Reality 3:16

If anyone is out there and reading this blog, and living in the greater 'Norn Iron' area, you might want to consider this introductory course on Biblical Worldview and Christian Apologetics.  The course is primarily for those who (1) want to grow in their own understanding of the overview of the Christian faith and (2) be more effective in understanding and intelligently reaching out to those who, in this increasingly post-Christian society, view life differently than from a Biblical perspective.  The 2011-12 course is consists of 5 Friday evening - Saturday morning sessions, beginning 16-17 September.

You can read more about the course here, who's involved, what you can expect and testimonies from some of last year's participants.

Why not give it a try.  It'll make you think ...

The Gospel for all seasons ... the season of impatience

This morning's outline ...

Update:  I see that Tony Reinke has been writing about the same matter here.

A Pastor's prayer

I need to pray this today…

Unchangeable Jehovah,
When I am discouraged in my ministry and full of doubts of my self,
fasten me upon the rock of thy eternal election,
then my hands will not hang down,
and I shall have hope for myself and others.
Thou dost know thy people by name,
and wilt at the appointed season lead them out of a natural to a gracious state by thy effectual calling.
This is the ground of my salvation,
the object of my desire,
the motive of my ministry.
Keep me from high thoughts of myself or my work,
for I am nothing but sin and weakness;
in me no good dwells,
and my best works are but sin.
Humble me to the dust before thee.
Root and tear out the poisonous weed of self-righteousness,
and show me my utter nothingness;
Keep me sensible of my sinnership;
Sink me deeper into penitence and self-abhorence;
Break the Dagon of pride in pieces before the ark of thy presence;
Demolish the Babel of self-opinion, and scatter it to the wind;
Level to the ground my Jericho walls of a rebel heart;
Then grace, grace, will be my experience and cry.
I am a poor, feeble creature when faith is not in exercise,
like an eagle with pinioned wings;
Grant me to rest on thy power and faithfulness,
and to know that there are two things worth living for:
to further thy cause in the world,
and to do good to the souls and bodies of men;
This is my ministry, my life, my prayer, my end.
Grant me grace that I shall not fail.

From:  The Valley of Vision

HT: Tim Challies

The wisdom of Calvin ...

HT: Bill Watterson

John Piper's Seven Reasons Why We Need Small Groups

Mr and Mrs Adair!

A prayer bequeathed

 

I pray earnestly that God will raise up today a new generation of Christian apologists or Christian communicators, who will combine an absolute loyalty to the biblical gospel and an unwavering confidence in the power of the Spirit with a deep and sensitive understanding of the contemporary alternatives to the gospel; who will relate the one to the other with freshness, authority, and relevance; and who will use their minds to reach other minds for Christ.


John Stott: d. 27.7.11  'Your Mind Matters'
HT:  Darryl Dash

A week ago ...

All the Goudys, and some other bloke that Claire had invited for the day.  He's sure to stay around...

PS:  just came across the following very helpful introduction to this 'happy, holy, beautiful mess' we call marriage here.  Worth reading.

Tomorrow...

 (Gulp!) 

A reinterpretation of Genesis 3?

Is this 'really' how it all went wrong?

HT: Stuart Rowell

Better than 'Red Bull'...

From the hymnwriter John Berridge (1716-1793):

To run and work the Law commands,
Yet gives me neither feet nor hands;
A sweeter thing the Gospel brings–
It bids me fly and gives me wings!


HT: Mockingbird

Missional Calvin

Here's an insightful and illustrative vignette of how God-centred worship on Sundays should lead to Gospel-centred ministry throughout the rest of the week:

"Calvin so believed in the importance of the everyday activities of Christian life and mission that he had a strange but telling practice in Geneva. He was eager to see Jesus' church gathered on Sundays, but he was not happy for his flock to retreat from everyday life and hide within the walls of the church during the week. So to prod his congregants to be fully engaged in their city of Geneva -- in their families, in their jobs, with their neighbors and coworkers -- he locked the church doors during the week. It must have been hard not to get the point. He knew the place of God's people -- gathered together to worship on Sunday, but during the week not hidden away behind thick walls of separation, but on mission together in God's world, laboring to bring the gospel to metro Geneva in their words and actions, in all their roles and relationships."

-- David Mathis, in the "Introduction" to Mathis and John Piper's With Calvin in the Theater of God (p. 23)

HT: Jared Wilson