To love your neighbor, you need to know your neighbor. To help you do that, Ben Stevens, over at the Gospel Coalition blog, offers six tried and tested practical suggestions. Read it to help you in your evangelism.
March 29, 2011
March 28, 2011
For Whom Does Bell’s Hell Toll?
Posted by 1031toglory under Books, Current Events, Doctrine, Gospel, theology, VideoLeave a Comment
For whom does Rob Bell’s view on hell toll? I know this post is ringing late in light of all the news on the blogosphere and cable news networks concerning Rob Bell’s book Love Wins, but I figured I’d point you to 2 good worthy responses to his book.
Bottom line, Rob Bell’s view on hell is not biblical. And for the sake of brevity…
-The reality for the non-Christian… Hell is real. Repent of your sin and turn to Jesus Christ.
-The reality for the Christian… Hell is real. Spread the good news of Jesus Christ.
For the sake of those who need a larger discourse on these two…
-Read Kevin DeYoung’s review of Rob Bell’s book.
-Watch David Platt’s (pastor and author of the book Radical) comment.
March 28, 2011
The Only Reason Why This Pastor is Allowed to Preach
Posted by 1031toglory under Art, Books, Family, GospelLeave a Comment
Why is any pastor allowed to preach in the sight of a holy God and in view of our wretched sinful self? Because of the atonement and imputed righteousness of Christ.
To understand this more and to help your kids understand why the righteousness of Christ is important for their salvation, read The Priest with the Dirty Clothes by R.C. Sproul. Not only does it convey this reality so well to kids, but the illustrations are wonderful too (The illustrator is Justin Gerard, and he helped illustrate 2 other R.C. Sproul children books, such as, The Lightlings (on the light of Jesus) and The Prince’s Poison Cup (on Christ’s penal substitutionary sacrifice… in “kid” language, of course.)
March 16, 2011
Lloyd-Jones and Preaching Today
Posted by 1031toglory under Church, culture, PastorsLeave a Comment
Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer in NYC, will be blogging a couple of posts expanding on an introduction he has been slated to write to Martyn Lloyd-Jones re-issue of the classic, Preaching & Preachers.
He writes,
I recently was asked to write a short essay on D.M. Lloyd-Jones’ book of lectures Preaching and Preachers which Zondervan is slated to re-issue in 2012. This afforded me an opportunity to re-read the book and to discover that I had been more helped and shaped by it than I had remembered. Most of what I discovered would not fit in the essay and so I decided to spread a bit more of it out in some blog posts.
The first thing that struck me was how this nearly 70 year old Welsh minister (called “the Doctor” by his followers), lecturing in 1969, could have anticipated and addressed so many of the questions surrounding preaching that we are wrestling with in our own culture today.
Read the whole thing here.
March 14, 2011
Pray for Japan & C&MA Report
Posted by 1031toglory under CMA, Current Events, PrayerLeave a Comment
Pray for those in Japan. Click on this link (and scroll to the bottom of the page) to find out how you can give to relief efforts through the C&MA. Also, below is a report from one of our C&MA international workers in Japan. Praise God that all C&MA international workers are safe. But keep those in Japan in prayer.
The following update was adapted from a communication sent by Harry and Jane Landaw, field leaders in Japan.
Dear Friends,
By now you have probably seen much coverage of the strongest earthquake in the history of Japan, plus the powerful tsunamis that are following. It is really terrible around Sendai and Miyaki-about 200 miles from Tokyo. The destruction is beyond imagination. After the 8.9 earthquake, 25-foot waves of mud came rolling in from the ocean and just cleared away houses and huge buildings, plus of course, many cars and people. Many are still missing.
Sendai Airport has 1,300 people stranded there. The huge tsunami waves came through the airport and totally annihilated everything except the main terminal. Oh, how sad! As of this writing, 60 people have been reported dead, but the number will increase rapidly, we know, as so many were swept away.
A ship had 100 people on it-maybe a ferry or fishing boat-and it was swept away. The earthquake in Tokyo measured 7.9. We thought the building where we live would fall apart. We could see it shake as well as our car.
God protected us all. Harry called all our C&MA workers, and all are fine. We haven’t heard of any C&MA churches destroyed. Pray that God will keep us all through the night, as more tsunamis are expected. We continue to have major tremors here since the initial quake at 2:40 in the afternoon; ours are minor compared to those in the north. A huge refinery in Chiba City is on fire. We had driven by it many times when we lived there. Trains are shut down in Tokyo, so people are stranded downtown by the thousands.
Thank you for your prayers. We thank God that we still have electricity and e-mail connections. We will keep you posted. God is our shelter in the storm and the comforter for the thousands who are suffering.
Grateful for your prayers,
Harry and Jane
March 2, 2011
8 Tips for Talking to Your Kids about the Sermon
Posted by 1031toglory under Church, FamilyLeave a Comment
Joe Holland writes,
They sit there next to you and their feet don’t even hit the floor. You’re thinking, “What, if anything of this guy’s sermon is sinking into my kid’s head?” And with that little thought you’ve already decided not to engage your child about the sermon. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Let me introduce you to the most important rule when talking to your kids about the sermon: They retain more than you think they do. The second most important rule is like it: They understand more than you think they do.
Read the rest, by clicking this link on 8 tips for talking to your kids about the sermon. Below are the 8 tips, but read the whole thing as he expands on each one.
1. Remember the outline.
2. Know the one, main point.
3. How is Jesus the hero?
4. Engage your kids with open ended questions.
5. Make sure the gospel is clear.
6. Be the first to pray and confess.
7. Chase rabbit trails.
8. Remember the first two rules.
February 10, 2011
Do you think of grace the way God does?
Posted by 1031toglory under Books, Christian life, glory of God, GospelLeave a Comment
“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” — John Piper, The Pleasures of God
I keep coming back to this quote by John Piper in his book The Pleasures of God. I’ve read a lot by John Piper, but for some reason or another never got around to reading The Pleasures of God. Man, what was I thinking?? It’s probably one of the best books he has written! And this quote is biblically God-centered. It points to the fact that grace aims to magnify God by giving me joy in God. He is the prize! Grace is not grace if it doesn’t give me the pleasure of God Himself.
If you haven’t read anything by John Piper, I encourage you to pick up this book. It takes you into the blazing center and heart of what God is most passionate about: the pleasure He has in His glory. Read the book to see why this is good news for you and I!
February 9, 2011
A few thoughts on the nature and power of the Word of God, the Bible. May we increasingly understand that this is God’s ordained means as He uses us to make disciples of Christ…
The Word of God brings people to Himself (Acts 6:7)
“And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.”
The Word of God is powerful (Hebrews 4:12)
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The Word of God brings spiritual life (John 6:63; 1 Peter 1:23)
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
“…since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.”
The Word of God is the means He uses to bring salvation (James 1:18; Romans 10:14-15)
“Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”
The Word of God and its entirety is profitable (2 Timothy 3:16)
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
The Word of God always accomplishes what God intends (Isaiah 55:11)
“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
The Word of God is what the Holy Spirit uses to get to the heart (Ephesians 6:17)
“…take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
The Word of God testifies Jesus Christ (Luke 24:27)
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
The Word of God displays the glory of God (1 Samuel 3:21; John 1:14)
“And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.”
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Soli Deo Gloria
February 7, 2011
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted… I’ll try to get my act together! But, I thought this commercial was well worth a post… (I can see my daughter Chloe trying this!)
December 31, 2010
Justin Taylor has a great number of Bible Reading Plans to choose from for the new year. I STRONGLY recommend that every Christian be in one for a number of reasons… for example, it keeps you disciplined and on a schedule (how many of us struggle with this, eh?), and exposed to God’s method of speaking to you and knowing Him… it’s through His Word. Make this new year the year you want to radically hear from God as He has revealed Himself through His Word. You will see it is all about His glory.
December 31, 2010
Top Ten Theology and Church Stories of 2010
Posted by 1031toglory under Church, theologyLeave a Comment
Collin Hansen has a good top ten theology and church stories of 2010… interesting look at what the year brought us!
December 31, 2010
If you’re going to see the new “old” movie True Grit, you might want to read this article by Stanley Fish from the NY Times as a backdrop to your viewing… there are no spoilers, so don’t worry!
December 28, 2010
The Center of the Bible: God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment
Posted by 1031toglory under Bible, glory of God, GospelLeave a Comment
From Michael Lawrence’s book, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church…
“The grace of God in the gospel through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ not only describes the climax of the covenants but the climax of God’s redemptive acts in history. It also bring us, finally, to the point and center of gravity of the story. Since this story is the story of redemption, it’s quite easy to fall into the habit of thinking that that the point of the story is me, or us: the people being redeemed. But that would be a misreading of the story. Though we benefit immeasurably from this story, the center and point of the story is God and his glory (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14).
This does not mean God is some sort of giant, preening, celestial peacock, impressed with himself in narcissistic obesession. In fact, the display of God’s glory in Scripture, is filled with irony. For though God’s glory is seen in his ability to save, that salvation comes only through judgment. And that judgment is borne by himself, in the person of his own Son. It is in the cross that God’s glory is seen, in the suffering and sacrifice of him who is most worthy for those who are not worthy at all.
Here is the grace of God, and the glory of God, as he walks through those animals cut in two, as he provides a ram for Abraham’s son, Issac, and as he provides a Passover lamb for the Israelites. All this that he provided for his people was but a picture and foretaste of his ultimate provision: his one and only beloved Son, Jesus, sacrificed on the cross for sinners, bearing the judgment they deserved, that God’s glory might be displayed in salvatoin and mercy, even as he met the demands of justice himself.”
Amen!
December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas and the Glory of Christ
Posted by 1031toglory under C.H. Spurgeon, Christmas, GospelLeave a Comment
From C.H. Spurgeon (as posted by Ray Ortlund)…
“‘Immanuel, God with us.’ It is hell’s terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that word, ‘God with us,’ back he falls, confounded and confused. . . . ‘God with us’ is the laborer’s strength. How could he preach the gospel, how could he bend his knees in prayer, how could the missionary go into foreign lands, how could the martyr stand at the stake, how could the confessor own his Master, how could men labor if that one word were taken away? . . . ‘God with us’ is eternity’s sonnet, heaven’s hallelujah, the shout of the glorified, the song of the redeemed, the chorus of the angels, the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. . . .
Feast, Christians, feast; you have a right to feast. . . . But in your feasting, think of the Man in Bethlehem. Let him have a place in your hearts, give him the glory, think of the virgin who conceived him, but think most of all of the Man born, the Child given.
I finish by again saying, A happy Christmas to you all!”
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), III:430.
Keving DeYoung has a discenring post on St. Nicholas and Jesus Christ at Christmas time… click here.
Jim Hamilton can help you understand how the Christmas story contributes to God’s glory… click here.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
December 9, 2010
So what do you think Atlanta Road Alliance Church choir? Want to give it a go??
