October 2011
1 post
Jonathan Edwards, Happy 308th Birthday
We will concede perhaps that man is as wicked as Edwards said. What we do not know–or do not yet know–is that God is as holy as Edwards knew him to be. We have in our wisdom substituted for the holy God a kind Heavenly Father. A holy God will not suffer his plans for a vast, stupendously intricate, marvelous creation and the men designed to be his sons to be flouted and destroyed by self-willed...
April 2011
1 post
“The main reason why Christian believers today (from various communities) have...”
– James Davidson Hunter, To Change the World
December 2010
7 posts
The church’s mission requires both the individuals and groups who, authorized by God to communicate his message, go out from the community to others, near and far, and also the community that manifests God’s presence in it’s midst by its life together and its relationships to others.
-Richard Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World
David Platt on the American Dream →
I believe God has a dream for people today. It’s just not the same as the American Dream.
WatchAn Invitation to Justice by Walter Brueggemann
Doubt...
You see, doubt doesn’t mean that God is dying for us. Doubt signals that we are beginning to die to ourselves and our ideas about God. Jesus talks about that: taking up your cross daily, losing your life so you can find it (Matt 10:38-39); Paul talks about being crucified with Christ—I no longer live, Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20); or you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col...
Like Every Newborn
The Lord is King, and hath put on glorious apparel; the Lord hath put on his apparel and girded himself with strength:
Like every newborn, he has come from very far.
His eyes are closed against the brilliance of the star.
So glorious is he, he goes to this immoderate length
To show his love for us, discarding power and strength.
Girded for war, humility his mighty dress,
He moves into...
The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this. Just as every natural event is the manifestation at a particular place and moment of Nature’s total character, so every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character and...
November 2010
3 posts
“Now God is the best good, and fountain of all felicity, and they that are...”
– Jonathan Edwards, “Nothing Upon Earth Can Represent the Glories of Heaven” in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Vol. 14
WatchAmelia’s Story
“The deplorable, miserable conditions which I recently observed when visiting the...”
– Martin Luther, Preface to The Small Catechism (1529)
October 2010
3 posts
“To worship God and live faithfully are necessary conditions if you are to...”
– Stanley Hauerwas, Go With God, An Open Letter to Young Christians On Their Way to College
Jonathan Edwards, Happy 307th Birthday!
Jonathan Edwards is lionized as “a giant among Christian thinkers”[1] and as “America’s greatest theologian.”[2] Superlatives such as “America’s Milton”[3] and “America’s Augustine”[4] are respectful of Edwards’s ability to shape the American mind. Edwards’s own mind was shaped by Puritanism, Locke, Malebranche, and a host of other influences. His ability to extract elements of variegated...
“Regardless of what we say or sing or study on Sunday morning, rich people who...”
– David Platt, Radical (via mrcrowder)
September 2010
1 post
Mark 1:14-20
Yesterday Highland Park Presbyterian’s Student Ministry began a study of the gospel of Mark to discover two central questions to the Christian faith, “Who is Jesus Christ?” and “What does it mean to follow Him?”
While both of these questions can be easily, or at least we think, answered with the routine answers…our approach will be different. We will allow...
August 2010
5 posts
Why is humility important? Because…
the devil is farsighted; he looks only for what is big and high and attaches himself to that; he does not look at that which is low down and beneath himself.
-Martin Luther
“As Christ is a divine person, he is infinitely holy and just, hating sin, and...”
– Jonathan Edwards, The Excellency of Christ
Congregations Gone Wild
People now demand that their pastors be part shrewd cultural commentator and part comic. We must entertain, inspire and instruct a little, all the while never really challenging the worldview or tribal instincts that make us Christians seem little different than anyone else. Mostly, people come to church to be affirmed, encouraged and given some tips to get God on their side in their...
July 2010
9 posts
“This unifying vision is so compelling that it takes pride of place. First, the...”
– Ministry Movements by Tim Keller [Redeemer City to City blog]
“And through him to reconcile to himself all things” Colossians 1:20a
Key to understanding “reconcile all things” is the elaboration of this idea in the clause, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. This language picks up the widespread Old Testament prediction that in the last day God would establish universal shalom, ”peace,” or...
FEEDBACK: "radical" christianity →
i’m getting tired of being interviewed for or asked to endorse books that are about “radical christianity.” especially when those books typically use that term to describe what should be garden variety, everyday christianity. it shouldn’t be the work of the “radical” to reach out to those who are…
2 Vital Means of Grace lacking in Discipleship →
This video [the link is provided through the title above, just click on it] is from the Gospel Coalition and the guest is pastor “Buster” Brown, I have tremendous respect and admiration for both GC and Buster Brown.
However as I was listening to the video, Buster pointed out 4 ways in which grace is distilled to the believer through the lens of the Cross. I whole-heartedly agree with...
America's God is Dying: Stanley Hauerwas →
agingofanotsosuperhero: What's wrong with the... →
I went on vacation this past week to Camp-of-the-Woods (it’s in the Adirondacks). In my pea-brain mind I assumed that this camp was somehow related to the famous Word of Life Camps (just over the mountains). Any how, I was wrong. Apparently the camp (Camp-of-the-Woods) is run by “The Gospel…
“For God would have remained hidden afar off if Christ’s splendor had not...”
– John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III
A Theology of World Soccer...
I could care less about the World Cup. This global jubilee that has dominated the sports world for the past few weeks I usually avoid every 4 years. But due to some persistent teenagers, who desired that I of all people watch soccer with them, the World Cup has become a source of entertainment and ministry. While watching the various countries jockey around vying to attain the grandest trophy...
“6. I don’t want churches to honor America, and I don’t want churches to give...”
– http://blog.beliefnet.com/jesuscreed/2010/07/for-july-4th-a-set-of-thoughts.html (via scottmgrace)
Watch
“Was the United States Ever a Christian Nation?” Dr. Bryan Chapell of Covenant Seminary
June 2010
7 posts
“Merely having a sense of the fact that God is infinitely above us, and that...”
– Jonathan Edwards, Charity and Its Fruits
“The gospel is not moral conformity, which is religion, nor is it self-discovery,...”
– Tim Keller (via paradoxum)
WatchFiasco Cup 2010
Watchjammissions:
A little clip of “There’s A Leak in This Old Building (and my soul has got to move)” from our service this morning at Mendenhall Bible Church. The choir had already sung it earlier in the service and Mrs Perkins requested we all sing it today as we closed.
Pastor Artis Fletcher preached this morning from Mark 12.41-44 sharing his wisdom in consideration to our giving. He remarked ...
This is worth following for a week... →
JAM56, of Highland Park Presbyterian Church, is engaging the community of Mendenhall, MS as a league of 5th and 6th graders determined to live out the gospel in both word and deed. I am sad that I missed the June trip as Mendenhall is such a phenomenal time, but I’m excited to hear stories of how God works in the lives of the 5th and 6th graders there as well as the Mendenhall community.
...
May 2010
9 posts
O the sweet exchange!
For what else but his righteousness could have covered our sins? In whom was it possible for us, the lawless and ungodly, to be justified, except in the Son of God alone? O the sweet exchange, O the incomprehensible work of God, O the unexpected blessings, that the sinfulness of many should be hidden in one righteous person, while the righteousness of one should justify many sinners!
The...
7th graders and idolatry
Dear children, guard yourselves from idols. [1st John 5.21]
John, in his letter, writes to assure Christ-followers, of a particular community, that their faith is genuine; they have security in their salvation. Why is the community in peril? Why would they ever question their salvation? Idol worshippers have infiltrated the community and have created spiritual havoc. However these are not the...
“In an empire of indifference, as it becomes harder and harder to understand the...”
– Rob Bell, Jesus Wants to Save Christians
Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Wheaton Theology Conference
A great lecture found here from Kevin J. Vanhoozer on N. T. Wright’s view on justification and Reformation theology of justification.
A King...
A name only He knows…
Be still! - Why? - Be… because… - Because… - Why? Well, because… you can’t eat me. You didn’t know, that’s why I forgive you. - But never try it again! - Why not? - I… I’ve powers from another land. - Powers? From ancient times. Don’t make me show you. - I destroyed these Vikings...
“There is no blurring of the clear either/or: discipleship and the pursuit of...”
– R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (via scottmgrace)
“When God is on a mission, what is God to do with a religion that legitimizes...”
– Rob Bell, Jesus Wants to Save Christians
April 2010
3 posts
Full of Peril
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ,...
Measure your Ecclesiastical Heart
In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church [chapter 11], the apostle addresses a very specific occurrence in the Corinthian community that has got me thinking.
Paul’s concern is over the selfishness, gluttony, and consumption of some, more than likely the well-off, members of the community in the Lord’s Supper. These members proceeded to partake in their share of the communal...
March 2010
4 posts
What's the problem with being a minister...
“Is always how to remain faithful servants of the Church in the midst of cultural change and yet to change culturally so as to be true to the Church’s purpose in new situations.”
[H. Richard Niebuhr, The Purpose of the Church and Its Ministry]