Good advice for pastors teaching their families to understand the work of a pastor

Pastors, teach your children how important your work is to God, how essential it is to the care of God’s people, and that it is worth suffering for it.  The question is…do you pastor, believe that, especially when our families suffer from it?

Read more here

Revelation 8-9 and Old Testament imagery

I've been astonished in preaching through Revelation just how full of Old Testament imagery is the book of Revelation.Preaching on chapters 8 and 9 this morning it is easy to see how these chapters are fertile fields for nut-bars imagining that what John is describing is nuclear fallout, war planes and helicopters.
However, when one picks upon the OT imagery it is clear that the language is not so much John trying to put into words visions he sees of the 20th and 21st centuries, but John using Old testament language and categories to describe the visions of the state we have been and shall be experiencing from the resurrection of Christ until his return.
There are recapitulations of the 10 plagues of God's judgment against Egypt (Blood, locusts, hail, darkness, and stubborn unrepentance). There are undoings of Gen1-2 itself as there are attacks upon the earth, sea, springs of water, the very sky and ultimately God's image bearers themselves. And that is just scratching the surface, not to mention the use of imagery from Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, Joel, Psalms, Proverbs and more.

Drought or Deluge and a gospel of love

On Sunday morning, as I was welcoming people to church, it was tipping it down with rain, and a number 295 bus passed by with the words "we are in drought" emblazoned on the side of the bus. I'd wished I'd had a camera with me. The same irony has been caught by others.
I couldn't help but allow the irony enter the morning's sermon.  We were thinking about evangelism and the local church: when we seek to share the gospel and yet do not love one another within the church, there becomes a disconnect between the message we are seeking to share of the transforming love of Christ, and the lack of evidence within the community transformed by that love.
When brotherly love and a commitment to evangelism come together, the gospel we are sharing is made evident by the love that it has produced.
HT: Randomly London

What else would you do with 40 minutes on a Sunday morning?

Since September we have started a time called '40 minutes' on Sunday mornings at Twynholm Baptist Church.

We are encouraging people to come to church an hour earlier than normal to take a short course on something that might be doctrinal, practical, ethical or exegetical.

We have just begun the third course. Having completed Christianity Explored and then a great course on personal finances taught by Paul Mills, Leigh Porter has just begun a bible overview course, based on Vaughan Roberts' book, "God's big picture".

Over at 9Marks, Jamie Dunlop has written a great little article about the kinds of ways in which such a slot could be well used to bring about biblical change in the life of a congregation.

Kauflin on using the piano in public worship

Here's an email I sent to our pianists at church this morning....

Hi Russ, Luke and Joseph.

I’m preaching on Psalm 95 this Sunday. There’s a lot about music in the first few verses.

“come let us SING... etc”

In doing some reading on  the blog of my favourite ‘worship leader’ I came across these 3 vids that may be really helpful for you guys.

Listen to them in front of a piano one day!

Outline

Piano in Contemporary Worship, Part 1 from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Piano in Contemporary Worship, Part 2 from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Piano in Contemporary Worship, Part 3 from Sovereign Grace Ministries on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

Thanks brothers for your service in music. As you'll hear on Sunday, singing God's praises wouldn't be the same without music!!

Mike

Great verse for pastor/teachers

I've just pinned this verse up on my wall (that's a thing in a room covered in plaster and paint, rather than a thing on a facebook page with lots of random comments), as it is a powerful reminder of the responsibilities before the Lord that those who teach God's word have.

"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right."

1 Samuel 12:23

Read it in context here 

Seven False Christianities that stint gospel growth

I'm off to my fraternal this morning. we've been reading 'How people change' by Timothy Lane and Ed Welch.

Here's a few quotes to recommend the book.
Things that easily replace the gospel as 'fake' Christianities
1) Formalism: "The gospel is reduced to participation in the meetings and ministries of the church"
2) Legalism: "Salvation is earned by keeping the rules we've established"
3) Mysticism: "more a pursuit of experience than a pursuit of Christ"
4) Activism: "whenever you believe the evil outside you is greater than the evil inside you, a heartfelt pursuit of Christ will be replace by a zealous fighting of the 'evil' around you."
5) Biblicism: "he has invested a great deal of effort in mastering the Word, but he does not allow the Word to master him.
6) Psycologyism: "sees Christ more as a therapist than a Saviour"
7) Socialism: "The gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships"
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Reaching Men - Reformation21 Blog

Provocative as ever, Levy raises an interesting question here in 200 words.

Thoughts?

Reaching Men - Reformation21 Blog

HT: Perks

Less well known Carols

Putting together the Church's Carol Services over the coming weeks, I'm always on the lookout for Carols that are less well known, with beautiful words and great music.

Let's start with the Herefordshire Carol...



Great little biblical theology of Fall and Redemption. Great music by Vaughan Willams.
Sadly King College didn't sing all the verses... Here they are.


This is the truth sent from above
The truth of God, the God of love
Therefore don't turn me from your door
But hearken will both rich and poor

The first thing that I do relate
Is that God did man create
The next thing which to you I'll tell
Woman was made with man to dwell

And after that, 'twas God's own choice
To place them both in Paradise,
There to remain of evil free
Except they ate of such a tree.

But they did eat, which was a sin,
And so their ruin did begin,
Ruined themselves, both you and me,
And all of their posterity.

Thus we were heirs to endless woes
Till God and Lord did interpose
And so a promise soon did run
That He would redeem us by His Son.

And at that season of the year
Our blessed redeemer did appear.
He here did live and here did preach
And many thousands he did teach.

Thus He in love to us behaved
To show us how we must be saved.
And if you want to know the way
Be pleased to hear what He did say.

Mark Dever at his best in Q&A

Great stuff here for a Non-Christian to listen to...
Or great for someone who does Q&A with Non-Christians as a model of humble, brief, engaging and bold answering of honest objections to the gospel.