G K Chesterton on Daring Orthodoxy
“People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy…”
— Mark Thompson has a terrific quote from G K Chesterton — read it all here.
Gerald Bray on interpreting Scripture
“The first question we must ask of every biblical text is simply this — what does it tell us about God? What does it say about who he is and about what he does?
The second question is: what does this text say about us human beings? What are we meant to be and what has gone wrong?
The third and final question is: what has God done about this and what does he expect of us in the light of what he has done?…”
– Read the rest of the short interview at Between Two Worlds.
Rising from the dust
“When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle’s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace.
It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom.”
– Charles Spurgeon — with thanks to Of First importance.
November 2009 issue of Themelios
The Gospel Coalition has released the latest issue of Themelios. It is available as a PDF document or in HTML format.
It includes a word of exhortation from Carl Trueman intended especially for theological students (but also applicable to other ‘professional’ Christians).
“The temptation for a theological student at this point, of course, is to make the obvious answer to this: well, I study the things of God all day long; I am hardly likely to forget about God, who he is and what he has done, am I? Well, there is forgetting and there is forgetting. Remembering that there is a train that leaves the local station every evening at five o’clock is one thing; remembering that I need to be on it to return home to be there for my wife’s surprise birthday party is quite another. It is all too easy for the theological student to end up remembering God as an object of knowledge; it is quite another thing to remember him as the all-surpassing subject of existence.”
(h/t Between Two Worlds.)
Judged by truth
Last week Hugh Palmer at All Souls Langham Place preached on the message of Romans 1:18 – 3:20 in 18 minutes. He speaks about the last great taboo.
It’s available as an mp3 file here.
Sermon Preparation by Bishop Paul Barnett
“At our recent Tasmanian Clergy Conference (4 – 6 November 2009), our guest speaker Bishop Paul Barnett presented excellent “Studies in First Peter” and also his notes on Sermon Preparation. I have his permission to share them with you…”
– John Harrower, Bishop of Tasmania, writes at his blog.
Geneva Push website launched
The Geneva Push church planting network has launched their new website. (h/t Craig Schwarze.)
The existence of God, the reality of Evil, and the terror of Hell
Three brief video clips by Don Carson answering three common questions —
* How do I know God exists?
* How can God allow suffering and evil in the world?
* How can God be loving and yet send people to Hell?
See them via Between Two Worlds.
Challies and Challies on ‘Sexual Detox’
Over the last two weeks, Tim Challies has been blogging on the theme of ‘Sexual Detox’ – and has now made his posts available as two free e-books – Sexual Detox: A Guide for the Single Guy (PDF) and Sexual Detox: A Guide for the Married Guy (PDF). In addition Tim’s wife, Aileen, is guest blogging some articles especially directed at women (False Messages I: What he really wants).
Worth reading in conjunction with the discussion going on at SydneyAnglicans.net (Pornography’s “silenced sufferers”).
Help and encouragement in sharing the gospel
“Paul E. Little’s book How to Give Away Your Faith was first published in 1966, a few years before the popular evangelist was killed in a tragic car accident. Since his untimely death, his wife Marie has overseen two revisions of Little’s book (1988, 2008). It is sometimes described as ‘the classic guide to evangelism,’ perhaps because of the way in which the book addresses practical issues surrounding personal evangelism.”
– Trevin Wax offers some good reasons to dust off your old copy – or perhaps to get a revised edition. At The Discerning Reader.
Of course, Chappo’s Know and Tell the Gospel, written for Australian conditions, is essential reading! (Photo of Paul Little: Ake Lundberg.)
A gift-wrapped community
Here’s a great idea for Christmas –
“The Emmanuel Church in Glenhaven is gift-wrapping 1900 Essential Jesus Gospels in preparation for Christmas this year. Church members will door-knock homes in the local area over 2 Sundays, to give out their special gift…” – Story here.
Church discipline: a good idea?
The latest version of the 9Marks eJournal is devoted to the often-difficult question of church discipline. It’s available as a PDF file here.
A tip for the Melbourne Cup
Last year, Kel Richards and Dean Phillip Jensen discussed the topic of gambling at The Chat Room.
Watch it at SydneyAnglicans.net.
Stott on Anglican Evangelical Identity
“First and foremost, by God’s sheer mercy, I am a Christian seeking to follow Jesus Christ.
Next, I am an evangelical Christian because of my conviction that evangelical principles (especially sola scriptura [Scripture alone] and sola gratia [by grace alone]) are integral to authentic Christianity, and that to be an evangelical Christian is to be a New Testament Christian, and vice versa.
Thirdly, I am an Anglican evangelical Christian, since the Church of England is the particular historical tradition or denomination to which I belong.
But I am not an Anglican first, since denominationalism is hard to defend. It seems to me correct to call oneself an Anglican evangelical (in which evangelical is the noun and Anglican the descriptive adjective) rather than an evangelical Anglican (in which Anglican is the noun and evangelical the adjective).”
– Quoted in R. Steers, The Inside Story, p. 191. (h/t Mark Thompson.)
Timothy Partnership to be launched
A new joint project of Anglican Youthworks College and Presbyterian Youth.
“In 2010, we are proud to launch the Diploma of Theology by Distance: practical theological training made accessible to every Christian, everywhere. This unique collaboration brings together the expertise of two experienced and trusted ministry organisations to offer the best possible ministry education and formation experience for students. We also work with local church ministers on the ground to train up a generation of leaders.”
Read about it at timothypartnership.com.au.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…