Sanctification by Faith

Just an excellent podcast (25 mins) Tim Rudge talks to Mike Reeves on living by faith on an hour by hour basis – applying the truths of the gospel to our sin and cultivating a healthy and happy walk with Christ.  I’ve listened to it twice already.  Great stuff. .

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Luther on Galatians 1:4

Galatians 1:4:  [Jesus Christ] who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age. You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your [...]

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What Matthew 8:1 does not say…

And lo, having spoken thus, He didst ascend from the mount before their eyes.  And He spake unto them saying, “Remember this that I have taught you.” And lo, angels didst appear saying, “Why doth ye lookest into the sky?  He hath given to thee thy programme of reform…” Instead there’s an unclean wretch who runs to [...]

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Good to have a laugh

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Calvin on Christ in OT

The excellent Marc Lloyd has posted the juciest quotation on Christ the Mediator of all revelation.  It’s from Ronald Wallace’s book Calvin’s Doctrine of Word and Sacrament.  Here he is summarizing Calvin’s view especially of christocentric revelation in the OT. The Mediator of all revelation between God and man in the Old Testament is the Word of God, the [...]

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Pascal the Blogger

I’m loving Pascal’s Thoughts. He would have had a great blog. Check out this one on “Diversions” (basically our lack of contentment). Given that, as I type, I have no less than 15 active screens on my computer, perhaps I should take heed… 139.  …I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one [...]

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The Question is God: The Answer is Jesus

Michael Spencer absolutely nails this one.  Go and read the whole thing here.  Here are some highlights: “Anything that one imagines of God apart from Christ is only useless thinking and vain idolatry.”- Martin Luther … …It truly breaks my heart to hear, see or read anyone who is a Christian approaching the subject of [...]

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Prayer request

Hi guys, Please pray for my wife.  She’s still in hospital and if she doesn’t respond to treatment in the next 36 hours the surgical options are pretty nasty.  Pray for wisdom too – not sure how to respond to the ‘drug her, drug her more, ok cut her’ approach… Thanks, Glen . UPDATE 25/02/09: [...]

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Some 1 Corinthians 7 resources

A short but extremely helpful book taking you through 1 Corinthians 7: “God, Sex and Marriage” by John Richardson . For married couples seeking to reignite romance in marriage: http://www.romanceinmarriage.org/ . For help with the issue of singleness, try: ‘Singled out for good’ by Paige Benton Brown (excellent short article) Ros Clarke on singlenesss – practicalities and [...]

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Assessing ministry psychologically

This makes for disturbing reading.  Jason Goroncy writes “Pastoral Ministry: Enter at Risk“  The statistics are sobering. For instance, of 338 Protestant clergy in Canada: * 94 per cent said they read Scripture for sermon preparation, but it rarely spoke to them personally. * 86 per cent prayed regularly with others but had little time [...]

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Luther vs Cranmer on Lord’s Supper

John Richardson (whose excellent blog is here) adds his voice to this discussion on Stand Firm in Faith.  He writes about the place of repentance in the communion service.  It chimes with a lot of what I wrote here:  I have long felt Anglicanism (specifically Thomas Cranmer) to be good at driving us to our knees [...]

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The offence of illness

In the last month Emma’s been in and out of hospital 3 times (she’s in at the moment) and I’ve consistently had man-flu.  (Sorry to those who’ve sent messages and comments recently.  I’ll get to them in time). It’s struck me very forcibly how offensive illness is to our fleshly sensibilities.  Just speaking of my [...]

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Soft words make soft people

I’m hearing this saying doing the rounds in sermons etc: “Soft words make hard people, hard words make soft people.” The implication being – therefore speak hard words. Well.  Maybe.  And maybe Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Let’s not forget how this dynamic usually plays out:  [...]

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A theology of mission 5 – some talks

We’ve been thinking about a theology of mission grounded in the doctrine of God. Here are some relevant talks from me on the subject.: Luke 14 - Mission the way Jesus did it Mission in 1 Peter 1 Peter 2 – Doing mission together Here is Paul Blackham on being salt and light And here is [...]

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Recent sermons

I haven’t updated My Sermons for a couple of months.  Here are my last few months worth of sermons. 1 Corinthians 5:1-6:8 1 Corinthians 3 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5 1 Samuel 17 (shorter) 1 Samuel 17 (evening) 1 Samuel 17 (morning) Philippians 2:5-11 & John 1:1-14 Philippians 2:5-11 Mark 7:1-23 Mark 6:30-56 Mark [...]

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Cheek Turning 101

Turning the other cheek is the very nature of Jesus’ posture towards us.  It defines His way.  This is true in the OT as much as the New. It is a response to being wronged.  (Note that being sued and forced labour are the parallel cases in Matt 5:40,41 – it’s not just about non-violence, [...]

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Hung on a tree

This makes a lot of sense. Especially since Jesus was crucified in the garden (John 19:41).  A garden of death, a tree of curse becomes Eden renewed (John 20:15).  The very tree of life. Can you imagine ‘cross’ necklaces that took this to heart?  Very interesting.. . UPDATE:  Some artwork along these lines. Apse of San [...]

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Turning the other cheek in the OT

I’ve had the blogging equivalent of getting my face wiped with spit on a hanky.  My mother (long-time reader, first-time commenter) could keep her silence no longer when I failed to mention Old Testament incidents of turning the other cheek.  Well in keeping with my theme I graciously submit to the correction and ask that [...]

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