Tim Keller on MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

If viewing by email, you may have to go to my blog.

HT: Denny Burk

Need Help With Your Prayer Life?

Let these books (besides the Psalms) serve as inspiration and fuel for your your own prayers:

The Book of Common Prayer 1552 Edition (Evangelical)

The Pastor in Prayer by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie

The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions by Arthur Bennett

Collision Movie: The Debate Between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson

I am looking forward to when this movie comes out. Check out a couple previews below (if viewing by email you will have to go to my website):

Something Random...

Advice for New Christians by J.I. Packer


JI Packer Speaks To New Christians from Mike Anderson on Vimeo.

If viewing by email, you may have to go to: www.an-old-kind-of-christian.blogspot.com

HT: JT

First Steps for Beginning Preachers

Colin Adams of Unashamed Workman gives the following very helpful advice:

1. Preach, preach, preach

2. Take on a variety of texts (psalms, prophecy, narrative, epistles), but don’t be too brave too early (eg. consecutive studies through Revelation!)

3. Continue to read formal instruction on expository preaching

4. Listen to a variety of good preachers, and learn things from each of them

5. Get feedback

6. Learn something every time, and work on that area next time

7. Pray for conversions

8. Read theology, especially biblical theology

9. Begin with the tried and tested styles of preaching, then begin to adapt to your own style

10. Guard yourself against pride and despondency, the two most common pitfalls

Gospel Growth = People Growth: Matthias Media USA 2009 Conference

Keynote Speakers:

Don Carson, Phillip Jensen, Mark Dever and David Helm

www.peoplegrowth.org

Canada's Best Preaching Workshop Coming to Toronto

Imagine taking time out to be refreshed, encouraged, and strengthened in community with other fellow preachers for two and a half days to learn more about expository preaching, to see it modeled by world class expositors, and to receive valuable feedback in small groups.

This is the Simeon Trust Exposition Workshop that is very new to Toronto (see also other locations if you are not near Toronto).

The instructors (David Short and David Helm) have been hand picked for their experience, for their giftedness, and for their faithfulness to preaching God's Word.

There is something here for the pastor in training to the pastor of 25 years.

Register today online or by phone/email:

call or email Doug Kelley at Georgetown Alliance Church at (905) 873-0249, doug@togetheratgac.com

Date: March 25-27, 2009

Workshop Location: Richview Baptist Church

1548 Kipling Avenue

Etobicoke, ON M9R 4A3

(416) 247-8701
www.richview.org

Amazing Windsurfing Footage in Tenerife



(if you are viewing this via email, you may have to go to the website itself)

12 Year Old Speaks Out Against Abortion



HT: BaylyBlog

The Shack: Various Reviews

Here is a very helpful video by Mark Driscoll:



Here is an excellent review by an Australian fellow.

Here is an excellent review by Canadian Tim Challies.

Here is a good review by Gerald Hiestand.

Here is a good review by Douglas Wilson.

How's Your Daily Diet?

Our makeup of our spiritual diet will impact our spiritual walk. Lionel Windsor from Australia makes a compelling case from the Scriptures themselves that our diet and our church's diet should reflect the following:

Read the whole article here.

Mark Driscoll on CNN



HT: JT

Quote of the Day

“The gospel, by telling us Jesus died for us, is also really insulting. It tells us that we are so wicked that only the death of the Son of God could save us. This offends the modern cult of self-expression and the popular belief in the innate goodness of humanity.”

- Timothy Keller, The Message of Romans (Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2003), 2.

HT: Of First Importance

English Bible Translations Compared

HT: ESV Bible Blog

Toronto Pastors Conference

Speaker: Mark Dever
Date: June 1-3
Location: Richview Baptist Church, Toronto
Registration: Check back soon to the website for more info...

Who are the Speakers for the Toronto Pastors Conference?

Mark Dever will be the keynote speaker for this year's conference. Mark is pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, leader of 9Marks ministries, and author of several great books (including Nine Marks of a Healthy Church and The Deliberate Church).

Breakout sessions will be led by various pastors.

What Will the Conference be About?

The goal is to cultivate and encourage churches to reflect the character of God, something we believe they will do as they institute several, often-overlooked biblical practices. We will present six main sessions on building healthy (that is, biblical) churches. Primarily, these sessions are for pastors, church leaders, and seminarians, but registration is open to all eager to learn about how healthy churches glorify God.

What Will I Hear?

Our goal is not to make your church look just like ours. It’s to say, 'Here are the biblical principles. Here is how we have applied them. Now you have to figure out how to apply them in your location.'

The six Workshop sessions are divided into the following parts:

Foundation

Session 1: Displaying God’s Glorious Gospel

Construction

Session 2: Preaching & Biblical Theology

Session 3: Gospel, Conversion & Evangelism

Session 4: Membership, Discipline, and Discipleship

Session 5: Leadership

Life Together

Session 6: Covenanting Together

In all six, we aim to present pastors and church leaders with a little theory and a little practice, kind of like moving between your high school chemistry lecture room and the laboratory. Pastors want to 'get the point'—that’s the theory. But they also want to know how to 'get the church from here to there'—that’s the practice.

We will aim to address both. We also try to build in lots of time for Q&A.

The Gospel, Social Action, and the Poor

There are some very helpful articles that I have come across.

Tony Payne from Australia has a helpful 3 part series here.

Timothy Keller also has an excellent article here.

Desiring God Pastor's Conference Messages

The Need for Evangelism

Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

February 2, 2009

Mark Dever

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

Download: Audio | Video

A Shepherd and His Unregenerate Sheep

Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

February 3, 2009

Matt Chandler

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

Download: Audio | Video

The Pastor and Evangelism

Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

February 3, 2009

Mark Dever

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

Download: Audio | Video

"I Will Not Be a Velvet-Mouthed Preacher!”

The Life and Ministry of George Whitefield: Living and Preaching as Though God Were Real (Because He Is)

February 3, 2009

John Piper

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

Download: Audio | Video

The Church and Evangelism

Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

February 3, 2009

Mark Dever

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

Download: Audio | Video

Missions as Fasting

The Forsaking of Things Present for the Global Exaltation of Christ

February 4, 2009

Michael Oh

Read | Listen | Watch | Download

HT: Challies

Beale Interview on the Current Challenges to Inerrancy

I just listened to this the other night and found it very very interesting. One thing that hit home was the fact that many biblical scholars compromise concerning inerrancy, not because of intellectual reasons, but because of sociological reasons: fear of conflict and the desire to fit in to one's environment:

Greg Beale and Carl Trueman join the Christ the Center discussion forum to talk about inerrancy and evangelicalism.

HT: JT

Mark Dever's Talks from the Desiring God Pastor's Conference

Part 1: Three Reasons to Share the Gospel

• Audio
• Video
• Notes
  

Part 2: Five Things That Aren't Evangelism

• Audio
• Video
• Notes
  

Part 3: The Church and Evangelism

• Audio
• Video
• Notes

HT: JT

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.

Reading Through the Bible in a Year: Some Different Plans

Justin Taylor reviews a number of different Bible reading plans here in this very helpful post.

How John Stott Prepares a Sermon

Check here for good practical help on the preparation of Biblical messages that will feed your own soul and will feed the souls the people you serve.

Update: I fixed the link.

Biblical Humility

Timothy Keller has a helpful article on this in Christianity Today.

HT: JT

Need Encouragement to Study Biblical Greek?

Maybe this video will provide some much needed inspiration.



HT: Jim Hamilton

Virtual Friendship and the New Narcissism

My friend John Meinen recommended this article this past summer. It is a very helpful analysis of Facebook and other such things. I enjoyed reading it then and I highly recommend it to you to evaluate the impact of this type of technology on your life.

On a related note, Justin Buzzard has some helpful thoughts on thinking biblically about Facebook here.

Mark Driscoll interviews D.A. Carson

Below is a very interesting, personal, and insightful interview. I especially enjoyed D.A. Carson's discussion of the life of his father and what true success in ministry looks like.



HT: Darryl Dash

True Evangelism Advice from an Atheist

Penn of Penn and Teller is an atheist. His response to being evangelized after a show may surprise you.

"I don't respect people who don't proselytize. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell, and people could be going to hell, and you think, 'Well, it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward'...How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize? How much do you have to hate someone to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that."

HT: Darryl Dash

Mark Dever on Evangelism

Desiring God did some YouTube interviews with Mark Dever:

• On the Gospel
  
• On the Motive for Doing Evangelism
  
• On the Gift of Evangelism
  
• On the Difficulty of Doing Evangelism as a Pastor
  
• On What It Means to Fail at Evangelism
  
• On Creating a Culture of Evangelism in Your Church

HT: JT

Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson

On October 30th, there was a debate between atheist Christopher Hitchens (author of God is not Great) and Christian Douglas Wilson (author of Letter from a Christian Citizen) on the existence of God.

You can watch the lively debate here.

You can also read Dr. Oliphant’s thoughts on the debate here.

HT: Tullian

Pragmatic Christianity

Are you a pragmatic Christian? If you are a leader in the Church, are you unknowingly helping or encouraging Christians to embrace the philosophy of pragmatism? Check out this interesting post by Phil Steiger here.

True Repentance: A Message by Paul Washer

This is Abortion

Check out this powerful video specifically addressed to Canadians. What are you doing?

Happy Reformation Day!

Without the faithfulness of this one man, I might never have heard the pure biblical gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, through Christ alone we are saved to live for the glory of God alone. Good news indeed! For more on Reformation day check out this site.

Quote of the Day: Francis Schaeffer

“Tell me what the world is saying today and I’ll tell you what the church will be saying in seven years.”

-Francis Schaeffer

In trying to become relevant, we become irrelevant. Truth is always relevant. Because God exists, God reigns, Jesus died and rose again and will come again to judge the living and the dead, expositing the Bible in the power of the Spirit is the most relevant thing we can do on earth.

Princeton Professor's Analysis of Obama's Abortion Extremism

Check out this well written, logically argued, eye opening article written by Robert P. George (Harvard Law School (JD), Harvard Divinity School (MTS), and New College, Oxford (DPhil), McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, here.

HT: JT

Abortion: The Hidden Holocaust

Check out this powerful video below. What are we Canadians doing to stop this violence against our most vulnerable and defenseless children?



HT: JT

God Calls Us to an Unfashionable Life

Pastor Tullian Tchividjian (grandson of Billy Graham and one of my favorite bloggers) describes his new book Unfashionable in the short clip below:

Having a Hard Time Getting Through the Bible Each Year?

Here is some good advice that Justin Taylor posted on his blog (see especially the last part):

In listening to an old lecture recently by J. I. Packer, he made the comment that it was not until after the 17th century (as far as he could tell) that people started doing silent prayers and reading as opposed to praying and reading out loud.

For most evangelicals, silence represents the vast majority of our reading and praying. But I wonder if that's to our detriment. One of the great enemies to Bible reading and praying is a wandering mind--and one of the great ways to make your mind wander is to do everything in your mind without involving your voice and ears!

. . . Here's something else to consider: the entire Bible on audio is usually about 75 hours (or 4500 minutes). If you commute to work 5 days a week, that's about 260 days a year. And if it takes you, say, 17 minutes to commute each way to work--and if you listen to the Bible on audio during your drive each way--you'll get through the entire Bible twice in a year.

Here are some audio Bibles that are available on amazon.ca:

• Listener's Bible (NIV) MP3 CD by Max McLean CDN$ 32.96
  
• Listener's Bible-ESV Mp3 CD CDN$ 33.28
• Listener's Bible-ESV (Audio CD) CDN$ 79.92
• Dramatized Bible (NIV) Mp3 CD CDN $34.01
• Audio Bible Voice Only-NIV (Audio CD) CDN$ 54.17
• Audio Bible-NIV-Dramatized (Audio CD) CDN$ 68.03
• The Bible Experience - TNIV (MP3 CD) CDN$ 47.24
• The Bible Experience: The Complete Bible TNIV (Audio CD) CDN$ 85.04

Religion and the Gospel

This comparison chart shows the difference.

Which one characterizes you?

HT: Reformissionary

Tim Keller: Interview with the Washington Post

Take a few minutes to watch this short video below. It is very good.



HT: Tullian

Fitting In Vs. Being Despised

Check out this very thoughtful post here.

HT: Tullian

Five Trends in the Church Today by D.A. Carson

Check out the notes for this talk here.

HT: JT

My Dream Chair

Check this out!

HT: JT

Look Who's Irrational Now!

“”What Americans Really Believe,” a comprehensive new study released by Baylor University yesterday, shows that traditional Christian religion greatly decreases belief in everything from the efficacy of palm readers to the usefulness of astrology. It also shows that the irreligious and the members of more liberal Protestant denominations, far from being resistant to superstition, tend to be much more likely to believe in the paranormal and in pseudoscience than evangelical Christians.” Check it out here.

HT: Challies

Dr. Ortlund on Preaching

Dr. Raymond Ortlund Jr., pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, TN, gave the 2008 Mullins Lectures at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

• “Power in Preaching: Decide” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
• “Power in Preaching: Desire” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-5)
• “Power in Preaching: Delight” (2 Corinthians 12:1-10)

HT: Justin Taylor

Ever Heard of Swooping?

Check this out:

Resources for Teaching and Preaching Ephesians

This year in the youth ministry of our church, Rexdale Alliance, we are studying the book of Ephesians.

Below are some helpful resources on Ephesians.

Ephesians Introduction from the soon to be released ESV Study Bible

Dr. Constable’s (Dallas Theological Seminary) Notes on Ephesians

Some Model Expositions on the book by R. Kent Hughes (formally pastor at College Church Wheaton, IL):

Go to the website here, and click on the book of Ephesians (on the right hand side). You will see all these messages:

Blessing Above: Ephesians 1:1-14
In Accordance with His Pleasure: Ephesians 1:3-6
Celebration of Redemption: Ephesians 1:7-10
Celebration of Salvation: Ephesians 1:11-14

A Prayer for Enlightenment: Ephesians 1:15-23
Mighty Power of God: Ephesians 1:15-23
From Death to Life: Ephesians 2:1-7

All of Grace: Ephesians 2:8-10

Brought Near by the Blood of Christ: Ephesians 2:11-18

The Third Race: Ephesians 2:19-22
The Mystery of Christ: Ephesians 3:1-13

The Measure of Love: Ephesians 3:14-21

Walking in Unity: Ephesians 4:1-6

Growing the Church: Ephesians 4:7-16

Living in Light: Ephesians 4:17-24
Living as the New Race: Ephesians 4:25-32

The Cookie Jar Syndrome: Ephesians 5:1-7

The Fullness of the Spirit: Ephesians 5:15-21
The Mystery of Marriage, Part I: Ephesians 5:21-24

The Mystery of Marriage, Part II: Ephesians 5:25-33

God and the Family: Ephesians 6:1-4

Servants and Masters: Ephesians 6:5-9
Ephesians 6:5-9

Armed for Battle, Part I: Ephesians 6:10-17

Armed for Battle, Part II: Ephesians 6:10-17

Armed for Battle, Part III: Ephesians 6:17

Armed for Battle, Part IV: Ephesians 6:18-20
Glad Benedictions: Ephesians 6:21-24

All Prayer: Ephesians 6:18-20

Helpful Commentaries (for those at RAC, talk to me):

Stott, John R.W. The Message of Ephesians: God’s New Society. Downers Grove: IVP, 1979.

R. Kent Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ

O'Brien, Peter T. The Letter to the Ephesians PNTC. 1997.

The Therapeutic Gospel

The Therapeutic Gospel: Part 1
by David Powlison

In this new gospel, the great evils to be redressed do not call for any fundamental change of direction in the human heart. Instead, my deepest problems are merely limited to what has happened to me.

The Therapeutic Gospel: Part 2
by David Powlison

God gives good gifts. But he also gives the best gift, the inexpressible Gift of gifts.

HT: JT

What is the Gospel?: John Piper

What is the Gospel?: Mark Dever

Why Don't We?

If it is true as Dick Lucas says that "one of the clearest lessons of Acts is that the Word of God on the lips of his servants is the supreme secret of missionary advance (Acts 6:7; 12:24; 13:49; 19:20)" then why isn't there a greater emphasis on teaching and preaching the Word of God as well as training people in how to teach and preach the Word of God in youth parachurch ministries? Is it because of a false understanding of the incarnation as applied to us and this is now our controlling paradigm? We often hear youth ministry people talk about incarnational ministry or "you are Jesus with skin on," but the fact is that we are not. Jesus is Jesus and we are not Jesus [for more on the roots of this idea in early 20th century liberal theology see this excellent book edited by David Peterson: The Word Became Flesh: Evangelicals And The Incarnation (2003)]. We are to take our cue from the apostles who preached about Jesus, who hearalded the good news wherever they went and whenever they could. The gospel is advanced, people are saved, and people are sanctified through the preaching of God's Word in the power of His Spirit. Let's look at the Acts passages above:

Acts 6:7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Acts 12:24: But the word of God increased and multiplied.

Acts 13:49: And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region.

Acts 19:20: So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

This preaching occurred among Jews and Greeks in a very relativistic and "postmodern" society with a multiplicity of gods, goddesses, religions, and worldviews. Instead of abandoning the preaching and teaching of God's words to pagan youth today saying something like "that doesn't work anymore," why don't we see how we can do it better. Why don't we take the principles that Paul used and equip a new generation of youth workers to preach the gospel boldly with broken hearts:

Jesus "is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead....that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name" (Acts 10:42-43).

For more on the principles of Paul in preaching see this excellent article by Dick Lucas called "Preaching to Pagans."

Doug Moo on Colossians


Doug Moo has written a new commentary on Colossians and Philemon that is about to come out in the Pillar New Testament Commentary Series (Eerdmans and edited by D.A. Carson).

He also has preached a four-part sermon series on Colossians:

Part One - Col 1:3-14

Douglas Moo gives a broad overview of the book of Colossians of how they were trying to fit Christ into the worldview they'd already adopted. He homes on some key thoughts in the book, such as bearing fruit and growing and God's rescue and redemption, like that in Exodus.

Part Two - Col 1:15-20

This section of Colossians celebrates the supremacy of Christ in creation and the new creation. All you could possibly know about God is found in Christ. He is not some "blurry, impressionistic view" of God but the exact image of the Father.

Part Three - Col 1:21-23; 2:6-15

The message of Colossians is that you don't need to go running after spiritual truth in other places in the "religious marketplace" outside of Christ. What is a life lived in Christ look like? It's rooted in Him, built up in Him, strengthened in Him, and full in Him.

Part Four - Col 2:6-23

Doug tackles the difficulties surrounding the text concerning baptism and seeks to understand it in its context in the chapter. Baptism is a "last act of conversion" where it is more or less a "sealing" upon our conversion. "Your Christian life needs to be directed by the transforming work of the Spirit within," he underscores, "creating the mind of Christ in you, leading you to live a life that pleases Him and honors Him.

HT: Justin Taylor

A Review of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices

Well respected church historian Dr. Michael Haykin (Ph.D. University of Toronto) reviews Brian McLaren's new book Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices here.

Functional Saviors: Idolatry in Everyday Life

In his new book, On Who is God? (A book you'll actually read), Mark Driscoll writes the following:

The temptation of idolatry is that it proposes a functional savior. What I mean is this. All people have a concept in their mind of what their hell is. They also have a concept in their mind of what their heaven would be. To get out of their proverbial hell and into their desired heaven, they worship a functional savior. While this all sounds very religious and spiritual, in practice it rarely is.

For example, if a young woman sees being single as her hell and dating a cute boy as her heaven, then some guy becomes her functional savior. In dating him she will be taken from her singles' hell into her couples' heaven. The only problem is that she must make sacrifices to worship the boy as a god, such as sleeping with him or putting up with his abuse.

Furthermore, if a man sees chastity before marriage and fidelity in marriage as his hell and naked women as his heaven, then perversion (e.g. porn, fornication, and adultery) becomes his functional savior. The only problem is that he must make sacrifices to worship his false god - blowing massive amounts of time and energy online or at strip clubs and buying cheap drinks for even cheaper women (pg 69).

Read the book to see the solution to this problem. For more info on these little books go here.

Simeon Trust Preaching Workshop Toronto Audio

I really enjoyed this workshop last year by the Simeon Trust and I highly encourage you to take advantage of them. Here is their website and here is some audio from this past year (bios below the audio):

Instruction 1
Why Exposition? [mp3, 73mb]
William Taylor

Instruction 2
Traveling Instructions [mp3, 75mb]
Steve Bickley

Instruction 3
Bone and Marrow [mp3, 51mb]
Steve Bickley

Instruction 4
Melodic Line [mp3, 61mb]
Steve Bickley

Instruction 5
Text and Framework [mp3, 59mb]
William Taylor

Model Exposition 1
Philippians 1.27-2.4 [mp3, 64mb]
William Taylor

Model Exposition 2
Philippians 2.5-11 [mp3, 53mb]
William Taylor

William Taylor studied at Cambridge University and served in the British Army as an officer in the Royal Green Jackets. He then studied theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and was ordained in 1991. He was then appointed curate at Christ Church, Bromley, in London. He joined St Helen’s, Bishopsgate under Dick Lucas in 1995 and succeeded Dick as Rector in 1998. He authored Partnership (Christian Focus Publishers), a book on teaching the themes of Philippians as well as John’s Gospel: Read, Mark, Learn.
Stephen Bickley is pastor of Help and Hope/Basics Pastor's Conference at Parkside Church near Cleveland. Prior to joining Parkside in 2001, he pastored in Minnesota and in England. He also organized pastor's workshops for the Proclamation Trust while in London. He attended Taylor University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

The Danger of Worshiping Spiritual Leaders

Carl Trueman writes a very insightful post on this subtle form of idolatry here. May we take heed.

HT: Justin Taylor