The Courage to be Protestant
On last weekend’s (October 5, 2008) broadcast from The White Horse Inn Dr David Wells, author of ‘The Courage to be Protestant’, and numerous other books, was the special guest.
Dr. Wells has some very helpful observations on the accommodation of churches to the surrounding culture – and some challenging words on preaching.
Hear it at The White Horse Inn. (See our earlier posts.)
Ryan Ferguson recites from Psalms
Back in May, we linked to the video of Ryan Ferguson giving memorised dramatic recitation of Hebrews 9 and 10 using the ESV.
At this year’s WorshipGod08 Conference, run by Sovereign Grace Ministries, he recited Psalm 22, Psalm 25 and Psalm 145. The video files have been posted on YouTube. (Hat tip Challies.com)
In addition, audio files of the talks and seminars from the conference are available here.
Repentance and the Church of England
Lee Gatiss, co-ordinator of Reform London, spoke at a joint Reform London – London Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship meeting on Wednesday:
I’ve been preaching on Hebrews for the last month or so, and it’s struck me how penetrating some of the application of this book is for us today in the Church of England.
So a few weeks ago we looked on a Sunday morning at the great warning in chapter 2 verse 1 that “we must pay more careful attention to what we have heard (from Christ) lest we drift away from it.” For if we do drift, we will not escape God’s judgment. How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?…
God spoke on all the issues we’ll be discussing tonight, everything facing the Church of England, but we didn’t listen. And so the deceitfulness of sin has led us further and further away from the living God.
That probably means that it won’t be long before simple superstition takes over in the upper echelons on our Church. Anglican bishops will be going on pilgrimages to Lourdes and praying to Mary or something daft like that next.”
– Read the full talk at Reform London.
The Passions of the Marian Martyrs: Lessons for the Anglican Communion
Evangelical Christians within the Western branches of the Anglican Communion face continual hostility because of their commitment to Jesus Christ and the biblical gospel, as is increasingly apparent with every year that passes.
To become a gospel minister within the Anglican churches of Britain and North America now requires a willingness to face a lifetime of bullying and scorn, not least from neighbouring clergy and the episcopal bench. We cease to be surprised at scandalous tales of harassment of the godly by power-thirsty bishops. Ministers have their licences revoked, their church buildings confiscated, their stipends stopped, their families expelled from their rectories, simply because they insist on obeying God before men.
The persecution of the saints by those in positions of ecclesiastical power has become an established part of life within the Anglican Communion in the West. Yet we have been here before. …
– Dr. Andrew Atherstone, Tutor in History & Doctrine and Latimer Fellow at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, wrote this article (direct link to PDF file) for Churchman in 2006. Sobering reading.
Thanks to Church Society. (Photo: Wycliffe Hall.)
Desiring God Conference files online
The 2008 Desiring God Conference was held in Minneapolis over the weekend. Sinclair Ferguson, Bob Kauflin, Mark Driscoll and John Piper and others spoke.
Following their normal practice, the people at Desiring God have generously made the transcripts, audio and video files of the conference available.
John Piper’s talk on Is There Christian Eloquence? Clear Words and the Wonder of the Cross is particularly helpful –
“There is a way to speak the gospel—a way of eloquence or cleverness or human wisdom—that nullifies the cross. I dread nullifying the cross, and therefore it is urgent that I know what this eloquence-cleverness-wisdom of words is, so I can avoid it.”
See all the files at Desiring God. (Note that each video file is approx. 200MB.)
Carson on works of mercy
In many parts of the evangelical world, one hears a new debate—or, more precisely, new chapters in an old debate—regarding the precise place that ‘deeds of mercy’ ought to have in Christian witness. … the debate between those Christians who say that we should primarily be about the business of heralding the gospel and planting churches, and those who say that our responsibility as Christians extends to the relief of oppression, suffering, and poverty in all their forms. …
– In the light of the TEC/CofE focus on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Don Carson’s editorial in the current issue of Themelios is especially worth reading. (hat tip Justin Taylor.)
Barry Webb on Esther and the ESV
Gordon Cheng has interviewed Moore College’s Dr Barry Webb on the book of Esther. Barry wrote the notes on Esther for the forthcoming ESV Study Bible.
“Would I try to preach bit by bit? I doubt it. Stories mean what they do as a whole, not as parts. Once you dismantle the story, you dismantle the thing that gives meaning to the events. I might just preach one sermon on the whole of Esther, and it would be about God being present for his people, working all things to their good.”
– Read the full interview at The Sola Panel.
And the sample PDF file from the ESVSB is available as a free download.
Jim Packer on the ESV Study Bible
Dr Jim Packer, Theological Editor of the forthcoming ESV Study Bible, speaks about the project in this 5 minute 38 second promotional video – at YouTube.
(hat tip: Justin Taylor.)
John Woodhouse on OT Narrative
Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds has this for us –
If you want to learn how to read/preach OT narrative, John Woodhouse (Principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia) is an excellent guide.
If you want to learn by watching him do it, check out his expository commentary on 1 Samuel.
If you want to learn by hearing him teach on it, check out the following six one-hour lectures on OT narrative delivered for the Charles Simeon Trust:
Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Lecture 3 Lecture 4 Lecture 5 Lecture 6. (Photo: Moore College)
RC Sproul on Christless Christianity
Last weekend, at The White Horse Inn, Michael Horton interviewed R C Sproul.
Sproul: “conservatism here in America has not been evangelical for a long, long time.” He also argues that Deism is alive and well in even the most rigorous of American ‘evangelical’ churches.
Watch the video 54 minute here at YouTube or download the full 120MB mp4 file (direct link).
Mark 13 in perspective and preaching Christ today
Recently at the Lowestoft Living Word convention, I chose to speak on Mark 13, sometimes called the ‘Little Apocalypse’ because it appears to anticipate the themes of the book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of John).
I think it is fair to say that most Christian interpretation assumes this passage is about the end of the world…
– Moore College graduate John Richardson blogs at the Ugley Vicar.
G W Bromiley on Nicholas Ridley
Church Society has published online a four-part series on Bishop Nicholas Ridley by Geoffrey Bromiley –
“Nicholas Ridley was one of those three confessor-bishops whose names are linked indissolubly with the English Reformation.
Of the three, Cranmer had the widest sphere of opportunity, and if he lacked the most conspicuous gifts of leadership, he had nevertheless his own capacities which allowed him to exploit many of the advantages of his position. Latimer was an older man. As a contemporary writer put it, “He came earlier in the morning, and was the more ancient workman in the Lord’s vineyard.” Latimer was no great scholar, but he was a moral preacher of singular power, able to catch the ear both of those in high places and also of the common people.
Ridley himself was the youngest of the three, but in many ways he was also the most talented. He excelled not only as a scholar, but also as a diligent and forceful ecclesiastic, and by his activity and learning he came to be recognized in his own day as perhaps the foremost champion of the Reformation movement. …”
– From Church Society.
Codex Sinaiticus coming online
Codex Sinaiticus, a hugely important manuscript of the Bible from the middle of the fourth century, is now becoming available in a scanned form online as the result of a major international collaboration.
Part of the manuscript is now on the website, with more to come.
See it here. (Hat tip: Russell Powell.)
Evangelical – by Phillip Jensen
What is an “evangelical”? There is a series of similar words that are commonly confused such as “evangelical”, “evangelism”, “evangelistic”, “evangelise”, “evangelist” and “evangelicalism”. These words carry so much meaning to the initiated but are quite confusing to others.
They all start with “evangel” for they are all about the gospel. “Evangel” is the anglicised version of the Greek word for gospel. These different English words are just different grammatical forms of the word gospel. …
– Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney, Phillip Jensen, unpacks the meaning of “evangelical” in the Cathedral’s weekly newsletter for August 10.
John Piper on abortion
An 8 minute video clip – “Abortion is about God”.
From Desiring God – at YouTube. (Hat tip to Justin Taylor.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…