant and manifest success of the Redeemer’s cause and kingdom, and for the effusion and out-pouring of his Holy Spirit, not only here, but in every part of the habitable globe.”
As the spiritual beneficiaries of men like Richard Johnson and John Newton (who recruited Johnson and who edited his ‘Address to the Inhabitants of the Colonies…’), the question remains: Will we remain faithful to the gospel of the Lord Jesus, and will we be as concerned as these men were for those without Christ?
Related: Lord hast thou not a time for these poor benighted souls? – John Newton’s diary entry as he considered the needs of those without Christ in far-off lands.
(Archbishop Peter Jensen will be preaching at a service to mark the anniversary – 10:15am at St. Philip’s York Street.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…