Links to check out from the last week…
Also check out JC Ryle Quotes miniseries last week on Four Costs of Becoming a Christian.
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Yesterday I attended the South East Gospel Partnership’s conference on Making Disciples of Christ at St Helen’s Bishopgate. It was especially good to go with two of the elders at church and part-time apprentice, and we all agreed that it was a great day of teaching and fellowship.
William Taylor began the conference reminding us that the purpose of the South-East Gospel Partnership is to establish Bible-teaching churches across the south-east, by 1) Training leaders, 2) Strengthening and planting churches, 3) Evangelising the lost.
As well as praying for A Passion for Life which is a nationwide mission happening over the Easter period. The focus of the day is to look beyond A Passion for Life to making disciples.
Rico Tice began by reminding us about the importance of speaking about hell by answering 5 questions about hell.
Mark Dever then gave two talks on making disciples. The first focussed on what it means to be a disciple. The second looked at how we make disciples.
The conference finished with a great question time with Rico and Mark answering a range of questions on making disciples and how we share the gospel with people.
A great conference bonus was the generosity of 9marks in giving away copies of Mark Dever’s book ‘What is a healthy church?’
Next year’s conference will be on 5th February 2011 on Building the Church with Don Carson speaking.
Below are the links to the notes I made from the talks (will be posted this week):
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Last Tuesday I received the news that Professor Donald Wiseman went to be with his Saviour. He was a member of Banstead Community Church where I’ve been serving at for the last 3 years but has been a friend for longer. When I started at Bible College I used to go round to his study and pick his brains on all sorts of issues and also be shown various artefacts including some thousands of years old.
You can read HERE and HERE about his war career (he was involved in intelligence during World War 2), involvement in the NIV translation of the Bible and Tyndale Old Testament series (to which he contributed 1 & 2 Kings), and his achievements as an archaeologist. But I wanted to share two quotes that sum up his life.
The first from a friend in Banstead Community Church which was shared with the congregation this morning.
“A gentle giant of a man who continued to spread the Word of the Lord.”
And the second from the final chapter of his memoirs Life Above and Below where he looks back on his life.
“…I reflect on God’s goodness to me that I have survived so long in a era of so many changes and challenges. I hope that this tale of some of my experiences shows how much I owe to the abundant grace of God shown to me in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him my sins and failings, which have been many, are forgiven, and I share the great inheritance to come in heaven as promised by Him. If I have achieved anything at all of real value it has been the gift of his Holy Spirit in me, so all praise is to God.”
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“The Christian call to evangelism is not simply a call to persuade people to make decisions, but rather to proclaim to them the good news of salvation in Christ, to call them to repentance, and to give God the glory for regeneration and conversion.
We do not fail in our evangelism if we faithfully tell the gospel to someone who is not subsequently converted; we fail only if we do not faithfully tell the gospel at all.”
(Mark Dever, The Gospel and Personal Evangelism)
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Better late than never. Here is my list of some of the UK conferences scheduled to take place in 2010 which would be worth attending – more will be added as details are made available. See my roundup of previous year’s conferences 2008 HERE and 2009 HERE.
For pastors, youth and children pastors/workers:
The Bible Centred Youthworker Conference (25-28 January)
South East Gospel Partnership Conference (6 February)
Total Church Conference (19-20 February)
Oak Hill’s Monday Morning Ministry (24 February)
Radstock International Conference (25-27 February)
Oak Hill’s Monday Morning Ministry (17 March)
Banner of Truth Leicester Minister’s Conference (26-29 April)
Oak Hill’s Monday Morning Ministry (19 May)
Evangelical Ministry Assembly (23-25 June)
Oak Hill Summer Courses (12-14 July)
Oak Hill Summer Courses (14-16 July)
The Evangelists Conference (5 October)
For everyone:
London Men’s & Women’s Convention (13 March)
Emmanuel Evangelical Church Family Conference (20 March)
New Word Alive (13-18 April)
Bible by the Beach (30 April-3 May)
For young people:
Sorted Nano (24 April)
Banner of Truth Youth Conference (24-27 April)
Contagious Nano (16-22 August)
Contagious East/West (16-22 / 23-29 August)
Sound (November)
Sorted (November)
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More links to look at. Definitely check out the T4G Cribs post, which I think makes an important point about how we view the ‘big name’ pastors…
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Currently I’ve been rotating between reading ‘The Beginners Bible’, ‘The Jesus Storybook Bible’ and ‘The Big Picture Story Bible’ with Harry. And that’s fine for him at the moment, he’s only 2!
But what about in six months to a year’s time when his understanding increases and speaking improves, what then? Well I could continue doing what I’m doing or I could use this new resource from The Good Book Company.
Beginning with God (written by Jo Boddam-Whetham) which is out on Monday, helps parents with young children to explore the Bible with their child and “provides a simple way to start your child in a regular habit of reading God’s Word and growing to know God, who loves them”.
Each day there are three things for parents to do with their children that have the titles: appetiser, main course and snack for the journey.
The appetiser is an optional activity to grab your child’s attention and settle them into the session (like making animal noises for the Genesis 2 story).
The main course has an opening prayer, a Bible story (using The Beginners Bible), a statement of a truth about God (example: God made everything and He made it just right), questions to discuss (example: Who made everything? God), and some prayer ideas. After each story there is a colourful picture to stick to the page.
The snack for the journey is an idea for a conversation to have with your child while you’re out and about (example: point out things like a tree or an interesting stone and ask “Who made this?”).
In Book 1, the true stories from the Old Testament are taken from Genesis and the true stories from the New Testament are the from the birth of Jesus and the early part of Jesus’ ministry. As well as the story sessions there are some extra ideas like ‘How to pray with your child’ ‘How to talk about sin and forgiveness’, simple explanations of key Bible words, and some simple craft activities for you to enjoy with your child that will help them to remember the Bible story you have read together.
Also a nice addition is the Beginning with God section of The Good Book Company website where you can download copies of the stickers to make your own at home, and also a copy of the conversation idea with have with your child while out and about.
I really like this resource. It’s creative and hopefully will be memorable for the child. It encourages parents to do more with their children than just read the Bible through (which is still good to do). I look forward to working through this with Harry sometime this year.
Beginning with God Book 1 is available to buy HERE and costs £5. There will be 3 books in total and after that Table Talk.
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Preaching is:
“the explanation and application of the Word to the congregation of Christ in order to produce corporate preparation for service, unity of faith, maturity, growth and upbuilding.”
(Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words: A Practical Theology of Preaching)
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As a rule, I like Apple products. But I am usually late to the party when it comes to actually buying them, and I still use a PC.
I have an iPhone (not the first version) which I think is great (especially with the Kindle app.) although as my wife regularly reminds me, it is something that could easily become and idolPhone. This week came the iPad.
Do I like it? I think so.
Here’s why:
So potentially the iPad can do pretty much everything I need a computer to do.
Will I get one? I don’t know. I might just going for this one below:
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John 3:1-15 (24th January 2010, Banstead Community Church)
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Two things Jesus tells us:
1. Everyone needs to be born again (v1-8)
”To be born again means to have your sins forgiven by God and for God’s Holy Spirit to give you a new heart that loves God and delights to obey Him.”
2. Anyone can be born again (v14-15)
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My favourite part is from 5 minutes onwards.
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Links to check out…
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“The church is the body of people, called by God’s grace, through faith in Christ, to glorify Him together, by serving Him in His world.”
(Mark Dever, The Church)
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I’ve found this series of 2 sermons by Mark Dever on ‘The Pastor and the Church’ (from Acts 20:28 and 1 Peter 5:2-3) really helpful. Definitely worth a listen by all!
MP3s
Summaries
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I reviewed “Why We Love the Church” by Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck HERE, but as well as doing this, I noted down 21 comments that were made in the book which I’ve listed below:
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1 Peter 5:1-14 (17th January 2010, Banstead Community Church)
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Two ways we are to stand firm in God’s grace:
1. We stand firm in humility (v1-7)
Two enemies:
a) Self-Righteousness
b) Self-Reliance
2. We stand firm in confidence (v8-11)
How do we cultivate this confident humility? (v5)
a) Preaching the gospel to yourself
b) Declaring your dependence on the Holy Spirit
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8 ways (among other possible ways) for moms and dads to help their children to love people who are different from them:
It is the power of God in the gospel that is the power to love people different from ourselves. This is the key we give to our children, and the key to daily life as parents.
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