Dear Brothers in Ministry,

I’d like to tell you about a Preaching Workshop being held in the GTA from March 25^th to 27^th. This workshop is sponsored by the Charles Simeon Trust and has been designed to help men fulfill their calling to accurately and effectively preach the Word of God.

This year’s workshop is being held at Richview Baptist Church in Etobicoke. Our instructors, David Helm and David Short will focus on preaching the book of Luke. The Workshop will be divided into three sections. We will receive instruction on preaching, we will prepare two sermon outlines which will be evaluated by our peers and we will hear modeled for us clear and inspiring preaching of God's Word.

Let me encourage you to set these two and a half days aside to hone your preaching skills and be encouraged and motivated in the work of preaching to which the Lord has called us. For more information or to discuss the details of the workshop please feel free to call Pastor Doug Kelley at 905-873-0249. To register you can go to the Charles Simeon Trust website. We will be making arrangements for discount rates in nearby hotels so please be sure you check your registration confirmation for this important information.

I hope you will be able to take advantage of this opportunity for fellowship and instruction. Please forward this post to those whom you think would benefit.

God bless!

Religion Bad. Atheism Good.

The following is my unpublished letter of my response to Stephen Marche's weekend opinion piece in the National Post, one of Canada's national papers:

Stephen Marche writes of "religion's inherent toxicity," but is it right to lump all "religion" together under one category? If one religion teaches: "love your enemies and pray for those persecute you" (Mt. 5:44) and another teaches "When the sacred forbidden months for fighting are past, fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, beleaguer them, and lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war" (Qur'an 9:5), are they the same? Would those helped in India by William Carey and Mother Teresa and those helped in Africa by World Vision consider all religion toxic? In fact, atheist and secular regimes in the twentieth century alone have killed well over 100 million people, more than one hundred times the total deaths caused by Christians from the Crusades until the present (See R.J. Rummel, Statistics of Democide, U of Virgina Press, 1997).

Second, the author says that "Christians have faith. Athiests and humanists have reason." However, the apostle Paul himself considered faith as trust in what is true (cf. his belief in the historicity of the resurrection, 1 Cor. 15:3-8). Faith is not belief in what some one knows not to be true, but trust in what is reasonable true.

Nick Hill
Toronto, ON

Rethinking Retirement

John Piper's new book is available online free as a pdf here.

HT: Andy Naselli

Spiritual Life Convention in Toronto: January 18-21 2009

Every year at People's Church Toronto this conference brings in world class Bible preachers/teachers to refresh your soul and increase your love for Jesus Christ.

Here are the Details:

Speaker: Colin Smith
Date: Jan 18-21
Times: Sunday evening 6 pm; Monday to Wednesday 7:30 pm
Location: The Peoples Church; 374 Sheppard Avenue East, Toronto, ON
Messages: Rescued from Sin (Rom 8:1-11)
Rescued from Fear (Rom 8:12-17)
Rescued from Frustration (Rom 8:18-27)
Rescued from Forever (Rom 8:28-39)

I encourage you to come and to bring someone with you.

It's Amazing...

It's amazing how much of the Bible you can take in if you really want to. I have been listening to Max MacLean read the ESV Bible as I drive around Toronto doing errands, going to work, etc. Right now I am focusing on the book of Romans. I am currently on my third time through and I hope to listen through it 30 times and then pick another book, probably 1 Corinthians, then 2 Corinthians, and then Revelation after that.

I have also started the Bible reading plan located in the new ESV Study Bible. It is about 30 minutes a day (around 4 chapters a day) and I will read the Bible through this year (I think I will read the Psalms twice).

We make time for what we value. If you don't know the Bible, its because you do not want to or do not desire it.

With all the different ways that we can take in the Bible nowadays, I challenge you to make the Bible central in your life this year.

It is through the Bible that we hear God speak to us (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and in responding to this Word in confession, repentance, faith, and obedience we develop a relationship with our Creator, Redeemer, and Father.

Take up and Read (or Listen!)

Job Opportunity

The camp that I first heard the gospel at has a full time year round position available: Boys Camp Director. I would love to see a faithful, godly man fill this position. Please pass this on to anyone who fits this description and loves the outdoors.

What is Prophecy and Has it Ceased?

A while back, Jim Hamilton shows exegetically why the position advocated by Wayne Grudem and others looks wanting.

So, Aren't We All Cessationists (at least on this point)

A while back, Jim Hamilton, a professor of Biblical Theology at SBTS argues this exegetically (which many think is impossible). He is very convincing.

Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of this Year

Don Whitney states the following:

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What's one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?

2. What's the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?

3. What's the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?

4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?

5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?

6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?

7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?

8. What's the most important way you will, by God's grace, try to make this year different from last year?

9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?

10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

HT: JT

Do You Love Jesus Christ?

John Piper explores this topic in his new Taste and See article here.