Papers from the FCA leaders conference available
More papers from the FCA leaders conference in London have been uploaded to the GAFCON website.
See this page for the complete listing of resources from the GAFCON website.
The newly available papers are –
What is the Gospel? – from a seminar led by Drs Ngozi Okeke & Mark Thompson
A Summary of Anglican Ecclesiology – Ashley Null
16th Century Anglican Ecclesiology – Ashley Null
The Anglican Mind in Caroline and Tractarian Thought – Arthur MiddletonFaithful and Effective – Evangelism and Church Planting.
Queen’s Birthday Convention 2012
Coming up at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Monday June 11. Early bird before June 01.
Details here.
J I Packer interviewed by Carl Trueman
Carl Trueman recently interviewed Dr J I Packer. He writes, “the testimony to God’s grace in his own life, his reflections on the Puritans and on Lloyd-Jones and his advice to young ministers is invaluable”.
Wonderful interview – watch it here (16 minutes).
‘A table of the Lord’
Dr Barry Newman has been blogging on the meaning of the expression in 1 Corinthians 10: 21 –
“Focussing on the phrase, ‘a table of the Lord’, the aim of this blog series is to present a case that suggests that this phrase has nothing to do with any practice associated with a sacrament…”
– Barry has now posted the full series as a single PDF file on this page. You can follow his arguments and see what you think.
9Marks Journal – Wanted: Apostolic Pastors
“Jesus hasn’t called our churches to fulfill the great commission alone. So look up, look out, and see what encouragement and unexpected fruit God may have in store for you as you work to bless other pastors and churches…”
– The latest 9Marks Journal looks at caring for the work of the gospel outside your local patch.
Making the most of the Cross
“The second sermon I ever gave was a cracker. People told me! It was logical, engaging and humorous. I succeeded in explaining, illustrating and applying the Bible in a way that captivated the listeners. My girlfriend (now wife) even started to believe that I might have some hope of becoming a preacher! But, it’s time for public confession. I basically pinched the whole talk, idea for idea, point for point, from John Chapman.
I don’t think I was the first to do this, and I’m certain that I wasn’t the last. You see, I’d looked over the Bible passage again and again, and I couldn’t see any way to make it clearer than Chappo…”
– Dave McDonald commends Chappo’s book Making the Most of the Cross.
Prayers for Defence ministry
Our friends who minister to Australia’s Defence personnel would be very glad of your prayers on a regular basis.
There’s the current Prayer Diary (pdf) and other prayer resources at this link.
Simple Bible reading advice
“Wherever you settle on this question, be sure to ignore headings as much as possible. In fact, the best exegesis experience I ever had in the gospel of Mark was using a text without headings, paragraphs, or verses. Just 40 pages of a block of text with page and line numbers. A wonderful teaching tool I used for years and highly recommend.”
– In a discussion about ‘the spirituals’ in 1 Corinthians 12, Bill Mounce offers this advice for reading the Scriptures.
Is the Reformation over?
At last month’s Together for the Gospel conference, Carl Trueman spoke at a breakout session on ‘Why the Reformation isn’t over’. He gives five reasons why the Reformation matters in our churches today –
“The Centrality of the Cross, the Centrality of the Word, the Centrality of Assurance, the Centrality of the Pastor, and the Centrality of more than just the gospel.”
‘Tearing the Fabric’ — 2012 edition
An updated edition of ‘Tearing the Fabric’ (‘The Episcopal Church: Tearing the Fabric of communion to Shreds’) has been produced by The American Anglican Council.
It’s a very useful resource – and a sobering reminder of how a denomination can lose the gospel.
It can be downloaded from the AAC website (PDF file).
The main sections:
Catalog of Heresies: Quoting Episcopal Church Leaders
Fruits of TEC‘s Theology
Declining Membership
Litigation, Uncanonical Acts, and Harassment
How to Read the Bible Through the Jesus Lens
“This is a charming little book that gives an overview of every book of the Bible and how it relates to Jesus. … I wish all students would read a book like this before they came to Seminary…”
– Michael Bird (Crossway College, Brisbane) draws attention to Michael Williams’ book ‘How to Read the Bible Through the Jesus Lens’. Availability.
ANZAC Day resources
At the Defence Anglicans website, there are some resources you could use or adapt for ANZAC Day.
Charles Colson’s testimony
With the news that Charles Colson is gravely ill in hospital, Justin Taylor has linked to video of Colson sharing his testimony – starting with a story about the National Press Club in Canberra.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ sermons to be available to all
“This is probably the biggest announcement the MLJ Trust will ever make. Starting from tomorrow, April 12th, all 1,600 recorded sermons by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones will be available to download, at no cost, to anyone who wants to listen to them!…”
– all the details via Justin Taylor.
A Conversation with Gerald Bray on his new Systematic Theology
At The Gospel Coalition website, Gerald Bray responds to questions put by Matt Smethurst about Bray’s recently published Systematic Theology, “God is Love”.
“God Is Love is very different from any other systematic theology on the market today because it takes the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura seriously. It is not just a question of backing up everything from the Bible but of trying to convey God’s self-revelation in the Bible in a biblical way…”
Related: Mark Thompson writes:
“Here is a piece of mature theology, concerned for the glory of God, the edification of his people, and the spread of the gospel in the world. What a refreshing change from the posturing and positioning of so much theological writing today. Gerald is not trying to draw attention to himself, make a name for himself or impress his peers in the theological academy or in his ecclesiastical stable. From the beginning the spotlight is elsewhere – something this book has in common with the best of Christian theology through the centuries.”
– at Theological Theology.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…