Nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
– The Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 2:1–5. (ESV)
Piper on Parker on Calvin
To mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, Desiring God have reprinted T.H.L. Parker’s classic 1954 biography.
Not only is it available to be purchased, but a free PDF download is also available – both via this link.
You can see John Piper speak about why they did it at Desiring God.
T.H.L. Parker –
“When I was asked to write a life of Calvin for the S.C.M. Religious Book Club, there were reasons why I was happy to agree. For one thing, it offered a pleasant relief from the arduous task of translating Karl Barth’s Kirkliche Dogmatik into English, which had taken up much of 1950 and 1951. More importantly, there had been no biography of Calvin for many years. Moreover, I saw this as an opportunity to correct some of the commonly held misunderstandings and prejudices clustered around his name. …
Now, what do I at the age of ninety-two make of this book that I wrote in 1952 and 1953 in my mid-thirties?”
– read it and come to your own conclusion.
It is God’s battle
“We are always looking inwards and pitying ourselves and being sorry for ourselves, and looking for something to help us. Get rid of that outlook, forget yourself for a moment; the battle is the Lord’s! Salvation is His. It is for the honour of His great and holy Name.
But go further and realise that because it is God’s battle this almighty power is being exercised on our behalf even when we do not realise it. Things are being done in this great campaign of which we are not aware. We may perhaps be half-asleep at our post, and we do not realise that the great Captain is planning something with respect to us. We are unconscious of it. We would all be lost were it not for that. He, I say, is exercising this power on our behalf.”
– Martin Lloyd-Jones, The Christian Solider (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1977), 30. With thanks to Of First Importance.
We need to be reminded: Don’t waste your life
A thought-provoking 3 minute video using preaching from John Piper – from Desiring God.
Christ’s atoning death
“Christ’s atoning death ratified the inauguration of the new covenant, in which access to God under all circumstances is guaranteed by Christ’s one sacrifice that covers all transgressions (Matt. 26:27-28; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 9:15; 10:12-18). Those who through faith in Christ have ‘received reconciliation’ (Rom. 5:11) ‘in him . . . become the righteousness of God’ (2 Cor. 5:21). In other words, they are justified and receive the status of adopted children in God’s family (Gal 4:5). Thereafter they live under the motivating constraint and control of the love of Christ for them as made known and measured by the cross (2 Cor. 5:14).”
– J. I. Packer, “Sacrifice: Jesus Christ Made Atonement for Sin” (with thanks to Of First Importance.)
Sometimes you need to be blunt
This 4 minute video on BlipTV doesn’t pull any punches. Sobering viewing with a strong exhortation. Is your Christianity genuine? Do you care for the lost? (h/t Tim Challies.)
Building Healthy Churches
The audio files from the just-concluded Toronto Pastors Fellowship conference are now available. The theme?’Building Healthy Churches’.
Mark Dever and Matt Schmucker were the main speakers. (h/t Tim Challies.)
More than you could read in a month of Sundays
Don Carson is well-known and loved as a clear and insightful teacher of God’s word. He is also an amazingly prolific author.
Andy Naselli, his full-time research assistant, has just made available a comprehensive list of Don Carson’s publications – and also links to free PDF files of several books, including Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor.
Read about this wonderful resource here. (h/t Justin Taylor.)
Little Evils, Little Sins
“The Pacific Campaign of the Second World War has always fascinated me. In many ways, it seemed like a nonsensical series of battles between the United States and Japan…
There are many lessons we can learn from the Pacific Campaign. Some apply to warfare, but others apply far beyond. One of the most important is this: little things lead to big things. This is as true in warfare as it is in the hearts of men and women.”
– Tim Challies writes helpfully on declaring war on sin.
Perplexed about Apocalyptic?
The Simeon Trust’s workshop on preaching last month addressed the question of preaching on Apocalyptic literature. Participants included David Helm and Don Carson. Links to the audio and related resources have been posted by Justin Taylor.
Tearing the Communion
Our friends at the Anglican Essentials Canada blog have reminded us what all the fuss is about – Back in February, the American Anglican Council prepared a comprehensive document entitled The Episcopal Church: Tearing the fabric of the Communion to shreds. It’s available as an 820kb PDF file – direct link.
At the same time, an equivalent document on the Canadian situation was produced – The Anglican Church of Canada: Tearing The Fabric to Shreds – 188kb PDF file – direct link.
Calvin and the Holy Spirit
Coming up on July 25 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney – click the image for the flyer.
Christ’s Victory over Evil — coming soon!
“Forgive me for shamelessly plugging a book to which I have contributed, but Peter Bolt has edited the papers delivered at the 2008 Moore College School of Theology on the theme of Christ’s victory over the powers and the book is now available.
Contributions from Tony Payne, Peter Bolt, Bill Salier, Matthew Jensen, Con Campbell, Greg Anderson, Jonathan Lilley and Don West make this a very worthwhile volume indeed. An official launch of the book is scheduled for Thursday 28 May at Moore College.…”
– ACL President Mark Thompson writes on his blog about Christ’s Victory over Evil.
(Oh yes, you can order the book now – from Moore Books.)
On Satan’s accusations
“So friend, when Satan attacks you as a great sinner – admit the truth of his charges. But then assert that you have a great Saviour – that Christ is that Saviour – and that He is your hope.”
– Mark Dever in a sermon on Revelation 12–14.
Resources for discipling children
The Praise Factory is a website run by Connie Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist. It’s aim is to provide quality resources for parents and churches – to help teach systematic theology to kids from 2 years old through to 5th class.
She writes (with reference to Psalm 100) –
It is my hope and prayer that this curriculum might help children to be manufacturers of noisy joy (v.1) unto the Lord, to sing (v. 2), to know (v.3), & to worship Him with thanksgiving and praise (v.4), that the witness of His great faithfulness might continue through all generations (v.5).
With some sections still under construction, it appears to be well worth checking out! The price? Free – although you can make a donation to 9Marks. (h/t Tim Challies.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…