BLOGDOM TODAY – Car-jacking, Missional Swim Trunks, and the Holy Spirit

This is a round-up of some of the posts that caught my eye from the last week or so:

First up, on items of clothing. It seems Martyn Lloyd-Jones may win a most peculiar contest over at Pyromaniacs – the things that lot get up to when I am not looking!

Talking of which, the Pyros also talked up a storm about Mark Driscoll. I have to wonder just how unlucky Phil was – is that the first Driscoll sermon he has listened to, or has he been listening for a while looking for something to jump on? In all the aggro that seems to gather around Driscoll, I have yet to see a single referenced example of him actually cussing in the pulpit. I have heard quite a few Driscoll talks and never heard any swearing or anything for that matter that would be significantly offensive to most, as far as I can tell. Not yet having listened to the talk that Johnson cites, I will not comment on his specific problems with it. To be fair, I have wondered a bit about the number of Driscoll’s comments about sex – but I suspect he would justify this by the need of his particular congregation to hear “Don’t do it!” almost weekly! Anyway, Phil did post a great follow-up post about the need for ALL of us to be more careful about what we say and how to say it.

“People get shot in that neighborhood and cars get car-jacked all the time,” he said. Phil is starting his second childhood early – that’s what comes of having a cop for a son!

No Bible verses were harmed (or even touched!) in the writing of this sermon. Dan has a great post on the vital place of the Word of God in our preaching.

Dear Abby: Can I wear my swim trunks to church? If you want to understand what this missional thing is really all about, this is the post for you!

How to Prevent a Church Split. Pure church has begun a new series on this vital subject.

“I follow Jesus!” So says my friend Jason who has become a Christian in the last six months and was baptized last Sunday at my church. Pray for him, and go read his blog – his posts about baptism are great! Like my other friends, his headlines will appear in the gray box at the bottom of this page.

“In the New Testament, the Spirit works in three kinds of ways. He is called “the Spirit of Love.” [Rom 15:13, 5:5; Gal 5:22-23] He is called “the Spirit of Truth.” [John 14:17, 15:26, 16:12-14; 1 John 4:6, 5:6] He is called “the Spirit of Power.” [Zech 4:6; Luke 4:14; Acts 10:38; Rom 1:4, 15:19; 1Cor 2:4-5] We find all three together in 2 Tim 1:7: [For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.]” Andrew Fountain on the work of the Holy Spirit.

Andrew Fountain Reviews newfrontiers Material (including Terry Virgo’s teaching). Andrew is planting a newfrontiers church in Toronto, and shares his view of this year’s newfrontiers conference and some other material.

Dan Phillips hasn’t managed to find the time yet to answer my latest post in our long running charismatic debate, but he does post a review of a cessationist book which seems to have a single “cascading” argument that I do not find at all convincing.

Also, my friend Rob Wilkerson has certainly been busy this week – he has written Gospel-Driven Prophecy: Understanding the Differences Between OT and NT Prophecy all six parts are now available Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Conclusion

Highlights from this series include the following quotes:

• “[New Testament] prophecy is no longer about a rare individual anointed as a prophet by another prophet. It is about the Holy Spirit anointing all His people to prophesy as His prophets – men and women, sons and daughters, children and adults, young and old, slave and free. None of this is in common with OT prophets.”

• “…a plain reading of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 winds up the not-necessarily 100% accuracy track record for even OT prophets as necessary to remain alive or even maintain one’s position as an OT prophet. In this text we read of David telling Nathan of his heart’s desire to build a temple for the Lord. Nathan’s response seemed fitting: “And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you’” (v. 3). At this point our minds are called to attention again with the rule of exegesis regarding context. The very next verse begins with a conjunction which contrasts verse 4 and what follows there with verse 3. “But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan…” In verses 5 and following, the Word of the Lord to Nathan differs completely from what Nathan the prophet told David to do. Yet strangely for our cessationists friends, Nathan still lives and retains his position as prophet of God.”

• “Cessationism claims that if one has received and given a prophetic word he or she believes has come from God, then that prophetic word should be considered equal to the words of Scripture and therefore ought to be recorded in the Bible. To this a simple question would seem to resolve this dispute. Was every prophecy of every NT prophet enscripturated? How about every prophecy of every OT prophet?

• “The fact that some NT prophets had their messages recorded as Scripture does not necessitate that all NT prophets’ messages must also be recorded there. God’s sovereignty is the determining factor here, so that only He can explain why Agabus’ prophecies are recorded and not the prophecies of Philip’s three daughters, for example. A prophecy was recorded in Scripture when God sovereignly determined that it should be.”