May 2007

Talking to Children About Race

May 31, 2007

Over at Pure Church there is a good article about how we should talk to children about race. It is well worth a read. I have included the headlines here: Talk with your children about ethnicity (the nations) rather than “race.” Talk about ethnicity in a way that magnifies the power and wisdom of God. [...]

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Penal Substitutionary Atonement Summarized in Romans 15

May 31, 2007

In Romans 15 there is one more excellent summary of the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement. “For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me’.” (Romans 15:3) Thus, Jesus takes on Himself what we deserve. It is important to see that the reason [...]

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Terry Virgo Preaches on Ephesians 4

May 30, 2007

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Terry Virgo preached at the church I attend, and it blessed us so much — listening to him always seems to do that to me. It was great to be able download and listen to a sermon this evening entitled Becoming a Member of the Body, preached earlier [...]

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The Atonement in Romans 12-14

May 29, 2007

In many ways the climax of Romans is at the end of chapter 11. In the next few chapters Paul applies his doctrine — he speaks about how we need to live in the good of the wonderful salvation which was bought for us and which saved us from the wrath of God. He cannot [...]

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Christian Blogosphere Begins to Apostasize

May 28, 2007

Bill Gates beware! Phil Johnson has bought a Mac! I wasn’t going to tell you this quite yet, but this same week I too have taken the plunge and ordered a MacBook. I didn’t go for the pro, not just because of the cost but because I think that I will prefer a small screen [...]

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Signing Off for the Weekend and a Post about Christian Unions

May 24, 2007

This is going to my last post before the weekend. This is because tonight I have Josh Claybourn and his mates coming to stay, and then tomorrow evening we go on our church weekend away. I will probably have to spend the vast majority of the weekend with my foot up resting my knee. As [...]

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Mark Dever and Ancient Baptistries

May 24, 2007

Mark Dever has been visiting ancient baptistries during his ministry trip to Italy. This picture is of the baptistry in which Ambrose baptised Augustine. Everybody’s favorite Presbyterians, Lig Duncan and David Wayne, will be interested to know some facts about this baptistry. Firstly, it’s BIG — surely only necessary if you are planning to baptise [...]

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Pray for John Piper as He Finishes His Justification Book

May 23, 2007

There is nothing more important to our faith than justification. Piper via Driscoll is asking for prayer as he finishes his work next week, which will critically examine N. T. Wright’s perspective on justification. We need this book, so get praying! I will let Driscoll tell the story. (The rest of his post about the [...]

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Humility in All the Wrong Places

May 23, 2007

A dear friend of mine sent me this quote from G. K. Chesterton concerning what he calls the “dislocation of humility.” “What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. [...]

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PERSONAL – Thanks to Those Who Keep My Life Going on as Normal

May 22, 2007

I am writing this with my leg propped up straight, and since it can’t really go under the desk properly, I am a bit twisted round and hence rather uncomfortable! Since my operation two weeks ago today, which removed significant amounts of cartilage from my right knee, I have been painfully aware of our bodies’ [...]

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UCCF Issues Further Statement on Steve Chalke and the Spring Harvest Split

May 21, 2007

I reported here a while back that Bishop Broadbent, leader of the Spring Harvest team, has accepted that disagreements over Steve Chalke played at least some role in the split between Word Alive and Spring Harvest. Today the UCCF issued a follow-up statement on their website which seems to aim to be conciliatory. There is [...]

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Resurrection Empowered Life – Dying to Live

May 20, 2007

Last week I made the point that to Paul the cross and resurrection of Jesus are so closely entwined that he will often use one or the other of them as shorthand for both. Today I want to point to another passage, this time in Peter, where I believe the same thing occurs. “He himself [...]

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John Piper Friday – Christ’s Obedient Life and Death Entwined

May 18, 2007

In an article posted just this week, John Piper writes about how the cross has efficacy because Jesus lived an obedient life. In the debates about the atonement, some people criticise us for over-emphasising the cross at the expense of the incarnation or resurrection. I have been arguing in my series on the resurrection that [...]

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The Atonement in Romans 9-11

May 17, 2007

As we are working our way though Romans and highlighting passages that are related to the atonement, we now reach Romans 9-11. It is worth noting that one’s concepts of the atonement and justification are closely entwined. For many who have been influenced by the new perspectives on Paul, this next passage must be slightly [...]

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A Pastoral Response to Online Dating (Josh Harris)

May 17, 2007

A Pastoral Response to Online Dating (Josh Harris). The balanced wisdom of the guys from Covenant Life Church is a real blessing. I commend this article written for members of their own church for all struggling with the issue of singleness and whether online dating is the answer. The last time I wrote about online [...]

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The Atonement in Romans 8

May 15, 2007

I spent the last week giving a brief overview of the teaching of Romans on the atonement. I will today turn to Romans 8. This is one of the most glorious chapters of the whole Bible, and much gain can be had from studying and memorizing the entire chapter. Today, we are interested only in [...]

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Blogging – Raising Issues for the Church to Think About

May 15, 2007

Tim Challies has started a series stemming from the seminar he lead at the Basics Conference last week in Cleveland. He has some interesting facts and insights into the medium of blogging and the world we know as the blogosphere. He starts off with these comments: “I . . .found that there was a lot [...]

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Moral Majority Founder Jerry Falwell Dead at 73

May 15, 2007

The Associated Press has reported the following: “The Rev. Jerry Falwell has died, a Liberty University executive said Tuesday. He was 73. Earlier, the executive said Falwell was hospitalized in “gravely serious” condition after being found unconscious in his office. Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Falwell’s Liberty University, said Falwell was found unresponsive [...]

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Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Separating Over the Atonement

May 14, 2007

Most Mondays I take the time to raid my electronic version of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ materials, which is produced by Logos Bible Software. Today I want to share a quote from the Doctor which could have been written with current events in mind. There really is nothing new under the sun, and the battles we [...]

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9Marks Conference on Church Growth

May 14, 2007

9Marks has announced a conference entitled Gospel Growth vs. Church Growth. Here is the information from the website: Tuesday October 30 — Thursday November 1, 2007 Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, D.C. About the conferenceIt’s hard for pastors not to be mesmerized by church growth. Who doesn’t want their congregation to grow? Who doesn’t want [...]

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