John Lennox speaks about Christmas in Westminster Abbey

"We celebrate an awesome event that has inspired great literature, music, poetry and architecture such as that which we enjoy in this magnificent Abbey. The message of Christ has transformed countless lives, spawned hospitals, hospices and universities. It has abolished slavery and brought dignity to human life. As our Prime Minister recently said: “Christianity has had immense historic influence in the development of our culture and national institutions…we are a country with a Christian heritage and we should not be afraid to say so.”

"Cosmologists tell us that 13.5 billion years ago the universe was smaller than a grain of sand – a mind stretching fact, yet one that pales into insignificance besides the realisation that 20 centuries ago the God who created the universe became a tiny seed in the womb of a humble young woman. The Word became flesh. God who had made man in his own image himself became human.

"The incarnation of God challenges the atheist belief that this universe is a closed system of cause and effect. We are told that at the time of Christ credulous people could believe in such miraculous happenings since they did not know the laws of nature. Now, in our enlightened scientific age this is impossible since miracles violate the laws of nature. The biblical records of them are just fantasies like Father Christmas.

"There are three errors here. Firstly, the comparison with Father Christmas is trivially false. I have never known an adult who came to believe in Father Christmas. I have known many adults who came to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

"Secondly, two of those adults are key figures in the Christmas narrative, Mary and Joseph. They were not credulous people. They knew as well as we do the basic laws of nature regarding where babies come from. So, when Mary was told by the angel that she would conceive, she protested: “How shall this be, since I do not know a man?” And we have just read how Joseph, on discovering Mary was pregnant, planned to divorce her. He, a devout and righteous man, was just not prepared to believe her account of a miraculous conception. Yet both of them were eventually persuaded that there was nothing immoral about the conception of Jesus by being given convincing evidence that the child had been supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit in a direct intervention by God.

"Thirdly, David Hume was wrong when he said that miracles like the incarnation cannot occur because they violate the laws of nature. What, after all, are those laws? They are our descriptions of what normally happens and they enable us to predict what will happen if no-one intervenes. However, God is not a prisoner of the laws that describe the regularities that He has built in to the cosmos. It is therefore no act of violation, if he intervenes in his own creation. For such intervention breaks no laws.

"Suppose I put £100 in my hotel drawer last night and I put in another £100 tonight. The laws of arithmetic say that I have £200 pounds in the drawer. If I find only £50 there tomorrow what do I conclude? That the laws of arithmetic have been broken or the laws of England? Clearly the laws of England. How do I know that? Because I know the laws of arithmetic. They have not been broken and that is what tells me that a thief has come in from outside. Similarly, when a genuine miracle takes place, it is the laws of nature that alert us to the fact that it is a miracle. If we did not know the laws, we should never recognise a miracle if we saw one. Science therefore cannot rule out miracle. The universe is not a closed system. This world is not the only world there is.

"C. S. Lewis wrote: “If God creates a miraculous spermatozoon in the body of a virgin, it does not proceed to break any laws. The laws at once take over. Nature is ready. Pregnancy follows, according to all the normal laws, and nine months later a child is born”.

"What is more, the prophet Isaiah wrote something that science could never have told him. Inspired by God he foretold Christ’s coming not nine months but six centuries before it happened: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.” These words, full of deep and powerful mystery, ring true precisely because they are true.

“Unto us a Son is given…” Christmas is a special time of exchanging gifts as expressions of love, affection or gratitude. It is, however, possible for someone to accept a gift and yet reject the giver. Imagine you have invited guests to a Christmas dinner. Your guests eat the food with relish, talk to each other animatedly but say nothing to you. They leave without a word of thanks. An impossible situation, you say? Yet that is precisely how many of us have treated God this past year. We have taken his gifts of health, ability, job, home, food, family and friends, but we have never stopped to acknowledge or thank him. We have accepted the gifts but rejected the Giver.

“Unto us a Son is given…” Here the gift is the Giver. We cannot reject it without rejecting him. And he is the Saviour of the world.

"There is much good in the world but there is also much evil – poverty, suffering, violence, war, exploitation, slavery, fear, discrimination and abuse. And who of us would dare suggest that there is nothing from which we need to be saved – anger, lovelessness, destructive desires, egocentricity, greed, spite, envy, dishonesty and hypocrisy to name but a few? Surely we would agree with G K Chesterton who in response to a question in the Times: “What is wrong with the world?” wrote to the Editor: “Dear Sir, I am, Yours faithfully, G K Chesterton.

"Are we therefore doomed to live in a world in which “it is always winter and never Christmas”? No – because Christmas has indeed come. Into our world God speaks a message full of hope: “You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins”. How is it to be done? Not, you will be glad to know, by suggesting another round of unrealistic New Year’s resolutions. Moral codes are very important, but they cannot either forgive us or empower us to live as we know we ought. Christ can forgive because he died for us. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said at Easter: “… the cross is the great point at which the suffering and sorrow, torture, trial and sin and yuck of the world ends up on God’s shoulders out of love for us.” And Christ can empower us to live because he rose from the dead.

"But, it will be said, it makes no moral sense for one man to give himself for another’s sins? There is force to that objection if Jesus were merely a man. But Jesus was never only a man. He was God incarnate. Because Jesus is both God and man he can offer us salvation as a gift – forgiveness, peace with God, new life and hope. Like all gifts it has to be received – in this case by the deliberate and willing act of repentance and trust in Christ that we sang about just now. Let us make it our response today:

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in,
be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell:
O come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Emmanuel.

John Lennox - speaking at the Whitehall Carol Service in Westminster Abbey, 13 December 2013
HT: Ravi Zacharias Trust

Hobbit 2: Dwarves, dungeons and dragons

This looks promising... a whole lot better than the first installment?

HT: KdY

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

HT: GE

Joy to the World: SCC

Just imagine: Lewis, Tolkien and the Doctor ...

HT: Michael Ward

Angelo Liao's helpful guide to procrastination

... not that I need any more help!

HT: 20px.com

Helen Roseveare: Jesus intercedes for me to make his love real to me

“I had never deserved to be forgiven in the first place when I was converted. I could do nothing to merit God's favour, His grace, His love. If all I had ever known was unmerited and undeserved grace, how could I then forfeit that which I never earned?... Was I too proud, in some strange, inverted way to humble myself to accept an unmerited forgiveness? I know that it was all of grace, yet my inner being wanted to right to do something to merit it. I was trying to work out my own salvation, to earn God's forgiveness, to prove the sincerity of my repentance...At last I knew that it was true. It was not based on my feeling or on my emotions. It was no dependent on my faith or my obedience. In no way could I merit or deserve it. He loved me. He knew me through and through, better than I knew myself, and yet still, He loved me. Christ died on Calvary to tell me that. Christ lives in Heaven, an unceasing intercessor on my behalf to make that love real to me in my experience.” 
Helen Roseveare, Living Sacrifice: Willing to Be Whittled as an Arrow

One of the great privileges of my time here in Macosquin was to have this small giant of faith speak to our congregation.  Still so memorable after so many years.

HT: Scotty Smith

Do you believe in 'The Man Upstairs'? Hope not ...

This is very good - and with a N'orn Iron accent as well!

HT: Dave Clawson

Make sure he knows who this Jesus is

Giving an account of the baptism of Prince George, the Daily Telegraph reported that the Archbishop of Canterbury ...

the Most Rev Justin Welby told Prince George’s parents and godparents that they had a “simple task” to “make sure he knows who this Jesus is”. He added: “Speak of him, read stories about him. Introduce him in prayer. Help him to grow and flourish into the person God has created and has called him to be.”

Instructions fit for a king.

 HT: Mike Milton

A puzzle since the world began

Well, are there?

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

Happy St Crispin's Day!

'Reconnect' is almost here!

'Reconnect' starts on Tuesday evening in the church hall, beginning at 7.45 pm.  We'll be getting to know our main speaker for the Tuesday-Thursday event, Norman Brown, in a short interview; Gary McDowell, now assisting in Fisherwick Presebyterian will be singing before Norman comes and speaks on the 'Return of the Prodigal Son' (Luke 15).  
If you live locally and can gather to pray with us on Monday night at 7.30 pm, it'll be great to see you there. If you're out of the area, please pray anyway!
More updates as the week progresses. 
Many thanks for your interest.

Last Saviour Standing

Jason Helopoulos writes:

Christians, don’t get too worked up about that new best-seller, popular philosophy, misguided ethic, or latest government action. Christ reigns and no enemy can thwart the Church or the Christian faith.

The Powerful may scheme, but cannot crush Christianity.Philosophers may pontificate, but cannot “out-truth” Christianity.World Religions may spread, but cannot overcome Christianity.Professors may lecture, but cannot unravel Christianity.Persecution may kill, but cannot annihilate Christianity.Bad preaching may undermine, but cannot undo Christianity.Politicians may legislate, but cannot reduce Christianity.Riches may seduce, but cannot outlive Christianity.Empires may consolidate, but cannot subjugate Christianity.Lies may confuse, but cannot unravel Christianity.Fear may disquiet, but cannot destroy Christianity.Heresy may darken, but cannot untruth Christianity.News outlets may ignore, but cannot dismiss Christianity.Moralists may mislead, but cannot proxy for Christianity.Rulers may outlaw, but cannot vanquish Christianity.Sin may instigate, but cannot overpower Christianity.Satan may tempt, but cannot unseat Christianity.

No empire, no country, no sin, no spirit, no lie, no religion, no philosophy, no thought, no school, no law, no edict, no emotion, no sentiment, no feeling, no ruler, no emperor, no king, no politician, no initiative, no discrimination, no nothing and no one can unravel Christianity. Every enemy of Christianity shall fail. Every foe is left undone.

It is guaranteed. It is secured. Because we have a Risen Savior, who reigns over all. The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. No matter what apparent setbacks we see, hear, feel, or think. He has secured the victory, reigns in victory, and shall consummate the victory. This is His world. Dear Christian, though surrounded by enemies on every side, you can rest at peace in a Saviour, who reigns now and forevermore. Onward Christian soldiers! 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,    to the glory of God the Father.  Philippians 2: 9-11

Struggling with a dissertation?

At least Scott Adams understands ...

Now you know the science ... go and worship the Lord

HT: Jim Hamilton (and Tim Challies)

Who's Who?

37 days to go ...

When I consider ...

I look at your heavens,
    which you made with your fingers.
I see the moon and stars,
    which you created. 
But why are people even important to you?
    Why do you take care of human beings?
You made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honour.  Psalm 8: 3-5 (NCV)

HT: BW

David Mitchell: "I do want there to be an all-powerful, benevolent God"

It's almost a predictable certainty that when celebrity-types are asked about faith or religion in general one can expect arrogant disparaging, humiliating ridicule, and often much, much worse.

So, expect to be encouraged (and possibly prayerful) as you follow these recently posted links to read about author Malcolm Gladwell's return to his evangelical roots, comedian Lee Mack's willingness to read the Bible, and David Mitchell's rebuff of atheism and his honesty about wanting to know that there is a God.

The Philosophy of Parental Ministry

Don't you just love the wee pet?
HT: BW

Sunday's Sermon: 'Delighting in God'

In the lead up to our 'Reconnect' event at the end of the month, we look at the importance of finding life's joys and delights in God ...

You can listen to the sermon or download it from below or from the church website here.

Thank You Lord

Thank You Lord:
For Your sovereign control over our circumstances
For Your holy character in spite of our sinfulness
For Your commitment to us even when we wander astray
For Your Word that gives direction
For Your love that holds us close
For Your gentle compassion in our sorrows
For Your consistent faithfulness through our highs and lows
For Your understanding when we are confused
For Your Spirit that enlightens our eyes
For Your grace that removes our guilt.
- Charles Swindoll
HT: Trevin Wax

Sometimes God gives us 'more' than we can bear

This morning we looked at the psalmist's encouragement to "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). The essence of the sermon was we are to love God sufficiently to be content with how the sovereign, gracious God is overseeing the big and small details of our lives. We are not to simply grin and bear the pain - either stoically or by denying the reality of the pain and heartache that disappointments and difficulties bring into our lives. Instead, we are to trust in the goodness, wisdom, strength and mercy of our loving God, even when we don't fully appreciate all that is going on.  It was that God might delight and rejoice in us (Zeph 3:17) that Jesus endured the pain of the cross (Heb. 12:2-3). It was, and is, a hard message to preach - perhaps even harder to listen to.

In dealing with such emotive issues there is a fine balance (which sometimes is not adequately achieved) between encouraging believers to have a robust faith in a good God, and being pastorally sensitive to the acute pain and struggles that some believing brothers and sisters are experiencing.  And therefore I want to direct you to the honest and blunt thoughts of one pastor, writing at a time of great personal angst, and of the impact that that had upon his relationship with God.

The past three weeks have been the most difficult I have ever gone through.  These three weeks have been filled with illness, the terrible-three’s (the terrible-two’s are an out-and-out lie), a friend suffering the consequence of sin, a ministry I am a part of reeling in confusion and pain, having to cancel a trip to celebrate my parents 60th birthdays, and our family experiencing the emotional roller-coaster of finding out we were pregnant only to be told the pregnancy was ectopic and could be life-threatening to my wife if it was not ended.
Needless to say, I have had enough.

I know I am not alone.  As trying as the last three weeks have been for me, I know some people who have dealt with far more for far longer.  But that doesn’t change the fact that this has been painful for me and my wife.  In the face of all this, I can honestly say I feel no pressure to be the “pastor” and have the answer for this.  Honestly, even as a pastor, I have no answer for this.  My questions before God about the reality of what my family has experienced over the last three weeks are the exact same questions anyone would ask.

• Why?
• Why not step in?
• Why not act?
• Why wouldn’t you make it right?
• Why couldn’t you part the clouds and provide a moment for us to catch our breath?
• Why everything at once?
• Why?

Not only am I okay asking those questions, but I think there is something holy and sacred in being courageous enough to ask them.  Don’t be fooled, those questions are only to be asked by the courageous.  It is easy to spout trite Christian platitudes designed to make people feel better with bumper-sticker theology.  But insipid axioms do little in the face of the actual brokenness of the world.  It is more courageous to ask the hard questions of God and wait for him to answer than it is to find hope on the side of coffee mug.  Asking those questions requires courage because, in the end, it is very likely they will not be answered.

Ultimately, it isn’t about the questions.  Behind the questions is a deep current of emotion threatening to overtake us.  But too often, when the fracture in the universe threatens to swallow us up in pain we fail to get fully present to our emotions.  In those moments I think we do one of two things.  Either we ask the questions but never investigate what emotion is driving those questions, or we resort to some banal Christian slogan to try and make us feel better.

This experience forced me to look at one such statement that gets spouted often when people go through a lot:  God won’t give you more than you can handle.  If I may be so bold, let’s just call that what it is...

You can read the rest - and hard-hitting, but ultimately helpful it is - here.

What is a friend?

What is a friend?  "A single soul dwelling in two bodies." Aristotle

Doesn't this just break your heart?

Thanks Bill

Things to come ...

HT: Greg Evans

The Next Generation

The Story continues. Mother and child.  A new chapter begins.

Glad tidings of great joy!

Public Announcement:
"This morning, at 3.55 am, Mrs Claire Adair was safely delivered of a daughter - Alexandra Anne Elizabeth. The baby weighed 7lb 1 and 1/2 oz.
Mother, child and father are all doing well.
Grannies and Grandads are also said to be well chuffed." 

Piper: 'could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ were not there?'

Thanks to BW for this.

John Piper in God is the Gospel, IMHO the most neglected but significant book in the Piper canon, writes:

"The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there?"
"...Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It's a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don't want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel."

New church website

Thanks to Alan and Ann Millen, the new church website is up and running!

Check it out here

Ours is a thinking religion

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Ephesians 3: 20-21 (NIV)

"We should also contemplate God's power. The beginning of the doxology (v20) is in essence an invitation to consider how great God's power is. Again we see how much Christianity is focused on the mind. Ours is a thinking religion. Its goal is not abstract reasoning or academic pursuits separated form practical doing, but an informed mind that shapes life. The message of Ephesians requires heart, mind and hands. Christians need time for reflection, for remembering, for searching into matters too deep for knowledge. The suggestion not to bother with subjects too grand for comprehension is ill-advised. In being stretched by what is beyond us we grow. Inquiry after the unknowable God provides the wisdom and knowledge we need for life.

"Christians need a regular schedule of reading, thinking, discussing and praying that informs them about faith and life and helps them grow a soul. Most of us think we are too busy for such time-consuming exercises, but the inner being is not strengthened by osmosis. Our busy schedules are often filled with secondary - if not needless - concerns. Some activities may need to be laid aside, but the contemplative part of faith is not one of them."

Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians (NIVAC: Zondervan, 1996), p.190. 

Why do bad things happen to good dogs?

Not for this reason ...

(For the tear-jerking back story, start here)

HT: CS

Calvin and Hobbes: making sense of life?

Thanks to BW

Costly sacrifice is the surest sign of true faith

"Just as we cannot have Christian ethics without Christian beliefs, so we do not genuinely believe if we are not living our faith.  In The Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards observed that costly sacrifice is the surest sign of true faith.  He wrote:

'Passing affections easily produce words; and words are cheap; and godliness is more easily feigned in words than in actions.  Christian practice is a costly, laborious thing...  Hypocrites may much more easily be brought to talk like saints, than to act like saints.'

"Hypocrites seek maximum press with minimum effort.  They shy away from anything that demands a price. If you want to know whether your faith is genuine or not, consider how much it costs you.  Do you resist temptation? Love the people you are with? Give your best to others?  Those who believe in Christ - who have placed their whole weight on the promises of gospel - will naturally look for ways to share his love."

Michael E. Wittmer: Don't Stop Believing, p. 174. 

Reality 3:16

It's (probably?) not too late to sign up here to enrol for this year's new season of Reality 3:16, which is held in the '3:16 House' in the grounds of Portrush Presbyterian Church.  The first teaching day is this Saturday, 21 September.
This Christian apologetics and worldview course is designed to encourage and "equip people of all ages and backgrounds to understand the Christian faith in the face of present-day doubts and questions" and to help and enable them to trust and share the Gospel in the face of unbelief.  
For the first day, Prof Stephen Williams (Union Theological College) will be examining the character, influence and legacy of Charles Darwin; John Kirkpatrick (Portush PC) will outline the Biblical marks of an effective apologist; and yours truly will be unpacking the foundational doctrine of 'Biblical Revelation' against the prevailing cultural winds of modernity and postmodernism (don't worry - I'll try not to make it as boring as that sounds!), with plenty of opportunity to ask questions and discuss all the issues raised in each of the sessions.
For more information about all of this, do check out the course website, and maybe we'll see you there?

30 years ago today ...

A little memory from 15 September 1983 ...

"And from our sports desk ..."

Dear...    

oh dear ...    

   oh dear!   

To see ourselves as others see us

With thanks to BW










In poem  "To A Louse, On Seeing One on a Lady's Bonnet at Church" (1786), Scottish poet  Robert Burns famously wrote the following (updated for contemporary comprehensibility!):

And would some Power the small gift give us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us,
And foolish notion:
What airs in dress and gait would leave us,
And even devotion!

So, who was at yesterday's wedding?

Among others, this man (and my wife)!

Lovely, down-to-earth guy!
For more, see here!

Jesus' Story of the Two Lost Sons - in the Key of 'F'

Came across the following apparently anonymous retelling of the famous parable - care of Alan Wilson's blog. Humorous, but refreshingly insightful...

"Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his father to fork over his farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and frittered his family’s fortune, feasting fabulously with floozies and faithless friends. Flooded with flattery he financed a full-fledged fling of “funny foam” and fast food.

Fleeced by his fellows in folly, facing famine, and feeling faintly fuzzy, he found himself a feed-flinger in a filthy foreign farmyard. Feeling frail and fairly famished, he fain would have filled his frame with foraged food from the fodder fragments.

“Fooey,” he figured, “my father’s flunkies fare far fancier,” the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the facts. Finally, frustrated from failure and filled with foreboding (but following his feelings) he fled from the filthy foreign farmyard.

Faraway, the father focused on the fretful familiar form in the field and flew to him and fondly flung his forearms around the fatigued fugitive. Falling at his father’s feet, the fugitive floundered forlornly, “Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly forfeited family favor.”

Finally, the faithful Father, forbidding and forestalling further flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch forth the finest fatling and fix a feast.

Faithfully, the father’s first-born was in a fertile field fixing fences while father and fugitive were feeling festive. The foreman felt fantastic as he flashed the fortunate news of a familiar family face that had forsaken fatal foolishness. Forty-four feet from the farmhouse the first-born found a farmhand fixing a fatling.

Frowning and finding fault, he found father and fumed, “Floozies and foam from frittered family funds and you fix a feast following the fugitive’s folderol?” The first-born’s fury flashed, but fussing was futile. The frugal first-born felt it was fitting to feel “favored” for his faithfulness and fidelity to family, father, and farm. In foolhardy fashion, he faulted the father for failing to furnish a fatling and feast for his friends. His folly was not in feeling fit for feast and fatling for friends; rather his flaw was in his feeling about the fairness of the festival for the found fugitive.

His fundamental fallacy was a fixation on favoritism, not forgiveness. Any focus on feeling “favored” will fester and friction will force the faded facade to fall. Frankly, the father felt the frigid first-born’s frugality of forgiveness was formidable and frightful. But the father’s former faithful fortitude and fearless forbearance to forgive both fugitive and first-born flourishes.

The farsighted father figured, “Such fidelity is fine, but what forbids fervent festivity for the fugitive that is found? Unfurl the flags and finery, let fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is forgotten, folly is forsaken. Forgiveness forms the foundation for future fortune.”

Four facets of the father’s fathomless fondness for faltering fugitives are:

1) Forgiveness
2) Forever faithful friendship
3) Fadeless love, and
4) A facility for forgetting flaws."

'Reconnect'

For information and regular updates on our forthcoming week of spiritual refreshment and revitalisation  "Reconnect", do visit the new Reconnect page of this blog  (found on the top of the left hand column of the home page).

On a Sunday morning ...

."..don't ask us how we feel, but rather remind us of what we know!"
This clip from a few years ago, is Alister Begg at his curmudgeonly (and perceptively) best.


HT: Tim Challies

When the dilemma of postmodernism hits the brick wall of reality ...

HT: Brooke McEldowney





For further insights, see Jerram Barrs' lecture here.

Alan Bennett invites you to "Take a Pew"

This is cringingly and woefully too close for comfort in too many cases ... but it is very, very funny!

Lesson: whatever else catches your attention, don't take your eyes off the ball!

HT: Vit Z

The Great (human) Conumdrum

“‘If I knew I were one of God’s elect, I would come to Christ; but I fear I am not.’  To you I answer: nobody ever came to Christ because he knew himself to be one of the elect. It is quite true that God has of His mere good pleasure elected some to everlasting life, but they never knew it until they believed in Christ.
Christ nowhere commands the elect to come to him. He commands all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel. The question for you is not, ‘Am I one of the elect?’ but ‘Am I a sinner?’ Christ came to save sinners.”

Robert Murray M’Cheyne

HT: Jared Wilson

Ever been Rick rolled?

You have now!
HT: Vitamin Z

Seger and Springsteen

So, there's a bit of camera-shake at the start of the tape; but really, does it ever get better than this?

Scotty Smith's Prayer: Longing for deeper intimacy with Jesus

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. Phil. 3:12-15

Dear Lord Jesus,  I don’t know how old Paul was when he was when he wrote these remarkable words—maybe in his sixties or seventies—but it’s obvious, that with an increase in age came an increase in gospel astonishment. He never grew bored exploring the unsearchable riches of Jesus; and he never seemed to tire of wrestling with the kingdom implications of the gospel—for the world in which you placed him, and for the heart that beat within his breast

Jesus, make me that kind of man. Give me this kind of passion, joy and maturity in the gospel. I’m thankful that it’s your grasp of me, and not my grasp of you, that defines this way of life; for sometimes I lift my hands in awe and gratitude for the way you love me. Sometimes I shake my fists at heaven like a pouting, demanding child. Sometimes I wring my hands in anxious unbelief, like a hapless orphan or spoiled toddler. But I live, and I will die, secure in your palms—confident that I am written upon your heart—beloved and betrothed to you.

Lord Jesus, I praise you that, as with Paul, you’ve given me a prize to win, not a wage to earn. Your finished work forever finished any notion of performance-based spirituality. I never earned my way into a relationship with you, and I don’t maintain a relationship with you by my striving, earnestness or works either. But as the gospel is the end of earning, it’s not the end of effort; so intensify my zeal for laying hold of that free and glorious prize in front of me—the fullness of life in the new heaven and new earth…

So what do I want for the rest of my days, Jesus? I cannot say it any better than Paul, Lord: I want to know you better and better and better—more intimately than ever (Phil. 3:10-11). This is the one thing I want, more than anything else, because it effects everything else. Renew and refresh, deepen and expand, stretch and broaden my relationship with you.

And I want to experience more of the power of your resurrection—power to know more of your love (Eph. 3:14-21); power to love others as you love us (Jn. 13:34-35); power to live in your story, to your glory with the joy you alone can give.

And I want to enter more fully into the fellowship of sharing in your sufferings—living with the birth pangs of new-creation life in this broken world—a world which groans for its release from the bondage to decay, a release that is sure to come (Rom. 8:18-25). I am so thankful to know that our labors in you are not in vain, Lord Jesus (1 cor. 15:58).

This is what I long for the gospel to effect in my heart. Help me to have way done with lesser things and be more taken up with the things which matter most to your heart. So very Amen I pray, in your most glorious and loving name.

HT: Heavenward

These things were written for our learning...

This video is not simply a good plug for what will clearly be a very important and useful Bible study tool (I still retain a modicum of hesitation about all "study Bibles"!), it is also very insightful in providing a thumbnail sketch of what it means to read, understand and apply the Bible through the lens of the Gospel.

No doubt it'll be a while before it gets this length...
A list of contributors is available here.

And so say all of us!

Acts 4: a tale of two churches?

I know there is more going on in Acts 4  than the following quotation from Lloyd Ogilivie highlights, but it is perceptively insightful nonetheless, and certainly worth thinking about ...
"In Acts 4, Luke gives us a convicting, convincing comparison of two groups of God's people.  Here are two assemblies, the Sanhedrin and the early Church.  Both believed they were being faithful and obedient to the truth, but what a contrast.

• One was protective and defensive; the other was powerful and dynamic.
• One believed it had been appointed to conserve the past, keep the peace, and preserve the status quo; the other believed it had been called to communicate the love of God, to witness to a miraculous intervention of His power, and to live in the resources of His persistent presence.
• One was maintained for preservation of rules and regulations; the other was motivated by an assurance of being right with God.
• One was based on what God had given long before; the other was based upon what God was doing right then.
• One was symbolized by blandness and boredom; the other by boldness.

"These disturbing questions arise: in which assembly would we be more comfortable? If you had to identify your church, would it be more like the Sanhedrin or like the early Church?" 

LLoyd J Ogilvie: 'Acts of the  Holy Spirit: God's Power for Living (Shaw, 1999),  p 54-55.

What is Christianity?

From the good people at 'Christianity Explored' ...

Sunday Sermon: The Church that Jesus builds (1) Acts 2: 36-47

This morning we looked at the aftermath of Peter's Pentecost sermon: the Spirit gives dynamic and direction to the new believers forming a new community characterised by definitive priorities for church life.  You can listen to the sermon below or download it from here.

Sunday's Sermon: True Pentecostalism (Acts 2: 12-39)

On Sunday past, we continued to examine the marks of a Spirit-filled church and Spirit-driven preaching.  You can listen to the sermon below, or download it from here.