A Defrosted Calvinist

The Greatest Love of all....

2011-12-24T14:57:00.000-08:00

I was a big Whitney Houston fan in the 80's and her now classic hit was 'The Greatest Love of All', the song ends with the lyrics 'the greatest love of all is learning to love yourself'. That is not the greatest love of all, in fact loving ourselves is easy for us. The greatest love of all is this: while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.

It's the holiday season when amidst all the frenzy of shopping and Santa there is a manger scene where cattle, shepherds and Magi surround a helpless baby who is placed in a manger. (but not a Santa)
John's gospel tells us nothing of this, that is left to Matthew and Luke, for John, Christmas starts earlier not in Mid September like it does in the West these days, but in Eternity past. John tells us that this helpless looking baby is none other than the Word who created all things in the beginning. The Word who was with God and is Himself God. The Son who is very God of very God, whom the myriads of Angels adored, and the Father delighted in, the darling of Heaven humbled Himself and became a helpless baby. As one song writer put it, 'The hands that created the world, made the hands that was now holding Him'. Or as John put it 'The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth'.

Christmas confronts us with the fact that while we do love ourselves we by our nature are unlovely and we stand in need of saving and in need of forgiveness. Yet we are utterly helpless to change and transform ourselves and utterly helpless to change our standing before a holy God. Christmas confronts us with a baby who was born to reconcile sinners to Himself to offer us forgiveness by coming to trust in the one who laid down His life for guilty sinners. Christmas points inevitably to Easter and the manger points inevitably to the cross!

As you celebrate Christmas may you come to delight in not only the greatest love of all but the greatest gift of all that is forgiveness from God.

Merry Christmas!

Stephen <><

How deep the Father's love for us

2011-12-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

I am working my way through John Stott's classic book 'The Cross of Christ', Stott reminds us that The cross is not the Son working against the Father's will to redeem us as the cross is just as much the Father's initiative.

Stuart Townend's song 'How deep the Father's love for us' also reminds us of this:

How deep the Father's love for us
how vast beyond all measure
that He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

John 3:16 tell's us that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. The cross therefore isn't the means to God loving us but is the result, the effect of that love.

Stott puts it like this, 'We must never make Christ the object of God's punishment or God the object of Christ's persuasion, for both God and Christ were subjects not objects, taking the initiative together to save sinners. Whatever happened on the cross in terms of 'Godforsakeness' was voluntarily accepted by both in the same holy which made atonement necessary. It was God in our nature forsaken of God. If the Father gave the Son, The Son gave Himself. If the Father "sent the Son, the Son 'came' Himself. The Father did not lay on the Son an ordeal he was reluctant to bear, nor did the Son extract from the Father a salvation he was reluctant to bestow.' Stott, The Cross of Christ p151

We find at the cross God's wrath poured out upon His beloved Son, the place where wrath and mercy met. Divine justice, mercy and love are fulfilled as God in love both punishes and receives punishment to bring many sons to glory. How great is God!

God Bless

Stephen <><

John Stott- A Portrait by his friends

2011-11-22T13:08:00.000-08:00

I've recently finished reading this book which was published for John Stott's 90th birthday by several friends from different walks of life. They are short accounts of what 'Uncle John' meant to them, some of them are better than others, but what comes out is that John Stott lived what he believed. Each chapter is short and reveals something that left an impression upon them about John Stott. It seems John was consistent in praying for people, remembering details about them, encouraging them even years after a brief encounter and helping many people out in practical ways. John Stott was single minded about ministry, he was driven starting the day early and lived to know Christ and make Him known. This effected the way he dealt with people. He had time for people seeing them as being created in the image of God. He was humble about his own talents and calling, seeking to encourage those he encountered on his walk through life. According to several of his friends this was because he knew he was saved, knew what he was saved from and never, ever, ever got over it. Like John Newton he realised it was all of grace and that this grace is amazing. The challenge that John Stott's life offers to us is to be so in love with Jesus and his saving grace at work in our life that it makes an impact on those around us for eternity to the glory of God.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Old Testament Theology- A Thematic Approach by Robin Routledge

2011-08-20T00:22:00.000-07:00

I was given this book by a good friend which was really nice as it is probably not something I would have been drawn to but I have enjoyed it immensely. It does what it says on the tin, it is a thematic approach to the Old Testament, no surprises there. The surprise was how readable it was which for a book that is about the theology of the Old Testament really is a surprise. It's probably aimed at first year Theology undergraduates but is very readable so it could benefit anyone. I haven't purposefully avoided any Old Testament scholarly works but I think this is the first O.T. text I've read since I was a 3rd year theology student. For this reason I found the large introduction useful as it covered all the major players in Old Testament studies and their perspectives as well as their different schools of thought.

The book covered major themes in the Old Testament occasionally demonstrating how they relate to a New Testament understanding. For me the most informative section was in the chapter 'God and the future' especially 'Messianic expectation'. Routledge is an evangelical who believes the whole Bible so he interacts with the New Testament. He argues that many of the terms that we rightly associate with Jesus found within the Old Testament are not necessarily considered Messianic. I'd never thought of that before and have automatically presumed that any passage that speaks of Jesus, such as the prophet, the Son of Man, the Servant are all Messianic. He also traces some of these themes into the inter-testament period and saw how they developed. In the same chapter I was a little disappointed with his treatment of the after life but I did a large essay in the 3rd year at HTC so I had explored it in more depth than it is treated in this book. I appreciate the way he interacts with more liberal scholarship but sometimes it is unclear if he believes in some of their ideas, especially predictive prophecy and the number of authors for the book of Isaiah.

This book is not an Old Testament introduction because it doesn't cover book by book or explore all the themes in the Old Testament, how could it when it's only 350 pages? It would be good to read alongside a more traditional Old Testament introduction and worth a read as a stand alone volume!

God Bless

Stephen <><

A man called John

2011-07-31T06:06:00.000-07:00

It's been a week where Britain mourns the death of a pop star whose talent was considered legendary, but who battled various addicts. However it has been silent about the death of one of the leading figures in British Evangelicalism. A man whose influence is felt across the UK, The US and in large parts of the global south. In John's gospel we are told there was a man sent from God his name was John. He himself was not the light but he came as a witness to the light, in it's original context it was talking about John the baptiser. It could also be said of John Stott whose influence in Evangelicalism extends beyond his own Anglican denomination. He was responsible for the formation of the London Institute for contemporary Christianity, the Langham Partnership which supplies theological material and other resources for the church in Africa, he edited the New Testament BST series, one of the best conservative evangelical small volume commentaries . He was also a leader of the New evangelicals and was involved in setting up the Lausanne conference as well as being the pastor of a large church in the centre of London. His influence will be felt for generations. Praise the Lord for a life well lived for the glory of God!

God Bless

Stephen <><

The vulnerability of God

2011-05-04T03:35:00.000-07:00

I am 100% convinced of the Sovereignty of God, I affirm completely that God is all-powerful, knows all things and indeed ordains all things. Some reformed guys believe in the impassibilty of God, I don't. I see it, it fits well in the Systematic books but it doesn't make sense of how God relates in Scripture. At creation God creates Adam and Eve, knowing by this evil will enter into His newly created world. God will for the first time exercise His mercy as He commits Himself to bringing rebelious sinners back to Himself. In Genesis for example God makes a covenant with Abraham, well actually He makes a covenant with Abraham present but He takes upon Himself all the obligation whilst Abraham sleeps. In essence God makes Himself vulnerable to Abraham and His descendants, if they don't keep the covenant, God will pay the price. He does this knowing all things, knowing that they will not keep the covenant. In the minor prophets He is bound to Israel as a husband, not to a faithful wife but to an adulterous wife. Yet like Hosea he loves at a cost, bringing His unfaithful wife back time and time again. Is he impassive, I think not! No He is a loving husband who is made vulnerable by His wife's infidility. Wounded by His great love.The most vulnerable we see Him is when as the Logos He takes on flesh, knowing that His own will reject Him. He is vulnerable in a human body, subject to joy and tears, hunger and tiredness. He is vulnerable in His love as He weeps over Jerusalem, He stretches out His arms to embrace them and they put nails through His hands and hang Him on a cross. God is love!

The Jesus Inquest by Charles Foster

2011-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://booksneeze.com/> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

This book is an apologetic debate with a difference as both sides are argued by the same guy! Charles Foster says he read ,The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel and didn't like the approach Strobel uses, interviewing lots of smart guys who are Christians without letting smart non-believers make their case. He believes both cases should be made, that the evidence should be presented for both sides. Charles Foster claims that he has argued both sides so the book could be more comprehensive as he has read widely on the area of Jesus' resurrection. He believes as a lawyer he can argue both sides without letting his bias get in the way. It's quite a claim, does he pull it off? Well no, as his bias comes out, in terms of comprehensiveness the answer is yes and no! Yes, if by comprehensive he means that he has read every book on the shelf of his local secular bookstall on this issue. No, if he means he has gone to a good theological college and read all the books on the issue in their library. The book itself takes on some of the arguments made popular by Dan Brown, the Jesus family Tomb etc. These arguments themselves are weak and are not taken seriously by those who have taken the time to investigate. However since I started reading this book the conversations I have had with non-believers relate to these issues. If they have heard anything it is via Dan Brown or Simcha Jacobovici's Jesus family tomb and the arguments that they go for are precisely the ones made popular by them in their books and TV programmes. It's a shame that he took these arguments seriously and yet takes a superior tone over arguments that are equally ridiculous. That said, Foster's book could be a useful book and for the most part it is very readable. However I struggled with the book precisely because Foster is one man. He calls himself x when he takes the non-Christian argument, and Y when arguing as a Christian. I found it silly that there was a joint statement between X and Y and frustrating when X and Y attacked "each others" intellectual honesty or abilities. If you can get over that then it might be worth reading, but I couldn't.

God Bless
Stephen <><

In my place condemned He stood- Barabbas' story

2011-04-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

All of the Gospels tell us of the trial of Jesus of Nazareth and His crucifixtion. They also tell us of a criminal who was tried and found guilty but was ultimately freed. His name was Barabbas, he was guilty of murder and causing an insurrection, maybe the men crucified on either side of Jesus were Barabbas co-insurrectionists. Most people have heard of Barabbas, yet what most Christians might not be aware of is that in the early manuscripts (and more reliable?) of Matthew's Gospel we are told that his first name was Jesus. It likely that this is true as it is more likely that a later editor took out the name Jesus Barabbas (for pious reasons) than added it. Also the name Jesus was very common in the Second Temple period. Barabbas means Son of the Father, as Pilate asked the crowd whom shall I free, Jesus, Son of the Father from Nazareth or Jesus son of the father, the insurrectionist? I wonder if Barabbas thought it was a one horse race as he must of heard of Jesus the wonder worker and knew that many people had been healed by Jesus. Maybe he had heard the commotion on the first day of the week when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts proclaiming Him as the Son of David. How shocked he would have been then when the crowd shouted out "free Barabbas!" Did he hear Pilate pleading for the innocent Jesus? Barabbas knew he was guilty of his crime, and Jesus was innocent. Did Barabbas know that Jesus died in His place on that first good Friday? Do you know that He stood in your place as he suffered and died and His Father poured out His wrath on Him?

God Bless You through His Son!

Stephen <><

The Wordsmith, the Kid and the Electrolux by Clifford Leigh

2011-04-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

I don't read many novels but I have recently finished an excellent novel, it's well written, griping and thoroughly orthodox. It tells the story of a boy called Corey, Corey is angry with his dad and this leads him into a life of crime, and selfish indulgence, stealing from his dad's box of change to fulfill his craving for ice cream. Corey becomes more and more self-centred and yet nothing can fulfill his desire or stop him from his crime. That is until he is swept away quite literally by the vacuum cleaner which leads him into a magically world under the family tree. The world he enters is a world of pictures, he is somewhat confused until he meets Benjamin Endbend and his twin brother Ben Endbend they have been here before and Benjamin is able to interpret the pictures for Corey. Corey is drawn to Benjamin but finds his take on this new world both breathtaking and challenging and realising he has more in common with Ben, who is on a complete downer. The gang goes on an adventure through several pictures and in the process Corey changes to become more like Benjamin. In one of the pictures he encounters the wordsmith who is the creator of this picture, whilst in the wordsmiths shop, the boys encounter a couple of tourists who cannot see the wordsmith and are convinced that Benjamin and Corey are mad and need help. The tourists take the boys to their home town, a place that used to be called Vanity Fair where Faithful died a short while ago. Vanity Fair is no longer a fair but a sprawling metropolis called New Dragonstoy.This is where the adventure really kicks off and where Corey's life is changed for good. If you enjoy C .S Lewis' writings then you'll also enjoy this as the style is similar ,the theology however is much more orthodox as it is both robustly reformed and evangelical. I hope in time it becomes a best seller and I commend it to you.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Prayer and God's sovereignty

2011-02-19T00:42:00.000-08:00

God is all powerful and all knowing, we are limited in our knowledge and in power so what is the point of prayer? Are we trying to convince God that He should change His mind about how He acts in the world? Are we seeking to inform Him of something that He might not be aware of? Sometimes we do pray as if this were the case, prayer is relation, God has commanded us to pray without seeking. Sometimes God does use our prayers to change situations, not from His perspective but from our ours. Hezekiah would be a case in point, God sent the prophet to tell him to get his affairs in order, but the king prayed and God answered giving him an extra fifteen years. God didn't change His mind about the length of the kings life as the king had not yet fathered the next in line in the Messiah's family. God uses means and prayer is one of those means, that makes us co-workers with Christ, and co-workers with believers around the globe. This same thought is expressed by Bruce Ware:

If anyone thinks that somehow, in a literal sort of sense, our prayers can change God's mind, I would like to ask that person: Who do you think you are?! What could you (or I) possibly know that has escaped God's attention? What perspective do you (or I) have that he lacks? When we consider the extremely limited knowledge we have, our lack of foresight compared to God's perfect foreknowledge, our record of poor decisions and bad judgment in far more cases that we'd like to admit, not to mention our morally twisted natures as as-yet unreformed affections and values, do we really want God to listen to our advice regarding what might be best to do? Honestly, I believe that I could not act more foolishly than to come to God in prayer and suggesting to him that he see things my way and insisting that he do what I want, No, "your will be done" means that another's will precedes mine, and thankfully, this will has been formed our of an omniscient (all knowing) and omnisapient (all wise) mind and heart so that we can be assured it cannot be improved, In prayer,we seek to pray "according to God's will" and in 'Jesus' name, indicating our longing to have our minds, desires affections, and wills reshaped to be more like God's. Bruce Ware Prayer and the Sovereignty of God, in For the Fame of God's Name p.141

Sometimes God uses our prayers to change things and circumstances around us, we are His instruments to bring about His purposes. God always uses prayer relationally to change us.

God Bless

Stephen

A Narrative of a surprising conversion

2011-01-23T08:48:00.000-08:00

Since my most significant conversion from darkness to light when I was born again almost 25 years ago I have undergone a few more "conversions". The first one the move from Pentecostalism to evangelicalism. The second one to a reformed position, this was followed by my conversion from being one of the frozen chosen to a defrosted Calvinist. None of these were surprising with the exception of the first, my latest conversion however has caught me completely by surprise, it is the conversion to Biblical Theology. I have always loved the Bible and from a very early point after my initial conversion feel in love with theology too. One thing I didn't like was the subject called Biblical Theology, and resented the name. It seemed to me that it was eisegesis, a reading into the text or a spiritualising away the true meaning. It reminded me of the joke about the Children's Sunday school teacher who asked "What is grey or red, eats nuts and has a bushy tail?" One child turns around to another and says, "It sounds like a squirrel to me but the answer is always Jesus". Yet I struggled how to apply much of the Old Testament as I don't agree with the usual moralistic/ example preaching. Last year was a turning point as all the pieces fell into place reading Mark Dever's sermons on the whole bible, hearing Paul Lees at Charlotte Chapel do the talk on biblical theology for a IX marks conference and finally reading Michael Lawrence's Biblical Theology in the life of the Church. I came to realise that I didn't like it because I had misunderstood it, it is not spiritualising the text but reaching out from the text to Jesus to us in our time. It is nothing more than the seeing where the text comes in the grand scheme of redemption and how it relates to the fuller revelation. At HTC we had a good biblical theology lecturer but sadly I never heard him because I would just switch off. Now I am converted but I am at the start of the process and am looking forward to unpacking it over the coming months and years. I'll probably say more on this in the coming months!

May God Bless You

Stephen

Jesus- meek and lowly our saviour holy!

2010-12-25T04:31:00.000-08:00

I have heard many sermons over the years on the passage there was no room for them in the inn Luke chapter 2 none of them better than C H Spurgeon's:

The invitation

Even as an infant, by being laid in a manger, he was being set forth as the sinners friend. Come to him, yea that are weary and heavy-laden! Come to him ye that are broken in spirit, ye who are bowed down in soul! Come to him, ye that despise yourself and are despised by others! come to him publican and harlot! Come to him thief and drunkard! In the manger there he lies, ungaurded from your touch and unsheilded from your gaze. Bow the knee and kiss the Son of God: accept him as your saviour, for he puts himself in that manger that you may approach him. The throne of Solomon might awe you but the manger of Christ invites you.

Demands a response

As the palace, and the forum, and the inn, have no room for Christ and as the places of public resort have none, have you room for Christ? "Well" says one,"I have room for Him, but I am not worthy that he should come to me" Ah! I did not ask about your worthiness; have you room for Him? "Oh" says one "I have an empty void the world can never fill". Ah! I see you have room for Him. "Oh! but the room that I have is so base!" So was the manger. "But it is so despicable!" so was the manger a thing to be despised.

C. H Spurgeon

Your sin is no excuse to keep you from coming to Him who came into the world to save sinners. He left the comfort of heaven for a lowly manger and later a cruel and shameful cross because He came to seek those who are lost. If you are lost this Christmas call out to Him and He will save you.

Merry Christmas

Stephen <><

The BBC Production of The Nativity, Christmas 2010

2010-12-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

Over the course of this week from Monday to Thursday the BBC have being showing their version of the Nativity. I am pleased to say that it followed the story line as revealed in scripture with prophetic quotes from Isaiah chapter 9 coming from the lips of Elizabeth. Their Mary was young and a real woman living in a real world rather than the other worldly Mary of Roman Catholicism. On the down side I would have liked to see Mary do the magnficate. Joseph for the most part fit the Biblical picture (although he did blaspheme at one point) as a man of humble means but who was a good man. I think they managed to capture the difficulties that Mary, as a very young pious woman facing pregnancy outside of marriage would have experienced. As she was treated as an adulterer by her former friends and family, shunned for a time by Joseph until he finally believed what he was told in his dream as well as carrying a great weight upon her shoulders knowing that she was unworthy to be the mother of the LORD.

The Shepherds were fleshed out, not as rough as they would have been but miles away from a children's play, the main one was struggling to believe in God's existence as he was dirt poor and struggling to take care of his wife and baby, so desperate he nearly took a life the same day the angel appeared. When he was in the stable he was worried that there was not enough grace for him, but he was overwhelmed with the revelation coming to one such as him. I think that was my favourite moment in the whole drama as it captured the heart of the gospel, no one is worthy but all may come.

The magi were Babylonian astrologers and had far too much understanding of Yahweh and his plans for the world but this was to help with the flow of the story. The BBC followed the fairly recent view that the star was an alignment in the heavens between three planets. They showed the movement in the heavens which captured something of how monumental the birth of Christ is to the world. The magi arrived moments after the birth, just after the shepherd and quoted scripture "we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship Him."

We quite often give the BBC a hard time for sidelining Christianity but credit where credit is due, thank you for sharing the true meaning of Christmas on prime time TV!

God Bless
Stephen <><

Think- The Life of the Mind and the Love of God- John Piper

2010-12-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

John Piper is one of my favourite authors and my favourite modern American preacher, I always find him dangerous though as reading him will mean a change in lifestyle. There are two Piper books that stand out Desiring God which melted my cold heart and Don't Waste Your Life which impacted my life in practical ways. Think is the latest offering from Piper and it is not written for those who want to think and do nothing else. This is a book about using the mind in pursuing the greatest treasure there is God. Piper is not a cold academic but someone who is passionate in heart and mind for God. This book is about becoming like that, to contemplate and meditate on what you read in the Bible and in good Christian books is to be changed, to be set a light. Piper himself puts it this way on page 91:

God has given us minds so that, by thinking with the Spirit's help, we can know the truth and beauty and worth of God through Jesus and treasure him above all things and spend our lives expressing this in as many ways as our minds can pursue.... Loving God with all our minds that our thinking is wholly engaged to do all it can to awaken and express the heartfelt fullness of treasuring God above all things.

I would offer a couple of cautions though firstly be careful what you read, make scripture a priority and check everything you read against the Bible. Secondly do your reading devotionally, good books can give you good theology but if you heart is not right it can lead to becoming a Pharisee sitting in judgement over others and becoming unteachable.

Piper offers advice how to do this from B. B Warfield, Warfield was responding to someone who said 5 minutes on your knees is worth more than 10 hours in your books. Warfield replied, "what about 10 hours in your books on your knees."

The closing chapter of the book is quite odd at first, it is the story of a man who studied a fish for several hours over several days. The point of the story is that it takes a while to meditate on a passage to understand it, but working at it and digging deep into things you have never seen before. This book made me realise I have grown a bit lazy when it comes to studying and meditating on the word of God. In the new year when the baby is sleeping consistently through the night I intend to get back into the languages so I can meditate properly on scripture. I found this a useful exercise as I studied Greek at HTC because the passage would be in my head for several days as I slowly translated it.

I am constantly surprised how little other Christians read of their Bibles let alongegood Christian works, this means I need to be patient as God deals with people differently and to our own master we shall stand or fall . I have also learnt recently that in the pulpit you need to keep it as simple as possible because must people don't have a clue and need help to understand. It is a sin to try to show how clever you are, the objective is to show how great God is. Piper does this well in everything he preaches and everything he writes, this book is no exception read it on your knees!

God Bless

Stephen <><

Luther on justification- Reformation day

2010-10-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Roman's and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God", because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God but rather I hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.

Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by his faith". Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and the sheer mercy God justifies us though faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before "the Justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. As cited in Here I stand by Ronald Bainton.

Luther had tried like the Apostle Paul before him to earn his way into heaven, he knew that the gate was closed and he was condemned before a holy and just God. Then Martin Luther discovered that all his works could not save him but God who was rich in mercy could, only through the sacrificial death of God's Son on Luther's behalf. If you are ever to have your sins forgiven then the only way is to come realised that you have no hope and plead for the mercy of God through the death of Christ. Today is not Halloween it is reformation day, have a blessed day!

Shalom

Stephen <><

the 16th of October 1655

2010-10-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

Are you a a people pleaser? Paul says that he came to the Thessalonians declaring the message that God had given him that he sought to please God and not man. Hugh Latimer was like this bishop of Worcester in the time of Henry the 8th he would often remind himself when speaking in court not to fear the king of England but to fear the king of kings. A few years later during the reign of Mary Tudor, Hugh Latimer was arrested along with many other Evangelicals for his beliefs. Many protestants in England had simple switched sides when Mary came to the throne but not Latimer or Ridley, they were willing to die for the sake of pleasing God rather than pleasing their monarch. Today is the 16th of October 2010, on this same day in 1655 they were burnt on the stake. Latimer was heard to cry 'Master Ridley be of good cheer and play the man for we light a candle that I trust by God's grace , In England I trust, will never be put out.'

It is good to remember the effect the gospel had on men and women in times past and pray that we will be bold to face the much smaller opposition we face when sharing the gospel with others. We are called to be faithful too, it is my prayer that God would remind us in the UK of those in England, Scotland and Wales who laid down their life for the success of the gospel in times gone by and that God would raise up a new generation to herald the gospel in our day.

Shalom

Stephen

baby news

2010-09-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hi,

It is always good to share good news, last Friday at 5:28 my wife Joy gave birth to our second child. Bethan Grace Barton. Bethan is a welsh version of Elizabeth and means A vow to God, Grace means undeserved kindness. She was 8:3 pounds and 55 centimeters. Everyone is doing fine at home and baby and Hannah are trying to settle into their new situation. Photos to follow shortly!

We know that our children are an undeserved kindness from God and we are praying that they come to know Jesus whilst they are young.

May God Bless You
Stephen <><

Are you a secular Sam?

2010-09-15T03:15:00.000-07:00

Mark Dever in his The Message of the New Testament writes about his friend Secular Sam:

Sam is successful. He has a good job, a nice girlfriend, and a beautiful apartment. His car is new, and his health fine. He is humourous, good with people, and intelligent. Secular Sam is also a Christian. That is, he affirms the things we believe as Christians. And he is quite active! Young Life, Campus Crusade, and Inter Varsity are all in his background. Long ago, of course, he left some of the more embarrassing and immature bits behind, He is not a theological liberal. He affirms the authority of Scripture. But is not a sterotypical, ghettoized fundamentalist. He has recovered the cultural mandate in Scripture. He understands Genesis, the great creation story, and what calls us to do. He understands that all of life should come under the scrutiny of Scripture: not just religion, but business, philosophy, ethics, economics, politics, law, and the arts. He has a thoughtful and refined appreciation for how Scripture gives the most satisfying explanation for all kinds of phenomena in our world- certainly the origin and meaning of life. Sam knows Scripture's awesome explanatory power. It has a first principle-God-who, by definition, needs no previous cause. Sam can honestly examine human foibles with his understanding of human sinfulness. he can confute his skeptical friends by the historical evidence for the resurrection. He seems to have a moral bearing that is the envy of many of his more thoughtful friends.

But Sam is profoundly secular in this: He expects to wake up in his bed tomorrow morning. Sam has never even heard of what is grandparents' generation called "the blessed hope". No, his concerns, even about his own spiritual life, are all contained in this age, or saeculum, to use the Latin root. For Sam assumes that tomorrow will be just like today. In a strange way, Sam's hope has all been collapsed into the now, the present, the visible, and feel-able. What is your hope fixed on? Humans live by their hopes, you know, as surely as they live by the air they breathe.

Mark Dever- The Message of the New Testament taken from his sermon on 2 Thessalonians Hope p.321

The Burning Issue

2010-09-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday pastor Terry Jones planned to publically burn Korans, a strange sort of protest with bigger ramifications than he probably realised. Whilst I believe in freedom of speech and would defend his right to do something like this, I don't think it serves the cause of the gospel and the glory of Christ. The most amazing thing about it though is that it was deemed news worthy not only in the States but here in the UK and caused a stir in the western media. Of course they viewed him as intolerant and this can not be tolerated in the West to say that one religion is evil is well evil they argue.
I don't think the best way for Christians to deal with Islam is to burn Korans far better to debate them on the issue on what it says, for thinking evangelicals we should follow the advice of Henry Jones snr In Indiana Jones and the last Crusade and "spend more time reading books than burning them." So that we can debate the issues, we have nothing to fear by doing this. I recommend the debates with Muslims by Christian Apologist James White on youtube or on his website Alpha and Omega Ministries.

The other burning issue is the shock I have with world leaders who argue against intolerance in western society but say nothing against intolerance in Muslim majority lands. Recently the president of Afganistan Mohammed Karzai has given approval to moves for the state to execute converts from Islam to Christianity and our leaders are silent on this issue, not one word of it is mentioned in the media. Please pray for the Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith.

Shalom

Stephen <><

Sinclair Ferguson- Grace Alone

2010-09-11T00:30:00.001-07:00

I received this book from the Reformation Trust, I am not obliged to give a positive review.

Sinclair Ferguson is one of Scotland's best exports, a theologian and a pastor he is a conservative evangelical and is a leading conference speaker on both sides of the Atlantic. Ferguson is a heavy weight in the Reformed tradition and writes at both an academic level and like with this book at a more popular level. I would commend anything that he has written so I am pleased to review his book 'By Grace Alone.'

It might seem a strange subject matter especially as the subtitle is How the Grace of God Amazes Me. Yet my father who is not a believer once said "of course God will forgive me that is His job", that statement profoundly misunderstands God and presumes on His grace. That God who is Holy can forgive sinners who have sinned against Him like you and me is truly amazing. It amazes me that even those of us who have been walking with Jesus for some years still take grace so lightly. I believe it is because we misunderstand our standing before God when we were unbelievers, As Ferguson says 'Guilt is not just a feeling. It is not just a psychological condition, although it can become one. It is a legal standing. When the foreman of the jury in a trial speaks the word Guilty, he is not commenting on the feelings of the accused. He is pronouncing a verdict. He is saying that the accused has been judged to have committed the crimes with which he was charged. The accused is guilty and will be treated accordingly—no matter what he or she may "feel."p.56 And before the bar of heaven we would be condemned because we are guilty and justice demands a guilty verdict.

The other issue for us is to misunderstand both the meaning of the grace that we have received and its effects upon us for living out our lives before God.

This is what Sinclair Ferguson is seeking to redress, he does this by taking the hymn 'How the Grace of God Amazes Me' by the African pastor Emmanuel T. Sibomaname and examining the song verse by verse. This is a mistake in my view because even though it is a great hymn it is not well known, certainly not in the North of Scotland. Each chapter concentrates on the theme of a verse through this Ferguson examines, grace and the Christian life from start to finish. He serves the church well and recognises our need when he says in chapter 7 'Sometimes we imagine that our greatest need is to move on to the "higher" or "deeper" teaching of the gospel. But in fact, our real need is to get a deeper and firmer grasp of the main truths of the gospel' p102. Helping us to get a deeper and firmer grasp of the main truths of the gospel is in essence what Ferguson is seeking to give us through this book and overall he achieves this.

In the grip of His grace

Stephen <><

for the sake of you gentiles

2010-08-31T06:32:00.000-07:00

One of the last things you could ever imagine the very Jewish Jew , Saul of Tarsus doing is something good on behalf of the Christian church. Yet in Ephesians chapter 3 v 1 we find Saul of Tarsus saying "I, Paul a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles. Saul hated the church, the very idea was repulsive to him, he was very zealous to destroy the church, that was his personal mission when he set out on the road to Damascus. The last thing on his mind was getting saved, no-one was more (self) righteous than Saul, according the law of the Pharisees he was faultless. The Gentiles were scum in Saul's mind, they had no thought for God, the fact that some Jews had become followers of this crucified Jesus (whom Saul believed to be a proven Messianic impostor)having fellowship with the Gentiles who acknowledged this Jesus to be Lord and saviour was the worst thing Saul had ever heard of. On the Damascus road Saul was confronted with the risen, glorious Jesus. He knew when those words came like thunder from Jesus' lips, Saul why are you persecuting ME? That he deserved condemnation, yet he was saved and called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles and Paul never, never, never got over this, which is why he calls himself the least of all the saints.

If you are a believer in Jesus and have experienced His grace in your life have you ever got over it? Paul was a prisoner for the sake of the gentile mission, Paul knew why he was in prison, he didn't grumble at his sufferings he rejoiced in his calling. How about you, are you willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of the gospel? For the sake of others Paul endured much hardship and yet his passion for Jesus never diminished? Has yours?

Shalom

Stephen <><

an Eighties revival

2010-08-24T23:30:00.000-07:00

You can usually tell how old someone is by their favourite music for example I am in my late thirties and people my age tend to like music from the mid to late eighties. I am no exception to this rule and find listening to music from this period has a certain nostalgic value, even when I didn't like the music originally. One of my favourite singers during the late 80's was Yazz, her music was upbeat and her voice was awesome. A couple of weeks ago I read that she is now a born again Christian. I checked out her website and this is indeed the case, she even has links to Hamilton Road Presbyterian Church in Northern Ireland and to Desiring God. On her website she has details of her Christian album called Running Back to You. I have recently purchased this album and it is excellent, the voice is still the same, some of the music is upbeat, all of it is sung to the praise of God. Most of the songs are original compositions with the exception of Amazing Grace and This is the Air I Breath all of them delight in God and His grace. Yazz is clearly someone who has been forgiven and cannot get over it as she delights in the grace that God has poured out into her life. One of her songs has this lyric "I am trading my sorrows for eternal tomorrows" which is what she has done, she has moved from the pursuit of fame to finding freedom in Christ. I am thankful to Yazz for a great album and I am thankful to God for His grace to Yazz and also to me.

Shalom
Stephen

The Prince of Preaching on ... Well Preaching of Course part 2

2010-08-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

My father-in-law is working on an updated edition of Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students so I get the privilege of reading a great book twice as he sends it to me for comments. This comment from Spurgeon hit me between the eyes first time of viewing:

Sermons should have real teaching in them, and their doctrine should be solid, substantial, and abundant. We do not enter the pulpit to talk for talk's sake; we cannot afford to utter pretty nothings. Our range of subjects is all but boundless, and we cannot, therefore be excused if our discourses are threadbare and devoid of substance. if we speak as ambassadors for God, we need never complain of want of matter, for our message is full to overflowing. The entire gospel must be presented from the pulpit; the whole faith once delivered for the saints must be proclaimed by us.' Lecture 5 Sermons and There Matter.

I completely agree with Spurgeon in the circles that I move in I come across a lot of preachers who speak well but have nothing to say. A lot of them start with a biblical text but then wave goodbye to scripture, as I develop as a preacher I always want the text before because God and God alone should speak because only His word can bring life.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Steven Lawson- The expository Genius of John Calvin

2010-08-08T00:11:00.001-07:00

I have received this book from the Reformation Publishing Trust, I am not obliged to give a positive review.

Steven Lawson starts this book with a very short biography of John Calvin's life; he does this so we can know something of the man that is the main subject of the book. Lawson quotes extensively from other Calvinists in the evangelical tradition and as the book progresses from Calvin himself. Dr Lawson's style is warm and readable but if you are a preacher though do not get to comfortable at the end of every chapter Lawson finishes off with a challenge from all that he has said throughout the chapter.

I had been what is commonly known as Calvinist for about 10 years before I ever read any of John Calvin's work. In some sense I think that was a good idea, as a biblical understanding of issues such as election, sovereignty etc leads to a "Calvinistic understanding" without any dependence upon John Calvin. Yet it was a loss too, John Calvin was not a systematic theologian sitting in some library somewhere but a preacher of the Word and a pastor of souls. Having now read Calvin I realised that I missed out. I believe his Magnus Opus his institutes are totally dependent upon a Bible centred understanding and are worth reading every couple of years.

Dr Steven Lawson is a pastor who is committed to the word and wants preachers to learn from his hero John Calvin:

In this present hour, we should pray to the supernatural Author of Scripture Himself, God Almighty, that all preachers would devote themselves to the exposition of the Bible. And like Calvin, may they waste no time in the pulpit, but get straight to the text. May they explicate their passages as soon as is reasonable. May their introductions serve to usher their listeners into the truth of the Word. And may such direct beginnings enhance their preaching, that God's Word should not return to Him void. P.62

For this reason alone this book is worth reading that it might stir preachers into being expositor preachers with a deep desire to preach the Word of God. Dr Steven Lawson is clearly a Calvinist who loves Calvin and believes that Calvin is the epitome of a good expositor. Lawson commends to us not new ways of winning souls but a return to heartfelt biblical preaching.

'The church is always looking for better methods in order to reach the world. But God is looking for better men who will devote themselves to His biblically mandated method for advancing His kingdom, namely, preaching—and not just any kind of preaching, but expository preaching.' Lawson p.19

Lawson sees Calvin reaching dizzy heights in preaching because he sought to understand Scripture. Not just to teach it but to learn from it. Calvin believed that no-one could be a preacher of the word of God if they were not also a student of the word of God. Preaching Calvin believed must do a work on all members of the congregation including the preacher.

Lawson provides us with a picture of a man who was committed to let the text speak for itself. I am sure that Lawson seeks to do the same when he enters the pulpit, which is why Calvin is one of his heroes and mine.

Shalom

Stephen <><

John Stott on sharing the gospel

2010-08-06T03:13:00.000-07:00

John Stott has been for the last few decades one of the sharpest succinct evangelical leaders in the church. I just love his little nuggets; In his Ephesians commentary he writes:

‘All revealed truth is held in stewardship. It is given to be shared not monopolized. If men cannot keep there scientific discoveries to themselves, how much less should we keep to ourselves the divine disclosures? he goes on to say 'once we are sure that the gospel is both truth from God and riches for mankind, nobody will be able to silence us.’ John Stott, The Bible Speaks Today p.121

Those of us who love learning are not to love learning for learning's sake but are called to share what we learn for the benefit of others. Those of us that have been saved have a message entrusted to us to share with others. The gospel is the best news ever let us endeavour to gossip the gospel. This is a day of good news and we are not doing right when we keep it to ourselves.

Shalom

Stephen <><

much ado about nothing

2010-07-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

The disagreement between theism and atheism is a disagreement about who made the world. The New Athiests talk about humanistic evolution time+ chance= life as we know it. Chance though isn't really a thing it is a way of describing nothing. In Jonathan Edwards day he said there were only two possibilties for the origin of the universe God or Nothing. John Gersnter the Edward's scholar explains:
'In other words, either that which is has come from Nothing or from God. The choice is between God and Nothing.

It seems self-evident that if everything came from God or Nothing, it must have come from God. God or Nothing leaves only one choice-God. It would seem that if God has no competitor but Nothing, he has nothing for a competitor. "God or Nothing" and "only God" are synonymous expressions.' He goes on to cite Edwards "'Nothing is the same thing that sleeping rocks dream of". He would say that if one thinks he knows what Nothing is, he has rocks in his head. He also called it "the dreadful contradiction." 'John Gerstner-The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards p.123

In all things love

2010-07-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite quotes is usually attributed to Augustine of Hippo but more likely comes from Richard Baxter.

In essentials unity

In non-essentials liberty

and in all things love.

I like this quote as it sums up how to live out truth in a sinful fallen world.

There are some issues that we need to divide over theologically. For example, Martin Luther said Justification by Faith Alone was the doctrine by which the Church stands or falls. It is one issue by which the Church stands of falls but there are others. The authority of Scripture, the Gospel, the Deity of Jesus, the doctrine of the Trinity are all good examples. Those people who differ with us on these issues are non-Christians and so any relationship with them that we develop is one as a witness to the truth of the gospel. This includes Roman Catholics, liberals, J. W's, Mormons, etc.

As a Baptist living in John Knox's Scotland, there are many of my friends who I passionately disagree with on the issue of baptism but this is a non-essential issue so we can discuss it as brothers. Any discussion that we have on a non-essential is an in-house debate and we can have fellowship in the gospel.

The call of a Christian is a call to love everyone no matter how much we disagree. Whilst we should recognise the theological heresies of cults and cultists and disagree with the alternative morals of those who live as non-believers, we are to do this not as their judge but as a fellow sinner pointing the way to the Redeemer.

Shalom

Stephen <><

what kind of love is this?

2010-07-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

When you think of the love of God what kind of love do you think of? When I met my wife she ticked all my boxes, her long dark hair her brown eyes and her tanned skin. Her curves, her smile, her laughter, more than any of that we could talk and talk, a connection greater than any I ever had before. If I was to tell you that the love I have for Joy is like God's love for us then I would be wrong.

God's love is something entirely different about 19 months ago Joy was asleep after eight hours in hospital in complete agony. In the room was a screaming blue/ grey alien looking creature with blotches of blood all over, it didn't look good at all. I was emotional exhausted after watching the pain that Joy had gone through and being unable to do anything about it. The blue/grey creature was someone I didn't love because of the way she looked, or because of the connection we had. Our relationship at that moment consisted in nothing but her screams, she wasn't aware of me, she wasn't interested in anything but herself. Yet at that moment in spite of the situation Joy was in, in spite of the way this creature loved the only emotion I was feeling was love, unconditional love. I didn't love Hannah on the basis of anything she had done but purely because she was my daughter and I was her father. God loves us because He loves us because He loves us, we showed no interest in Him, and we had nothing in us that would make us attractive to God, yet He loves us.

As for my little girl, they pumped some air into her and wiped her off and I saw that she was beautiful, and that is another illustration in itself.

God Bless

Stephen <><

who else can I tell.

2010-07-09T03:02:00.000-07:00

Before my little girl Hannah was born, Joy gave me a list of all the people I would need to ring to tell them about the birth. As a guy I avoid ringing people like the plague so this seemed like a really big chore to me. In fact I remember saying that I have to do everything in this pregnancy (that was a joke)!

Hannah was born at 8:01pm and I stayed until after 11:00 kissed my girls good night and returned home. I rang my mom and my brother and then as it was 11:50 I rang Joy's family in Colorado, I was excited to them the good news. I worked my way through the list and my next response was, "who else can I tell"? It was 1:30am Christmas morning so I put the details on here, and then thought who else can I tell? So I put the details on facebook! I went to bed that night very excited, in the morning I woke up at 5:10am not even slightly tired and my first thought was 'who else can I tell' at a more reasonable hour I rang the rest of my family and started to work my way through the church directory. When I had exhausted this I still had a couple of hours before I could visit the hospital but I was bursting with excitement. When I saw to strangers talking in the street the one asked the other, did you get anything good for Christmas, I piped in, "I did I had a little girl". This news was good news and I couldn't keep it in, in John 4 we are told of the Samaritan woman, she was an outcast of outcasts and went to the well in the middle of the day. This is an unusual time of day to go and the reason is probably so she can avoid the other women who looked down on her. Then she met Jesus who told her everything she had done, he exposed her sin but He showed Her love and told her about Himself. She went excitedly into the village to tell the good news about Jesus, asking if this man could be the Messiah. If you are a Christian you know Jesus is the Messiah and know that He has forgiven you for your sins, this is good news. Good news is exciting, I wonder do you ask yourself, who else can I tell?

Shalom <><
Stephen

Holy, Holy, Holy- various contributors

2010-07-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have received this book from the Reformation Trust to review, I am not obliged to give a positive review:

In the opening of this book, R C Sproul tells how an introduction to some of the great theologians at college brought him into contact with people who had a profound understanding of God. He writes, ‘I discovered one strand that ran through the works of all these men—they were intoxicated by a profound sense of the majesty and of the holiness of God.’ The same thing it true about R. C Sproul and all of the authors of this book hence the title and the conference from which it is drawn. One of the blessings we are receiving from the resurgence of Calvinism in our day is a greater awareness of who God is and through that a greater awareness of our sinfulness and of God’s amazing grace in saving us.

In this book we are treated to several of the leading reformed evangelical pastors and teachers exploring different aspects of holiness. Sinclair Ferguson for example takes us into the garden with Jesus where we get to see Jesus’ great emotional desire to be with the Father and to share the Father and the Son’s glory with his disciples, this is the greatest thing that we shall ever experience.

Alistair Begg writes about the departure of Jesus and the sending of the Spirit in the fourth chapter. He reminds us beautifully of the unity that Jesus enjoyed with the Father, ‘When we read the Gospels carefully, we see that Jesus’ sense of intimacy with His Father, an intimacy they shared in eternity before Jesus’ incarnation, 'was pressingly meaningful and precious to Him.’p.43. Begg helpfully points out the work of the Spirit in bringing all that has been said and making it understood. It is not the work of the Spirit to bring new revelation in new and novel ways. Begg quotes Calvin on this issue, which shows that his day and ours was no different with people seeking innovation rather than illumination.

In chapter 5 Thabiti Anyabwile points out the utter sinfulness of sin against a holy God, he reminds us that God is not a kindly grandfather, or as he puts it a teddy bear, ‘God is no teddy bear. He is sharp. He has edges. His wrath pierces. His holiness consumes. Those who would commit treason against this God will have this God to deal with on that great day of reckoning.’ P.62

I find that this gets to the heart of the problem with much of contemporary evangelicalism; we do treat God like a teddy bear. This is because we do not see ourselves as we truly are in our sinfulness or God in His immense holiness.

Derek Thomas reminds us that having a high view of God’s holiness is not a badge to be worn as a doctrine but something that should be our passionate concern. This for me was the most challenging chapter in the book. I know from past experience that it is easy to let your head convince you that you are passionate about God’s holiness without it having an effect on the heart. R C Sproul Jr helps us with this as he invites us into his family worship times. He dislikes the term family devotions because it suggests to him a duty rather than something that springs from a grateful heart.

The final chapter of the book by R.C Sproul Sr takes us to the holiness of God as a gospel event; he reminds us that if God exists and is holy then he is a consuming fire. It is through understanding this and our great sin that we understand what is amazing about grace.

I knew I was going to like this book as the subject is one of my favourites and I like many of the contributors. What a great conference it must have been and what a great book!

Shalom
Stephen <><

Spurgeon on Public Prayer

2010-07-07T02:29:00.001-07:00

Very occasionally we go away for the weekend and get the chance to visit a new church, a couple of years ago we visited a very strange church. It was evangelical but at no point in the service did the minister pray, in fact no-one prayed until the communion section which was tacked on at the end of the service. The sermon lacked any power and the service was completly meaningless. At the time I was reading Spurgeon on public prayer and how Spurgeon said he would rather pray than preach, I emailed the pastor after we got back and asked him about the prayerlessness. He just said he was having a bad day, I am sure that was the case which suggests to me that there was more need to pray. A church without prayer is as pointless as a well without water and that is probaby a good analogy a waterless well.

I was reminded of this again as I read the chapter again yesterday and it is well worth a read, it comes from chapter 4 of Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students, Spurgeon goes on to talk about somethings we come accross on a regular basis, prayers that are formal or even written that don't seem to be seeking to do business with God. Also eleoquent prayers that are aimed at the congregation rather than to the LORD.
'Let your confessions of sin and thanksgivings be truthful and to the point; and let your petitions be presented as if you believed in God and had no doubt as to the efficacy of prayer: I say this, because so many pray in such a formal manner as to lead observers to conclude that they throught it a very decent thing to pray, but, after all, a very poor and doubtful business as to any practical result. Pray as someone who has tried and proved his God, and therefore come with undoubting confidence to renew his pleadings: and do remember to pray to God right through the prayer.' p.59 Lectures to my Students, my copy is published by Baker.

God Bless
Stephen <><

The Billion Dollar Man

2010-06-29T01:27:00.000-07:00

Last week I heard that Michael Jackson has earned a billion dollars in the year since his death, whilst this is more money than I'll ever earn it will do him no good as he can't spend a penny of it. Even if he was still in the land of the living it would not fill the longing of his heart. I don't no much about Michael Jackson, I know that he was very talented, very famous and for most of his life very rich. I also know that he was not a happy chap, he was searching for something to fill the void in his life. All his fame and money never seemed to satisfy the longing within his heart for joy and purpose. This is not just true of Michael Jackson it seems many of the rich and famous live their lives in such a way that the myth that money, fame and success bring happiness is clearly seen for what it is a big fat lie. Yet this pursuit still continues even though it is a chasing after the wind, meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless said the preacher, everything that is under the sun. We can only find joy, lasting joy in the God who fills the emptiness within the human soul. As the preacher also said, you have set eternity in our hearts. Augustine summed this up on the very first page of his confessions, 'you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.

May you know this satisfaction, this joy unspeakable and filled with glory

Stephen<><

The Unwavering Resolve of Jonathan Edwards- Steven Lawson

2010-06-11T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have recieved this book from The Reformation Trust to review, I am not obliged to give a positive review:

I have never heard of Steven Lawson but Jonathan Edwards is always a draw as I have read many books at both an academic and popular level on Edwards as well as reading him myself. This book is at a more popular level but Lawson has drunk deep from the well that is Jonathan Edwards and so there is much to gain from reading this book.

The book starts excellently ‘Sanctification is never an elective course that a believer may or may not take. Neither is it an upper-level graduate study, required for only a few disciples. Instead, it is a core class, mandated for all Christians.

Godliness is a lifelong study for no-one graduates from the school of Christ this side of heaven.’ Wow I am hooked from the opening thought!!

Lawson is concerned to show that Edwards was not just the greatest theologian of American history but also that he stands above the rest not just because of his great intellect but because of his even greater piety. Edwards took God’s holiness seriously, it wasn’t just that Edwards was on a path to heaven but Edwards was on a path to greater and greater sanctification. Not for Edwards a dry academic faith or a sit back and wait for God type of attitude. Edwards was seriously committed to his own sanctification even though he knew he couldn’t do it on his own but was dependent on God. Lawson states,

‘This requires, as it did for Edwards, humble submission and dedication to God, all for the honor of Christ. Only in such self-denial is divine grace multiplied in one’s life.’ p 60

One of the reasons this book should be a best seller is because Lawson is committed to the same understanding as Jonathan Edwards. It is not that he has the same reformed theology as Edwards (although he clearly does) but that he has the same desire for himself and desires for us his readers to seek after God for holiness, to have the resolve of Edwards and the same loathing for own sinfulness and passion for his glory. He gives us this challenge, ‘God is looking for individuals in this generation who will rise above the status quo of contemporary Christianity and say with Edwards, “I am completely Yours.” P.60

Jonathan Edwards took God’s holiness seriously and because he took this seriously he took is own sinfulness seriously. Lawson points out that for Edwards sin was the opposite of God’s glory and as Edwards wanted to glorify God in all that he did sin needed to be conquered.

Jonathan Edwards was a passionate man, it is hard to believe sometimes as the disciplined character that he was that he was also white-hot in love with God and God’s grace. Yet Edwards was a man who knew that God loved him and this gave him a heart that was aflame with love. Lawson seeks to show us that behind the shy, social awkward man was a man who loved his neighbour intensely.

At the end of each chapter Lawson challenges us from something we have learnt from Edwards, and these are serious challenges as the Edwards who he presents to us is a man who is so earnest in his desire to please his God in all things.

Why you should read this book, firstly it is well written and a joy to read but secondly and more importantly, Lawson like Edwards is a pastor who cares for the soul. His desire in writing is not just to introduce you to Edwards but to help you in your walk with the God of Jonathan Edwards. ‘In this day, some three hundred years after Edwards’ time, there is a desperate need for a new generation to arise onto the scene of history that will prize and promote the glory of our awesome God. Beholding the soul-capturing vision of this all-supreme, all-sovereign, and all-sufficient God transforms individuals in life-altering ways.’ P.154

Shalom

Stephen

Wisdom literature it ain't -The Shack

2010-06-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite pictures presented in the Bible is the vision of Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, he sees the majesty of God, the hem of the Lord's garment filling the temple. The Holy Angels cover their faces and cry, holy, holy holy is the LORD God Almighty. Scripture quite often presents us a view of God that is like that transcendent and majestic, and so holy that even sinless beings cannot look Him in the face. Isaiah himself is reduced to nothing as he sees his own sinfulness in light of God's majestic holiness.

I reluctantly bowed to pressure recently and decided to read the Shack, what a waste of paper I knew it was bad, people I trust have reviewed it and pointed out its faults but I was shocked just how bad it was. I knew about its presentation of the trinity as a trio of human beings but the picture of God the father as someone who makes rude comments about the state of the main characters underwear was more than I could bare. I made it to p.65 and will not be going any further with it. The author seems to be unaware of the greatness of God. He is seeking to answer questions of theodicy but his understanding of God is immanent but not transcendent. At one point the author equates God to the Great Spirit of Native American paganism seeing them as the same. The author through the central character criticises both the Bible and the Church but saves his biggest attack for the God who is declared to be Holy. Elouisa might have much in commn with William P Young's view of God but it is miles away from the God revealed in Scripture. When Job had questions for God his mouth was stopped when He saw God for Himself, Job said I have heard of you with my ears but now I see you face to face and I repent in dust and ashes. Job's questions disappeared in the presence of God. Young's God is not majestic and is not holy and has nothing to do with the God of the Bible.

Shalom

Stephen

Christianity by the Book

2010-06-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

I was recently shown this quote from one of the pastors here in Inverness
'The reason the church is in trouble is because it pays to much attention to a book that the early church didn't have, and ignores the Spirit that they did.'

This is quite possibly the most ignorant statement I have ever heard, it is ignorant of the problems faced by the contemporary church which leans towards ignoring the Word rather than paying it too much attention. The Bible is the word of God and as my friend who showed me the quote rightly said, ' what about 2 Tim 3:16' All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

In this text we can see that the Scripture is breathed out by God, that is Spirit inspired, the Spirit of God and the Word of God are not in competition. What we need is the Spirit to help us understand His word that we can live the way Paul encourages, living in righteousness and equipped for every good work. Both word and Spirit are necessary for life and godliness.

Secondly it is ignorant of the state of the early church, whilst it is true that the very first generation of New Testament believers didn't have the writings of the Apostles, they did have the Apostles and in Acts we find them siting under the Apostles doctrine every time they meet. Also they had the Old Testament which is still God's word, and even before the end of the Apostolic age Paul's letters were being passed around because Peter says, 2 Peter 3:14 just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

As you can see Peter and his intended audience had access to Paul's letters and Peter recognised them as having the same weight as the Old Testament writings, 'the other scriptures'.

Finally, most of the New Testament letters were written to churches that were experiencing problems because they were no longer remembering the lessons from the Apostles so the Apostles wrote to them to show them how they should be living in light of the grace they had recieved, pointing out along the way the errors that they might fall into.

Rather than overlooking the word in light of experience we need to check ourselves, our doctrine and our experience by the word, let the word speak and do its work.

Oh that we would be like the Psalmist in Psalm 1 who delights in God's law and meditated on God's word day and night.

Shalom
Stephen

Reformation trust blogger review program

2010-06-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Hi,

As I have come to realise the idea of blogging for free books is only a good idea if the books are worth reading in the first place. How wonderful then that I just found out that the good folks at Ligonier have a blogger review program. This is the most exciting review program I can see as these are the publishers of R. C Sproul's books. I have many of R. C Sproul's books and I give him the credit for deepening my understanding of reformed theology and re-introducing me to Jonathan Edwards who I was initially introduced to through his Sinners sermon. In Many ways R.C is responsible under God for the growth of warm hearted Calvinism in the States and I praise God for him. Here is the link Reformation Trust. They also have Derek Thomas, Sinclair Ferguson, and even Al Mohler. Awesome, I just hope my location allows me to be accepted onto their books.

Shalom
Stephen <><

Read and Share DVD Bible volume 1

2010-05-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Bible repeatedly says we should teach our children about God and the things of God. As a parent this is something that I take seriously although my daughter is still a toddler. How wonderful then that we can do this in a variety of different formats. Thomas Nelson have provided us with a beautifully illustrated DVD that is very watchable. On this DVD there are thirteen Bible stories that are each retold in three minutes as cartoons. These cartoons are very well done and even have a three D feel to them. The narration is excellent and while using poetic licence they are faithful to the Biblical accounts. I really enjoyed watching it with my little girl but she was just a little young yet to follow it. The DVD also has some useful resources you can print off, such as colouring sheets, which my wife finds helpful for sharing with children when she does the creche at church. She also shared the DVD with all the children in the creche and they gave it a thumbs up and so did the moms as the children sat still throughout the whole thing. I heartily recommend this DVD to parents and toddlers. I am looking forward to getting volume 2!

Fearless by Max Lucado

2010-05-22T07:22:00.000-07:00

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review.

There is no doubt about it Max Lucado has been endowed with a wonderful gift, he is a genius when it comes to his writing style and he has a great imagination. His illustrations drawn from real life are riveting and he has much to teach us from his own Christian walk and that of others who have crossed his path. However in spite of some great moments especially towards the end of the book it felt to me like he had nothing to say. Part of the problem to mind is for much of the book he doesn't know who he is talking to too. He says that this is a book for Christians and for those without faith but later in the book he talks about having nothing to fear because after death we have Heaven waiting for us. This isn't true for those without Christ, as Lucado knows. The book gets better as you move on, he moves away from the easy believism suggested at the start of the book to a real vigorous self denying type of faith by the end of the book. While I was disappointed for much of the book it was nevertheless a joy to read because his style is so thoroughly readable, I just wish he had something more to say.

Shalom
Stephen

the mercy of God to undeserving sinners

2010-05-18T05:46:00.001-07:00

Just found this excellent quote in Mark Dever's The Message of the Old Testament:

'As the great congregational minister Edward Payson said, "You cannot make a rich man beg like a poor man; you cannot make a man that is full cry for food like one that is hungry: no man who has a good opinion of himself cry for mercy like one who feels that he is poor and needy." Christian churches are not congregations of the righteous, the morally successful, and the completely obedient. Such people do not exist in the world. Christian congregations are founded on a recognition of our own poverty, our own spiritual need, and Christ's fullness. Christ died to procure mercy, and he calls you to turn from your sins and to trust in him. Oh friend leave your sins for Christ.' p194

We are always the poor who need the great physician, to forget this is to become self dependent, self satisfied and ultimately to become self-righteous which is really unrighteousness.

LORD be merciful to be a sinner!

Shalom
Stephen

Ben Witherington , Noah's Ark and the problem of modern scholarship

2010-05-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

In many many ways Ben Witherington is a fine New Testament Scholar. I have benefited from his writings on numerous occasions and learnt a lot from both his Grace in Galatia and His Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on Acts. Recently on his own blog he commented on the recent claim of Some Chinese Christians to have found Noah's Ark. Whilst he is right to be cautious about this pointing out that there have been several supposed finds in his life time. He is also open to the idea that it could quite possibly be Noah's ark. His cautious comments are encouraging he doesn't want Christians to make claims in their excitement that are needed to be withdrawn after the event. My issue is not with his caution but with his understanding of the Genesis account, he writes:

What I am prepared to attest to is that geologists have long pointed out that there is clear evidence of a huge flood in the ancient near east, a flood which was spoken of not only in the Bible but also in Enuma Elish another ancient source as well that tells the story of a Noah like figure named Utna-Pishtem (see Heidel's Babylonian Genesis ). The evidence suggests a flood of the then known world, not a world wide flood as we would consider it today. And indeed it would take one whopper of a flood to put a boat 11,000 feet up on a mountain in eastern Turkey. We will leave to the flood geologists and oceanographers the issues of how big a flood it would take to put a boat where this team of explorers say they found it.

Witherington is an evangelical scholar and like a lot of evangelical scholars he is prepared to give to much away for the sake of academic credibility. A flood of the then known world rather than a world wide flood is not what the Bible talks about. What the Bible says is enough for me, the Bible says the whole earth was flooded I believe it. However it is not just the Bible, there are flood stories from all over the world. I knew this and so I asked a friend of mine from India if he knew of any flood stories from there. He came back with two accounts and both of them had a universal flood, a speaking god and a massive boat. The Genesis account is about universal judgement, Ben Witherington, you and I are descendants of Noah and we are here today because God showed mercy to one family during the flood. The horror of the flood account is hard to take ,it is not a fairytale or a delightful children's story it is a judgement that the world has never seen before or since. Yet it also speaks of two other things, it speaks of a future judgement, also on a global scale. Even greater the Ark points to God's mercy we are told that the judgement was delayed for 120 years so others could repent. We are also told that Noah found grace in God's sight, Noah received God's mercy. Today there is still an Ark which can save from God's judgement, the LORD Jesus Christ, the ark of God's mercy. Only by trusting in Him will we be safe from the wrath to come. Again his wrath is delayed so that you might find mercy.

God Bless
Stephen <><

Jerry Bridges -Love God with all your heart

2010-05-07T01:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine works for Navpress and told me that Jerry Bridges who has some excellent books in the reformed tradition is a great guy, when he walks into Navpress' offices in Colorado Springs he speaks to everyone. One of the guys that writes about relationships walks in and only talks to the big wigs. It is why the emergent church thing wont last without truth, relationships are not built on the solid rock. I really enjoy Jerry Bridges, I am currently reading his devotional Holiness day by day here Bridges talks about love:

Have you thought about what it means to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37)

Here are a few obvious aspects: you seek fellowship with Him and long to gaze upon his beauty (Psalm 27:4). You rejoice in meditating on His Word and rise early to pray (Psalm 119:97, Mark 1:35). You always delight to do His will (Psalm 40:8). A regard for His glory governs and motivates everything you do (1 Corinthians 10:31)- eating and drinking, working and playing, buying and selling, reading and speaking, even driving. You're never discouraged or frustrated by adverse circumstances because you're confident God is working all things together for your good (Romans 8:28). You're always content because you know he'll never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).

Or look at What Jesus called the "second" commandment: "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 22:39, NIV) Among other things, this would that you never show selfishness, irritability peevishness, or indifference in your dealing with others. You take a genuine interest in their welfare and seek to promote their interests, honour and well-being. You never regard them with prideful superiority or talk about their failings. You never resent any wrongs they do to you, but instead are always ready to forgive. You always treat them as you would have them treat you. Do you begin to grasp some of the implications of what it means to obey these two commandments? Most of us don't even think about them in the course of a day, let alone aspire to obey them. Instead we content ourselves with avoiding major outward sins and performing accepted Christian duties.

Well that's me convicted I am off to do some praying and repenting, praise God for Jerry Bridges and his challenging insights!!!
Shalom

Stephen <><

fairness for all

2010-05-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

Last night I was listening to a speech from Gordon Brown, the leader of the Labour party who is campaigning for re-election. He spoke about fairness for all, something that resonates with me.

However Joy had our twenty weeks scan yesterday, we didn't get a twenty week scan with Hannah so it was just an amazing experience. At twenty weeks the baby is moving around, fully formed in miniature, we could see their face, ten little fingers and toes it was a real opportunity to see the creator's handiwork. Psalm 139:13 says 'For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb' What occupies the womb is a little life, someone created by God, in his image and that is something that carries an enormous amount of dignity. In the UK election no-one is speaking up for the unborn, all three leaders of the main parties abstained or voted against the bill to lower abortions from 24 weeks to 20. With technological advances it is clear to see that a life occupies the womb as the Bible says and so a termination is a termination of someone who is fearfully and wonderfully made, someone created by God for His glory. If governments are going to speak about defending the weak and the vulnerable they should start with those who occupy the womb. Fairness for all should include those who are yet to be born but are already experiencing life, life in their mother's womb.

Shalom
Stephen <><

Why I love this book

2010-04-20T01:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I heard the 5 minute religious slot on BBC radio 2, the guy seemed nice, what he said was also nice but it just wasn't biblical. In his understanding, God doesn't even see bad things in humanity and sin doesn't exist. This understanding is very common outside of the church and is becoming increasingly common in the wider evangelical church. What a breath of fresh air then are Kevin Deyoung and Ted Kluck with their deep commintment to the faith once delivered to the saints and their deep commitment to the local church. In their latest joint work, 'Why We Love The Church', In the closing chapter, Deyoung shows that our greatest need is not contemporary services, nor seeker sensitive services but continuing to deal with a real Saviour who saves sinners.

Deyoung writes:
The nice thing about the doctrine of original sin is that it focuses our attention on issues that are a little more timeless. People will always be sinners. So our main problem is not lack of integration on balance, or lack of success or education, or even poverty and injustice, as serious as these problems can be. Our main problem will always be sin. And, hence, we are always in need of a Savior. This doesn't mean we can be blissfully ignorant of the world around us, but it means our focus will be squarely on the gospel. We can forget about being the church of what's happening now, and relearn to be the church of Christ, and Him crucified. p.216-17

This book is a book that is honest about the church and its faults but still believes there is no salvation outside of the community of faith that is the universal church expressed locally in a vibrant bibe centred Christ exhalting local church. The Church is the bride of Christ and will one day be presented to Christ, in all His glory with no spot or blemish and looking perfectly radiant as it radiates the beauty of Christ.

Shalom
Stephen <><

What's good about Good Friday?

2010-04-02T05:03:00.000-07:00

I didn't grow up in a Christian home, my parents are agnostic at best, living with no thought to the big questions about God and why we are here. Yet as a small child I knew without anyone telling me that there was a God. In our home we did celebrate (in a very secular way) both Christmas and Easter, and I knew that Christmas was a celebration of Jesus' birth and that Good Friday was a celebration of Jesus' death. This confused me so I would ask people 'what is good about Good Friday' or 'why did Jesus die'. My dad told me it was so people didn't have to get cancer, I knew that wasn't the answer as it didn't make sense. I remember asking the local Anglican vicar but I didn't understand his answer. When I got into my teens the question moved to the back of my mind, in Senior School I met an Evangelical named Glen, Glen was a nice guy but I had no idea what an Evangelical was. All I knew was that he wasn't C of E like me (and the rest of my non-believing family) so maybe he was in a cult or something. Glen and I would have philosophical/ religious discussions from time to time and sometimes I felt like I had the upper hand (although I had no clue what I was talking about). By this time I still believed there was a God out there and I even prayed but it didn't effect the way I lived my life. My language was pretty bad for a teenager, I would also steal stuff for the fun of it, worst of all I messed around on Quiji boards. I was about as far from God as any teenager could be, but God was at work.

When I was 15 years old my family went to the North of Wales for a vacation during the summer holidays from school. I was so pleased that early in the first week I bumped into Glen so I had someone to hang around with. On the Wednesday night I was with Glen and we were having another one of our philosophical/ religious debates and I sensed that I was losing. Having asked lots of people the question about 'Why did Jesus die-what is good about Good Friday' and never getting a good answer I thought I would throw that in as a spanner in the works, so that I might get the upper hand.
What a thunder bolt from heaven- Glen shared with me something I had never heard before.
He told me that God exists in three persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He then told me something that had never dawned on me, that I had sinned against this Holy God, in word , thought and deeds because I was a sinner. As a sinner Glen said, you deserve to go to hell. Yet God the Father sent his Son into the world to become a man and life a perfect live. Jesus never sinned, he was without sin and didn't deserve to die. Yet he died in your place so that if you turn from your sin you can have eternal life with God. As Glen spoke in a very tender voice, for the very first time in my life I realised that even though I believed in God's existence and prayed ,I wasn't a Christian. I knew that if I died that moment I would rightly go to hell, and it felt like to do this I would just need to step backwards as though hell was under my feet at that very moment. Yet it wasn't the fear of hell that grabbed me, but the love of Jesus. At that very moment Jesus was the most wonderful, most attractive, most desirable person in the universe and I wanted to know Him. So right there and then as we walked a cross a railway bridge I asked God to forgive me of my sin for Jesus sake, and to take me and change me and use me for his glory. I realised later that I crossed another bridge, the bridge from death to life. That moment I felt no flashing lights, heard no angels sing but had a sense of peace. The next morning when I woke up I realised I was a new person, I had never felt empty but now felt that I had a purpose in life. I never felt dirty but now I felt clean, I described it at the time like I had taken a bath on the inside. I was born again and my life now belongs to God, over the years God has kept me and I know that He is and that His love is the most awesome thing you can have. Nearly 2000 years ago on a Roman cross outside Jerusalem three guys hung on a cross. Two of them for the crimes they had committed against humanity, the other one dying for the crimes of humanity against God. God forsaken by God, bearing the wrath that we deserve so that we can be forgiven. What is good about Good Friday? That though we have offended a Holy God we can know forgiveness because His Son, the just laid down His life for the unjust.

Praise be to God for His wonderful love!
Stephen <><

Happy 15 Months

2010-03-24T04:45:00.001-07:00

How time flies when your having fun! Our miracle baby is now a little girl of 15 months old today, so far the journey has been fun as we have watched Hannah grow and develop each day. At one point I almost became a semi-Pelagian as I found no evidence of original sin in my little girl. However I still need to hold onto the orthodox position because even though she is fairly laid back like her Mommy and Daddy wow does she have a temper!!! It is amazing to see when she doesn't get her own way how quickly she loses her rag. Still she is very cute and the apple of her Mommy and Daddy's eyes. She has brought us much joy and we are looking forward to seeing how she handles being a big sister in September when baby number two arrives :-)!

Shalom
Stephen <><>

What on earth is the church?

2010-03-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have been reading and thinking a lot recently about what is the church. Even within the church there is a big misunderstanding about what the church is. How often do you hear that old chestnut 'the church is the only organisation that exists for those outside'? Whilst the church should be reaching out to those outside that is not the primary purpose of the church. John Piper expresses this well in his book on mission, 'Let the Nations Be Glad', he says: of the Church's mission that: Mission isn't ultimate worship is. I remember the first time I heard that it rocked my whole world, mission is the prime goal of the church isn't it? Yet He goes on to say: Mission is not the end but the means, the goal of mission is to present white hot worshippers before the throne of God. Mission exists because there are places where worship doesn't, places where God is not delighted in and praised, places even where He is not known. Therefore we do have a mission to reach out to the world, both globally and in our neighbourhood. Yet it is Worship not mission that is at the centre of why Church exists, I think it was MacArthur who said 'the church gathers to worship but scatters to evangelise.' The church is about God's people delighting in God, praying together and having fellowship with one another. The primary goal of church is for God's people to meet together and worship Him under the ministry of the word of God., it is only when we have the word rightly preached and the sacraments rightly administered that we have church. Mark Dever in his book 'The Deliberate Church' rightly points out that the ministry of the word of God, is more than just the preaching. It is the read of the Bible, expository preaching singing songs that reflect the word of God back to him, even our prayers should be centred on praying God's word back to Him. When the church on earth reflects this it becomes like the church in heaven having the ultimate purpose to glorify God.

Shalom
Stephen <><

The Prince of Preaching on ... Well Preaching of Course

2010-02-27T08:32:00.000-08:00

At IX Marks Liam quoted a few times from Spurgeon which made me realise that I haven't read any Spurgeon for a sometime. Why I would neglect something that is soooooo beneficial to the heart, soul and head is beyond me. Just a few pages in on his Soul winning book and I find this gem of a quote:

We do not go out snow-balling on Sunday's, we go fire-balling, we ought to hurl grenades into the enemy's ranks.
What earnestness our theme deserves! We have to tell of an earnest Saviour, an earnest heaven, and an earnest hell. How earnest we ought to be when we remember that in our work we have to deal with souls that are immortal, with sin that is eternal in its effects, with pardon that is infinite, and with terrors and joys that are to last for ever and ever! A man who is not in earnest when he has such a theme as this- can he posses a heart at all? p.55 of The Soul Winner by Spurgeon. This edition published by Christian Focus, Tain.

As a preacher I need to pray my sermons white hot that God can use them for His infinite purposes.

Shalom
Stephen <><

Top Marks for IX Marks

2010-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to T4G this year but we don't have the money this time, however it was a real honor to attend the IX Marks conference at Charlotte Chapel Edinburgh. Charlotte Chapel has a great history as an Evangelical Baptist Church where the Bible is taken seriously, Jesus is honoured and the gospel preached. How fitting then that it should be the host venue for IX Marks in Scotland.

I won't go into the details of what was said as they are available here Charlotte Chapel. However let me share briefly about the first session on Saturday morning, Liam Garvie (who looked about 12) walked us through the gospel, the gospel has 4 essential elements. 1. Who God is we cannot present God as redeemer until we present His attributes. 2 Man as sinner-our greatest need is salvation from sin. 3 Christ's sacrificial death on our behalf where he atones for our sin. 4. a Response.

Whilst I recognise there are weaknesses in some areas of Evangelism surely we get the gospel right? At lunch my friend Dan and I went out to get lunch and bumped into some Christians that he knows we chatted about the conference and then headed back. Three people ran up to us and asked excitedly what we were talking about, and I said we were talking about the gospel? Are you gospel people? "Yes, we are in town to evangelise, we are telling people that Jesus is coming"
It was nice to meet them and it is true that Jesus is coming but that is not the gospel. Dan and I hope that in sharing with them we got to show them the way more accurately. We had a great day and were greatly encouraged.

Shalom

Stephen <><

Where wrath and mercy met

2010-01-21T13:23:00.000-08:00

I just love C J Mahaney, he is overwhelming passionate for God and is enthused for God's word and sets my heart on fire. I recently enjoyed his excellent devotional book ,'Living the Cross centred Life' in this book he takes us on a journey through Christ's suffers and what it means for us. The chapter on Gethsemane brought me to my knees in joyful humbled thanksgiving. He starts this chapter by reminding us of the Jesus we have met in the gospels up till this point, a man of strength and assurance. Gethsemane comes as a shock what we find instead of the strong confidence Jesus is Jesus 'greatly distressed and troubled' Mahaney tells us that 'This is a consuming, crushing agony for our Saviour, utterly unlike anything we've previously observed.' (p76) In Gethsemane we met 'Jesus more vulnerable and more human than we've ever known. And we can't escape one question: Why? and he goes onto say why because on the cross Jesus will experience infinitely more than physical discomfort. For on the cross Jesus will experience 'unprecedented suffering of wrath and abandonment. His downward path into those unspeakable depths begins to plunge steeply in this garden called Gethsemane' p78
Mahaney presents us with the idea of Jesus looking into the cup and seeing the wrath, like a whole cup of volcono. 'As one Bible commentator notes, Jesus entered the garden "to be with the Father for an interlude before his betrayal, but found Hell rather than Heaven open before Him." p.81
I can't do justice to Mahaney's little book which comes out of a lifetime of being in love with Jesus, realising that this wrath is what you deserve and yet knowing that the saviour bore in love the cup of God's wrath so that we could live with Him forever.

Shalom
Stephen

Collision Movie

2010-01-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

I love apologetics especially on the subject of Theism v Atheism so I was glad to receive for Christmas the dvd 'Collision'. The movie is a documentary following the Atheist ,Christopher Hitchens and the Christian Theist, Pastor Doug Wilson on a debating tour across the USA. They got together through a series of written debates that were eventually turned into a book called 'Is Christianity Good For the World?' Hitchens says of Wilson that He truly believes the Bible so I know where I stand with him. Hitchens also credits Wilson with giving an answer that he hadn't heard before. This to me was a reflection of the poor state of mainline British churches. Hitchens grew up in a upper middle class British family and went to church as part of his boarding school where he was taught moralism as Christianity. Wilson shocked Hitchens by pointing out that the Good Samaritan is more than a moral tale but an attack on religious hypocrisy and ethnocentrism. Here is something for us to be aware of, we must always teach the Bible as the history of God redeeming a sinful people to himself not a bunch of unrelated stories with a moral tale.

The movie is more about their developing relationship than the debate so I wish I had read the book before watching the movie. They are both honest, passionate and have a deep sense that this issue is an important one. Hitchens is not as militant as Dawkins and both he and Wilson have a real rapport with each other. It was good to see them laughing together at a meal or chatting in a bar. Although I would have liked to see more of the debate they both raise interesting questions. Hitchens challenges the goodness of God because of the Divine ban, where God commanded Moses and later Joshua to destroy the Amalekites. Hitchens finds this repulsive and Doug Wilson never answers this to Hitchens' satisfaction. Wilson respects Hitchens' morality but asks him to give a foundation for his belief in right and wrong, including how he can find something God does as wrong without relying on a borrowed Christian morality. Christopher Hitchens never gives Wilson a satisfactory answer to this question.

I have attended several of these types of debates but 'Collision' offered a glimpse of the personalities behind the debate. They are both likable smart guys with big personalities and have a real respect for each other. Believe it or not the movie is fast paced and exciting.

I have added the book to my list of must reads!

God Bless <><

Stephen

Christmas, what a great idea!

2009-12-24T22:21:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, I love the presents, I love the turkey dinner, I love spending time with family and friends but most of all I love that it is about God's love. John tells us that God so loved the world that He sent His one and Only Son into the world so that whoever believes on the Son shall have eternal life. The Son came because God loves us, that is awesome! I love that at the centre of Christmas is Jesus, the Christ. I love that no man thought up Christmas, it was God's idea. In Genesis, while Adam is still hiding in a bush God comes looking for him. Whilst He comes in judgement He also comes in mercy. The serpent is told that the seed of the woman shall crush Satan's head. That Satan's handiwork would be crushed through the one born of a woman. Later in Genesis, God calls Abraham from paganism, God's idea! He tells him that his seed would be a blessing to all nations. By the end of Genesis we know that this seed will not only be a descendant of Abraham but that he will be of the tribe of Judah.

Luke chapter 2 tells us of a bunch of shepherds. Shepherds in the C1st were not known for their piety, actually it was quite the opposite. They were regarded as the scum of the earth. While people were waiting for the Messiah in those days, these shepherds were not waiting. They were not likely to have been in a prayer meeting when the Angel showed up. The appearing caught them totally off guard. Maybe moments before they showed up they were drinking and swearing, laughing and mocking each other. These were tough rough guys. Yet they were the first to hear the message of the gospel. Good news of great joy. A Saviour has been born who is Christ the LORD.

Saviour

Our greatest need is not reformation but transformation. Our greatest need is for the damage of sin and the curse of death through Adam's sin and our own to be removed from us. Jesus came to crush the head of the serpent. It is fitting that this message was given to Shepherds because He had come as the good Shepherd to lay down His life for the sheep. He was also the spotless lamb who John the Baptist said "would take away the sins of the world." He came to save us and to live a perfect life, the life that we should live, and then to die in our place.

Christ

It is amazing that the word the Angel used according to Luke is Christ not Messiah because that is a message in itself. Good news for all people. While some Jews were waiting for the Messiah not many Gentiles were anticipating the coming of the Messiah. Yet Luke (a Gentile?) writes to tell us that the Angel said good news for all people, Christ has come. David was described as the LORD's anointed or Christ but David had much blood on his hands, he was a sinner, at the end of his life he bows his head in shame and points away from himself to another yet to come. This is true of every King, every High Priest and every prophet. Throughout the OLD Testament there are types of the Messiah to come but they are mere shadows. Jesus is not the LORD's anointed like David, He is the Anointed LORD, fully man and fully God. A mediator between God and man to bring about reconciliation to mankind.

LORD

Luke starts chapter 2 with Augustus, master of all he sees, ruler of the greatest empire at that time. Caesar Augustus was regarded as LORD and as a god. The chapter moves on to tell us of the baby born to a lowly peasant woman and placed not in a palace but an animal feeding trough. Yet the Angel tells us that this baby, not a baby born in Rome, is the LORD, and by this he means LORD God. Paul tells us in Colossians that all things were made through Jesus, through Him and For Him. He is LORD of the universe and the Christmas message is that this God, the creator and sustainer walked amongst us, that God became a missionary to restore a lost world to Himself and that is extremely good news. That is why I love Christmas because it was God's idea.

Merry Christmas

Stephen <><

Calvin on the gift of salvation

2009-12-02T00:34:00.000-08:00

I read this succinct comment from Calvin, in Joel Beeke's 365 Days with Calvin this morning.

'Faith is purely a gift from God, so people may not praise themselves for having come to the light of the gospel, in which they have found happiness and salvation. Instead, they ought to glorify God, for they are indebted to him for choosing and calling them to salvation. '

Salvation from a Calvinist perspective is completely a work of God, God working with one energy monergism, or as some people put it one handed salvation. When we consider that salvation is all of God and that the only thing we contribute is our need and our sin then God gets all the praise.

Glory to God in the highest!

Shalom

Stephen <><

Calvinism and Evangelism

2009-11-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Joy and I have just returned from a three week visit to the States, where I got to share a platform with my father-in-law at a School of Evangelism, attend my bro-in-law's wedding and where I got to visit two Bible centred mega churches, one less Bible centred megachurch and a growing new reformed church. My father-in law also gave me his copy of Christianity Today on Calvin the Comeback Kid.

The headline article reminded me of a comment a friend of mine made before we left for our trip, he said why are none of the great evangelists Calvinists? He then proceeded to name several evangelists most of whom were Calvinists. Calvinists are always perceived as being pre-occupied with election and unoccupied with evangelism, this is a misconception. As Mark Dever says, many Calvinists are terrible at personal evangelism but so are many Arminians. Some of the greatest evangelists of the past were Calvinists. Here is a wonderful quote from Timothy George's excellent article from C.T. in September 2009:

The elect are not the elite. There is no place in Calvin's thought for the kind of spiritual snobbery reflected in the old camp-meeting ditty, "we are the Lord's elected few/let all the rest be damned./There's room enough in hell for you,/we don't want heaven crammed!" The true Calvinist preaches the gospel promiscuously to all persons everywhere, aware that God alone infallibly knows all those who belong to Him.

In Calvin's day, Geneva became a great center for church planting, evangelism and even "foreign" missions: a group of Protestants supported by Admiral de Coligny carried the message of Christ to the far shores of Brazil in 1557, more than 60 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. William Carey, the father of modern missions in the 18th century, went to India with a Calvinist vision of a full-sized God- eternal, transcendent, holy, filled with compassion, soveriegnly working with His Holy Spirit to call unto Himself a people from every nation, tribe, and language upon the earth. -C.T. September 2009 p.30

The new reformed church I visited was a baptist church where before they went reformed, the church had had no conversions or baptisms from outside the congregation for years. They are now reaching college students with the gospel and are seeing both conversions and baptisms. They estimate by the end of the year they will have 50 baptisms. Awesome for a small college town.

Let us all be promiscuous in sharing the gospel with the whosoever!

Shalom

Stephen <><

A Song worth singing

2009-11-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

I was talking recently with some evangelicals of a different theological stance and they asked me what God was saying to me at the moment. I got to share how I am utterly amazed that as a sinner I have received God's undeserved kindness and how that brings real joy to my life. I was coming home from work a few weeks ago and was moved by Lamentations 'Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed.' How easy it is to forget that we do deserve God's wrath rather than his mercy. Forgetting that it is His love poured out into lives each day which stops us from being consumed by His holy wrath. Isaiah 12 talks about a day when someone will sing 'I will give thanks to you O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.' The realisation that we do deserve wrath is something worth singing about. That God and God alone is our source of strength, that He is our song and that He has become our salvation. Understanding the wrath we deserve is not morbid, it is delightful. It is delightful because it shows God's gracious kindness towards us as more marvelous. Grace is more amazing when you understand that you were a wretch.

Shalom
Stephen <><

An awesome gospel tract

2009-10-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

I remember with horror the first christian tracts I ever saw, I think they are called Chic tracts and contained cartoon pictures in black, white and red. The red often represented blood from the period portrayed in the Left Behind movies and they really needed to be left behind themselves. Living Waters however have produced some attractive gospel tracts in the style of £10 stirling, I found yesterday you can't give them away fast enough. On the reverse they ask the million pound question. Will you go to heaven? It then asks have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, used the LORD's name in vain, or looked at someone lustfully? It then presents the bad news that if you have you are a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart and deserving of hell before articulating the gospel. In the last British census 70 % of people claimed to be Christian probably believing that they are good and that good people go to heaven. This tract shows that we are not good because we all fall short of God's standard. These tracts are a useful tool to awaken the conscience to its need of the good news before presenting it. These tracts are very portable too as they can easily be placed in a wallet but don't try to spend them as it might lead to disappointment.

Shalom

Stephen

p.s The note is for one million pounds, I wonder if that is because it has a picture of a credo-baptist on it.

why Christians should blog

2009-10-12T06:23:00.001-07:00

Hi,

It has been a while since I blogged hasn't it? It's not that I have come to the conclusion that blogging is unimportant but at the moment what with parenting, working and preaching I seem to have little or no time to blog. A blogging friend of mine, pastor Jonathan Hunt whom I have never met but whose blog I enjoyed has given it up. I wish he hadn't he had a lot of good things to say and his character came out. I have been reflecting on why we should blog and this is my reasoning.

In the C14th an English priest by the name of John Wycliffe translated the Bible into English for the first time. He isn't given the credit for that, that honour goes to William Tyndale whose translation was 200 years later, this was after the invention of the printing press, allowing Tyndale's work to spread easier and faster than Wycliffe's.

The writings of Wycliffe did make it across the Chanel to Bohemia where a young priest by the name of Johan Hus was convinced by Wycliffe's writings and started a mini reformation. The reformation of Europe would have to wait a further 100 years for the preaching and writing of Martin Luther whose writings spread across Europe like a Californian wildfire spreads across a dry forest. The reason Luther's impact was greater under God was the invention of the printing press. Luther took whatever means he could to spread gospel truth across the information super highway of his day. In the C21st we can communicate gospel truth with the use of the Internet. This is the reason why I blog. Here I sit, I can do no other, God help me.

Shalom
Stephen <><

Theology and the Preacher

2009-09-04T04:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I enjoyed a discussion about what is a preacher and what is a theologian. Sometimes, sadly, they are very different. I know of theologians who cannot preach, worse still I know of plenty of preachers who "don't do theology." I was reminded by Al Mohler that the calling of a pastor is the calling of a faithful theologian. Mohler writes, 'Every pastor is called to be a theologian. This may come as a surprise to those pastors who see theology as an academic discipline taken during seminary rather than as an ongoing and central part of the pastoral calling. Nevertheless, the health of the church depends upon its pastors functioning as faithful theologians-teaching, preaching, defending, and applying the great doctrines of the faith.' R. Albert Mohler 'He is Not Silent' p.105

Mohler goes on to say, 'The Pastoral calling is inherently theological. Given the fact that the pastor is to be teacher of the Word of God and the teacher of the Gospel it cannot be otherwise' p.106

Mohler rightly sets this in context- theology is not the result but the means, the means to faithfulness in preaching, in mission and in discipleship. ' Being faithful to this theological task will obviously require intense and self-conscious theological thinking, study and concentration. If the church is to be marked by faithful preaching, God-honouring worship, and effective evangelism, the pastor must give concentrated attention to the theological task' p.109

I am thankful to God for Albert Mohler and theologians like him who believe in the authority of scripture and the power of God to change lives. I am thankful for my time at HTC where I encountered lecturers like him. We need to pray though that the church will love to grapple with the Word and to seek preachers who preach it and live it.

Shalom

Stephen

Lewis Fest

2009-08-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

This past week I have been enjoying something of a C. S.Lewis fest, last night Joy and I finished watching the Disney version of the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Today I got to pick up a new book called Planet Narnia by the Rev Dr Michael Ward, Last weekend I got to listen to Michael discuss his book with Laura Miller an American atheist who also loves the Chronicles of Narnia and she has written a book called 'The Magician's Book'.

A Couple of Years ago Christianity Today devoted a whole issue to C. S. Lewis, as I recall the editor suggested that Lewis was like the patron saint of American Evangelicalism, which is very ironic as 1. We don't have patron saints in Evangelicalism and 2. Because Lewis was neither American nor an Evangelical. Yet Lewis has a lot to offer evangelicals, because he did have what can only be described as an evangelical conversion and in his autobiographical book 'Surprised by Joy' Lewis tells us of his conversion first to theism (when he becomes the most reluctant convert in all of England) and later his conversion proper. Lewis became the most famous defender of Christianity in Britain in the C20th and his work 'Mere Christianity' is still unrivalled (although Tim Kellar's 'The Reason for God is a great alternative) as a discussion starter. In recent times I have heard several attempts to refute Lewis tricotomy by the new atheists "either Jesus was a mad man, a demoniac or who he claimed to be" they propose a fourth that Jesus was simply mistaken but surely that comes under number 1, No rational person would claim to be God and simply be mistaken without needing to stay at the funny farm. I can't remember how I got acquainted to Lewis' work but I have always appreciated them even when I disagree. I am looking forward to reading Planet Narnia as Michael Ward believes he has found a deeper level to the Narnia books where Lewis provides a defense of Christianity using medieval cosmology, now who doesn't love a conspiracy theory?

Shalom
Stephen <><

I am somewhat unusal as a C.S.Lewis fan in that I read 'Mere Christianity' years before I read the Chronicles of Narnia due to a misspent childhood. I am looking forward to reading the books with Hannah and hopefully she will love them as much as I do.

Raw Driscoll-Vintage Church

2009-07-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

Driscoll- Warts and All

I have just finished reading Vintage Church by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears and this is by far the best book from them yet. Driscoll receives a hard press from some conservative Christians because of his immaturity but this is a little unfair. Driscoll presents himself warts and all, we know his failings because he is happy to share them. He is happy to share them because he wants to show that in this world only Jesus is the good guy and that even pastors are in need of grace. I find this refreshing as too many mature believers wear a mask pretending to themselves and everyone else that they don't sin anymore.

Driscoll reveals his maturity in the chapter on discipline-firstly, just by including a chapter on church discipline as very few books on the topic would include a whole chapter on this vital subject. Driscoll reveals that rather than lacking any sense of sanctification, as his critics claim, he has a high regard for the holiness and purity of Mars Hill Church and for the body of Christ as a whole. Secondly, he shows a concern for those who are the victims of someone who is in need of church discipline and sets out Mars Hill's practice on discipline. He also shares how they can come back and his disappointment at some churches who take in members who are under discipline. His pastoral hope for those who are under church discipline is that they would repent and be restored to full fellowship. It is his desire to protect the disciplined believer's family from the consequences of the discipline as much as is possible. He also argues that whilst the believer is under discipline we shouldn't treat them as before but neither should we avoid them when we see them rather we should be seeking to urge them to repentance and restoration.

Driscoll has also been accused of being too culturally affirming yet he is faithful to scripture arguing for male elders only- in spite of this being unpopular in culture at large and in large sections of the evangelical church. He points out at one point whilst we might aim to be cool, we are called to follow Jesus, share the gospel and warn people about the judgement to come so we will not be perceived as being cool.

The Missional Church

A currently in vogue phrase which few people seem to understand, Driscoll points out that a missional church is not some church where there is no pastor or the pastor is a young dude who doesn't shave and has a couple of tattoos but no understanding of truth or mission. Rather a missional church is concerned with mission both on a global and local stage. Therefore a missional church seeks to train disciples to be missionaries to their unreached neighbours. They do this in the same way missionaries in far flung places do, by dressing the same and speaking the same language. It seeks to make disciples through a word centred ministry therefore it also preaches and practices repentance. A missional church is aware of the community and seeks to be a community within the community. A missional church wouldn't encourage what happens in so many places where believers drive for miles to do church and then drive miles again out of that neighbourhood back home. A missional church seeks to be a blessing to those on the outside, Driscoll shares how one bus driver spoke to a visitor to Mars Hill and said that Mars Hill was a force for good in the city.

Finally in the early chapters Driscoll sets out what a church looks like, he speaks in general terms before narrowing down what Mars Hill looks like. In this section he argued very briefly for believer's baptism and I for one was very convinced :-).

This book is a good example of a warm hearted Bible centred theology from a pastor in the reformed tradition for the C21st.

Shalom

Stephen

Calvin and his children

2009-07-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 500 anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Calvin was a frail and fallen human who loved his Lord and saviour. He was also sanctified and tireless devoted to serving God in Geneva. The sales of his books were used to support the french protestant refugees who had fled France. Calvin is one theologian amongst many throughout the history of the holy catholic church (catholic with a small c). He also preached almost every day and during periods of sickness and towards the end of his life would preach either from his bed or be carried to church. He is not original in some sense because he proves in his institutes that he stands in the tradition of Augustine and many others. He did not start the reformation that honour goes to Martin Luther. He is not the only classical trained theologian of the period, so why are those of us who are reformed or "predestinarian" called Calvinists? I think the answer in part is because Calvin's Geneva produced many little Calvin's as both English and Scottish pastors and theologians sought refuge in Geneva and then took the theology they had learnt from him back home. This was then transported to the New World as the Puritans took that Theology with them. While Luther's theology stayed pretty much in Germany following his lack of interest in the theology of the Swiss reformers at the Marburg debate.

A second reason why we are called Calvinists is because he wrote a lot more his commentaries are still in print and still readable, these have been used and delighted in for centuries. His institutes whilst not a systematic theology are a complete guide to his theology and you don't find the same sort of writing from any of the other reformers. I enjoy Calvin's commentaries and think the Institutes are a wonderful example of a warm hearted theology and I am glad to be one of Calvin's theological children.

Shalom

Stephen

a citizen of a faraway country

2009-07-03T12:21:00.001-07:00

Our daughter Hannah (now 6 months old) received her American passport in the post yesterday. She is now officially an American citizen and the paper work says that she 'acquired United States citizenship at birth.' What is unusual in Hannah's case is that she is now a citizen of a place that she has never been to. She has a passport and will be allowed entry as a citizen but as yet she has never even visited the States. What makes her a citizen is not where she was born or anything else that she has done, she is a citizen because her mom is a citizen. She acquired American citizenship at birth because one of her parents is American. This reminds me of salvation if we are born again even though we have never been to heaven we are still citizens of heaven. Our citizenship was acquired at the cross and we received it when we were born a new. We will be welcomed in because we are citizens and not through anything we have done but because as I Peter chapter 1 says "The Father through His great mercy has caused you to be born again". We are aliens and strangers in this world because we are citizens of a faraway home.

As I am writing this on the 4th of July may I take this time to wish all my American family and friends a happy 4th of July (although I don't understand why you would celebrate not being part of Great Britain) :)

God Bless

Stephen <><

The Great Evangelist

2009-06-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Inverness hosted The Highland Festival with Luis Palau and it was good to see the great evangelist at work. I don't mean Luis Palau I mean the Holy Spirit, Palau's style isn't refined, his sermon was messy but from the heart but it was really great to see people visibly coming under conviction of sin and God saving them. I do not see the wind but I could see the effects of the wind of the Spirit blowing. Many young people made responses how many of them are real God alone knows but we can leave it to God. Palau preached about heaven and hell, the cross and the judgement to come as well as giving an invitation. He clearly presented the gospel although from an arminian perspective. He continues to do great work at 74 years of age and has preached the gospel to over a billion people throughout the course of his life. I am thankful to God for his servant, it did make me wonder though where are the Calvinistic evangelists? Some of the greatest open air evangelists of the past were Calvinists but there doesn't seem to be any now adays. We should pray for God to raise up more evangelists and seek to be more evangelistic ourselves.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Shalom

Stephen

Earl and the Gospel

2009-06-12T22:27:00.000-07:00

Joy and I have recently being enjoying the TV show my name is Earl, the show is based around the life of a man named Earl, surprisingly enough. Earl came to a crisis point through all the bad things that he has done and he repented, well no he didn't repent. Instead Earl is seeking to do good for all the bad that he has done. He has a list that he is working his way down, the problem is the list keeps growing. In trying to undo the wrong that he did in the past he finds himself in new situations where he causes hurt and needs to make restitution. Earl's problem is the human problem it would not matter if we had a thousand life times to put right our wrongs because all we would be doing would be adding to our list of wrongs. There is nothing we can do to pay for the wrong that we have done, not that trying to undo the wrong we have done is not commendable. Our problem is we cannot undo the sin itself, nor can we make restitution to God. David says in Psalm 51, against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. If we are to be put right we need to come to Him who we have offended and seek His forgiveness, that can only happen through trusting in the atoning work of His Son, whose name is Jesus. Still 'My name is Earl' is a funny show, sit back and enjoy.

God Bless

Stephen

Luther on preaching

2009-06-09T23:05:00.000-07:00

I came across this excellent quote this morning from Martin Luther on the primary role of preaching the Word within the church:
" Now wherever you hear or see the word preached, believed, professed, and lived, do not doubt that the true ecclesia sancta catholica (Christian, holy people) must be there.... and if no other sign than this alone, it would still suffice to prove that a Christian holy people must exist there, For God's Word cannot be without God's people and, conversely, God's people cannot be without God's Word.
As quoted by Al Mohler in a Feed My Sheep, A Passionate Plea for Preaching. p.1 (looks like its going to be a fantastic read)
Shalom
Stephen <><

A man with a plan

2009-05-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

Last week I got to attend an event at Inshes Church of Scotland, chaired by Lord Mackay "introducing" the new principal of HTC. Hector Morrison was the former vice principal under professor McGowan so there will be no surprises or sudden changes in theological emphasis. On the night it was good to hear several students and former students tell of their experiences of the college and how God has used it to shape and develop them.

The best part for me was hearing Hector share his vision for the college. He spoke of all the different ministries former students are involved in, in various places throughout the world. He then shared how he would like the college to partner more with the local churches. He is a passionate man with a pastor's heart, in fact during my undergraduate time at HTC if there was a situation brewing it was Hector that people turned to for help, for his spiritual wisdom and tender heart. Hector would like the college to train people in evangelism by introducing courses and through evangelistic activities. The college is in good hands, because God's man for this season is in place.

Shalom

Stephen

Gospel freedom

2009-05-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Tim Chester sums up the freedom and joy of Christian living in 'You Can change' :-

Freedom and Love

Let's sum up our motive for change: to enjoy the freedom from sin and delight in God that God gives us through Jesus. I want to highlight four things arising from this definition.

First, growing in holiness is not sad, dutiful drudgery. It's about joy. It's discovering true joy- the joy of knowing and serving God. There is self-denial, sometimes hard and painful, but true self-denial leads to gaining your life (Mark 8:34-37). There will be times when we act out of duty, but we do this believing that duty leads to gaining our life (Mark 8:34-38). How often have you reluctantly dragged yourself out on a cold night to pray with others only to find yourself energized and blessed?

Second, change is about living in freedom. We refuse to go back to the chains and filth of our sin. We live in the wonderful freedom that God's given us. We're free to be the people that we should be.

Third, change is about discovering the delight of knowing and serving God, our job is to stop wallowing around in the dirt and instead to enjoy knowing God. We give up our cheap imitations and enjoy the real thing. All too often we think of holiness as giving up pleasures of sin for some worthy but drab life. But holiness is recognizing that the pleasures of sin are empty and temporary, while God is inviting us to magnificent, true, full and rich pleasures that last forever.

Fourth, becoming like Jesus is something that God gives to us. It's not an achievement that we offer to him. It's enjoying the new identity he has given us in Christ. it begins with his work for us. He has set us free from sin and offers us a relationship with himself. P.41

As Evangelicals we are often lapse to fall into legalism or liberatianism the cure is still the gospel as Piper says, "you'll never,never, never, never, never, never, never out grow your need for the gospel"

Shalom

Stephen

Calvin and the Gospel

2009-05-07T21:24:00.001-07:00

Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? says the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? Ezekiel 18:23

'In the gospel, we hear how familiarly God addresses us when he promises pardon (Luke 1:78). We can know salvation by embracing the mercy of God that he offers us in Christ.

It follows, then, that what the prophet now says is true, that God does not will the death of a sinner. God meets the sinner of his own accord. He is not only prepared to receive all who fly to his pity, but also calls them toward him with a loud voice when he sees how alienated from all hope of safety. Note that the manner in which God wishes all to be saved, namely, that they turn away from their wicked ways. God does not wish all men to be saved to renounce the difference between God and evil. Rather, he stresses that repentance, or turning aside from wicked ways, must precede pardon.'

365 days with Calvin published by Day One

I love it that Calvin lets the text speak rather than imposing a different position on the text, Calvin was prepared to hold his beliefs in tension.

Shalom
Stephen

rebranding

2009-05-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have decided today to change the name of my blog to reflect more my personal testimony, one of my first blog articles was called the testimony of a defrosted Calvinist. I have always loved reading and the discovery of reformed theology made a deep impact upon me. Over time though my heart grew cold and I replaced God with Theology. Praise God though several events led to my defrosting. Reading Desiring God several years ago introduced me to a warm hearted Calvinism, (it is actually at the heart of Calvinism and you can find the same heart attitude in Calvin, Edwards, the Puritans and the moderate English Evangelical's of the C18th), a theology that delights in the transcendence of God in all His glory and seeks to live a life of service from the heart. Then a while later we were singing Matt Redman's 'I'm coming back to the heart of worship' at church and as we sang it I thought to myself, its good that Redman realised that worship music isn't the heart of worship but God. That night I realised that I had replaced God with Theology and so I prayed to give up the books and the studies because it's all about God. In the morning I was reading Acts chapter 18, the part where it talks about Apollos 'who was a great help to those who by grace had believed. For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public dispute, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.' I felt the LORD had given me back theology but now it was as it should be centred on Him. I want my life and my blog to reflect the theology of Jesus, that loves God and seeks to love and serve all people in the church and without. To reflect the freedom that Christ has bought for us at Calvary's cross. The re branding is inspired by a quote from John Flavel who said " never look for warm fire underneath cold ice."

Shalom

Stephen

total church- totally worth reading

2009-04-20T04:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I finished reading Total Church- by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis which I enjoyed immensely. They have a radical view of how to do church and are committed to being a gospel centred community rather than doing church three hours a week. The book appeals to me because the authors are reformed and yet responding to the challenges of reaching out in the C21st. At times I think they make too much of their new approach but as they close the book they acknowledge that 'This book has suggested changes that could, and should, be made to the life and mission of the church. But the future of the the church does not lie in changing its structures. Far more important than any ecclesiastical or missiological innovations is a passion for God.' p.199 This really comes out in the book, they are total church because they are totally committed to God.

One of their closing comments, 'There is a lot of talk today of 'gospel ministers', 'gospel work', 'gospel churches' and so on. There are some good reasons for this use of the word 'gospel,' since other definitions of identity are proving inadequate. But we must be careful not to depersonalize our faith. In believing in the gospel we believe in Jesus Christ. To be gospel -centered is to be Jesus-centred. A gospel worker is a servant of Jesus Christ. We must not reduce Christianity to intellectual arguments or principles of ministry, however gospel-hyphenated they are. Our focus must be on the Father, the Son and the Spirit.

I love being married, but I love being married because it unites me with my wife. In the same way I love the gospel, but I love the gospel because it unites me with my Saviour. We are not saved by principles or strategies, but by a person. Propostional truth is important, the suspicions of postmodernism notwithstanding. But propositional truth is important because it points me to the person who is the Truth with whom I have a relationship by grace.' p.202

I heartily recommend this book!

Shalom

Stephen

God's mercy to me a sinner

2009-04-19T05:15:00.000-07:00

I have the joy of doing the early shift with my daughter Hannah, she is an answer to prayer, a specific prayer. Joy and I had been praying for a child for 4 years on the final occasion I was praying and an overwhelming sense of peace came over me. I knew I could stop praying because my prayer had been answered. So confident of this I told my friend Daniel of Reformed Revolution fame that Joy and I were going to have a baby soon. Little did I know that it would be very soon. This morning as Hannah feel back to sleep I was overwhelmed with the generosity of God who hears me a sinner.

While reading my Bible I read Mark's account of Jesus' 'love the Lord your God with all your heart,with all your mind and with all your soul and your neighbour as yourself.' Again I was overwhelmed as I thought on my failure in both these departments. To be fully committed to the LORD would mean that love for neighbour would follow. Although I am pretty sure I don't hate anyone I am also sure I don't love my neighbours, but that isn't what Jesus commanded us to do, he commanded us to love our neighbours like we love ourselves. I know I have abundant self-love, and at the core of my being I am self centred. This morning I was able to pray with a sense of shame and my sinfulness but also delight in the God who loves me and forgives me. I asked that again he would hear this sinners prayer and empower me to love Him as he deserves to be loved and to love my neighbours as I love myself.

Shalom
Stephen <><

a church 10 yards from hell

2009-04-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the privilege of visiting a church in a really tough and deprived area of Scotland. When I was going some of my friends from college said, "oh you don't want to go there it's rough." This church was really in a tough area, social housing problems, crime and drugs. Yet the church was awesome they are reaching refugee's with the gospel, these refugees are finding refuge in Jesus. One of them was an orphan who grew up in an Orphanage, she said at her baptism "I grew up in an orphanage without a mother and father but now I have a Father and I have a family. The church has a lot of middle class people but they are seeking ways to communicate the love of Jesus in practical ways to their neighbours. I found it a wonderful experience as I look forward to where God calls me I want to seek to serve those who are broken and unloved and show them both in word and deed the God of love.

I think quite often we Christians miss this, we have developed what Luther called a church of glory rather than a church of the cross. We need to remember that a church 10 yards from hell is a slice of heaven on earth.

May God Bless you

Stephen

Word and Spirit

2009-04-04T03:10:00.000-07:00

I am really excited by a book I had recommended to me called 'Total Church' a radical reshaping around gospel and community. The writers Tim Chester and Steve Timmis both reformed in theology and probably emerging in a Mark Driscoll style. In the first chapter 'Why Gospel?' they argue for Word and Spirit ministry:

Churches can also polarize between intellectualism (what you think is what matters) or emotionalism(what you feel is what matters). In some churches issues of the heart and emotions have become functionally absent. We acknowledge their importance, but they feature little in our lives.' They go on to say, 'It is tempting to stress the need for balance as if a little bit of word and a bit of Spirit or a bit of intellectualism and a bit of emotion. But this is unhelpful. The truth is that in the Bible word and Spirit always go together.' p.29

On the next page they offer this caveat, ' Spiritual experience that does not arise from God's word is not Christian experience. Other religions offer spiritual experiences. Concerts and therapy sessions can affect the emotions. Not all that passes for Christian experience is genuine. An authentic experience of the Spirit is an experience in response to the gospel. p.30.

May God bless us as we seek to be not only people of the book but people of the Spirit.
Shalom
Stephen

Christian Hedonism in the C16th

2009-03-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Alongside my morning Bible reading I have been reading 365 days with Calvin: I forgot to take it with me while I was away Friday and Saturday so it was good to catch up this morning. Part of the reading for 20th March was the following:

Praise Ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that fearth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. Psalm 112:1

In the second clause of the verse, the prophet specifies that the fear of God includes delighting greatly in his commandments. The addition of this explanatory clause is quite apparent, for while people boldly condemn the law of God, yet it is also common for them to pretend that they fear God. The prophet refuses such impiety when he acknowledges that no one is a true worshiper of God who does not endeavor to keep God's law. The prophet makes a significant between a willing and prompt effort to keep the law, and one that merely consists of servile and constrained obedience.

We must therefore, cheerfully embrace the law of God in such a manner that our love of it, with all its sweetness, may overcome all allurements of the flesh. Mere attention to the law is fruitless. A person cannot be regarded as a genuine observer of the law unless he truly delights in the law of God and renders obedience that is agreeable to God.

Joel Beeke the editor offers these thoughts for meditation: Do you esteem God's smile and frowns to be of more value than the smiles and frowns of people? Do you welcome any means He May employ to urge us on to obedience.

God Bless

Stephen

Are you a functional deist?

2009-03-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

This morning at CBC we had the privilege of having Dr Jamie Grant from HTC preach, Jamie's style is warm and conversational. His text was Isaiah 54, during his introduction he gave us a short history lesson on Deism. Reminding us that the Deists believed in a creator God who had created the whole universe, but like someone who winds up a grandfather clock and then leaves to function on its own. The deists believed that the creator God just left the universe alone, there is no personal involvement. He said the problem for many Christians especially in the Calvinistic tradition is that we understand that God is LORD, creator, King and ruler but we live as functional deists, this side of the cross we might recognise that God loves the world but we are less sure that he loves us. To us the idea that God is interested in our day to day circumstances, in our work, our home life isn't something that even enters out minds, we are in danger of being functional deists. In Isaiah 54 God tells us through the prophet that he our maker, the LORD of the heavenly armies is our husband. That is the most intimate language that God could use to describe his relationship with us. Our Maker is our husband he is concerned in a loving way for us, he provides for us and he shares himself with us. He is also our redeemer, Isaiah isn't talking in Pauline language he is talking about the Goel, or the kinsman redeemer. The kinsmen redeemer who fills the post of getting a relative out of trouble.
We have a personal relationship with God, we can share with him every need, every hurt and every desire of our hearts because he cares for us! God is creator and is all powerful and is not only willing to side with us but is able act on our behalf for His glory!

Shalom

Stephen <><

Christianity in Crisis 21st Century by Hank Hanegraaff

2009-03-14T07:18:00.001-07:00

Seeing this book back in print and updated for the C21st makes me happy and sad at the same time. Hanegraff’s original edition of Christianity in Crisis did an excellent and complete job of showing that the faith teachers have a different Jesus and a different Gospel. Yet the sad part thing is the faith teachers are still in business, dressed in pure wool suits, and fleecing the flock. I remember being devastated as a young Pentecostal going along to hear Benny Hinn. I never read anything but the Bible and was looking forward to the signs and wonders, but I went to hear him. What I heard was heresy, Hinn said temptation only came when we are far away from God. The Bible says Jesus was tempted in every way as we yet is without sin. in Reality temptation comes the closer you get to God. Secondly, Hinn said, the flesh is our fallen nature, John tells us that Jesus came in the flesh. That was a painful evening leaving me feeling all alone, then I came across Christianity in Crisis and found out I was not alone and indeed the crisis I had stumbled upon was bigger and much worse than I had thought. Hanegraaff shows that the faith teachers God isn’t the sovereign omnipotent God of the Bible but a genie who responds to the force of faith. Hanegraaff builds his case in the words of the faith teachers themselves.
This new version isn’t a new book but it has new characters, the flawed theology of the faith teachers is the same as ever. Some of the faces have changed, Hank has built in quotes from Joyce Meyer, Joel Olsteen, Rod Parsley and “the latest shooting star” Todd Bentley. Hanegraaff rightly refers to Bentley as a shooting star so much so that by the time of printing he is a spent force. This isn’t the case for Christianity in Crisis, this is a book that is well researched, easy to read and is very necessary. Although I no longer move in circles where the names of the faith teachers come up on a daily basis a visit to the local version of a national Christian bookstall reveals that the faith teachers are still the best sellers. People are being deceived by the faith teachers and need to hear what they are saying in light of Scripture. This is a book that deserves to be read, the original book had a tape version which proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that these were not the words of Hanegraaff but the faith teachers themselves. I hope Thomas Nelson bring out an up to date audio version.

How Can A Good God Let Bad Things Happen- Mark Tabb

2009-03-07T10:17:00.000-08:00

When I first started this book, I was a little disappointed because it was not a philosophical discussion. I was filled with dread anticipating another book filled with more cliché easy answers to this perplexing question, yet that was not the case at all. Mark Tabb recognises that he as American (like any of us in the West) cannot speak of discomfort in the same way as Christians living under persecution. However he has previously served as a pastor, he is a volunteer fire fighter and serves as a chaplain to his local fire department so he has faced people with real problems. He says while we are in seminary or discussing theology we might be able to talk about two will’s within God. Yet it is difficult to talk about the secret will of God to someone who has just lost their loved ones. Mark Tabb takes us on a journey through Job he notes that Job is not afraid to ask God why, rather than trying to clinch his teeth and pretend to God that everything is just fine which is the foolish thing that we do.
Tabb recognises that God is sovereign and that everything will work out for the believer in eternity but we do not have the answers to the difficult questions of human suffering. For example, he rightly points out that we cannot say that God is using our circumstances to refine our character to someone who goes through repeated family loses, loses all their wealth and is regarded as a righteous man before that happens as in the case of Job. In fact in the book of Job, he doesn’t receive any answers as to why God allows him to suffer. At the end of the book, Job sees the LORD and accepts what the LORD has done in his life.
It is clear that Tabb has been around people with real tragedy and has been able to stand alongside them. He reminds me that sometimes pointing to Romans 8:28 isn’t helpful just being there for someone is. Tabb answers the question from a Bible perspective he shows that taking the Open Theist view will not work because God is sovereign and all powerful. The book is well written, Tabb doesn’t go for an easy answer to the most perplexing question of all. I highly recommend this book!

though he is dead he still speaks

2009-03-03T05:13:00.000-08:00

I was reminded yesterday of Jonathan Edwards connection to several great movements of God even after his death. Firstly, Edwards had a good connection with the first Scottish Presbyterian split they offered each other mutual encouragement when Edwards was fired from his job and the disruptionist group left the Church of Scotland. Edwards was sent a copy of a little Scottish book on prayer, this influenced his book "A Call to United Extraordinary Prayer.." which was very influential in stirring revivial again after Edwards' death, influencing both in his native America and here in Britain.

After his death Edwards influence continued amongst Scottish Presbyterian splits, Thomas Chalmers one of the leaders of the Free Church of Scotland said, 'My theology is that of Jonathan Edwards.' In the only Free Church I have attended regularly there is still a feeling of Edwards warm vibrant Calvinism.

In England the Particular Baptists were caught up in the snare of hyper Calvinism it was through the rediscovery of the Calvinism of Jonathan Edwards that revealed to them a more evangelical Calvinism and created the environment for the modern missionary movement by influencing people like William Carey.

In the C20th the Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd Jones was greatly influenced by Jonathan Edwards and MLJ himself influenced a generation of evangelical ministers.

In the USA, John Gerstner, R. C. Sproul and John Piper have created a new generation of Edwards disciples, this is a good thing as Edwards offers a robust warm Calvinism.

Long may his legacy continue!

God Bless

Stephen <><

Scott McKnight and the Neo reformed

2009-02-19T11:31:00.000-08:00

I read with Interest Scot McKnight's comments about the new reformed yesterday and thought it was a little unfair.

In the past I have appreciated McKnight's defence of scripture against Dan Brown's distorted interpret of church history. However his understanding of truth is influenced by post modernism and so that is where is problem with the reformed begins. In Coffee house theology McKnight says that he lost a bet and was forced to read Calvin's view of baptism. He believed that Calvin was just a bully with a pulpit. If he had read the rest of the institutes he would have found warmth there. He rightly says that Calvin was a man of his time but it was also clear he had no time for traditional reformed theology.

McKnight suggests that the new reformed have moved penal substitution from the periphery to the centre of theology. Penal subsistition has never been a perpherial part of theology. Yet McKnight does the exact opposite, In 'Atonement as Story' McKnight removes the atonement from the centre of Christianity to the periphery. He wrongly suggests there is no hint in any of the “I have come”statements to suggest atonement. He tells people (for the shock factor) that ‘Jesus didn’t come to earth to die for their sins.’ Yet Jesus said I have come to lay down my life on behalf of the sheep in John 10 implying subsitution. McKnight is wrong about the “I have come” statements, Jesus states that he has come to give his life as a ransom for many in Matt 20:28.

McKnight believes that the new reformed place to much emphasis on complimentarianism as if it was a major issue. As a complimentarian I have several female friends who are preparing for ministry and they know where I stand. I don't believe that because of their views they aren't Christians and this issue doesn't eat away at me, the issue I have with them is not complimentarianism itself but with their doctrine of scripture. One of them doesn't always agree with the apostle Paul because it is clear where he stands on the issue.

The new reformed unlike traditional reformed people are actually more open to other evangelicals. On the villiage green we stand with other evangelicals who love their bibles and are seeking to live for Christ. That doesn't mean we wont enjoy the debate over issues of disagreement. Theology has always been done that way. McKnight recognises that we get together, but so does every other group within evangelicalism and without.

All the major players within the new reformed Piper, Keller, Carson, Driscoll, Mahaney etc are Bible focused and are unlikely to quote the WCF or any other creed in their sermons. Keller and Driscoll could hardly be accused of placing tradition alongside scripture.

The new reformed have a high view of Scripture and truth which goes against the grain for McKnight and his emergent friends which is where McKnight's problem with the new reformed arises.

God Bless

Stephen

Come and Worship Together

2009-01-31T04:49:00.000-08:00

Adrian Warnock is offering a chance to win a free copy Of Mark Driscoll's new book Vintage Church on his blog. It got me thinking what do I think about church? There have been times in my life as a Christian when I have found church a real struggle. The last few years I have grow to love the local church though because it is at the church that we get to join with other believers and exalt Jesus together. I love corporate worship times and this is at its best at my home church because you also get to see it lived out in the lives of your brothers and sisters. There is no other place on earth where Jesus is exalted like in church.

Having had a baby recently far away from home neither Joy's family or my family have been there but our church family have stunned us, with meals, with gifts and with love. A reflection of the fact that we as a church are a family.

Worship includes the preaching of God's word where we get to listen into the word of God expounded, I love good preaching (I also dislike with a passion poor preaching that fails to interact with the text). For me preaching either listening to it or even better doing the preaching is an act of worship as the Holy Spirit draws us in to hear with our ears and experience something wonderful with our heart. Good preaching that challenges us and changes us to become conformed to the image of God, what can be greater than that?

I am looking forward to becoming part of the church exalted when we shall gather with the global victorious church, diverse in colour, tongue and expression but all perfectly reflecting the likeness of Jesus.

So what do you like about church?

Stephen

Max Lucado ----- For the Tough Times

2009-01-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

I have read three of Lucado’s books previously, one of them Just Like Jesus I remember being impressed with his story telling ability but thinking that he had nothing to say. Also I read He Chose The Nails, which was better and shows that Lacado has a good understanding of atonement, although not from a reformed perspective. I found this book For the Tough Times a little to short for the subject matter, for the most part it felt like a pep talk from a couch before a football game. In fact at one point taking Paul’s words from Romans 8 he talks about God being for us, his illustration is of God being on the sidelines cheering us on, being at the finishing line to embrace us as we finish. Although I agree God is for us, the illustration left me wondering do we worship God or does God worship us?
Although he did cover how God uses suffering to produce character in the believer’s life, the introduction and the closing prayer suggested keep going things will get better. He used David, Joseph and especially Job to illustrate this, but did not really get to grips with how suffering can be a gift. In the closing prayer Lucado says ‘Most of all do again what you did at Calvary. What we saw in this tragedy, you saw there on that Friday. Innocence ended. Goodness suffering etc, he goes on ‘Turn this Calvary into an Easter.’ I would really like to ask him what he was thinking at this point. The atonement is a one off event, he knows this, so what does he mean? Maybe he is talking glibly about our “Calvary experiences” As Christians are we called to experience resurrection every day? Or for us to take up our cross and follow Him? I was also wondering what the young Joni Erickson Tada would make of the pep talk after she took her dive and found herself disabled, would she find hope in the tough times? I am not sure that she would.

Shalom
Stephen

Christian Hedonism in the 4th Century

2009-01-24T07:17:00.000-08:00

I came across this prayer of Augustine from his confessions:-

Hear my prayer for pardon, Lord, lest my soul faint under your discipline, and do not let me fail in acknowledging before you your mercies, by which you have snatched me from all my most evil paths, that you might grow sweet to me beyond all the allurements I followed, that I might most powerfully love you and hold fast your hand with all my being, and to the very end you might tear me from temptation.

For, look, Lord, my king and my God, let whatever that is useful which I learned as a child serve you. When I was learning trifles you disciplined me, and forgave me the sin of the delight I took in what those trifles held. In them I learned many useful words, but such words can be learned in serious contexts, and that is the safe path in which children should walk.' (Translated by E.M Blaiklock)

Notice Augustine laments his wasted youth on fleeting pleasures, even when those pleasures were intellectual pursuits. His desire is know his God more so that God might grow more sweet to him. He realises that the more he knows God, the greater will be his awe and his desire for God will grow stronger and the fleeting treasures of this world will pale as a result. I think Augustine was a Christian Hedonist!

Shalom <><

Stephen

a secret gospel

2009-01-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

Inverness probably has the most evangelical churches in the UK, there seems to me to be more respect for Christianity here than elsewhere. Yet I got a real shock today, I was reading Mark Driscoll's book 'Death by Love' whilst enjoying a cup of tea, a lady walked by and asked how love could be demonstrated through death. So I explained the book was talking about Jesus' death for us, the gospel, a fantastic opportunity. When I said that God loved us and sent His Son to die for us the guy on the next table asked. "Is that some hidden secret Gospel." I explained that to the contrary it is the gospel! I thought it was ironic that I was reading a book by the pastor of Mars Hill church and the reaction I got was like the men of Athens, what strange teaching is this.

The more I think about it, this guy's ignorance isn't his fault, this is a day of good news and we are obviously keeping it to ourselves, who else is to blame for this guy never hearing the gospel in his 40 plus years? Granted he might have heard it before but never taken any notice but I am for one am going to ensure that his response prompts me to be more effective in presenting the gospel to lost and broken people in need of good news.

God Bless

Stephen <><

hot off the Navpress

2009-01-14T13:14:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine from Colorado Springs just emailed me to let me know that Navpress have just launched a free book to bloggers scheme. You can find the details at Navpress.

Come on Crossways/IVP you know it makes sense!

Shalom
Stephen <><

John (Calvin) The Baptist

2009-01-12T09:51:00.000-08:00

I know Reformed people of all different denominations would like to claim Calvin and I know as a Baptist I don't really have a claim on the king of the Presbyterian system however.... I was surprised to find him arguing:-

Matt 3.6; Mark 1.5. The were baptized of him... confessing their sins. The evidence of their repentance was this confession, for as the Lord binds Himself to us in the sacraments as in His own writing, so in faithfulness should we in turn respond to Him. in Baptism, it is testified that our sins are remitted us, and He calls us to repentance. So that men may offer themselves properly for baptism, a confession of sins is required of them, otherwise the whole action would be nothing but an empty mockery. We must note that here adults are being spoken of, who we know are not to be admitted into the Church indiscriminately, not to be initiated by baptism into the body of Christ unless they are first examined.' 'A Harmony of the Gospels' (Eerdmans/Paternoster) P.118

He goes on to say of Christ and John's baptism 'We infer that he had no intention at all to distinguish his baptism from that which Christ ordered His disciples, the continuing practice which he wished to keep alive in the Church. Nor did he contrast the visible sign with another sign.' P.126

I love it!!! No mention of infants, covenants or circumcision. Maybe I can claim Calvin after all ;-) looking forward to seeing what he says in Acts.

God Bless

Stephen

Happy Birthday John Piper!!

2009-01-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Today (the 11th of January) I believe is the birthday of John Piper, Mark Dever describes Piper as an evangelical superstar. I am sure Piper would hate that description but John Piper is probably my (and many other people's) favourite living preacher! His humility adds to his appeal, I got to meet him a couple of years ago and he is very self-effacing. I have met several other leading evangelical preachers and some of them seem to believe their own press, that isn't true of Piper. Hi passion for the word is enthusing and dynamic! His war time mentality is a real challenge.

I was introduced to Piper through my affiliation to the FIEC (Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches) as he came and spoke at one of our conferences. Sadly I had read a negative article and didn't like the sound of him. That was a big lesson for me to make up my own mind about someone rather than trusting orthodox criticism. When I first read Piper's Desiring God I felt a kinship to the central reformed theology but it caused a reaction I wasn't expecting, my ultra-reformed, ultra-conservative cold heart started to melt. I started to care for people again and had a new zeal for godliness. My religiosity came crashing down and I felt myself re-reborn.

I still enjoy reading and listening to Piper and occasional leave myself open to further promptings. For example it was through reading Don't Waste Your Life that I felt it was now time to listen to the voice of God that had been calling me for years. I am so grateful to God for John Piper!

Happy birthday John may our God continue to use you mightily for the glory of God!

Stephen Barton <><

some churches say the funniest things

2009-01-10T07:01:00.001-08:00

Having applied for a few church vacancies now, I have noticed a lot that I wouldn't apply for.

There was one instance where a church advertisement said, "we are a non charismatic church and we pride ourselves on a closed table." Now you might agree with both of those things but would you really want to start an advert about yourself with what you don't believe.

Other churches write that the man they are looking for will be...

An experienced preacher of the word, an evangelist, with a pastoral heart. A family man with children. He will be expecting to preach twice on Sunday's, and mid week. He will chair all meetings, be a good administrator and well organised. He should visit the flock on a regular basis and have the gift of encouragement, (notice that neither Paul nor Jesus could apply). The church has a manse but cannot afford to pay a salary.

God Bless
Stephen <><

2009 The Year of The Calvinists

2009-01-01T03:36:00.000-08:00

This year is the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, another but less important anniversary is it is now 20 years since I was last fashionable. As Calvin will be in fashion this year I thought I would jump at the opportunity to get on the band wagon.

I have recently finished reading T.H.L Parker's biography of Calvin.

You can tell that Calvin is Parker's hero. Parker leads us briefly through Calvin's early life, but as the details of Calvin's conversion are sketchy he doesn't speculate but moves quickly through Calvin's education to his fleeing France because of persecution. Parker concentrates on the act of providence that sent Calvin to Geneva and away from his desired life of scholarship.

Parker presents a reluctant but gifted pastor with a real heart for the gospel and for people, (although it would be wrong to call him a people person). We also get to see that Calvin with weak health endured much suffering because of his stand for Christ. He was something of a workaholic and responded to letters from Evangelical leaders throughout Europe, it took a long time for him to be persuaded to do this through a Secretary.

Parker does deal with the messy controversy involving Servetus (although I felt he tried to hard to get Calvin of the hook). Parker did point out Calvin's faults because Calvin did, his temper was a constant matter for prayer for Calvin.

I have one other biography of Calvin but this book presents a better picture of Calvin the man.

The only thing I didn't like about this book was the very occasional dig at the later Calvinists, Parker's theology would be nearer Karl Barth's. However this is very occasional and for the most part there is a genuine admiration for Calvin and a desire to present his life in the best light.

As I have read the institutes last year I have set myself the challenge to read Calvin's 12 volume New Testament commentaries over the next 12 months.

God Bless

Stephen <><

The Anthem of the New Calvinists

2008-12-31T07:03:00.001-08:00

A few months ago I was struck by the message of the Lost Son(s) from Luke chapter 15, so much so that I got to preach on it. Tim Keller (whose book 'The reason for God' was probably my favourite new book that I read in 2008)has recently published a book called the 'Prodigal God'. Keller rightly points out that prodigal means 'recklessly extravagant' and that is how our God is, He lavishes us with unmerited kindness, bringing sinners back to himself. Keller rightly contends that there are two lost sons which reflects two type of characters. The first younger son represents those who are out for adventure at the cost of others. The second type elder brother types stay at home and are moral but no nothing of the grace of the Father. Both are lost and both in need of redemption.

On page 15 Keller says, 'Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, button-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think. Keller The Prodigal God p.15,16

A couple of months ago at an event called Souled Out I got to hear Jean Larroux, Jr. senior pastor of Lagniappe Presbyterian Church speak about his church plant in a community devastated by Katrina. Larroux pointed out that many churches have a sign as you leave the car park that says 'Your mission starts here' Larroux says this is one of hells lies. We have received God's free grace , unmerited and undeserved favour, and instead of pointing to people and saying 'sinner repent of your sins, we first need to stick our hands up and acknowledge that we are sinners, and broken and that God has saved us.' We all sin and as C H Spurgeon said 'Evangelism is just one beggar showing another where to get bread.'

One of the problems that modern evangelism faces is how to relate to broke people again, we are possibly frightened by them, and too often sit in judgement of them, we tend to forget the grace we have received. We need to love like Jesus with unconditional love, we need to remember God's grace.

Later in the prodigal God, Keller quotes one of his parishioners who seems to have knocked Keller over with her insight. 'She said that she had gone to church growing up and she had always heard that God accepts us only if we are sufficiently good and ethical. She had never heard the message she was now hearing, that we can be accepted by God by sheer grace through the work of Christ regardless of anything we do or have done. She said, "that is a scary idea! Oh, it's good scary but still scary."I was intrigued. I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: If I was saved by my good works- then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with rights. I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if it is really true that I am a sinner saved by sheer grace-at God's infinite cost-then there's nothing he cannot ask of me.' p.121

As we end this year let us look back on the favour of God, in the midst of both good and bad circumstances. Remembering that the only thing we have earned is judgement, yet we can call God Abba Father if we have received the grace offered through the death of his Son.

Happy New year

Stephen <><

A New Testament for the High School Musical generation

2008-12-30T09:26:00.000-08:00

The Word of Promise Next Generation

When I first started listening to this I found it very annoying, but then I realised that it was actually in step with the historical bible translations of the reformation. I haven’t heard of any of the stars but if I was 12 or 13 I am sure my big heroes would be on this CD. The translation used by The Word of Promise is the International Children’s Bible. I have given these away before and will probably do so again in the future. However because of the audio dramatic style of the presentation I believe that the makers could have used a more accurate translation and not lost their audience. That said for the most part the translation is accurate and in some places the different wording was actually helpful. For example in Revelation 12: 4 most translations say that the Dragon was ready to devour the male child. The ICB translates this as eat, and I know that devour means eat but it was more effective in bringing that across.

The sound effects
The sound effects were on the whole good, although I couldn’t understand why after the gospels, when Jesus or an Old Testament prophet were quoted we had to hear two voices. This was especially weird when Paul was recounting the story of his Damascus road conversion throughout Acts. Also the post resurrected Jesus and Angels/demons sounded like the Daleks with an eerie echo, but how do you convey the voice of the risen Jesus when the actor is either a teen or barely out of his teens. However the general sounds of the market place, the crowds and especially the whipping of Jesus bought out the text in a good way especially as I was listening to it on my mp3 player. The dramatic effect of revelation with the sounds of thunder, trumpets and horses helped me feel horror, terror, and awe.
Narration
The narrator Sean Astin did a fantastic job, I preferred the letters where it was just Astin, but this probably reflects my age bracket because he is the same age as me.

Introductions

Max Lucado and his daughter Jenna did the introductions, these were probably written by Lucado, they were short but set each book in its historical context. They were both excited about the text and hopefully their enthusiasm will effect the target audience. These introductions presumed a conservative evangelical position (which is a good thing) and didn't fall into the trap of arguing over authorship (also a good thing).

Would I buy this?
Would I buy this, not for me, but I love reading and so I have little use for an audio bible. Especially one aimed at pre-teens, or teens. Yet I think it is probably the perfect gift for someone that age, who loves, High School Musical, Hannah Montana and is not a reader. The team behind this CD have done a great job in communicating the Bible in the language of their target audience.

why dont we call her blessed?

2008-12-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

Having watched the trauma of a woman giving birth, it got me thinking about what Mary went through. As Joy was in labour she had a midwife constantly monitoring her, she had a safe cosy hosptial room. she had medicine at hand, and at one point seven health professionals in the room. Still I would never belittle the pain that she endured, I am in awe of her. Yet contrast that to what Mary had, Mary was probably in her early teens when she said yes to the message that Gabriel brought from the LORD. Through that she endured ridicule from her neighbours for being pregnant before she got married. The suffering that she went through in travelling during the final stage of pregnancy. Finally giving birth to the LORD Jesus in an area fit not for birth but for feeding cattle. She had no drugs, no health professionals, yet she endured it because God had called her to bare His Son. She was chosen, and highly favoured. When we evangelicals read the magnificat we rightly point out that Mary acknowledges that she is a sinner in need of a saviour but we have possibly overreacted to Roman Catholicism's Mary worship by ignoring her or despising her as though it was her fault that she has been made to much of. In the magnificat we have evidence that this young lady was a woman who loved her saviour, who knew her scriptures and was prepared to say yes to God even though it meant hardship. She even sounds like Piper in the magnificat (which means magnify)which begins with "my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my saviour. We must not worship her but we should admire her and seek to follow her example and commitment to God, even when it costs.

God Bless

Stephen

unto us a child is born

2008-12-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

onto us a daughter is given! As Joy and I were contemplated our last Christmas as a couple before the baby was born. The baby decided to get in on the act and make an early appearance. Hannah Joy was born at 20.01 Christmas Eve. She was 7 pounds and one ounce, Joy and I value the prayers of our friends who prayed through our childlessness. We are now praying that Hannah would one day come to know the one who was born to take away the sins of the world.

Merry Christmas

So bitter yet so sweet

2008-12-21T07:32:00.000-08:00

I find it fascinating how the world around us loves Christmas and can enjoy Christmas carols about a baby in a manger. It is all so very safe, but as Mr Beaver says in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe "who said anything about safe of course he isn't safe but he's good." At the incarnation God comes in the flesh as a baby, yet he is still God and the purposes of God are fulfilled in the baby who came to redeem us. Graham Kendrick wrote a song that sums up the true significance of Christmas:

Since the day the angel came It seemed that everything had changed

The only certain thing Was the child that moved within

On the road that would not end Winding down to Bethlehem So far away from home

Just a blanket on the floor Of a vacant cattle-stall

But there the child was born She held him in her arms

And as she laid him down to sleep She wondered - will it always be So bitter and so sweet

And did she see there In the straw by his head a thorn

And did she smell myrrh

In the air on that starry night

And did she hear angels sing Not so far away

Till at last the sun rose blood-red In the morning sky T

hen the words of ancient seers Tumbled down the centuries ... A virgin shall conceive... God with us... Prince of Peace Man of Sorrows - strangest name

Oh Joseph there it comes again

So bitter yet so sweet

And as she watched him through the years

Her joy was mingled with her tears

And she'd feel it all again The glory, and the shame

And when the miracles began She wondered, who is this man

And where will this all end

'Til against a darkening sky

The son she loved was lifted high And with his dying breath She heard him say 'Father forgive'

And to the criminal beside "Today-with me in Paradise" So bitter yet so sweet

Free books to bloggers

2008-12-13T03:19:00.000-08:00

A word of thanks to Jonathan Hunt over at Glosbaptist who pointed people on his blog to Thomas Nelson. Nelson give free books to bloggers for writing a 200 word review. I got my first "book" earlier this week, its actually a dramatised version of the bible on mp3. If you are interested in free books for writing reviews here is the link to Thomas Nelson. Does anyone know of any similar schemes for IVP, crossways, Baker books etc? As this could save me a small fortune!
Once again many thanks Jonathan!

God Bless
Stephen
I'll be back soon :-)

Biblical view of mankind

2008-11-21T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have been reading David McKay's book 'The Bond of Love' which is a well written book on Covenant Theology. Two things struck me early on, On p.87 he points out that evolution has an optimistic view of man . What he means by this is that evolution doing away with sin believes that mankind will keep progressing to become more and more godlike. You actually see this in science fiction shows like Star Trek where mankind is much kinder and more noble than their ancestors. He goes on to say, 'However unpalatable Covenant Theology's view of man may be, it is the only true anthropology, since based on divine revelation.' It is biblical anthropology that points to man in the image of God (which the evolutionists have done away with) as well as man the sinner. It is this biblical understanding of our nature that is sooooo observable from outside of ourselves and from within that led me to believe in the veracity of the Bible. As Calvin says in his institutes a true knowledge of ourselves can only be found in knowing God. When we see ourselves as we truly are, we see our sin, and our need of a saviour.

McKay then goes on to quote Thomas Boston 'ye are apt to think light of the sin ye were born in, and the corruption cleaving to your nature; but to know that God does not think light of these. it behoved to be an article of the covenant, that Christ should be born holy, and retain the holiness of human nature in him to the end; else the unholy birth and corrupt nature we derived from Adam, would have staked us all down eternally under the curse.' p.88

Is science God's undertaker? pt 3

2008-11-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

Christianity doesn't kill scientific discovery or enquiring minds John Lennox reminded us, in fact it is the opposites, it was in the Christian west that science developed and this was no accident. C . S Lewis said "men became scientists when they came to believe in a law-giver." I recall hearing Vishal Manawaldi on the same subject a number of years ago, he pointed that in India men studied Hinduism and astrology and allowed nature to dominate their lives. In the west they studied the Bible which told them that God created the universe, therefore they studied astronomy and sought to use creation to their own advantages. Mangawaldi went on to say that is why Europeans set out to the sea, whilst his own people sat in the mud.

Lennox reminded us of Isaac Newton who didn't abandon the idea of God when he discovered gravity instead he delighted himself in the genius of the creator who was the designer of the mechanism not himself the mechanism.

Lennox went on to talk about the Genome project, the first director was an Atheist, the second and current director is Francis Collins, a Christian, this isn't about science versus religion its about worldviews and which worldview best fits the evidence.

The evidence is on the side of theism, for instance the rationality of the universe.

Alvin Plantinga argues that Dawkins believe in random chance does away with human rationality and so cuts off the three the branch that he is sat upon.

Dawkins argues that religion is violent, but is it fair to lump Islamic terrorists together with members of the women's institute (for example)? Lennox says we can play the same game and point to Hitler and Stalin. It is much better however to point to Jesus who turned the other cheek and gave his life the just for the unjust.

Shalom

Stephen

Palestine Christianity

2008-11-09T09:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we attended a Tearcraft sale at the local Free church, whilst drinking tea I found myself sat next to a retired nurse called Joy. Joy had lived for several years in Nazareth working in a hospital working amongst and with Arabs there. I asked her if it was difficult working in a predominantly Muslim area, she said it was but what Western Evangelicals had forgotten was that Palestine was home to a large and ancient Christian community. These Christians suffer persecution from their Muslim neighbours, are shot at and killed by Israeli snipers and are ignored by the Christian churches in the west who think "Israel= good Palestine= bad." It was a golden opportunity because I was unaware of this and knew that I had to prepare Saturday afternoon for a short talk on the suffering church.

There is plently of material on the situation in Palestine for believers and I would encourage you to read it and to pray for Christians there.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Is Science God's undertaker part 2

2008-11-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

John Lennox told us that he challenged Dawkins last week with regard to God being an object open to scientific probing rather than a subject. He pointed out that the universe is complex but its designer must also be outside the universe and more complex. In the same way that the author of the God Delusion must be more complex than the book itself. We couldn't get to know Richard Dawkins by studying the book because Richard Dawkins exists outside of his creation, he is a real person with a personality separate to his writings. We could study any Ford car by taking it apart and understand its complexity but it would tell us nothing about the man Henry Ford except it might point to his genius. What we need then is not a minute study of the universe alone to tell us about God but God's own self-revelation, we find this in the scriptures and ultimately in Christ Jesus who is the image of the invisible God.

Lennox questioned Dawkins scholarship, he pointed out that in the God Delusion Dawkins says that in historical scholarship the belief in Jesus' historical existence is very much disputed. Dawkins then adds weight to this by quoting a German scholar, however Dawkins fails to tell us that it is a literary scholar and not a historical scholar that he quotes. Lennox says that Dawkins has a cavalier attitude to history and by not taking his opponents best arguments he shows a real lack of desire to prove his case. I myself this week have begun reading The beginnings of Christianity by Dr Michael Bird and James G. Crossley. Crossley is a historian and a passionate non-believer, he presents his best case for an alternative origin to Christianity to the one presented in the Gospels, yet Crossley presumes that Jesus was a real historical figure. Lennox points out that history according to Dawkins is not to be taken seriously.

part 3 coming soon.

Shalom

Stephen

John Lennox, is science God's undertaker part 1

2008-11-01T04:53:00.000-07:00

HTC is part of a collegiate system called UHI earlier this year UHI organised a series of public lectues on the relationship of science to theology. It started with Richard Dawkins, followed by HTC principal Professor Andrew McGowan and was completed this week by John Lennox. Sadly I was out of town when Dawkins gave his lecture but I know there were many Christians as well as Atheist there for that occasion. On Monday night from the questions that followed Professor Lennox's address I assume there were no or few view atheists in attendance this was a great pity as I would have loved to hear their questions.

John Lennox like Dawkins is an Oxford Professor, his area is maths and science so I expected it to be informative but dull. Yet Lennox is a very gifted communicator. He attended Oxford University in the time of C.S Lewis and attended many of his last apologetics lectures. Lennox has a real gift for apologetics and a passionate Christian faith. A Couple of weeks ago he and Professor Dawkins debated in the natural history museum and Dawkins referred to Lennox as 'a Oxford professor of maths and science, who also believes in the resurrection of Jesus." Lennox is guilty as charged is talk was why that is not only plausible but the most likely response in a universe that points to a intelligent creator.

He likened himself to Dawkins in several key areas:

1) They are both passionate about science

2) they are both interested in evidence

3)passionate abut truth

4)They both have a horror of religion that leads to war, and terrorism.

Lennox said the new atheism differs from the old Atheism not in its core philosophy but with regard to its relationship to religion. The old atheism was content to ignore it, the new atheism is seeking to destroy religion. He said in a post modern world the new atheism can be very attractive, some of its points are correct and it offers a worldview with some answers.

However it is misleading. Lennox pointed out that Dawkins' dedication in the God Delusion says "isn't it enough to believe that the garden is beautiful without believing in fairies?" Dawkins is very sly hear, it is not the question of fairies at the bottom of the garden but more how is there a garden instead of a wilderness. Doesn't the garden point to a owner and a gardener?

Dawkins believes that all faith is blind faith. yet the Christian gospel is the opposite to blind faith. john in his gospel argues that presents his evidence John 20: 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

More tomorrow God willing !

Shalom <><

Stephen

The place of Theology in.. the local church

2008-10-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

A few months ago professor Andrew McGowan gave a public lecture on the place of Theology in the university. He argued that theology even reformed evangelical theology had a place in the university and that in fact universities came into existence as training centres for the clergy. Theology is the queen of the sciences and philosophy is her handmaid. It was a well argued lecture that I am surprised I never blogged on.

However a few conversations over the years have caused me deep anxiety and the direction of much of evangelical Christianity at a grass roots level.

1. A friend of mine who is a very godly man was concerned that I thought I needed to study theology at all. if that wasn't bad enough he is also a gospel minister.

2. An undergraduate Theology student who has been accepted for the ministry within the church of Scotland said "I don't do theology."

3. An evangelical church a friend attends said "we don't do theology."

4. The manager of a good Christian book store told me that Christians don't buy good books and the church just isn't reading.

Now before I sound completely alarmist I do think that both my pastor friend and the undergrad do theology. I also realise that a dry theological student is open to the danger of being a hearer of the word rather than a doer of the word, we need to be confessional, mission centred, and completely God saturated. Paul told Timothy to study to find himself approved, the proper study of theology should lead us to be changed and drive us to our needs in adoring worship of the God we know about who is the God we also know.

Certainly the study of theology, systematic, biblical, practical needs to be at the heart of the shepherd's role so that he can feed the sheep. If the minister is going to guard the flock against wolves he needs to be sure of the truth he is proclaiming. God has given us minds to understand and hearts that are made to worship Him.

God Bless

Stephen <><

Goligher at the Northern Convention pt 3

2008-10-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

At the Northern Convention last night I had the privilage of sitting next to William and Carine MacKenzie who founded and run Christian Focus, a reformed evangelical publishing house in the Highlands. They are an amazing couple and one of these days I shall have to write a blog about them.

Isaiah 49

The problem of sin

Goligher started with an illustration from an interview with Donald Trump. Trump had stated that the banks and bankers had made huge mistakes to cause the global credit crunch. He stopped himself at the end though and said that is the presenting problem the real problem is human greed. Goligher believes something similar is occurring in Isaiah the presenting problem is Assyria and then Babylon. Assyria would be checked and wasn't a real problem but Babylon would be a big problem and cause more trouble to the Jewish Psyche than the Holocaust because they would destroy the Temple. The real problem for Israel in Isaiah's day was not the Assyrians or the Babylonians the real problem was idolatry. Isaiah's writing offered a solution with its short, middle and long term prophecies ensuring that idolatry was never again a problem for the returning exiles.

A Political Messiah

In this section of Isaiah we are given a picture of the LORD's chosen one, the anointed one/messiah. All these terms are used of the political and pagan Cyrus who would come and deliver the people of Israel from exile in Babylon back to their home land of Israel.

However the underlying problem of sin meant that Israel needed a salvation bigger than the return from exile.

The Servant Speaks

In v.1 of Isaiah 49 the servant speaks and he speaks with authority sounding exactly like YHWH. 'Listen to my voice you people' even though he speaks with divine authority and is clearly divine he speaks with a human voice. ' The LORD called me from my mothers womb' giving him a name. This is the seed of eve, the promised redeemer, the child of the virgin from chapter 9. His name is Immanuel.

He is also a prophet he speaks with a ready sword, the word of God.

v.3 He is called Israel but he is called to save Israel, he is not cooperate Israel but the new Israel. Where national Israel fails he succeeds because he is righteous and obeys his call. in V.5 the servant gathers Israel back to God. V.6 however even this is to light a thing for someone as worthy as the servant so he is given the nations. V.7 points us to the cross for one deeply despised , one of the worlds outcasts vindication shall come. Kings will rise in your presence, princes will bow down to you. Even the cursed heaven and earth shall finally be jubilant and rejoice at the work of the servant.

Sadly the convention didn't follow its usual practise of both speakers giving a sermon on the final night so I never got to hear Martin Allan.

Shalom

Stephen