Resolve08

This blog has now moved

2010-06-29T18:34:00.002Z

In case you hadn't guessed. I have given up on blogging here. I am now blogging here

Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow Spring Conference

2009-12-17T15:15:00.001Z

Have you found your tribe?

2009-08-10T07:25:00.003Z

In less than a week the doors of the church we are planting opens as Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow. Please pray for us as we seek to put the finishing preparations together for this work. Pray for the children's ministry and worship team in particular- that their ministry amongst us will be both bold and lcear in it's witness to God's great glory and excellence. I am reminded often about a conversation I had with a friend around 18 months ago. He asked me this question which came to have a huge impact on our thinking and led to us eventually planting Harvest Glasgow- 'have you found your tribe?'

It caused me to seek a way to invest myself in ministry with others who shared the same priorities, passions, pursuits and prayers as I did.’ Where do you belong? Who are you going to give your life with? It is a question about finding people who share the same priorities, apssions, pursuits and prayers as you do for the cause of the Gospel.

Priorities
The four pillars of Harvest Glasgow give a clear statement of what we regard as central. We want to be unapologetically Biblical, lift high Jesus name in worship, believe firmly in the power of prayer and bold with the Gospel. We contend that if we as a church look after the depth, God will look after the breadth.

Passions
We are fired up about following God with all that we are and all that we have.
The things that we are passionate about, and the extent to which that impacts our lives demonstrates the focus of our worship.

Pursuits
We are called to pursue one thing and that alone- God’s glory. We long to see a local church who together spur one another on to a deepening walk with God, living for Him alone.

Prayer
We are praying that God would be glorified in this city, and that lives would be transformed by the Gospel. We are praying for you that you would find a church that increases your impact for Him.

http://www.harvestglasgow.org

Nehemiah 9

2009-07-05T21:21:00.001Z

Restoring a City: Nehemiah 9- Time to confess and commit.

Confession (1)- there is a time for responding to God’s Word with Godly grief. (2 Corinthians 7: 10)
Contrast (2)- The major distinction between the church and the world is by way of the sin diagnosis.
Commitment (3-4)- This is no slap-dash exercise by a concentrated and intentional measuring of oneself against God’s Word and throwing oneself upon God’s grace
Context (5-15)- When we confess to God, we come to one who is full of power and faithful with promises.
He creates /He chooses/He promises/He sees & hears/He rescues/He leads/He rules/He provides.

Marks of rebellion
Presumptuous (16a): Not considering the Lord
Stubbornness (16b): Not listening to the Lord
Disobedience (17a): Not following the Lord
Unthankfulness (17b): Forgetting the Lord
Idolatry (18): Replacing the Lord
Rebelliousness (26a): Opposing the Lord
Spiritual hardness (26b): Rejecting the Lord

Miracle of redemption
Forgiveness (17b): But you are a God...
Patience (18): Even when....
Grace (20): You gave...
Deliverance (28): Yet when
Mercy (31): Nevertheless...

God is unchanging even when we are inconsistent (17).
God is patient even when we are persistent (30)
God is faithful even when we are fickle (32)
Because of all God is- time to confess and commit.

Nehemiah 8

2009-06-30T11:45:00.001Z

As a launch team at Harvest we have been looking at Nehemiah under the title 'Restoring a City.' On Sunday we spent some time in chapter 8 and looked what does it mean to have God's Word as central to what we do. Here are my notes from it:

Restoring a City: Nehemiah 8
Word-centredness produces worshipping community.

What would we suggest being at the heart of such an occasion?
They don't ask for a show
They don't crave a circus
They ask for God's Word
Call for us to abandon attractional tendencies and pursue Biblical priorities.

Anticipation breeds attendance (1)
Starving ears and hearts come longing to hear from God.
Thirsty people will gather where they will be quenched.

Appetite breeds attention(2-3)
The absence of something vital tends to focus the mind.
People willingly listen when they know there is life in the message.

Ascendance breeds acknowledgement (4-5)
The place given to God’s Word in a church defines the place it will have in the believer’s heart.

Ascription breeds adoration (6)
The priority given to God in a church defines the priority He will have in the believer’s heart.
The place of God's Word and the priority of God are inseparable- if we don't elevate what God's Word says then we cannot worship God for who He is.

Explanation breeds application (7-8)
Preaching for transformation not just education.
If we invest in the depth God will take care of the breadth..

Designed to replace grief with joy as lasting fruit. (9-12)

Some stuff you might find useful

2009-06-18T08:31:00.002Z

I haven't linked to a bunch of useful stuff for a while so here is a list of links that you might find helpful:

What to do if your church goes emergent.

For the Love of God Vols 1 and 2 for free.

8 common problems with evangelism.

Brian Ingraham gives an update on Re:hope

Free book on the life of John Calvin

Children, Communion and membership (HT Church Matters @ 9 Marks)

Pastor-theologian/ Theologian-pastor- Carson/Piper discussion review

Welcome to Harvest Glasgow

2009-06-17T10:16:00.001Z

Untitled from Scott Hamilton on Vimeo.

Praying for Harvest Glasgow

2009-06-16T11:19:00.003Z

Here are some things to be thankful for and to be praying for us as we seek to plant this local church.

Thanksgiving
The number of people who are still expressing an interest in being part of Harvest Glasgow, and who are excited about the vision that we have for ministering impactfully as a local church.

The way that our Men's ministry, 'Fortify' and womens ministry 'Flourish' have already begun to develop deeper disciples living for God's glory- for the amazing sense of community that God has begun to produce amongst the launch team.

Alison and I were working out some rough Geography for our small groups and noted that we had 30 people who needed to be accommodated between the core launch team members and others who have expressed a commitment to be part of the church from launch.

We have one confirmed intern for next year, a theology student at a local college, and others who are praying about the possibility of giving time to the work ranging between 10-20 hours. Our desire has been to create a team environment and we are thankful that God has gone ahead of us in this regard.

Prayer
For our children's ministry and worship teams to develop strongly, for wisdom in the leadership of these and for a clear sense of unity and direction in these areas.

All our incorporation papers are submitted- please pray that this process would be completed quickly so that we can be properly established. Likewise our bank account is in process of being opened.

For the resources, human and material, that we need to undertake the work in such a way as reflects the excellence of God's greatness. He has already proved himself so faithful in providing for us and we continue to trust in Him for all things.

A number of people are still pondering whether to make Harvest Glasgow their church, pray that for those God has for us He would plant within them an urgency to be part of what God is doing in this local church. That God would meet our needs in regards to drawing to us Godly men and women with a passion for God's greater glory, a heart for the local church, a desire to deepen their walk with Jesus, and a recognition that they are called to love for something greater than themselves.

Launch Sunday will come quickly and while there is much to do our most important prayer is that the fruit of that service will be life transformation to the glory of God. Pray for those who attend and for those who prepare that God, by His grace, will change lives in such a way as can only be explained by pointing to Him.

Thanks once more for your prayers. Do get in contact and let us know how you are and how we can serve you or if we can give you any more information about how you can get involved in what we see God doing here in Glasgow.

James MacDonald on Young Preaching Mistakes

2009-06-02T12:35:00.004Z

http://blog.harvestbiblefellowship.org/?p=2414

Pray for Re:Hope

2009-06-01T07:18:00.002Z

Please take time to pray for our friends at Re:Hope and if you have any wisdom that you can share, any practical help you can offer or such like please do so. Above please pursie this strong in prayer before the Lord- asking that He would use this to multiply their work as evidence of His grace upon Brian and the team there.

'Well, it is time to pray hard. Time to pray for me. This church. This mission.

After two years of living with two weeks notice we have received our official and final two weeks notice. We must completely leave our church building and hand in the keys in no more than 13 days from today. Meaning, we will have church in our building tomorrow and next week then we must be leaving.

I am sure many will feel shock and grief at this. No doubt you may have many questions that I have NO answers to. Why? What will happen? Where do we go? I have no answers for these questions at all. I do know it is time to pull together.First of all, we need a MASSIVE prayer covering. If you could commit at least 30 minutes a day to specifically praying for me and our church situation for these next 20 days we NEED it.

Secondly, if you are local and have ideas on places we could go either short or long term please send me the details. Find out how much, how long we can be there, how soon we can move in, is there place for our stuff, where is it located… ? Then send me all that data via email as soon as possible. (brian-at-rehope-dot-co-dot-uk)

Thirdly, if you live locally you are also very welcome to join us Monday morning at 9am at the church for prayer and planning over this quick and unexpected change.

If you are wondering how I am feeling? I am confident that “The One Who Leads” sees and knows and cares about our situation. I am confident that the One who began this work will be faithful. No doubt this moment is not my favourite of all time, and I would love to stay where we are forever. There is shock and grief. However, I do find myself grinning at the unknown, sure that God will lead us, and what seems horrible in the moment we will look back upon as important, pivotal and amazing for our future.

I have been looking ahead at the passage for our final Sunday in the building, 8 days from now, and it could not be more perfect. God has set us up for His final message to us in this great building as we get ready to enter our second exodus from the same place.

Father, lead us clearly through the unknown.'

Read the whole thing here.

Harvest Glasgow Playlist

2009-05-18T18:50:00.002Z

Prayer that Repairs

2009-05-17T21:01:00.003Z

Today saw the beginning of a look at the book of Nehemiah with the Harvest Glasgow launch team. We are entitling the series 'Restoring the City' and today we looked at 'Prayer that responds and repairs' from chapter 1.

Jerusalem had broken walls and burnt Gates which made God's people vulnerable to attack
But the persistence of it pointed to an abdication of responsibility. We can learn four things from this:
Weak boundaries produce ransacked hearts.
We are too readily content to put up with spiritual squalour.
Trouble and shame is the fruit of this ungodly contentment.
There is a need for certain men to stand up and be counted.

Nehemiah sets us an example of passionate and persevering prayer that believes that God can rebuild what is broken and restore what has become ashes.

Prayer that repairs-
Rejoices that God is great (v. 5)
Regards God with humility (6a)
‘Man is never sufficiently touched and affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty.’ John Calvin
Repents personally- no finger pointing allowed (6b)
Recognises that sin is always against God first (7)
Remembers God’s Word- learn to cling to God's promises (8-9)
Rests on God’s grace and mercy (10-11)

I love this- particularly the final paragraph!

2009-05-12T17:33:00.003Z

John Piper (HT Colin Adams)
Preaching Is Expository
Expository means that preaching aims to exposit, or explain and apply, the meaning of the Bible. The reason for this is that the Bible is God’s word, inspired, infallible, profitable—all 66 books of it.

The preacher’s job is to minimize his own opinions and deliver the truth of God. Every sermon should explain the Bible and then apply it to people's lives.

The preacher should do that in a way that enables you to see that the points he is making actually come from the Bible. If you can’t see that they come from the Bible, your faith will end up resting on a man and not on God's word.

The aim of this exposition is to help you eat and digest biblical truth that will
Make your spiritual bones more like steel
Double the capacity of your spiritual lungs
Make the eyes of your heart dazzled with the brightness of the glory of God,
Awaken the capacity of your soul for kinds of spiritual enjoyment you didn’t even know existed.

Preaching Is Exultation
Preaching is also exultation. This means that the preacher does not just explain what’s in the Bible, and the people do not simply try understand what he explains. Rather, the preacher and the people exult over what is in the Bible as it is being explained and applied.

Preaching does not come after worship in the order of the service. Preaching is worship. The preacher worships—exults—over the word, trying his best to draw you into a worshipful response by the power of the Holy Spirit.

My job is not simply to see truth and show it to you. (The devil could do that for his own devious reasons.) My job is to see the glory of the truth and to savor it and exult over it as I explain it to you and apply it for you. That’s one of the differences between a sermon and a lecture.

Preaching Isn't Church, but It Serves the Church
Preaching is not the totality of the church. And if all you have is preaching, you don’t have the church. A church is a body of people who minister to each other.
One of the purposes of preaching is to equip us for that and inspire us to love each other better.
But God has created the church so that she flourishes through preaching. That’s why Paul gave young pastor Timothy one of the most serious, exalted charges in all the Bible in 2 Timothy 4:1-2:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word.

What to Expect from My Preaching and Why
If you're used to a twenty-minute, immediately practical, relaxed talk, you won't find that from what I've just described.

I preach twice that long;
I do not aim to be immediately practical but eternally helpful;
and I am not relaxed.

I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there.
That's what I mean by preaching.'

DeYoung on Prayer in the church

2009-04-21T11:48:00.003Z

A great reminder today for me as a church planter about the importance of cultivating a prayerful dependence from Kevin DeYoung. Incidentally his blog is now one of my favourites. Worth scrolling back over the last couple of months for some great mini-series blog posts.

'If I could snap my fingers and change one thing about myself, I would ask God to make me more devoted to prayer. Don’t get me wrong, like you, I do pray. I pray almost every morning. I pray at staff meetings. I pray before meals. I pray with my kids before bed. I go on prayer walks. I pray in hospital rooms and in people’s homes. I pray for folks over the phone. My life is not devoid of prayer. But yet, oh how I wish my commitment to prayer were more, much more--more earnest, more faithful, more saturated in Scripture. What to do with Acts 6? I’m not sure what it would look like for me and my elders to hand off almost everything else so we can be fully devoted to the word of God and prayer (Acts 6:4), but I can’t imagine we are looking just like it quite yet.

I desperately want my church to be known as a church of prayer (not known for the sake of being known of course). We certainly aren’t failing in prayer. But I don’t know that we truly believe we would fail without prayer. Several weeks ago I listened to an interview with Ben Patterson where he talked humbly about the prayer meeting he leads at the church he attends and about the four hours he spends in prayer each morning. Hearing Ben, who I know from my days at Hope College, talk about prayer did not make me feel guilty. It didn’t make me feel competitive, like I need to pray as much as he does. And it didn’t make me feel skeptical, because I know Ben and know people who know Ben and I know that he is the real deal when it comes to prayer. Listing to the interview made me feel like I want to pray more. It made me want my church to pray more.

I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt that the church in North American is know around the world as a church committed to prayer. We have money, education, books, a lot of missionaries, and some great teachers. But do we have a reputation for serious, importunate, long-suffering prayer? What if the single biggest answer for the decline of Christianity in America and our paucity of evangelistic fruit was not the lack of a new strategy for engaging the culture or the lack of new music or the lack of new ways of doing church, but the lack of prayer? What if your church, my church, took a fresh look at all we are doing, put everything on the table and said, “Let’s put prayer first and we’ll see what we can fit in after that?”

Of course, we need prayer plus–prayer plus good preaching, good doctrine, good leadership, good strategy. But so often we think of everything else we can do besides pray. We end up minimizing prayer because 1) it’s hard and we aren’t very good at 2) we probably don’t really believe in its power. Deep down I think we believe that if we spend a lot of time praying, we’ll still have the same problems left to deal with. We just won’t have as much time to deal with them. Prayerlessness is the measure of our unbelief. We don’t really believe that God answers prayers. We don't really believe that we have not because we ask not. We don't really believe that God can do more than we ask or imagine. True, God doesn't need to hear from us, but he ordained prayer so that we might be convinced of our need for him and he might be glorified in answering our prayers.

Reformed Christians believe most deeply in the sovereignty of God, the mercy of God, and in the power of God to whatever he desires. And yet, we often lag behind our brothers and sisters from other traditions when it comes to prayer. If the recent interest in and identification with Calvinism is truly a work of the Holy Spirit, and not just a passing trend, then we will see among the young, restless, and reformed a passion for God, a passion for truth, a passion for people in body and soul, and, infusing it all with unction and authority, a deep passion for prayer.'

Resurrection Poem

2009-04-17T12:52:00.001Z

Elevation Church Easter Opener from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

The Curse

2009-04-11T07:30:00.001Z

Verticality Quiz

2009-04-08T07:55:00.001Z

Here are ten questions to help a church gauge where it's orientation is. It comes at the end of an article that you can read here

10 Question Verticality Quiz: (Give 5 for the strongest yes and 0 for the weakest yes.)

1. Are the songs we sing about God or about what God has done for us?

2. Do the people on the platform come across as ministers or as entertainers?

3. Is the sermon coming clearly/continually from what the Bible actually says and does it cover the hard parts of Scripture, not just the popular ones?

4. Does the sermon challenge me to change and grow, versus just something to know?

5. Am I pressured over time to join a smaller group where I can express and experience biblical community?

6. Do I find the people I meet to be humble and overt in their love for Christ, or more guarded and private about their faith?

7. Am I challenged to find a place of ministry where I can use my gifts and shoulder weekly kingdom responsibility in working for God?

8. Do the leaders of my church find ways to draw the focus away from themselves and onto Christ and what He is doing?

9. Does my church invite me into sacrificial work for Christ that does not benefit our church at all: feeding the poor, church planting/missions, etc.?

10. Does my church seek to follow the biblical pattern for church governance and elevate the Word of God in all it does, including church discipline?

SCORE:

Vertical Church: 40+

60-Degree Church: 30-40

Horizontal Church: 20-30

Find a New Church : 0-20

Harvest Glasgow Online

2009-04-01T12:30:00.003Z

Harvest Bible Chapel Launch team announcement

2009-03-26T13:59:00.004Z

So, those of you who have stuck with this, will have noticed that it's been a bit quieter round these parts over the past few weeks. The reason is that I have been enormously busy beginning work on the new church plant, Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow.

A couple of friends have put some stuff up on their blog relating to what we are doing (thanks James MacDonald and Colin Adams.

Last night we had our first information open house and were really encouraged that 40 people came along, particularly given we have only been back in Glasgow for three and a half weeks. We are now putting together a launch team- so if you know of anyone (or is someone) in the Glasgow area who is looking for a Bible teaching church (systematic exposition with a strong emphasis on application: believing that truth transforms) with contemporary worship and intentional small group structure allied to a desire to be bold in prayer and evangelism then why not consider contacting me via the e-mail address on the sidebar. Also if people have unsaved family and friends in Glasgow who we could be praying for and, if appropriate connecting with that they also consider passing names on to us to see how we can serve the Lord in those lives.

Harvest Bible Chapel Invitation

2009-03-12T09:26:00.001Z

Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow Open House Invite from Scott Hamilton on Vimeo.

RSVP via comments section or the e-mail address on the sidebar.

Harvest Bible Chapel Glasgow

2009-03-12T00:17:00.002Z

Please pray for the new church plant I will be leading as of now. Having spent six weeks in Chicago with Harvest Bible Fellowship and being thrilled by what we saw the Lord doing there, the life transformation that we witnessed and heard testimony of we are priveleged to plant Harvest Glasgow.

We are so excited to see what the Lord will choose to do in the coming days and are praying that He would do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine in our city.

Men used powerfully by God

2009-02-26T00:13:00.002Z

Horatius Bonar, writing the preface to John Gillies' Accounts of Revival, proposes that men useful to the Holy Spirit for revival have been marked in these nine ways:

1. They were in earnest about the great work on which they had entered: "They lived and labored and preached like men on whose lips the immortality of thousands hung."

2. They were bent on success: "As warriors, they set their hearts on victory and fought with the believing anticipation of triumph, under the guidance of such a Captain as their head."

3. They were men of faith: "They knew that in due season they should reap, if they fainted not."

4. They were men of labor: "Their lives are the annals of incessant, unwearied toil of body and soul; time, strength, substance, health, all they were and possessed they freely offered to the Lord, keeping back nothing, grudging nothing."

5. They were men of patience: "Day after day they pursued what, to the eye of the world, appeared a thankless and fruitless round of toil."

6. They were men of boldness and determination: "Timidity shuts many a door of usefulness and loses many a precious opportunity; it wins no friends, while it strengthens every enemy. Nothing is lost by boldness, nor gained by fear."

7. They were men of prayer: "They were much alone with God, replenishing their own souls out of the living fountain, that out of them might flow to their people rivers of living water."

8. They were men whose doctrines were of the most decided kind: "Their preaching seems to have been of the most masculine and fearless kind, falling on the audience with tremendous power. It was not vehement, it was not fierce, it was not noisy; it was far too solemn to be such; it was massive, weighty, cutting, piercing, sharper than a two-edged sword."

9. They were men of solemn deportment and deep spirituality of soul: "No frivolity, no flippancy . . . . The world could not point to them as being but slightly dissimilar from itself."

HT Ray Ortlund posted it, Tim Challies linked to it.

This past weekend at Harvest

2009-02-24T19:58:00.004Z

THis was our final weekend at Harvest. It was awesome. Here is how it is described at James MacDonald's Straight Up Blog (It's worth following the link for the encouargement of seeing many drawn forward by the Gospel message):

'Wow, what a great weekend, truly a plentiful harvest at Harvest. Greg Laurie, a dear friend who pastors a different Harvest in Riverside California and a truly gifted evangelist, came and preached the gospel at “our Harvest” as hundreds made first time decisions to follow Christ. Among those professions of faith were some people we had been loving and praying about for months or even years.

Hey, not just at our church but around the country as I travel . . . why does it seem that most of the people talk talk talking about reaching the culture are doing such a meager job of it. Why is it that from frustrated old college professors to angry young mega church haters, the vast majority of people waxing eloquent about their passion to penetrate the culture with the gospel are bearing such scanty, sparse, spartan, even scarce fruit? By fruit I mean actual living breathing men and women turning from sin and self and embracing Jesus Christ as Savior and Master of their souls.

Occasionally this comes to mind when we are seeing a great harvest of souls in our own church, ’cause we never spend any time talking about ‘how to reach our culture,’ we just keep praying and sewing the seed and proclaiming Christ. Yet individually and together we are seeing upwards of 1k adults annually embrace the cross in all it’s glory. We’re not sneaky, were not clever; I’m not writing any books or holding any conferences on ‘how to do it,’ but by God’s grace we are penetrating our culture with the gospel. I think some people need to be a little more honest about what they really mean when they say “reaching the culture.” Here’s three things I think they mean:

1) They mean reaching people very different from themselves. Who doesn’t long to see people so different than we are taken and shaken by the awesomeness of who Jesus Christ really is? Such conversions are the best stories in any church and even in the book of Acts, yet more typically don’t we see people reaching people like themselves? Isn’t it much more common for us to win lost souls from inside our own cultural subset? Mom’s are the best ones to reach hurting mom’s. People who have been through a broken marriage are better at reaching someone in that heartache. Converted homosexuals will always be most effective at reaching back into that darkness and pulling others to light and liberty, etc.

2) They mean reaching secular people who have no interest in God All of us feel the weight of the teaming masses of people passing by us on the freeway or at the mall with no apparent interest in Christ, the joy of our souls. Every sincere believer has felt their faith numbed by the democracy of unbelief. Of course we want to win the aimless arrogant graduate student so articulate in his atheism, but why? Could it be that we want to win such people because framing the arguments to penetrate their secularism bolsters our own faith. Do we see Jesus spending a lot of time targeting people with no time for God? Do we see Paul dialoguing ad nausea with high profile intellectuals? Might the fascination–even preoccupation–of some churches with Mars Hill/Acts 17 flow from a misguided fear that the gospel is not universally relevant if it is not successful in every quadrant of society?

3) They mean reaching cool people who make them feel cool. One of the most disturbing trends in the emergent church is the focus on ’style.’ Living in Wrigleyville, (Chicago) or Greenwich Village (New York) etc. is most assuredly ‘cool.’ And seeking to share Christ with the masses of immensely immoral 20 somethings that inhabit such regions is a worthy goal; but why is that target so popular? Almost everyone it seems wants access to the arts district in Austin Tx., or the uptown area of Atlanta. Who is this about really? When did style statements, and fashionable eye wear, and how I dress and how I act, and my toootally tasteful music preferences become such a key ingredient in reaching ‘the culture?’ Who is all this really about? Is it about lost broken people in these areas dying without Christ and without hope? Or is it about me choosing a place of ministry that advances my personal mission of self expression? I’m just asking . . .

2Corinthians 4:2 “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.”

Cultures don’t come to Christ, Individuals do. Watch a couple of our recent baptism/highlight videos and you will see that people from different races, varied social economic sub groups, and very different backgrounds all come to Christ for the same reason.

1) I thought my life was going great ’til God dropped a ‘boulder’ (some point of acute need) on me and I saw how pointless, empty, dark, or dismal my future was without Him.

2) A caring person intersected my life with true compassion just as my heart opened to the reality that another round of self repair was not going to fix anything.

3) the good news of Jesus Christ’s love and forgiveness was given to me boldly and plainly and I opened my heart by faith to what I finally knew I needed most of all.

I think it’s high time we started challenging the ‘talk about it people’ to get over themselves and dive into the messy business of actually doing it. Cultures don’t come to Christ, people do, one at a time.'

Penultimate Sunday

2009-02-15T20:41:00.002Z

Apologies once more for the infrequency of posting. Our time here is rapidly reaching it's conclusion and we will be home on March 1st. It has been an outstanding time for us and has really served to hone our thinking in regards to ministry. Alison has had some good opportunities to relate to some of the women here and to speak to some of the people who oversee the women's ministries in the church here. Church this morning was the penultimate message in James MacDonald's series on trials. As before, if you are interested, you can view it here by going to the message part on the available drop box. Once more, thanks for your prayers and I will post some further items for prayer later in the week as we begin to turn our thoughts towards home.

Family Day

2009-02-10T03:05:00.002Z

Church and E3

2009-02-09T03:02:00.002Z

Church this morning was great and we had the opportunity to hear James MacDonald continuing his series on trials. You can watch it by clicking here and going to the message part of the drop box. Tonight was an opportunity for me to attend E3 which is Harvest's training event for small group leaders. It was great to see the chair of the elder board speak encouragingly to the small group leaders of his joy at leading small groups and giving testimony of his experience of discipleship and his ongoing pleasure at pursuing discipleship groups.

Transformed lives

2009-02-06T03:33:00.001Z

Harvest Bible Chapel Spontaneous Baptisms, December 2008 from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.

Thank you for praying for us.

2009-02-04T02:42:00.003Z

Thank you to those of you who continue to pray back home for us as our friends and prospective partners in a new work (how glad we are that these are not mutually exclusive and that our prospective partners are our friends). To help you in prayer, particularly if you are planning on joining us in future ministry, here are some things that you can be pursuing:

Presence: God's presence to go with us; to echo Moses prayer of Exodus 33:15 "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here." We ackowledge that without God we are nothing, apart from God we can do nothing, unless God provides it we have nothing. We would ask that He empower us by His Spirit to serve Him, be guided by Him so that all the glory will go to Him.

People:God to add to the number of people with a holy desire to participate with their whole lives invested in this new work-that we would come together to pursue lives of worship in awed celebration that God has called us out as "a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9b-10).

Place: God to direct our paths as to the right place to meet, a worship centre, office accommodation and the provision that we need to have these places. David knew what it was like to meet with God's people and to be together in worship. Here is what he says in Psalm 42- "These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng." Unlike David, who longed for a place of worship- the temple in Jerusalem- we know that our worship is not restricted to a place, but is found in a person (Jesus Christ) who lives in us by a Spirit and who we are called to worship in every place and every time. Yet we would pour out our soul, crying out for God to provide a place where we can gather together to worship Him.

Partners: For receptivity among other churches to what we are seeking to do. That the encouraing response of one particular church leader would be replicated by others. That some of these churches might be able to identify people who would benefit and be of benefit from being part of such a ministry. That we would see the spirit of what Paul describes in Galatians 2 replicated in Glasgow: "James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."

Harvest day 15

2009-02-01T23:58:00.003Z

Church as a family today. Matthew and Katie managed to stay in their classes without our number coming up for the first time since we've been here. We are really impressed by the kids work that is going on and thsoe who serve in that ministry. Preacher this week was a visitor called Crawford Lorritts. Some of you may be aware of him, he gave one of the keynote addresses at the Gospel Coalition in 2007. You can listen to the audio of his message here.

The rest of the day was spent online checking out potential sites for the church plant and trying to figure out some rough rental costs for church space and office space. This is all very exciting, and we are trusting the Lord in prayer to provide for the needs of the ministry of a venue and office space that will allow us to pursue excellent ministry in a quality venue.

Tomorrow we head into Chicago itself as a family to go to the Chicago Children's Museum, so a quality family day in store.

Harvest Week 2

2009-01-31T17:27:00.002Z

Two weeks down, four to go. Matthew and Katie are adjusting better now that they are on American time and particularly now that Katie now has the molars that were grumbling away. Alison has had a good opportunity to touch base with a few of the other women in the church. This has been an encouragement to her and has begun, we hope, some relationships which we hope will last for many years.

This week has had a particular small group focus for me. The intentionality of the group structure is great here and the deliberate focus on accountability will be of immense benefit back in Scotland. I have been able to spend some time with the guys who are here at the training centre and who will plant churches in Canada, Miami and Raleigh this summer. Yesterday they were having funeral sermons critiqued and I was included in the process both evaluating and being evaluated. I also was able to sit in on a worship planning meeting and spend dome time with the guys who oversee the compassion ministry that the church has going on.

Suffice to say that we feel more human this Saturday than last, having survived jet lag and the change of climate. Alison and the kids did try to go for a walk but Alison decided they should turn back befroe frostbite kicked in. Again, your prayers are appreciated- keep in touch via, e-mail, blog comments, skype or facebook and let us know what is happening with you so that we can pray for you.

Harvest day... (I'm losing count- we'll call it 12)

2009-01-29T12:56:00.002Z

Sorry for the slow-down on posting this week. It coincides with a step-up in intenisty here. The last couple of days have allowed me to spend good time with a number of the guys on staff here looking at small groups, compassion ministry, leadership and oversight and worship planning. Last night I was given the opportunity to be at the first 'open house' at a new church plant that is being formed in Palos about an hour south of here. The open house is an opportunity for people to hear about the church plant for he first time in order for them to decide if they wish to invest their lives, time, energy and wealth in it.

We are still hugely inspired by what we see and by the people we meet. Today I have to do a seven minute video for a Harvest pastor's forum and then I have a series of other meetings going on as well before we head out for dinner with a family who have invited us as a family for dinner. Alison and the kids are heading back to the entrusted with a child's heart course that they spent time at last week, and have been able to connect with a couple of the other wives and kids from the church.

Thank you for praying for us.

2009-01-27T12:33:00.002Z

Ways you can pray for us in the week to come would be:
Give thanks to God for what He is doing here in the church at Harvest.
Give thanks for the kindness that has been shown to us and how gracious people have been to accommodate me in their busy schedules.
Give thanks that the kids have adjusted to the time difference.

Pray that God would help us to discern what the right course is for us, church planting is a distinct ministry and we do not wish to enter into it if we are not suited to it.
Pray that God would give the leaders at Harvest wisdom as to whether this is right or not.
Pray that God would give me the capacity to retain as much information and get as wide a grasp of how to develop such a ministry as possible.
Pray for Alison and the kids as they begin to step up their schedule of meetings that those would be encouraging and positive (and fun!)

Harvest day 8

2009-01-25T21:24:00.003Z

Pretty chilled out couple of days with family time the priority. The kids are now more acclimatised to the time zone although the scale and scope of things seems to be blowing their minds- they certainly know that something is different (and Katie is cutting her molars just now just to add to the fun). Matthew is now jabbering away and has come on heaps in his speech; the highlight being him standing in the foyer at Harvest last Sunday with the new Bible that Alison had bought, holding it aloft and shouting at the top of his voice like an old-style street preacher.

This weekend's services have again been very encouraging and their is much that we could immediately translate to Glasgow. The praise was less familiar as more of the songs came from teh Harvestsongs ministry. It wasn't a great hindrance though as the music was easy to follow and the words excellent and God-centred. The Bible teaching was excellent and you can check it out by clicking here and then clicking on the message on the drop box provided.

I've got tomorrow off so it will be more family activity before a week with a particular focus on small group ministry.

Harvest Pictures

2009-01-25T02:34:00.004Z

Harvest week 1

2009-01-24T16:24:00.003Z

First week completed and as we thought the time is going to go in fast. Really good first week where we have been able to fully appreciate the emphasis of Harvest Bible Fellowship. It has been good to hang out with guys who love the gospel and have an urgency about the things that we too are passionate about- Word, Worship, Prayer and Evangelism.

We are in an interesting position of being trained and assessed at the same time. Likely how we respond to the training will fulfill an important part of the assessment as to our suitability. A couple of times I have felt a bit like the candidates in the penultimate episode of the Apprentice- you know the one where Alan Sugar's (or Donald Trump's) buddies sit down with you and really try and get to grips with who you are and what you are about. The big difference is that, different from the tv show, this is done with genuine warmth. The major part of the assessment, I think will be when they hear me preach live (they have some of the audio from past messages already)- this will probably happen in the next couple of weeks.

It really has been a full and interesting week. We had out first mall trip yesterday and bought a couple of shirts in Macys. Alison and the kids have been heroes and have been genuinely adventurous- they made some new friends at the library yesterday. This week will provide Alison with a bit more exposure to people in Harvest. The folks at Harvest have been very gracious at giving her and the kids space to settle and get acclimatised to the time and the cold.

So the lessons from this week are:

We are looking for people who are fired up about and will invest their lives in proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology, lifting high the name of Jesus through worship, believing firmly in the power of prayer, sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness.

We are to lead with clarity, simplicity and urgency and the church should reflect this.

We are to equip the people in the church to worship God, walk with God and work for God as a way of life.

We are so dependent upon God to provide us with people to take this life-giving good news to a city that needs to hear about Jesus, and to grow this work so that the church can impact not just Glasgow but Scotland and all that for God's glory.

Harvest Day 6

2009-01-23T04:26:00.001Z

Harvest Day 5

2009-01-22T02:34:00.002Z

Slower day in some ways which allowed for a bit of time for things to sink in. A couple of introductory meetings. Took some time with Kirk looking at ministry audits designed to examine and evaluate how ministry is progressing in the church and looking over small group curriculum stuff. Had some time with the worship director looking at the qualifications for a worship leader and thinking through how to best establish a vibrant worship ministry. Tonight was Peak Performance, part of the assimilation process at Harvest. Tonight was a presentation on the Walk aspect of Worship, Walk, Work particularly focusing on Bible, Prayer, Evangelism and small groups.

Alison and the kids had fun going to the local library which was brilliant and was more like a childrens' activity centre. They spent a bit of time in the Harvest building getting further acquainted with people there. Tomorrow she is going to a Bible study called 'Entrusted with a Child's Heart.'

I am beginning to fear the return of the pastoral belly. I've been out to lunch twice in two days and had fajitas today which I have been able to enjoy the flavour of repeatedly through the rest of the day. Mexican for lunch is more than my fragile Scottish constitution can handle.

Harvest day 4

2009-01-21T02:36:00.003Z

Day dawned to the realisation that although Katie has slept in until 6:30am I have been up with her at 4:30/5 so much in the last few days that my body thinks that is the acceptable time to awake without return to sleep- I try to convince it of it's error but it's not for listening.

Alison had her first go at driving without a navigator- Matthew looked fairly white when I saw him not sure if he was tired or terrified. A trip to an indoor play area for Alison and the kids with Alison coming over all claustrophobic in one of the tunnels, while trying to retrieve Katie- it appears her bravado only goes so far. I got hit for asking if she had become wedged in the tunnel- I'm still not entirely sure why.

I had a bunch of meetings which continued the helpful setting of a big picture of how Harvest functions and what it's dna is. I have to say that the more I see and hear the more excited I get. I met with three people today- the first meeting was a setting up for the rest of the residency, the second was a history of Harvest and the third was the dna stuff (church distinctives, leadership principles and elder principles).

Drop us a line if you are keen to find out anything else. Back tomorrow- hopefully not at 5am.

Harvest day 3

2009-01-19T12:36:00.003Z

Chilled out Sunday afternoon. Spent a bt of time on Skype before heading to the first night of a week of prayer here at Harvest Elgin. The challenge to mobilise people to prayer is the same the world over. Great to see a significant group of people gathering around one of the four pillars that Harvest is established on and to see them work that out. Great to spend some time working round the prayer stations with a couple of Canadian guys who are spending some time at the Harvest training institute with a view to going back and doing ministry with Harvest in Canada. Home then and early to bed. Kids still getting into a routine. Katie thinks that 5am is the new 8am so I'm getting some work done in the early morning which is positive- although I'm kind of concluding that I am probably as mixed up by the time change as she is because I never feel this fresh this early in the day.

Harvest Day 2

2009-01-18T11:48:00.005Z

*Updated*

Highlights of today have been:

Driving on the wrong side of the road. It's funny how the besetting sin of my early driving (hugging the kerb) has returned in the pressure of figuring out how to do things in reverse. Junctions in the dark and snow have also been a bit of a challenge. Matthew said 'good boy Daddy' to me after one excursion today (not sure what Alison thinks, can't figure out what she is saying from the crash position).

Hanging out at Harvest before the 5pm Saturday evening service. Everyone has been so friendly and willing to accomodate me on their schedule. It's an amazing set up here with ministries for pretty much anything you can imagine, it is just a great expression of intentional discipleship through ministry and investment in one another across the church.

I was reading in Nehemiah recently about a bunch of guys working hard to repair Jerusalem and in chapter 3 it gives the names of some guys who worked hard to repair one of the cities gates. In verse 5 it says that while they worked 'their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord.' I have been greatly encouraged by the testimony about some of the elders here that I have already been exposed to that they are still willing to stoop to serve their Lord regardless of their position in the church (and this probably why they are serving in the role that they are in the church). I have been struck by how invested these men and their wives are in th grassroots ministries of the church discipling new believers, instructing parenting classes, leading small groups, being very diligent and intentional already in regards to what we would seek to do in Glasgow.

Sitting in for the worship practice in an auditorium that holds 2200 with a worship band and praising God for all His goodness and kindness, thanking Him for the gift of Jesus, so that I get to worship Him. The music has a Hillsongs United, Chris Tomlin, Martin Smith, Matt Redman vibe about it.

The kids are doing great. Still adjusting to sleeping in a different time zone. It's 6 am and I have just put Katie back to bed, Matthew seems like he will sleep right through tonight. People have been very kind and patient with them even when they are being a bit grumpy. Today we will goas a family to the 9am service. Alison is excited because they are starting with a version of O happy day with a choir- James 1 is the text for the Bible teaching, James MacDonald the teaching pastor is in California receiving treatment for prostate cancer and preaching at a church there (which although called Harvest is not part of the family of churches we are spending time with) which is then recorded and viewed at the service. You can watch what we heard here.

Harvest day 1

2009-01-17T20:47:00.002Z

A 4:30 rise and a 5:30 departure for Glasgow airport aiming to arrive with two adults, two kids and luggage that meant that the term travelling light was a noble aim generously avoided. Ran a bit tight on the Heathrow connection but a quick sprint with Matthew as a rugby ball under Daddy's arm meant that we settled in for the 8 hour flight with a bit of a sweat on. The following are the rest of my observations:

You just cannot entertain a 14 month year old for a full 8 hours (the irony of another crying baby waking our Katie from her snooze was not lost on us).
Melt down will always occur not long after you have given yourself a self-congartulatory pat on the back.
The grumpiest person on the plane will always be sat in front of your nearly three year old- and he will repeatedly kick the back of her chair.
God's grace is sufficient for a couple of sinners to make it from Glasgow to Chicago without a cross word or apparent anger. At least I thought Alison did great (she is maybe better at making the frustration I cause her less obvious).
We've already met some incredibly warm and gracious people.
The church building we were in this morning is bigger than Braehead.
A drop in temperature from 8 degree centigrade to minus 19 degrees centigrade really is as cold as it sounds
There's something quite poetic about someone called Kirk meeting someone called Scotty at the beginning of an adventure.

Travelling

2009-01-13T15:06:00.004Z

On Friday I head out to Chicago for six weeks for a period of training and assessment in seeking to discern if the Lord has it for us to plant a church in Glasgow. We are priveleged to be able to spend some time with friends at Harvest Bible Fellowship and receive their wise input to our ministry. Harvest is established on these four pillars.

Proclaiming the authority of God’s Word without apology
Lifting high the name of Jesus through worship
Believing firmly in the power of prayer
Sharing the good news of Jesus with boldness

Our desire is to plant a vibrant, contemporary city centre church with a core emphasis on Bible ministry. The goal would be to plant something authentically urban reaching poor, rich and students, engaging in mercy ministry. Our heart is to grow a community of believers grounded in God's Word, gratefully lifting His name high in praise that is contemporary and who are defined by humility, community and boldness for the cause of God's great name.

We hope to be able to provide regular updates here over the next month and a half. If you are interested in finding out more contact me at the e-mail address on the sidebar. If you would like to pray for us we would treasure that. Here are some points to get you started.

: Discernment as to suitability for this ministry and humility to hear honestly from our friends at Harvest.
: God to go ahead of us in this work if this is what He wills for us.
: Core team development.
: Ministry development in Scott- that I would be equipped with all that I need for this ministry.
: Provision of a worship leader.

Colin Adams- Praying for your pastor on preaching

2009-01-08T10:13:00.002Z

Colin Adams posted this particularly helpful list. Things here that you might pray for your pastor's preaching, however it occurs to me that the pastor might also use this list for himself too.

1. For _________ to love God’s Word and have a desire to meditate on it continually (Psalm 119: 97)
2. For _________ to preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor 2:2)
3. For _________to proclaim God’s Word with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power (1 Cor 2:4-5)
4. For _________ to comprehend the realities of God’s presence; the appearing and judgement of Christ Jesus, and in that light ‘preach the Word.’ (2 Tim 4:1-1)
5. For _________ to patiently and carefully correct, rebuke and encourage via the instrument of the Word of God, whatever the hostile climate to sound doctrine (2 Tim 4:2-3)
6. For _________ to boldly proclaim the gospel (Eph 6:19-20)
7. For _________ to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 5:18 )
8. For _________ to be clear in his proclamation (Col. 4:3-4).
9. For _________ to prepare God’s people for works of service through the teaching of the Scriptures (Eph 4:11ff)
10. For_________ to see some fruit for their preaching and teaching: some becoming wise unto salvation by the Scriptures (2 Tim 3:15), others being sanctified by the truth (John 17:17)

New year, new adventure

2009-01-06T16:37:00.002Z

This year will be a very different year at Resolve. The host church has changed because I am no longer pastor at Castlemilk Community Church. The nature of the blog will therefore change a bit. It will have the same emphasis on Reformed theology and doctrine with a focus on the church and pastors. However, thrown into the mix will also be a bit more about our own journey over the year. Starting a week on Friday I will be heading to Chicago for six weeks for some ministry training as we seek to get an increasingly clear picture of how the Lord might lead us in the coming days. We would appreciate your prayers.

Taylor on Bible Reading 2009

2008-12-31T09:08:00.004Z

One of the great challenges of a New Year is how best to maximise our Bible intake and to do so in such a way as helps us to pursue a disciplined approach to Bible reading so as to be equipped by it each day. Justin Taylor provides this great post highlighting some of the top options. Happy choosing and happy new year.

Glorious

2008-12-29T22:51:00.001Z

Al Mohler- Can a Christian Deny the Virgin Birth?

2008-12-24T15:55:00.001Z

No is the answer. here's an extract from the entire article.

'Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine, it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls.

"Everyone admits that the Bible represents Jesus as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. The only question is whether in making that representation the Bible is true or false." So declared J. Gresham Machen in his great work, The Virgin Birth of Christ. As Machen went on to argue, "if the Bible is regarded as being wrong in what it says about the birth of Christ, then obviously the authority of the Bible in any high sense, is gone."
The authority of the Bible is almost completely gone where liberal theology holds its sway. The authority of the Bible is replaced with the secular worldview of the modern age and the postmodern denial of truth itself. The true church stands without apology upon the authority of the Bible and declares that Jesus was indeed "born of a virgin." Though the denial of this doctrine is now tragically common, the historical truth of Christ's birth remains inviolate. No true Christian can deny the virgin birth.'

Christmas audio

2008-12-23T09:04:00.003Z

We thought that it would be good to post some helpful audio pre-Christmas just in case you get anew ipod or some such gadgetry. here's some stuff that you might find interesting.

Free audio from Proclamation Trust
D.A. Carson on Evangelicalism
David Powlison on Counselling
Voddie Baucham audio
Acts 29 on Church planting

Trueman on evangelical cool

2008-12-22T21:30:00.001Z

Apologies for the sporadic nature of posting of late. Today's extract comes from Carl Trueman exploring the cult of cool among evangelicalism and the challenge it poses to integrity. Read the whole thing here.

When church leaders, faculty, and the movers and shakers of the evangelical world find themselves excluded from the reputable avenues of power and cultural and professional influence and preferment, then we will see what their doctrine of scripture is really like, whether it really is solid, whether it really shapes their lives, their actions, and their priorities. The question is: will those in positions of authority in the schools, colleges, denomination and seminaries have the backbone to do what is necessary? Will they be willing to consider the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt? When the invitations to the Larry King Show dry up, to be replaced by those from Jerry Springer, will they hold the line? I wish I had seen more evidence that that was the case and could be more confident about the future. As Don Carson commented recently, American Christians have yet to wake up to the fact that the gospel really is despised by the world. And I would add: in a culture where everyone seems to need to be liked, affirmed and, above all, agreed with, that realization is going to be very hard and challenging for the evangelical establishment to take on board.

Riddlebarger on God-centred evangelism

2008-12-15T08:50:00.003Z

Kim Riddlebarger has this helpful article on evangelism and a helpful distinction between the theology that underpins a man-centred approach and a God-centred approach.

Man-Centered Approach: view of God
Point of contact with non-Christians is love (God loves you). Therefore, God's authority is secondary.

Love is God's chief attribute.

God is impotent before the sinner's will.

The persons of the Trinity have different goals in accomplishing and applying salvation.

God is a friend who will help you.

God-centred approach: view of God
Point of contact with non-Christians is creation (God made you). Therefore, God has authority over your destiny.

Holiness and love are equally important attributes of God.

God is able to empower the sinner's will.

The persons of the Trinity work in harmony--salvation accomplished for and applied to the same people.

God is a king who will save you.

Man-centred: View of Humanity
Fallen, yet has the ability (or potential) to choose the good.

Seeks truth but lacks correct facts.

Needs love, help and friendship.

Makes mistakes, is imperfect, needs forgiveness.

Needs salvation from the consequences of sin--unhappiness, hell.

Humanity is sick and ignorant.

God-centred: View of Humanity
Fallen, and will not come to God by own will power.

Mind at enmity with God; none seek God.

Needs new nature (mind, heart, will), regeneration.

Rebels against God, has a sinful nature, needs reconciliation.

Needs salvation from guilt and the power of sin.

Humanity is dead and lost.

Man-centred:View of Christ
Savior from mistakes, selfishness, hell.

He exists for our benefit.

His death was more important than his life.

Emphasizing his priestly office--Savior.

An attitude of submission to Christ's lordship is optional for salvation.

God-centred:View of Christ
Savior from sin and sinful nature.

He exists to gather a kingdom and receive honor and glory.

His death and his life of obedience equally important.

Emphasizing his priestly, kingly, and prophetic offices.

An attitude of submission to Christ's lordship is necessary for salvation.

Man-centred :View of Response to Christ
Invitation waiting to be accepted now.
Our choice is the basis for salvation--God responds to our decision.

Will give mental assent to truths of gospel--decision.

Appeal is made to the desires of the sinner.

Saved by faith alone--repentance omitted for it is thought of as "works."

Assurance of salvation comes from a counselor using the promises of God and pronouncing the new believer saved.

Sinners have the key in their hands.

God-centred: View to Response of Christ
Loving command to be obeyed now.

God's choice is the basis for salvation--we respond to God's initiative.

We respond with our whole person (mind, heart, will)--conversion.

Truth is driven home into the conscience of the sinner.

Saved by faith alone--saving faith is always accompanied by repentance.

Assurance of salvation comes from the Holy Spirit applying biblical promises to the conscience and effecting a changed life.

God has the key in his hand.

Pastor's week- James MacDonald on pastoralia

2008-12-09T09:32:00.002Z

We thought that these videos by James MacDonald might serve you. And Colin Adams can have a standing ovation for this.

Pastor's Week- Matt Schmucker on finding encouragement

2008-12-08T08:35:00.003Z

1) Meditate on Scripture, particularly on the Gospel, and pray. You will find in the Scriptures multiple examples of people in worse situations than those you are facing, situations in which your God worked in remarkable ways for his glory and their good. Meditate particularly on the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. It is only through the Gospel that there is hope for the circumstances and the sinners (including yourself) that are discouraging you.

2) Talk with mature Christian brothers who will both comfort and correct you. Some brothers will agree with and feed your discouragement. Others will brush it off and tell you to get over it. Find a brother who will listen and give you Gospel-encouragement, which may often include helping you to see and address where sin contributes to your discouragement.

3) Share your struggles with the church. I recently shared some struggles with depression and discouragement with my congregation. I was surprised at how many people said, "I didn't know you were depressed!" and "We had no idea you were struggling!" and "I realized again that I need to be praying for my pastor." If a church member were discouraged, part of my prescribed medicine would be to share their struggles with the church so that they can be prayed for and so that we can bear one another's burdens. I sometimes forget that even pastors need the church.

4) Read Ed Welch. Everything I'm reading by him is helpful, particularly Depression and Running Scared.

5) Sing. There are so many good songs, ancient and modern, that call us to reflect on the hope of the Gospel. Pick some and sing until Satan must flee.

6) Walk outside. Spurgeon said that a good help during a minister's "fainting fits" is a walk by the sea. Handiwork displays the skill of handyman. Be out amongst God's creation and remember again his skill and wisdom.

7) Enjoy activities outside the church. Believe it or not, there is more to life than the situation that has you discouraged. You have a family and friends that love you. There are activities that God has made you to enjoy. They are gifts of grace. Spend time with them and in them, with your mind focused on them, and the discouraging things will seem smaller.

Campbell on Sundays

2008-12-03T08:45:00.001Z

Martin Downes links to this by Iain D. Campbell (here's an extract)-

'Ultimately, the issue is not so much about our views of church, but about our views of Christ. He commands us in Scripture not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. He promises to be present in the assembly of his people, where as few as two gather in his name. He promises to enrich his people through his Word and by his Spirit.

If that is the case, then we ought to put a premium on such occasions. While contemporary culture squeezes religion out, by putting pressure on families and on children to be involved in many different activities on the Lord’s Day, there ought, surely, to be something non-negotiable about gathering for worship with the people of God week by week.

Sinclair Ferguson is reputed to have said at a recent conference, in response to the very question about why evening worship is necessary on the Lord’s Day, that if an attractive girl asked a boy to meet her at a particular hour, he would be there. The Bible offers us something better than that: the one who is the chief among ten thousand asks poor sinners to meet him at a particular hour, as he promises to be present in the gathered assembly of his people.

It is a foolish person who passes up a golden opportunity to meet with the risen Lord. Which is why I shall shout loud that Christians should worship together twice on Sundays. At the very least.'

Gilbert on what we are looking for in an Elder

2008-12-02T08:10:00.002Z

Today's pastor's day resource comes from Greg Gilbert over at the 9marks blog. The guys there have been in a rich vein of form of late but this was a standout for us here at Resolve.

I. We Are Looking for Men With Whom We Are Likeminded on Certain Issues.
- This is self-evident on the gospel itself.
- But it is also true on things less important and less central than the gospel itself. There is an idea current out there that likemindedness of this sort is a very wrong thing, that it is better to have the elders disagreeing, creating gridlock.
- Let me argue to you that gridlock is great in the U.S. government, but it is not a good thing among elders. You certainly shouldn’t plan for it. (Proverbs 17:14)
- The church has made certain decisions, taken certain directions, and we want elders who are likeminded with us in those directions.
- Let me pause here to point out the danger of a talk like this. It could be said, “All they want are a bunch of yes-men, people who agree with them.”
First, that’s not true. Disagreement with the elders is not the issue here. In fact, we emphatically do not want yes-men. Perhaps you’ll simply have to trust me on that.
Second, I hope you can understand the wisdom of what I have just said.
- But on to what we want likemindedness on:
- The Sovereignty of God in Salvation. Because it affects everything we do as a church.
- Role of Women. Complementarianism. So if you’re going to start advocating for women to be elders, or arguing that they shouldn’t be deacons, you’re not going to be an elder.
- Ecclesiology. Elders, deacons, congregationalism, etc.
- Vision for Evangelism. Indigenous, authentic evangelism. That’s not to say there is not room for disagreement and thinking. But there has been a direction set.
- High Importance of Preaching. Not a church focused on social ministry or political activism. We have a certain texture that we have cultivated.

II. We Are Looking for Men Who Already Have a Healthy Respect for Authority.
- By “healthy,” I do not mean plump or unhealthy. I mean healthy. Well-balanced.
- And here we are right back at the danger of this talk. Let me say as clearly as I can—It is not a requirement for being nominated as an elder that you agree with everything the elders do. Nor is it a requirement that you necessarily keep quiet about your disagreement when you do disagree. We are not looking for men who cannot think for themselves. We have plenty of knock-down, drag-out disagreements. Plenty of divided votes; in fact, I think it was I who was most recently on the receiving end of a 3-1 whooping.
- But with that said, let me say just as clearly that there are men in the world whose respect for authority only shows up when they are in it. We don’t want that.
- We want the kind of men described in Hebrews 13:17, who strive to make it a joy for their elders to lead them. So, a few points about what would make a person a joy to lead, with special reference to disagreement, and how to do it:
1. That person is a joy to lead who is largely content. Strive not to be a perennial item on the elders’ agenda with some complaint or another. I’m not going to pull punches here. There are some people in the world who complain all the time. Well, why isn’t everyone else complaining and upset, too? Is it that they are just not as observant as you? Or is it that they have learned to bear with some things, to just keep working, to be content?
2. That person is a joy to lead who, when he disagrees, does not usually let his first dissent be a public one. Talk to us before you air a disagreement. Of course there are exceptions. If we come to the Members’ Meeting and announce that we’re jettisoning the Trinity, let us hear it right then.
3. That person is a joy to lead who is able to weigh when it is wise to back down. You may disagree heartily with a decision, but there is wisdom involved in knowing when it is appropriate and wise to push an issue to a vote of the church. You can have strong opinions, but when the elders disagree with you, you need to weigh whether your pushing the issue would be for the church’s good.

III. We Are Looking for Men Who Have a Pastoral Maturity and Confidence
- A ship has ballast that keeps it from rocking too much and helps it to cut a steady course. We want men who have some obvious ballast in their lives.
- Some of that is what Paul is getting at when he writes in Titus and Timothy, "not a recent convert" and "well thought-of by outsiders."
- There is a lot we could talk about here. But just a few points:
1. Has a Compelling Command of Scripture. People trust you with Scripture and with wisdom. They trust your counsel. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to be a master preacher. But even if your teaching gifts manifest themselves mostly in private, you need to be comfortable and trusted in that role. And even so, you need to have some ability to instruct the church publicly, too, even if that's not your primary gifting or role.
2. You're not overly complex in your teaching, but able to apply Scripture helpfully. Someone once told me that the simplicity of ignorance eventually gives way to the complexity of learning, which then eventually gives way to the simplicity of mastery. We're looking for men who have made it over that hump a bit.
3. Has Learned to Keep Things in Good Perspective. Some people have theological landmines in their heads. You never know when you are going to hit one. KJV-only, etc. We want people who are able to see the relative importance of issues, and how Christian doctrine fits together as a whole.
4. Knows Largely Where He Stands. Being an elder is very much about applying theology and biblical knowledge to the church's life. Learning is good—and we all are and should be constantly learning. But it is not elder-like to be in a constant mode of questioning, re-conceiving, and testing, especially on the most important matters. Elders should know where they stand and have a steady hand.
- All this is about a certain evident pastoral maturity and confidence. Ballast.

IV. We Are Looking for Men Who Are Already Recognized as "Elderly"
- We want men who are known, because they attend.
- We want men who are known as a person of love.
- We want men who are known as a person of wisdom and knowledge and confidence
- Discipling others, serving faithfully.
- Putting the church’s interests above his own.
- All this makes you a center of gravity in the church. Not a loyal opposition center-of-gravity, but a person whom the people of this church are already gravitating to as a pastoral figure.
- We want to say, “How could we not recognize this person as an elder?”

Resignation lessons

2008-12-01T08:58:00.004Z

On Thursday I tendered my resignation to the leadership of the church of which I am pastor. The past three years have been times of great joy and encouragement as we have seen God's Word take root and flourish in people's lives, opportunities for the Gospel opening in the most amazing of ways and a church that seemed destined to die have life breathed into it by God's grace.

The past year has been one of some difficulty as the core convictions and priorities of my ministry have come under challenge. I thought it would be helpful to indicate some of the things a young pastor has learnt in the course of discerning, often painfully, where and how he can serve God in the most honouring fashion.

1. God is faithful- His grace and mercy are the true source of help in my time of need. It amazed me that after every difficult meeting, every difficult conversation God provided encouragement of future ministry and teh accompaniment of friends both far and near.
2. God's Word is sweet- To awake in the morning and feel the pain of present circumstances and to be refreshed by God's holy Word addressing my life in sovereign ways is marvellous.
3. Expository Bible ministry is a hill to die on- and die on that hill we must, if necessary, to remain faithful to our calling. That if you are convinced of this then people's attitude to you will be defined by their attitude to this.
4. God honours faithfulness with fruitfulness- in this it is important to remember that faithfulness involves patience.
5. Pride is my greatest enemy, humility my greatest friend. (Stott)
6. Liberty in preaching comes from recognising one of two things- that everyone is rooting for you (especially in leadership) or that, and this most important, that your truest audience is not man but God. There is best liberty in realising the latter regardless of the former.
7. The order is rightly God then family then church.
8. It is the duty of the pastor to preserve faithfulness to God according to His Word, and protect his family (particularly his wife).

This all feels a bit unpolished and I will most likely return to this in due course in order to record and remind more effectively

Ryken on Forgiveness

2008-11-27T08:51:00.001Z

God has already forgiven all our sins one-and-for-all through the death of Jesus Christ. Why then do we need to keep on asking for His forgiveness? The answer, of course, is that we are not perfect, and never will be in this life. We keep on sinning. We break God’s commandments every day, in thought, word, and deed. And although all our sins have been forgiven – past, present, and future – sin still has a way of disturbing our fellowship with God. It interferes with our intimacy with Him, estranging us from His holiness. When we sin, therefore, our personal relationship with God needs to be restored. The Puritans called this “renewing our repentance.” It means asking God to take the forgiveness He has already granted through Christ’s death on the cross and to apply it freshly and directly to our sins.

Philip Graham Ryken

Colin Adams- Choosing what to preach

2008-11-26T09:23:00.002Z

Colin Adams, posting today, gives a helpful analysis of the methodology of choosing sermon series. Here at Charlotte Chapel we’re mulling over potential sermon series for next year. In no particular order, here are some factors that might carry some weight in deciding what to preach on next.

1. How long do we have for this batch of sermons (one year; three months; four weeks)?
2. What Testament did we preach from last?
3. What biblical genre have we not preached from lately?
4. What is the one greatest spiritual need in the church currently? (and what book/section of a book would best address that need?)
5. What portion of Scripture excites me at the moment personally?
6. What Scripture books/sections have I not preached on with this congregation?
7. If we’ve just preached through a relatively lighter book, what would stretch the congregation? If we’ve just waded through Leviticus, what might make for some lighter lifting?
8. Are there any clear and present theological dangers that need to be urgently addressed?
9. Is there a contemporary circumstance (9/11, credit crunch) that might call for or pave the way for a series of sermons?

In the comments someone posted a quote by D. M Lloyd-Jones-
“Why should we consider the Sermon on the Mount at all?…… Well, I do not know that it is a part of the business of a preacher to explain the processes of his own mind and his own heart, but clearly no man should preach unless God has given him a message. It is the business of any man who tries to preach and expound the Scriptures to wait upon God for leading and guidance. I suppose fundamentally, therefore my main reason for preaching upon the Sermon on the Mount was that I had this persuasion, this compulsion, this leading of the Spirit. I say that deliberately, because if had been left to my own choice I would not have chosen to preach a series on the Sermon on the Mount. And as I understand this sense of compulsion, I feel the particular reason for for doing so is the peculiar condition of the life of the Christian church in general at the present time.”

Thomas on Preaching Christ from the Old Testament

2008-11-25T09:38:00.002Z

Todays pastors day resource is a helpful list of methods for preaching Christ from the Old Testament. They come from this article by Geoff Thomas.

1. FACING UP TO THE PREDISPOSITIONS
2. FOLLOWING THE PATTERN
3. CULTIVATING THE PERSPECTIVE
4. GRASPING THE PLOT
5. LOOKING FOR THE PROMISE
6. EXPLORING THE PARALLELS
7. APPLYING THE PRECEDENTS
8. WATCHING THE PENDULUM
9. LOVING THE PERSON

House on the church

2008-11-24T09:58:00.000Z

The early church was most useful when it preached the meaning of Christ through the lens of the whole of Scripture. It was most powerful when it maintained integrity with God and other human beings. It was most evangelistic when it understood that adherents of other religions, whether Jewish or Greek or Roman, faced eternal judgment without Christ.

Paul House

Shorter Catechism Memory Aids

2008-11-19T17:54:00.002Z

Here are some musical aids for catechism

The rest of the ones available at Youtube are http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Westminster+Shorter+Catechism+%28singing%29&search_type=&aq=f

(HT Against Heresies)

Payne on mentoring

2008-11-18T09:04:00.001Z

Today's pastors day resource is an article by Tony Payne on the benefits of one-to-one ministry. You can read the whole thing here.

'Given these general principles about one-to-one ministry, how do we actually get started? What should we do? We could write much more about this, but here are six practical hints.

1. Start a friendship
Look around you. Think about the people you know in your street, at work, at church. Choose one or two that you think would really benefit from a one-to-one Christian friendship. It may be a non-Christian person with whom you would like to eventually share the gospel. It may be a Christian within your fellowship whom you know is in real need of encouragement and growth.

2. Use a framework
As you get to know the person and build a relationship with them, a really useful way of taking the next step to Christian ministry together is to use some framework. For example, you might suggest to your friend that you study the Just for Starters or Christian Living for Starters Bible studies together, Short Steps for Long Gains, or the Simply Christianity course, or work through the So Many Questions course together, or form a prayer partnership to pray for the forthcoming parish mission. Having a framework or starting point like this just helps the relationship get on to a ministry footing. It opens up Christian discussion, prayer and activity. Once you have finished one particular framework, you might go on to another, or simply read the Bible regularly together.

3. Read together
Since one of the goals of one-to-one ministry is growth in understanding, reading the Bible will be a key element in any one-to-one ministry relationship. Read whole books together; do topical studies; work your way through pre-packaged Bible studies (such as Matthias Media's Interactive Bible Studies or Pathway Bible Guides); do sermon preparation and review. There are many ways of doing it. It can also be very helpful to read and discuss Christian books together as a way of attacking a particular issue.

4. Pray together
As we read together, we should respond in prayer together. God's word is sharp and active. It will challenge and rebuke us, and as it does, so we should confess our sins to each other, and pray for each other.

We can also commit ourselves to pray for others—for the work of our church, for particular people we know, for the work of the gospel further afield, and so on. This is a valuable work for the kingdom that we can encourage and help each other to do.

5. Do things together
One of the most beneficial ways of helping each other grow in serving others is simply to do it together. Take on a Sunday school class with your friend. Do some doorknocking on behalf of your congregation. Run a Bible study group together. Help in some work of mercy or social relief together. The possibilities are endless. As you work at something side by side, you not only get to know each other and share with each other, you model Christian love and service. You teach each other skills in Christian ministry.

6. Keep at it
One final tip: long-term Christian friendships in which there is frequent contact over many years (even if that contact is sometimes very brief) is far more effective than a few deep and meaningfuls. One-to-one ministry does not necessarily mean having long, late-night, intense conversations, although sometimes that may happen. It is really about sharing your life with another person over many years, and, through example, prayer and the truth of God's word, seeing them grow in Christ. Brief regular chats over morning tea, in the car on the way home, on the phone, and so on, have an enormous impact over time.

There is enormous flexibility in one-to-one ministry. It would be very common for people to meet weekly for discussion, Bible study and prayer, but this is by no means the only way to do it. Your circumstances may make this difficult. Don't let that stand in your way! You may only be able to get together once a month for some Bible reading and prayer. If so, make an effort just to keep in touch in between times, even briefly. You may both have to do some shopping or have some other chore. Do it together. Be creative and use the normal rhythms of life to keep in contact.

There are few more pressing and strategic avenues of Christian work than one-to-one ministry. Yet many Christians sit in churches week by week thinking, “There's nothing for me to do in this church. I just can't get involved. All the jobs are taken.” This is akin to sitting on a battlefield with a gun in your hand and the enemy on all sides and saying, “There's nothing for me to do. All the sergeant's and captain's jobs are taken. Until someone specifically invites me to get involved, I guess I'll just have to remain a passive onlooker.”

All around us in church are individuals floundering or stagnating in their Christian lives. With an open Bible, a prayerful heart and a willingness to share our lives with others, we have all the weapons we need to have an enormous impact on other's lives.

Can you see the possibilities?'

Helpful Audio and Video

2008-11-14T10:10:00.002Z

Here's some audio that we thought people might find helpful:

R. Kent Hughes- Disciplines of a Godly Man

Jerry Bridges- Humility in Action (HT Justin Taylor)

And a video

Cowper on God's Sovereignty

2008-11-13T09:19:00.000Z

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

McCheyne- Christ is praying for me.

2008-11-06T07:39:00.001Z

“If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me." Robert Murray McCheyne

(HT Erik Raymond)

Wednesday Quote

2008-11-05T08:45:00.000Z

“If our religion be of our own getting or making, it will perish; and the sooner it goes, the better; but if our religion is a matter of God's giving, we know that He shall never take back what He gives, and that, if He has commenced to work in us by His grace, He will never leave it unfinished.” - C.H. Spurgeon

Dan Doriani on Acts 20 on Christian leadership

2008-11-04T08:24:00.002Z

This week's pastors day article is by Dan Doriani on Christian leadership from Acts 20.

'Paul spent time with the elders of Ephesus. They knew his life, but he wanted to remind them of his ideals: His humility, emotions, endurance, preaching.

a) His humility (Acts 20:19)
The Bible says leaders can't be quarrelsome, conceited or overbearing, i.e. they should be humble (1 Timothy 3:3-6; Titus 1:7). Pride, the opposite of humility, is a great danger for leaders. Why? Leaders have skills, that's why they're leaders. Many admire that skill. Others hope to gain access or favors by fawning over leaders.

George Whitfield was the greatest preacher of the 18th century. Beyond his content and delivery, Ben Franklin, using precise observation, concluded that 25,000 standing close together, could hear his voice in an open field. After great orations, people would say, "You were so wonderful, so eloquent." He would reply, "Yes, I know that. The devil just told me the same thing as I stepped from the pulpit."

The key to humility: We must know we are no different, no better than anyone. All are sinners saved by grace. Paul says that all we have we received as a gift from God. How then can anyone boast? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

b) His tears (Acts 20:19)
Paul says he wept in Ephesus. He wept because he had passion for his cause and empathy for his people. He grieved when people shunned his gospel. Francis Schaeffer said, "If we speak a truth that hurts, it must be with tears". We must empathize with anyone who hears a hard message. There is a time to be bold and forthcoming but never smug or combative.

c) His endurance (Acts 20:19)
Paul endured in every way. He kept traveling and kept teaching. He kept working as a tent-maker by day – teaching at night – so no one could say he profited from the gospel or question his motives. Paul persevered despite plots on his life. He knew prison lay before him, but he kept on preaching and teaching.

The animated film Ratatouille won the Oscar for best animated film in 2008. At the award, Brad Bird, the director, thanked his junior high school guidance counselor, "He asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I said, 'Make movies.' He asked me what else I wanted to do. And I said, 'Make movies.'" Paul would have understood Bird.

d) His preaching – passionate, fearless, thorough
Paul also endured as a preacher. He says five things about his preaching. First, he preached anything that would be helpful. He held nothing back.

Second, he preached publicly. He was no elitist who tried to dazzle people with inside knowledge to be revealed to initiates in secret places. If he spoke to one, he said it to all. The principle is if something is worth saying in private, it's worth saying in public. We should sound the same in public and in private.

Third, Paul also taught privately – from house to house (Acts 20:20). We don't know how large the church at Ephesus became, but Paul knew everyone at the beginning. He spent time alone or in small groups with people. Paul isn't saying he visited each person in his home. But church leaders should get to know the people under their care - one by one as much as possible.
If it's true in the church, it certainly seems wise in business, in schools, or other volunteer organizations. Leaders should know their people as much as possible.

Fourth, He preached to everyone, both Jews and Greeks, to those who had a background and those who didn't (Acts 20:21). Later he says he spoke "to Greeks and barbarians" - sophisticated and unsophisticated people (Romans 1:14).

Fifth, he preached comprehensively. He preached the basics of repentance and faith in the Lord Acts 20:21). He proclaimed "the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27). I was taught: this meant Paul addressed hard topics such as interplay of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. OK, but it’s more than this.

The whole counsel is that the whole gospel of God is offered to the whole flock of God: Jew, Greek and barbarian. That is why Paul keeps on moving. He proclaims all he knows:
Repentance to God and faith in Jesus (Acts 20:21); the gospel of God's grace (Acts 20:24)
The reign of God (Acts 20:25). The word of God's grace (Acts 20:32).

He taught "all possible truth with all possible people in all possible ways".
That's why Paul is "innocent of the blood of all men" (Acts 20:26). He spoke the word. If they reject the message, the responsibility is theirs.

Paul does not say, "If you follow my example, all will be well." We should follow Paul's example, but obedience doesn't guarantee blessing. The elders themselves will be threatened! Betrayal will arise within! Therefore Paul commits them to God's grace (Acts 20:32). '

(HT Monergism)

Horton on Christless Christianity

2008-11-03T09:01:00.001Z

Today we look at the church and the challenge of, what Michael Horton calls, Christless Christianity.

'The church exists in order to change the subject from us and our deeds to God and his deeds of salvation, from our various "missions" to save the world to Christ's mission that has already accomplished redemption. If the message that the church proclaims makes sense without conversion; if it does not offend even lifelong believers from time to time, so that they too need to die more to themselves and live more to Christ, then it is not the gospel. When Christ is talked about, a lot of things can happen, none of which necessarily has anything to do with his doing, dying, rising, reigning, and return. When Christ is proclaimed in his saving office, the church becomes a theater of death and resurrection, leading to genuine lives of witness, love, fellowship, community, and service-yet always requiring forgiveness and therefore always coming back to the good news concerning Christ.

Today, we have abundant examples of both tendencies: denial and distraction. On one hand, there are those who explicitly reject the New Testament teaching concerning Christ's person and work. Jesus was another moral guide-maybe the best ever-but not the divine-human redeemer. However, evangelicals are known for their stand against Protestant liberalism. On the other hand, many who affirm all the right views of Christ and salvation in theory seem to think that what makes Christianity truly relevant, interesting, and revolutionary is something else. Distractions abound. This does not mean that Jesus is not important. His name appears in countless books and sermons, on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and billboards. Yet it has become something like a cliché or trademark instead of "the name that is above every name" by which alone we are saved.

Jesus Christ as the incarnate God in the merciful service of redeeming and reconciling sinners is simply not the main theme in most churches or Christian events these days. And what happens when we stop being reminded of who God is and what he has achieved in human history for a world in bondage to sin and death-in other words, when doctrine is made secondary? We fall back on our natural religion: what happens inside, that which we always know intuitively: law. "Deeds, not creeds" equals "Law, not gospel." For all their theoretical differences, liberals and evangelicals end up sounding a lot like each other. Evangelicals who say that they believe in Christ end up reducing Christ to a moral example just as thoroughly as liberals, not by outright denial but by distraction. The goal of this article is not to brand contemporary Christians "Sadducees" and "Pharisees," but to point out that one doesn't have to deny Christ and the gospel in order to end up with Christless Christianity. In fact, one can appeal to Christ and "make Jesus the center" in a way that drifts back toward "pure religion" (morality) and away from "ecclesiastical faith" (doctrine).

Today, partly in response to the appalling lack of genuine discipleship in a post-Christian era, many Protestants like Stanley Hauerwas and Brian McLaren encourage us to recover the Anabaptist legacy, which, as I mentioned, focused on Jesus as moral example. In A Generous Orthodoxy, Brian McLaren explains, "Anabaptists see the Christian faith primarily as a way of life," interpreting Paul through the lens of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount rather than vice versa. The emphasis falls on discipleship rather than on doctrine, as if following Jesus' example could be set against following his teaching. What happens when the Sermon on the Mount is assimilated to a general ethic of love (i.e., pure morality), and doctrine (ecclesiastical faith) is made secondary? Christ himself becomes a mere example to help people become better non-Christians. In fact, McLaren writes, "I must add, though, that I don't believe making disciples must equal making adherents to the Christian religion. It may be advisable in many (not all!) circumstances to help people become followers of Jesus and remain within their Buddhist, Hindu, or Jewish contexts." "I don't hope all Jews or Hindus will become members of the Christian religion. But I do hope all who feel so called will become Jewish or Hindu followers of Jesus." It is no wonder, then, that McLaren can say concerning liberal Protestants, "I applaud their desire to live out the meaning of the miracle stores even when they don't believe the stories really happened as written." After all, it's deeds, not creeds that matter. McLaren seems to suggest that following Jesus (pure religion) can exist with or without explicit faith in Christ (ecclesiastical faith).

There is nothing especially postmodern about any of this, of course. It is simply the legacy of the Enlightenment and its moralistic antecedents. If following Jesus' example of love (never mind his exclusive claims, divisive rhetoric, and warning of judgment) is the gospel, then, of course there will be many Buddhists and liberals who are better "Christians" than many of us who profess faith in Christ. As Mark Oestriecher, another Emergent church writer, relates, "My Buddhist cousin, except for her unfortunate inability to embrace Jesus, is a better 'Christian' (based on Jesus' description of what a Christian does) than almost every Christian I know. If we were using Matthew 26 as a guide, she'd be a sheep; and almost every Christian I know personally would be a goat." Yet at the end of the day, "radical disciples" will burn out, too, and realize that they, like the rest of us, are hypocrites who fall short of God's glory and need someone outside of them not only to show the way but to be the way of redemption. Although McLaren himself does not deny the Christ confessed in the creeds, he believes that what is most important about Jesus Christ is his call to discipleship, which allows us to participate in his redeeming work, rather than his unique, unrepeatable, completed work for sinners two thousand years ago.'

Not but bought

2008-10-30T09:01:00.001Z

Not what my hands have done Can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers, And sighs and tears Can bear my awful load.

Thy work alone, O Christ, Can ease this weight of sin
Thy blood alone O Lamb of God, Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me O God, Not mine, O Lord, to Thee
Can rid me of This dark unrest,And set my spirit free!

Horatius Bonar

(HT John Hendryx)

Wednesday Quote

2008-10-29T08:39:00.002Z

"Every wise workman takes his tools away from the work from time to time that they may be ground and sharpened; so does the only-wise Jehovah take his ministers oftentimes away into darkness and loneliness and trouble, that he may sharpen and prepare them for harder work in his service." -Robert Murray McCheyne

Cole on three ways to spoil the Gospel

2008-10-28T07:38:00.003Z

Pastor's day today. Here are three things to watch in preaching.

To pray to the Spirit is not wrong theologically, but if that practice displaces prayer to the Father in the name of the Son in reliance upon the Spirit, then there may be another sort of problem that emerges. The problem is that of disproportion. There are many ways to spoil the gospel.

[1] One such way is by addition: Christ plus Mosaic circumcision as the gospel for the Gentiles. Galatians addresses this error.
[2] The gospel may be spoiled by subtraction. Christ is divine but not human. The recently publicized Gnostic Gospel of Judas appears to take this road. Jesus is depicted as saying to Judas: “You will be greater than all the others, Judas. You will sacrifice the man that clothes me.” This error subtracts human nature from Christ and turns him into only a seeming human. This docetic error was the problem facing the original readers of John’s first letter (1 John 4:1-3).
[3] But the gospel may also be spoiled by a lack of due weight in theological emphasis, by giving an element in it either too much or too little accent. A biblical truth may be weighted in a way that skews our thinking about God and the gospel. Arguably, to make prayer to the Holy Spirit the principal practice in Christian praying would be such an error. The Holy Spirit may be prayed to. He is God. But the Holy Spirit is not to be prayed to in such a way as to mask the mediatorship of Christ and our location in Christ as members of his body. For to pray to the Father in the name of the Son in reliance upon the Spirit is to rehearse the very structure of the gospel . . . .

It would be wise to ask yourself (and others who know you!), “Am I spoiling the gospel by disproportion? Is there an area that I am failing to give due weight in theological emphasis by giving an element in it either too much or too little accent?”

Twenty Ways to Cultivate a Culture of Counselling

2008-10-27T08:33:00.002Z

Twenty Ways to Cultivate a Culture of Counseling
By Jonathan Leeman & Deepak Reju

By equipping your members to counsel one another, you enable them to do the front-line work of ministry. Here are twenty ways to cultivate a culture of counseling and discipleship in your church:

1. Preach the Bible to the church as a whole. In other words, biblical texts should be applied not just to individuals, but to the church as a whole. Help the congregation see what any given text means for their corporate life together, and look specifically for ways to encourage discipleship and mutual caretaking through your sermon applications.

2. Preach and apply the gospel. The gospel rightly and regularly preached should produce Christians that perceive their shared obligation to counsel and disciple one another based on their shared family identity in Christ. As often as possible, help the congregation to connect the dots between their profession of the gospel and their active love for one another.

3. Offer an occasional Sunday school class on discipleship and/or counseling. See www.capitolhillbaptist.org for sample curriculums (click on “We Equip” and then “Core Seminars”).

4. Offer Sunday School classes on more specific topics like “Fear of Man” or “Guidance.” Again, see www.capitolhillbaptist.org for sample curriculums.

5. In your membership classes, set the expectation of being involved in one another’s lives. Repeat this admonition regularly in sermons.

6. In the membership interview, ask the candidate if he or she wants to be involved in a one-on-one discipleship relationship.

7. Stock your book store and church library with good resources on discipleship.

8. Along the same lines, consider a CCEF booklet display in your church for featuring these very brief and digestible resources on a vast number of specific topics. If possible, offer these booklets for free.

9. Promote and hand out these same books and booklets from the pulpit.

10. Ask the church for a pastoral budget for book giveaways. Have a stack of books in your office ready for spontaneous give-aways.

11. Teach the congregation to invite correction and rebuke from one another.

12. As the pastor, model this type of humility and correction-inviting!

13. Consider providing church small groups with recommended resources according to small group type, e.g. good resources for young married couples groups, for singles groups, etc.

14. If resources permit, hire a full-time pastor who can devote himself to counseling.

15. If resources permit, hire a woman who can devote herself to counseling and discipling women in the congregation.

16. Encourage church members to attend Christian Counseling Education Foundation (CCEF) conferences and to make use of its online training courses.

17. Offer a lay counseling training class for the members and/or small group leaders of your church. CCEF offers two excellent curriculums—How People Change and Helping Others Change. These user-friendly leader’s guides and workbooks make it very easy for pastors, lay leaders, and members to teach one another how to counsel the Word and how to better care for one another. (www.ccef.org)

18. Read Paul David Tripp’s Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands.

19. Encourage the individuals you are discipling for full-time pastoral ministry to read Ed Welch’s When People Are Big and God Is Small.

20. Pray and ask God to raise up elders, godly women, and mature disciplers within your congregation to help care for the sheep.

Chapell on the Future of Expository Preaching

2008-10-24T08:13:00.002Z

Thomas and Timmis on church planting

2008-10-23T08:20:00.004Z

Scott Thomas at Acts29 offers 20 questions to consider if you're thinking about church planting. Read the whole thing with discussion of the questions here.

Summarized: 20 Characteristics of a Church Planter
1. Am I a Christian? (John 3:16)

2. Am I passionately in love with Jesus and is He the Lord of every area of my life? (Personal spiritual dynamics is the second most important area)

3. Do I believe His word and does it affect my life deeply?

4. Am I Spirit-filled, Spirit-directed, Spirit-led and Spirit-controlled? (Acts 1:8)

5. Am I qualified as an Elder? (1 Timothy, Titus)

6. Do I love the local church as the expression of a gospel community on mission? (Matthew 28:18-20)

7. Am I a missionary to the city? Am I sent for the advancement of the gospel in the city (John 20:21)?

8. Do I have a clear vision for this new work? (Nehemiah 1:3, 4; 2:11-18)

9. Am I willing to pour myself out in obedience to the vision? (Phil. 2; Romans 6)

10. Am I healthy? Physically, emotionally, financially, spiritually, relationally, maritally

11. Am I the kind of leader many people will follow? Have I served as a church leader successfully? (1 Tim. 5:22; 3:6)

12. Can I preach effectively?

13. Can I guard the doctrinal door with Biblical clarity and tenacious confidence?

14. Can I architect a new work with entrepreneurial skill?

15. Am I called to plant a church at this time and in this place? (Acts 17:26; 1 Peter 5:2)

16. Have my church leaders commended me for this calling? (Acts 11:22-26; 13:1-4; 16:1-2)

17. Am I a hard worker? Am I persevering? (2 Thes. 3:10; 1 Tim. 5:17-18; 2 Tim. 2:3-4; 2:5; 2:6)

18. Am I adaptable to new people, places and concepts?

19. Can I raise the funds needed for my family’s needs? (1 Tim. 5:8)

20. Am I humble enough to learn from others—particularly from those who have gone ahead of me in different areas?

Steve Timmis also preached a message at Guilford church entitled 'It's church Jim, but not as we know it.' 9 Marks were impressed and so it's in our 'to listen to' files.

R. Scott Clark- the Big Deal About Preaching

2008-10-21T07:03:00.002Z

This week's pastors day article is by R. Scott Clark entitled 'What's the Big Deal about Preaching?'

'The practical reason that evangelicals still emphasize preaching, to the degree that emphasis still exists, is because they haven’t yet rid themselves of the every last vestige of the theology, piety, and practice of the Reformation or the original evangelicalism (as distinct from modern evangelicalism).

The original evangelicals, i.e. the Protestant Reformers emphasized the public proclamation of the Word (law and gospel) because they were convinced from Scripture that God has made promises specifically to use and bless the preached gospel (Rom 10). We summarize this understanding of the preached gospel by speaking of the preaching of the gospel as a “means of grace” (medium gratiae). It is our understanding of Paul’s teaching in Romans and elsewhere (e.g. 2 Tim 4:2) that the Spirit of God operates with and through Word (in the law) as it is preached to convict sinners of their sin and jeopardy before the all-holy God and through the Word (in the gospel) to raise them to life (regeneration), to give them faith, and to unite them to Christ.

Thus, in Heidelberg Catechism Q. 65 we confess that the Holy Spirit “works faith faith in our hearts through the preaching of the Holy Gospel and confirms it through the use of the holy sacraments.” We have a high view of preaching as a means of grace because Paul had a high view of the “foolishness” of gospel preaching (1 Cor 2). It doesn’t seem like it ought to “work” and if you’re looking for big numbers then call Bill Hybels or Bob Schuller. They know how to pull a crowd. If you want to know about preaching, however, look at Paul at Mars Hill. He preached the law and then he preached the gospel. Did he get a great response? Well Dennis (Dionysius) and a few others (Acts 17:34) followed him. That’s what happens sometimes. The Spirit blows where he wills (John 3).

What’s the big deal about preaching? It’s the vehicle, the instrument, the means by which God the Spirit brings his elect to faith. Otherwise, it’s not a big deal.'

Also worth checking out this week is this article by David Jackman on a related theme.

Also, we came across this conference audio set which we highly commend to any preachers or listener of preaching (the Q&A with John MacArthur is particularly encouraging).

James MacDonald- Five Moral Fences

2008-10-16T08:06:00.002Z

New on the recommended resources sidebar this week is the blog of James MacDonald whose ministry we have long appreciated at Resolve. It's packed full of great stuff, particularly for pastors and church leaders. below is an example of the wisdom given.

'How can I protect myself and my growing little family from the devastation a moral failure would cause? How can I be sure my actions will remain pure when men better and stronger than me were falling like flies?”

As I thought and prayed it through it occurred to me that ministers who fell morally must have disregarded the final warning signals. I knew they didn’t go from spirit-filled to stepping off the cliff in one day. I knew they must have crashed some social barriers before their slippage became sexual. I remember wondering where the line was and how I could make sure I never crossed it. I knew I had to make my decisions early and my standards public so that others would know when I was “playing near the edge.” I was determined that, by God’s grace, I would not take the plunge. In fact, I wanted to stay as far away from the edge of the cliff as I could, so I decided to set up some boundaries of behavior.

I called them moral fences. The idea was to set up some standards of conduct that if never broken would make it impossible for me to fail morally. I remembered back to my days as a bible college student and thinking how strange it was that our college president would not give my (young, beautiful) fiancee a ride to our church almost two hours away when he came to speak. With that in mind, I began to form my list of moral fences.

1) I will not, under any circumstances, ride alone in a car with a female other than my wife or an immediate family member.

No lifts home for a church secretary, no baby sitters driven home late at night, no teen girls in my student ministry, more recently no playmates of my daughters, no exceptions. One day I wasted two and a half hours in the American Tire store waiting for my car to be done while my secretary, only minutes away, could have picked me up so easily. Recently while speaking out of town, I had to explain to my pastor friend why it “would not work out for his wife to drive me and meet him over there.” It has been awkward at times but the benefits are obvious. How many pastors commit adultery with someone they never ride alone in a car with? OK some, but read on.

2) I do not counsel women in a closed room or more than once.

Judging by the stories we all hear it seems like the majority of ministry infidelity begins through a counseling relationship. No matter what the issue, counseling is a very intimate activity . when the subject matter itself becomes intimate. counseling the opposite sex is like playing with fire. When our church was smaller keeping this standard meant that some women had to seek counsel elsewhere and two or three left our church over my “fence.” I was hurt at first but I think it blessed my wife. As pastors we are supposed to be training others to do ministry, not hoarding it for ourselves. (Eph. 4:11-13) I have always felt that my time was better spent training a team of men and women to do the lighter counseling and then referring those with more complex issues to biblical counseling centers outside our church. When I cannot avoid a second session with a woman in our church, I have my wife or another pastor sit in with me. Pretty hard to commit adultery with someone you never spend time alone with.

3) I do not stay alone in a hotel over night.

I did my doctoral thesis on increasing the incidents of self-disclosure of sin among men. I have heard more confessions of addiction to various forms of sexual sin than any one pastor should ever have to hear, and it has changed me. It has left me deeply persuaded that, “there but for the grace of God, (and some moral fences) go I.” I know myself too well. Lengthy, unaccountable hours with manifold temptations available and affordable is a recipe for failure. Romans 13:14 instructs us that we are to “make no provision for the flesh.” You think I sound weak? I am! And when I forget that weakness I cease to know God’s strength. (I Cor. 12:10) When I travel, I travel with someone. When that is impossible I stay with a friend. When that is impossible I do not go. Period! Early in my ministry that meant there were things I missed out on, more recently our Elders have agreed to help fund a travel partner for me. If an outside ministry opportunity is deemed worthwhile, and the ministry cannot afford a second airfare, our church pays for me to take another pastor or elder, or best of all, my wife.

4) I speak often and publicly of my affection for my wife, when she is present and when she is not.

No one likes to play the hypocrite any more than they have to. Marriages that are failing often become silent in public before they become loudly negative. Pastors who resist or refuse to publicly affirm and appreciate the significant role of a supportive spouse may be revealing a private deterioration of that relationship. I have close friends who consistently monitor the way I lead, to refer to, and interact with my wife in social and ministry contexts. It was Bill McCartney who taught that the countenance of a wife is the best indicator of marital strength. I know some men in our church feel the heat because I am so publicly wild about my wife of sixteen years, too bad!

5) Compliment the character or the conduct - not the coiffure or the clothing.

I am still working on this one. As our church has grown, and I know a much smaller percentage of the people who attend here, I have seen the power of a compliment become a problem. As pastors we love people and want to be an encouragement. Formerly, if I noticed that Shelly had a new dress or Susan had changed her hair, I would compliment her on that. I felt it was harmless and if it seemed to meet a need and I meant it sincerely I thought, “no harm done.” More recently I have observed that this seemingly innocent gesture can have far more impact than I ever intended and potentially meet a legitimate need that I have no business meeting. Apart from family friendships, I have been trying to restrict my compliments to character and conduct. I get to use my gift of encouragement but I focus on the things God is doing in a person’s life and not the externals that can be easily misunderstood.

Setting up the “fence” in public.
The fence is useless if I can take it down any time my sinful heart desires. To make it work those around me must know what I have committed to myself to and be willing to confront me if they see a fence broken down. To inform the congregation I periodically weave the fence into a sermon every couple of years. My most recent example was a message entitled “Meeting God in Moral Failure.” When the message came to the “how to prevent” part, I simply downloaded the five moral fences to everyone. At the staff level we require a more detailed list of moral fences. From pastors to ministry leaders, to custodians and bookstore staff, every paid staff member is regularly held accountable for this moral code. A former singles pastor found it very difficult not to have lunch alone with women in his ministry, and often “forgot.” That is, until we told him we would “forget” to pay him if he “forgot” again. Remember, this is not legalism. Legalism is when we judge another’s spirituality based on manmade rules. We are not judging anyone’s heart for the Lord, we are simply reasoning together as to how we can be faithful to our commitment to Christ.'

Michael Lawrence- Developing theologically for Pastors when time is tight

2008-10-14T08:41:00.000Z

1. Build it into the things you're already doing. (QT, sermon prep, discipling, etc.)
2. Stop wasting so much time on the internet. (pick just 2 or 3 blogs to read, and look at them once a week; stop wasting time updating your Facebook, Linkedin, and MySpcae pages, etc.)
3. Always have a book nearby. (capture the spare moments)
4. Build time for reading and reflection into your schedule. (you'll be amazed how much time is freed up if you do #2! But beware, a pastor's schedule abhors a vacuum, so if you don't block out the time, somethingelse will fill it in.)
5. Have a plan. (if you aim at nothing you're sure to hit it.)
6. Read primary sources, not commentary. (you don't have time to waste on the commentators. Read the Bible and the people who have written important theology. You can do it. You don't need a PhD to read Luther, Calvin, Augustine, Edwards, Grudem, Frame, etc)
7. Don't do it alone. (cultivate a theological conversation among your leaders. They will correct your idiosyncrasies and keep you accountable. It will also create a culture of theological seriousness in your church, which will benefit everyone.)
8. Let the Scriptures, not our culture, set the agenda. (Trying to keep up with our culture's agenda is a chasing after the wind. On the other hand, if the Scriptures set the agenda, you'll be ready for anything thecultures blows at you.)
9. Church History and Historical Theology are the pastors Cliff Notes to theology. (Other people, smarter than me, have already faced the stuff I face and have figured a lot of things out. I can stand on theirshoulders and look like a genius! The cultural package may have changed, but there's nothing new under the sun.)

J. I. Packer on the Church

2008-10-13T08:35:00.004Z

Last week was an excellent week at Resolve. All the audio is posted in the side-bar now and is available to download here. We return to our Monday theme of the church and feature an extract from J. I. Packer's book- Concise Theology. You can read the whole extract here.

'The New Testament defines the church in terms of the fulfillment of Old Testament hopes and patterns through a relationship to all three Persons of the Godhead, brought about by the mediatorial ministry of Jesus Christ. The church is seen as the family and flock of God (Eph. 2:18; 3:15; 4:6; John 10:16; 1 Pet. 5:2-4), his Israel (Gal. 6:16); the body and bride of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:25-28; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-27); and the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; cf. Eph. 2:19-22). Those in the church are called the “elect” (chosen), the “saints” (consecrated ones, set apart for God), and the “brothers” (adopted children of God).

Essentially, the church is, was, and always will be a single worshiping community, permanently gathered in the true sanctuary which is the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22-24), the place of God’s presence. Here all who are alive in Christ, the physically living with the physically dead (i.e., the church militant with the church triumphant) worship continually. In the world, however, this one church appears in the form of local congregations, each one called to fulfill the role of being a microcosm (a small-scale representative sample) of the church as a whole. This explains how it is that for Paul the one church universal is the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12-26; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:6; 4:4), and so is the local congregation (1 Cor. 12:27).

It is customary to characterize the church on earth as “one” (because it really is so in Christ, as Eph. 4:3-6 shows, despite the great number of local churches and denominational groupings), “holy” (because it is consecrated to God corporately, as each Christian is individually, Eph. 2:21), “catholic” (because it is worldwide in extent and seeks to hold the fullness of the faith), and “apostolic” (because it is founded on apostolic teaching, Eph. 2:20). All four qualities may be illustrated from Ephesians 2:19-22.

There is a distinction to be drawn between the church as we humans see it and as God alone can see it. This is the historic distinction between the “visible church” and the “invisible church.” Invisible means, not that we can see no sign of its presence, but that we cannot know (as God, the heart-reader, knows, 2 Tim. 2:19) which of those baptized, professing members of the church as an organized institution are inwardly regenerate and thus belong to the church as a spiritual fellowship of sinners loving their Savior. Jesus taught that in the organized church there would always be people who thought they were Christians and passed as Christians, some indeed becoming ministers, but who were not renewed in heart and would therefore be exposed and rejected at the Judgment (Matt. 7:15-27; 13:24-30, 36-43, 47-50; 25:1-46). The “visible-invisible” distinction is drawn to take account of this. It is not that there are two churches but that the visible community regularly contains imitation Christians whom God knows not to be real (and who could know this for themselves if they would, 2 Cor. 13:5).

The New Testament assumes that all Christians will share in the life of a local church, meeting with it for worship (Heb. 10:25), accepting its nurture and discipline (Matt. 18:15-20; Gal. 6:1), and sharing in its work of witness. Christians disobey God and impoverish themselves by refusing to join with other believers when there is a local congregation that they can belong to.

God does not prescribe for Christian worship in the detailed fashion of Old Testament times, but the New Testament shows clearly what the staple ingredients of corporate Christian worship are, namely, praise (“psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,” Eph. 5:19), prayer, and preaching, with regular administration of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7-11). Singing to God’s praise was evidently a big thing in the apostolic church, as it has been in all movements of spiritual power ever since: Paul and Barnabas, along with their praying (aloud), sang hymns in the prison in Philippi (Acts 16:25), and the New Testament contains a number of what appear to be hymn fragments (Eph. 5:14; Phil. 2:6-11; 1 Tim. 3:16; and others) while the “new songs” of Revelation are both numerous and exuberant, indeed ecstatic (Rev. 4:8, 11; 5:9-10, 12-13; 7:10, 12; 11:15, 17-18; 12:10-12; 15:3-4; 19:1-8; 21:3-4). Any local church anywhere that is spiritually alive will undoubtedly take its singing, praying, and preaching very seriously indeed, and be jealous for all three.'

Resolve Address

2008-10-07T06:55:00.004Z

Tonight sees the first night of Resolve08. Our speaker is Graham Shearer, associate pastor at Hamilton Baptist Church. For those who have not been to the church before, or have and can't remember how, the address is

150 Ardencraig Road
Castlemilk
Glasgow
G45 0JG

The meetings will start at 7:30pm with some praise, followed by an interview with the Graham (and Ross and Liam on Wednesday and Thursday). They will then come and share God's Word with us. The meeting should be finished by 9pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

James Stewart on ministry hope

2008-10-06T06:04:00.001Z

“Surely there are few figures so pitiable as the disillusioned minister of the Gospel. High hopes once cheered him on his way: but now the indifference and the recalcitrance of the world, the lack of striking visible results, the discovery of the appalling pettiness and spite and touchiness and complacency which can lodge in narrow hearts, the feeling of personal futility- all these have seared his soul. No longer does the zeal of God’s House devour him. No longer does he mount the pulpit steps in thrilled expectancy that Jesus Christ will come amongst His folk that day, travelling in the greatness of His strength, mighty to save. Dully and drearily he speaks now about what once seemed to him the most dramatic tidings in the world. The edge and verve and passion of the message of divine forgiveness, the exultant, lyrical assurance of the presence of the risen Lord, the amazement of supernatural grace, the urge to cry, ‘Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel’- all have gone. The man has lost heart. He is disillusioned. And that, for an ambassador of Christ, is tragedy.”

“Don’t listen to the lugubrious voices that incessantly deplore the deadness of the age, and groan about the thankless uphill task of the Christian ministry and the desolating lack of response. It is a thrilling hour in which to bear the commission of your Lord.”

“Therefore I counsel you- let no fog of spiritual defeatism chill your ministry. Refuse to listen to the lying voices which insinuate that this is an unpropitious hour for the proclamation of the faith. You are to be heralds of a religion which once saw the blackest, most desperately unpropitious hour in history- the hour of the crucifying of Jesus- turned into history’s crowning glory and mankind’s brightest hope. Go forth, then, in the heartening assurance that this present cataclysmic hour is alive with spiritual potentialities.”

(HT David Strain)

Begg on Personal Bible Study

2008-10-03T07:34:00.002Z

Alistair Begg gives us some good questions for Reflections in Personal Bible Study
1. Is there anything in this passage that teaches me about God the Father?
2. Is there anything in this passage that teaches me about God the Son?
3. Is there anything in this passage that teaches me about God the Holy Spirit?
4. Is there anything in this passage that tells me something about myself?
5. Is there a sin that I need to avoid?
6. Is there a promise that I should accept?7. Is there a command that I need to obey?

HT Liam Garvie (who also has a new blog called The Preacher's Plain Truth)

Wednesday Quote (on a Thursday)

2008-10-02T08:46:00.000Z

'The source of my authority in this pulpit is not...my wisdom; nor is it a private revelation granted to me beyond the revelation of Scripture. My words have authority only insofar as they are the repetition, unfolding and proper application of the words of Scripture. I have authority only when I stand under authority. And our corporate symbol of that truth is the sound of your Bibles opening to the text. My deep conviction about preaching is that a pastor must show the people that what he is saying was already said or implied in the Bible. If it cannot be shown it has no special authority.'

John Piper

John MacArthur- the Process of Church Discipline

2008-09-29T10:00:00.002Z

Extract from a very helpful document by John MacArthur on Church Discipline.

The Process of Discipline
In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus sets forth the fourstep process of church discipline: (1) tell him his
sin alone; (2) take some witnesses; (3) tell the church; and (4) treat him as an outsider.
Step One (Matt. 18:15). The process of church discipline begins on an individual level. Jesus
said, “And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private” (v. 15a). Here, an individual
believer is to go to a sinning brother privatelyand confront him in a spirit of humility and
gentleness. This confrontation involves clearly exposing his sin so that he is aware of it and calling him to repentance. If the sinning brother repent in response to the private confrontation,
that brother is forgiven and restored (v. 15b).

Step Two (Matt. 18:16). If the sinning brother refuses to listen to the one who has rebuked
him privately, the next step in the discipline process is to take one or two more believers
along to confront him again (v. 16a). The purpose of taking other believers is so that “by the
mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed” (v. 16b). In other words, the
witnesses are present not only to confirm that the sin was committed but, in addition, to confirm
that the sinning brother was properly rebuked and that he has or has not repented.

The presence of additional witnesses is as much a protection for the one being approached as it
is for the one approaching. After all, a biased person could erroneously say, “Well, I tried to
confront him, but he’s impenitent.” It would be presumptuous to think that one person
could make that ultimate determination, especially if he was the one who had been sinned
against. The witnesses need to confirm whether there is a heart of repentance or one of indifference or rejection. Such a report provides the basis for further action because the situation has been verified beyond the report of one individual.

At this point, it should be hoped that the one or two who are brought along to confront the
sinner will not have to become public witnesses against him before the rest of the church.
Ideally, their added rebuke will be sufficient to induce a change of heart in the offending
brother that the initial rebuke did not cause. If this change of heart does occur, that brother is
forgiven and restored, and the matter is dropped.

Step Three (Matt. 18:17a). If the sinning brother refuses to listen and respond to the
confrontation of the witnesses after a period of time, those witnesses are then to tell it to the
church (v. 17a). This is most appropriately done by bringing the matter to the attention of
the elders, who in turn oversee its communication to the assembly as a whole.

How long should the witnesses continue to call the person to repentance before telling the
church? The elders at Grace Community Church avoid carrying out the third or fourth
stage of church discipline until they are absolutely certain that the erring believer has
truly sinned, or is continuing to sin, and that he has refused to repent when appropriately
confronted. The elders will routinely send a letter by registered mail warning the individual
that the third (or fourth) step of discipline will be taken if they have not received word of
repentance by a specific date. When this date has passed, the person’s sin and refusal to
repent are made known publicly, either before the entire assembly during a Communion service
or through a fellowship group in which the person is known.

It has been the custom at Grace Community Church, upon enacting this third step, to clearly
indicate to the congregation that they are to pursue the person aggressively and plead with
him to repent before the fourth step becomes necessary. That crucial and potent procedure
often draws the sinner to repentance and obedience. If repentance does take place, the
sinning believer is forgiven and restored.

Step Four (Matt. 18:17b). The fourth and final step in the process of church discipline is
ostracism. If a sinning believer refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be ostracized from
the fellowship. Jesus said, “let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer” (v. 17b). The
term “Gentile” was primarily used of non-Jews who held to their traditional paganism and had
no part in the covenant, worship, or social life of the Jews. On the other hand, a “tax-gatherer”
was an outcast from the Jews by choice, having become a traitor to his own people. Jesus’ use
of these terms doesn’t mean that the church is to treat these people badly. It simply means
that when a professing believer refuses to repent, the church is to treat him as if he were
outside of the fellowship. They are not to let him associate and participate in the blessings
and benefits of the Christian assembly.

When a man in the Corinthian church refused to forsake an incestuous relationship with his
stepmother, the apostle Paul commanded that the man be removed from their midst (1 Cor.
5:13). The believers there were not even to share a meal with him (1 Cor. 5:11), for dining
with someone was symbolic of a hospitable and cordial fellowship. The one who is persistently
unrepentant is to be totally ostracized from the fellowship of the church and treated like an
outcast, not a brother.

As far as the welfare of the church is concerned, the purpose of putting the brother out is toprotect the purity of the fellowship (1 Cor. 5:6), to warn the assembly of the seriousness of sin (1Tim. 5:20), and to give a testimony of righteousness to a watching world. But as far as the welfare of the brother himself is concerned, the purpose of the ostracism is not to punish but to awaken, and it must therefore be done in humble love and never in a spirit of self-righteous superiority (2 Thess. 3:15).

When a church has done everything it can to bring a sinning member back to purity of life
but is unsuccessful, that individual is to be left to his sin and his shame. If he is truly a
Christian, God will not cast him away, but He may allow him to sink still deeper before he
becomes desperate enough to turn from his sin. The command not to have fellowship or even
social contact with the unrepentant brother does not exclude all contact. When there is an
opportunity to admonish him and try to call him back, the opportunity should be taken. In
fact, such opportunities should be sought. But the contact should be for the purpose of
admonishment and restoration and no other.

Wednesday Quote

2008-09-24T13:27:00.002Z

‘People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.’
D. A Carson

Resolve ministry convictions

2008-09-23T08:22:00.003Z

At Resolve recently we had the opportunity to outline our ministry convictions. As it is pastor's day here are what we pursue:

We believe thoroughly that the role of the pastor is to be faithful in developing depth of ministry and that the fruit of that depth in the pastor’s own life and the life of the church is breadth of ministry. The following represent our ministry convictions

We are deeply convinced of the need for faithful, engaging and relevant Biblical teaching for equipping God’s people to live the life of faith in the real world. We would contend that preaching is central to the building of the church and defines the role of the pastor.

The vitality of vibrant corporate prayer in the life of the church.

We are convinced of the scriptural warrant for the church to be led by a group of Elders. Biblical Eldership is a role reserved in scripture for qualified men according to the criterion laid down in the pastoral epistles.

We believe that God’s Word directs us to complimentary gender roles and as such hold that there is a distinction in both role and responsibility for men and women. This values the God given identity expressed through gender and does not diminish the value of either men or women in God’s sight, merely that there is an important distinction to be made in order that home and church might function as scripture intends according to God’s created order and exist to provide healthy homes and healthy churches.

We consider that worship times together provide an opportunity for a family expression of worship that embraces contemporary developments in praise while continuing to value traditional songs of praise. In all these things we hold that there should be a vibrancy, joy (with space made for sorrow also to be brought before God) and relevance that marks the time that the church spends together.

Authentic partnerships based upon a common understanding of the Gospel bring glory to God.

That humility becomes a characteristic to be treasured in all aspects of church life- that a culture of humility from being confronted with the majesty of God and the deep truth of the Gospel is something desirable to personally pursue and corporately cultivate.

Outward looking intentional community engagement with the Gospel.

John MacArthur: Defining character of ministry

2008-09-15T07:25:00.001Z

Today we feature an article extract from John MacArthur entitled 'The defining character of Ministry.'

'... we get a glimpse into the character of Paul's leadership. In 1 Thessalonians 2, he calls them to remember what they know about him-the nature of his ministry and his leadership. He builds on the idea that his effectiveness was based upon his perception of God-which in turn defined the character of his ministry.

First of all, he was confident in God's power (2:2), giving him tenacity. "After we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition" (v. 2). That's tenacity. His relentlessness is predicated upon his confidence in God's power.

In spite of the abuse and public degradation in Philippi before arriving in Thessalonica, Paul remarks that "we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition" (v. 2). That is the heart and soul of ministry! The preacher's objective is never to minimize the conflict over the gospel, because inevitably the gospel is an offense. The mark of a great leader is not how well he avoids conflict, but how courageously he accepts it.

Second, he was committed to God's truth. "Our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit" (2:3). His ministry was characterized by integrity. "Impurity" frequently has sexual overtones. Many of the false teachers in the ancient world were, as they are today, marked by a secret life of gross sexual sin. Paul is not a phony or a deceiver. "Deceit" is the word for fishhook. Paul is not trying to catch people for his own benefit, as the false teachers did. His integrity is related to the truth-something he could not amend or abandon.

Third, he was commissioned by God's will. "Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak" (2:4a). In other words, he understood his authority came from God, who entrusted him with the stewardship of the gospel. He was tested and approved by God (present tense, indicating a lasting appeal). Paul told Timothy to command, to teach, and to rebuke with all authority; he told Titus to let no one evade that. The preacher is marked by his authority when preaching the gospel.

Fourth, he was compelled by God's omniscience. God's omniscience generated accountability. "We speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, nor with a pretext for greed-God is witness" (2:4b-5). Under the direct oversight of God (2 Tim. 4:1), the minister who serves the Lord will one day give an account to the Lord (Heb. 13:17). And what happens in that future time of rewards is determined by the overwhelming sense of accountability maintained day by day (1 Chr. 28:9; Rev. 2:23).
You can be surrounded by a lot of people to whom you're accountable. But if you lose the battle of accountability to God in your heart, you will never win it on the outside. The real battle is fought in the conscience and in the heart.

Fifth, he was consumed with God's glory (2:6), resulting in humility. Not seeking glory from men is very difficult. As an apostle of Christ and as one who had been to heaven, Paul could have demanded a lot of accolades. But, being consumed with God's glory, he had no interest in seeking glory from men.

Sixth, he was compassionate with God's people (2:7-12). One of the most enriching insights into the heart of ministry is the apostle's sympathy. The most tender and relentless expression of love is that of a mother to her nursing child-no possible reciprocation, no greater intimacy, no greater dependence. If you give this to your congregation, they will endure a lot. Take this out, and they're liable to fight you tooth and nail. In most cases when you get into a church, you'll have to nurse them. You must be patient and tender, knowing it's a long, sometimes painful process.

As a pastor, you need to yearn that Christ would be fully formed in your people. There needs to be a patience, tenderness, and deep affection. It's a never-ending, night and day deal (2:9).
Paul ends with a father analogy (2:10-12). The mother's side is love, care, tenderness, and compassion; the father's side is courage, moral character, example, exhortation, and instruction. Mothers have the intimate influence; father set the course for direction, spiritual strength, and motivation. That's a magnificent balance.

When tenacity, integrity, authority, accountability, humility, and sympathy are the characteristics of your ministry, the fruit of verses 13-14 is going to be there. You will become what a church should be-a model church that others can look to. As you are faithful to serve in the ways that Paul models here, you will put yourself in a position to guide a people who respond to the Word of God and lead a church that will become what churches should be.'

Wednesday Quote (on a Friday)

2008-09-12T06:34:00.002Z

Usually we post a quote on Wednesday this week we posted the interviews. So just in case you missed it:

'If you want the truth to go round the world you must hire an express train to pull it; but if you want a lie to go round the world it will fly; it is as light as a feather, and a breath will carry it. It is well said in the old proverb, “a lie will go round the world while truth is putting its boots on.”
C.H. Spurgeon

What is a young pastor to do? Interview with Liam Garvie

2008-09-11T07:19:00.002Z

Continuing on the theme of interviewing this year's speakers and exploring this question of 'what is a young pastor to do?' today. It's Liam Garvie's turn to respond

Could you please describe for us your ministry setting and role?
The call of God has drawn me to St Andrews, a pretty inspiring place it has to be said where the preaching of guys like John Knox and the blood of Martyr's like George Wishart call out down through the years to pastors like me to take up the Gospel torch. By God's grace I strive to preach the Gospel in St Andrews Baptist Church as pastor there.

What was the thing that was most influential in confirming your call to pastoral ministry?
Two things really... I believe the confirmation of any call to ministry must be found first of all in the Word of God. Any man can desire the noble task of ministry but unless they qualify according to the biblical requirements, they should consider themselves 'not called'. Similarly, a man who is called to pastoral ministry should be immersing himself in all of God's and listening closely for His voice calling through it. For me, God used Psalm 71 to define the form of my calling and Judges 6 (v14 in particular) to assure me of the presence and sufficiency of his grace when I felt like my weakness would disqualify me.

The second thing that should confirm a call to pastoral ministry is the recognition of the local church and its leaders. In a strange turn of events I had applied for a youth worker post yet the leaders of my local church refused to give me the job as they felt i should explore further with our pastor and leaders a call to preach the Gospel. At first I thought they were wrong, but soon I appreciated their guidance in pointing out to me somethign I hadn't yet recognised in myself.

What are the clear priorities and core convictions that you hope will characterise your ministry?
The preaching of the supremacy of Christ and the Gospel. I resolve to know nothing except Jesus Christ crucified (1 Cor 2:2). He is all I have been called to preach and I do that by trusting in the inerrant, flawless and timeless Word of God. The sufficiency of the Scriptures in equipping the saints (including me) for works of ministry is without question a core conviction. Failing to adhere to the biblical mandate in any issue related to doctrine and practice for church or believer is not only negligent... it is sinful.

What has been the most significant encouragement in your time so far in pastoral ministry?
The renewed hunger of so many of God's people for the Word of God.

How do you care for your soul and tend to the soul of your family?
Personally, i benefit immensely from following McCheyne's Bible reading plan and also from my regular reading of sermons by Spurgeon. And every walk I take is equally nourishing for my soul thanks to the great preachers that fill up my iPod. I make the listening to a sermon one of the first things i do in my working week.

What has been the best advice you have received?
Pastoral ministry requires a soft heart but a hard hine!

What particular resources have benefitted you?
In these early years, there is no question that Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students has been invaluable. So have the resources available at www.9marks.org spearheaded by Mark Dever. In addition, the web mp3's that serve to clarify doctrinal truths and teach much of what I didn't receive in seminary.

How important have role-models been to you? Who has been particularlyused by God in your life?
Too many to mention... here are a few.
For his faithfulness in preaching God's Word, my old Pastor James R Clarke
For his incredible discernment in pastoral care, my old Pastor Angus Morrison
For his inimitable boldness and devotion to the Gospel, my old friend CH Spurgeon
For his kindness in enabling me to visit CHBC and learn about the importance of the local Church, Mark Dever
For her conastancy in prayer, my mother-in-law, Sarah Neill
For her patience, godly wisdom and unmatchable love, my wife Kathryn Garvie

What is a young pastor to do? Interview with Ross Murphy

2008-09-10T07:12:00.003Z

A couple of weeks ago we posted a piece entitled 'what is a young pastor to do?' As a follow-up, and to introduce you to some of the speakers, past and present, from Resolve we thought we would ask them some questions around that theme. Today we hear from Ross Murphy.

Could you please describe for us your ministry setting and role?

Airdrie Baptist Church is situated in the very heart of the town centre. Airdrie itself is home to about 36.000 people and is located between Scotland's two big cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Our Church has a membership of 115 people and I've been pastor here for 7 months now and counting…

What was the thing that was most influential in confirming your call
to pastoral ministry?

The Church! The local Church and the Baptist Union both recognised a genuine call to pastoral ministry. This confirmed the 'inner call' that I had known personally.

What are the clear priorities and core convictions that you hope will
characterise your ministry?

I suppose the two core convictions I would wish to characterise my ministry would be would be, the authority of Scripture and the sovereignty of God. My main priority stemming from these convictions is to faithfully preach God's Word.

What has been the most significant encouragement in your time so far
in pastoral ministry?

I read a good quote from Luther the other day:

"A preacher must be both a soldier and a shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth, and be able to bite and to fight."
(TableTalk CCCC)

How we need courage to fight this good fight! I have been greatly 'en-couraged' by a real awareness of the presence of God in services and prayer meetings of late, and by the desire that the Fellowship have for truly biblical preaching.

In the moments where I do feel discouraged, the thing which keeps me fighting away is the sovereignty of God. If I did not believe in the absolute sovereignty of God, I would probably have fallen into despondency and resorted to a manipulative ministry already. I thank God that I know what it is to rest in the knowledge of his sovereignty.

How do you care for your soul and tend to the soul of your family?

This has been a greater challenge than I had anticipated. I try to have my own personal study times with a different bible (and translation) to the one I use for preaching \ visitation. This way I find it easier to focus on my own relationship with the Lord, rather than constantly looking for sermons to preach! I also try to listen to good preaching online, and keep in touch with guys who have similar theological convictions.

Myself and my wife are expecting our first baby soon, so I am also trying to prepare for the extra responsibilities that (s)he'll bring my way!

What has been the best advice you have received?

Fear only God.

How would you rate the training that you received for pastoral
ministry in spiritual terms, in practical terms?

I had an unusual journey into pastoral ministry in the Baptist Church. I was originally a candidate for ministry in the Church of Scotland, had a change of convictions and moved to the Baptist Church. I did my first 2 years 'training' at Glasgow University and my final 2 years at the Scottish Baptist College. So I should say given that I have only had half of the training for each denomination- my verdict may be a little unfair!

That said, I found Glasgow University of little use spiritually or practically, many men complete the course far less able to lead spiritually than they were when they embarked upon it. As a student at the Baptist College I felt like I was part of a small community of faith which was helpful preparation for pastoral ministry. I still had little knowledge of the practicalities of funerals \ weddings etc but friends and colleagues have helped me along!

What particular resources have benefitted you?

Three books which I'd highly recommend are:

Jesus Driven Ministry by Ajith Fernando
Brothers we are Not Professionals by John Piper
The Soul Winner by CH Spurgeon

Also listening to sermons by the likes of Piper at www.desiringgod.org has been really helpful.

How important have role-models been to you? Who has been particularly
used by God in your life?

I've never had someone I would consider a 'mentor', but I have friends in pastoral ministry who I consider to be good examples of what it is to be a faithful pastor. I have also been inspired, encouraged and informed heavily by the works of Spurgeon and John Piper.

What are the patterns that you discern in church culture that
encourage you or give you cause for concern?

On the positive side, (as a non-cessationist) I have been encouraged by the recent place that reformed theology has found within the charismatic community. Sam Storms book Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist would be a helpful read for anyone interested in this.

However the news is not all good.. For many years the church has been plagued with a worrying lack of doctrinal awareness. I think much of the Church now seems to have moved towards a position of being openly hostile to any form of doctrinal conviction. Doctrine is perceived to be either irrelevant or divisive. I find this falsehood being forwarded in the most unlikely of places. Whilst there are few fellowships in Scotland that would see themselves as part of the 'Emerging Church' movement, the same underlying philosophy seems to be pervading many of our churches. If we do not believe we can really 'know the Truth' then we will not have any power to set people free, and will certainly not be faithful, fruitful, God-honouring churches.

Can you give us an example of: 'if I knew then what I know now...'

If I knew how rewarding this great work would be, I'd have been less inclined to have listened to all of the discouragers!

Tripp on an ambassadorial lifestyle

2008-09-09T07:13:00.003Z

Tuesday is Pastor's day at Resolve. Today we feature an extract from a book that we found to be the most helpful pastoral care book that we have encountered, Instruments in the Redeemers Hands by Pasul David Tripp. The guys at Monergism have helpfully presented this in the following format looking at core truths of an ambassadorial lifestyle.

Truth #1. We need God and his truth to live as we were meant to live (Gen 1:26; John 17:17; 2 Tim 3:16-17; Heb 4:12). We need to forsake any delusion of autonomy or self-sufficiency. We cannot figure life out on our own nor do what God calls us to do. Our utter dependence on the Lord is not rooted in the Fall, but in our humanity. We were created to worship the Lord and depend on Him.

Truth #2. Each of us has been called by God to be his instruments of change in the lives of others, beginning with our families and the church (Eph 4:11-16; Col 3:9-17). Ministry is not an activity that takes place outside our primary relationships. Rather, God intends to use us in these relationships as he does his redemptive work.

Truth #3. Our behavior is rooted in the thoughts and motives of our hearts to express themselves in words and actions (Jer 17:9; Prov 4:23; Mat 23:25; Mark 7:20-23; Luke 6:43-45; James 4:1-10). Without denying the sad realities of suffering and being sinned against, we must reject any view of human behavior that forgets the heart. Instead, we affirm that God changes people's lives as his grace transforms their hearts. Thus, in personal ministry, no matter what the difficulty, the heart is always our target.

Truth #4. Christ has called us to be his ambassadors following his message, methods and character (2 Cor 5:14-21). Our calling allows us to represent the Lord of the universe to people around us! God is taking lost, confused, discouraged, rebellious, and self-absorbed people and making them into people who are empowered by his grace and motivated by his glory. Nothing is more important!

Truth #5. Being an instrument of change involves incarnating the love of Christ by sharing in people's struggles, identifying with their suffering, and extending God's grace as we call them to change (2 Cor 1:3-12). We should seek relationships that are more than naturally fulfilling. We are to build relationships in which God's work of personal transformation can thrive. We do this by sharing the love Christ has poured out on us. We do it by coming to those who suffer as fellow sufferers who offer God's comfort and compassion. And we do it by coming as sinners to other sinners, extending to them the grace that has transformed our hearts - and can do the same for others.

Truth #6. Being an instrument of changes means seeking to know people by guarding against false assumptions, asking good questions, and interpreting information in a distinctly biblical way (Prov 20:5; Gal 6: 1-5; Heb 4:14-16). We cannot be content with casual relationships among God's people. We really want to get to know people and discover where change is needed. We learn to ask questions that cannot be answered without self-disclosure. And we filter everything we learn about people through the grid of Scripture. Our goal is not only to know others biblically, but to help them know themselves in the same way.

Truth #7. Being an instrument of change means speaking the truth in love. With the gospel as our comfort and call, we can help people see themselves in God's Word and lead them to repentance (Rom 8:1-17; Gal 6:1-2; James 1:22-25). When we confront people with the truth, we want to be instruments of seeing and agents of repentance. It is easier for people to see problems in people and situations than it is to see them in ourselves. That is why we lovingly hold the Word of God before them, so they can see themselves clearly and repent. Our prayer is that the words we speak will expose and change their hearts as they respond to the comfort and call of the gospel.

Truth #8. Being an instrument of change means helping people do what God calls them to do by clarifying responsibility, offering loving accountability, and reminding them of their identity in Christ (Phil 2:1-14; 2 Pet 1:3-9; 1 John 3:1-3; Gal 6:2). We must not confuse insight with heart and life change. Acquiring biblical insight is a necessary part of the process, but it is not, in itself, change. Change comes when people identify the specific things God is calling them to do and begin doing them by faith. We encourage this process by standing with people, offering the wisdom, guidance, and encouragement of biblical accountability. Lastly, we encourage change by helping people live out of an accurate sense of their identity as the children of God, with all the rights and privileges that this identity entails.

Tony Payne on the church and evangelism

2008-09-08T07:26:00.002Z

Tony Payne has an interesting assessment on the role of evangelism in churches and particularly in relation to what happens on a Sunday. (HT Justin Taylor)

'Even if we acknowledge that there will be ‘gospel’ things happening all over the place in church, it is also important to say that evangelism is not the purpose of Christian assemblies. It is certainly not their focus. In the New Testament, churches are characteristically the fruit of evangelism, not its agent. Evangelism usually takes place outside the assembly—in the marketplace, the synagogue, the prison, and in daily gospel conversation.

More to the point, theologically, the Christian assembly is a fellowship of the redeemed. It is a manifestation, as well as an anticipation or foretaste, of the great assembly that Christ is building—the assembly of the firstborn in heaven that will be revealed on the last Day (Heb 12:22-24). The purpose of our earthly assemblies, therefore, is to fellowship together in what we already share—our union with Christ—as we listen to and respond to him together, and build his assembly by the words we speak.

This runs counter to the common (although often unspoken) assumption that one of the main aims of a church gathering is to be attractive to non-Christians—to draw them in, to intrigue them, and to evangelize them. Perhaps it's a legacy of the parish model, where those attending the Sunday assembly were often not Christians at all, and evangelism consisted of preaching the gospel to them. Or perhaps it is the influence of the seeker-service model, where the main aim is to attract and win over unchurched Harry. Or maybe it's a bit of both.

There is an important difference, it seems to me, between running a Christian gathering whose focus is on evangelizing the outsider, and running a Christian gathering that is welcoming and intelligible for the outsider, but where the focus is on fellowship with Christ, in speaking, hearing and responding to his word.'

Links

2008-09-05T14:42:00.002Z

Quick post today. Here are a couple of links that I found encouraging and I think have something to say in the present tense.

Erik Raymond
Tom Nettles

Today

2008-09-04T08:06:00.005Z

Today I am freshly and profoundly aware of the following:

That God is great and glorious and I am grievous apart from His Son's death on a cross for me.
That God's mercy is there for people like me and so I am thankful for the Gospel.
My profound capacity for sin and the reality of God's grace.
That it should have been me and not Him.
That pride is the great foe in my heart and humility comes from knowing better all that He is in comparison to all that I am not.
That a wife who prays for me is a gift of grace in itself.
It is not about me being right and you being wrong but plain obedience to God's Word convinced of it's truth, sufficiency, authority, necessity and inerrancy.
That the Holy Spirit prefers to convict than condemn those in Christ and I would do well to observe that pattern in my relationships.
That He has a plan- and He will work it out.

'All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.'
Oswald Chambers

Wednesday Quote

2008-09-03T07:21:00.000Z

‘Spiritual leadership is not won by promotion, but by prayers and tears. It is attained by much heart-searching and humbling before God; by self-surrender, a courageous sacrifice of every idol, a bold uncompromising, and uncomplaining embracing of the cross, and by an eternal, unfaltering looking unto Jesus crucified. This is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be a real spiritual leader of men, a leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth and in hell.’ Samuel Brengle

Tim Keller on Spiritual Health Risks in ministry

2008-09-02T07:45:00.004Z

Tuesday is Pastor's day at Resolve. Today we feature an article extract from Tim Keller entitled 'Ministry Can be Dangerous for your Spiritual Health.'

'We want Christians to be active in ministry, not just ‘consumers of spiritual services.’ We want Christians to become volunteers, and lay leaders, and church officers, and staff members of churches and ministry organizations. There is nothing so fulfilling as to see lives touched and
changed through your service. But the Bible sounds a cautionary note. Christian leadership entails telling people every day, “God is so wonderful!” You will constantly point people toward
God’s worth and beauty, despite the fact that often your own heart is numb or dead to any sense of divine love and glory. What will you do in response to that? There are two things you can do.

The first (and right thing) to do is to watch your heart far more closely than you would have
otherwise, being very disciplined to observe regular times of daily prayer. In these times you may find your heart warming a great deal to God’s reality. Prayer then fans the flame of that reality constantly, so you can speak to others out of what God is giving you in your walk with him.

It is also possible that your heart may stay feeling spiritually dry or even dead. In that case you
keep your stated times of prayer even more diligently. And you humbly acknowledge to God
your dryness and set your heart to trust him and seek him despite it and during it.That deliberate act is itself a great step of spiritual growth and maturity. When you talk to God himself about your dryness (rather than just avoiding prayer times) it reminds you of
your weakness, your dependence on his grace for absolutely everything. It drives home the
importance and preciousness of your legal standing in Christ.

The second (and wrong thing) to do is to rely not on prayer and your personal walk with God,
but on the excitement of ministry activity and effectiveness. In other words, you can rely more on your spiritual gifts (of ministry) than on spiritual grace. In fact, you will probably mistake the operations of your spiritual gifts for the operation of spiritual grace in your life. ‘Gifts’ are abilities God gives us to meet the needs of others in Christ’s name—speaking, encouraging, serving, evangelizing, teaching, leading, administering, counseling, discipling, organizing. ‘Graces’ (often called spiritual fruit) are beauties of character—love, joy, peace, humility, gentleness, self-control. Spiritual gifts are what we do; spiritual fruit or grace is what we are. Unless you understand the superior importance of grace and gospel-character for ministry effectiveness, the discernmentand use of your spiritual gifts may be very dangerous.

The terrible danger is that we can look to our ministry activity as evidence that God is with us,
or as a way to earn God’s favor and prove ourselves. If our heart remembers the gospel, and is
rejoicing in our justification and adoption, then our ministry is done as a sacrifice of thanksgiving
—and the result will be that our ministry is done in love, humility, patience, and tenderness. But our heart may be continuing to do the same self-justification it has always done—seeking to control God and others by earning and proving our worth—through our ministry performance.'

Mark Dever on Church Government

2008-09-01T08:15:00.003Z

On Mondays at Resolve we typically try to look at something particularly related to church life. Today's article extract is from Mark Dever entitled 'A Display of God's Glory'. This is from the section on Congregationalism and looks at the role of teh congregation in the life, ministry and government of the church. (HT Monergism)

'All of the letters of the New Testament (except Philemon and the pastorals) were written
to churches as a whole, instructing them as a whole on what their responsibilities were. Even in matters of the fundamental definition of the gospel, the congregation seemed to be the court of [earthly] final appeal. So in Galatians 1, Paul calls on congregations of fairly young Christians to sit in judgment of angelic and apostolic preachers (even himself! Gal. 1:8) if they should preach any other gospel than the one which the Galatians had accepted.

He doesn’t write merely to the pastors, to the presbytery, to the bishop or the conference, to the convention, or to the seminary. He writes to the Christians who compose the churches, and he makes it quite clear that not only are they competent to sit in judgement on what claims to be the gospel, but that they must! They have an inescapable duty to judge those who claim to be messengers of the Good News of Jesus Christ according to the consistency of their new claims with what these Galatian Christians already knew to be the gospel.

Paul makes this point again in II Timothy 4:3 when he counsels Timothy and the church in Ephesus on the best way to handle false teachers. When he describes the coming tide of false teachers in the church, he particularly blames, in 4:3, those who “to suit their own desires… gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” Whether in selecting them, or paying for them, or approving of their teaching, or in simply consenting to listen to them repeatedly, the congregation here is culpable. They are held as guilty for tolerating false teaching, as are the false teachers themselves. In basic doctrinal definition, the congregation as a whole is the final court held out in Scripture.'

Church Membership Part 3

2008-08-29T07:16:00.001Z

How does this work practically?
There are a variety of practical implications that flow from how we understand membership.

Pastoral Care
Unless someone activates a conversation with the pastor or another member of the leadership team about church membership it is likely that they will assume that the person is still undecided about whether they will be making the church their spiritual home. As such pastoral care of someone who is missing for a number of weeks becomes awkward. If we take seriously the covenant understanding that there is an invitation on behalf of the individual of the church into their life then it is a straightforward matter to challenge and encourage a person pursuing that covenant relationship. When no such invitation exists then it becomes more difficult. Please know two things, not being in church membership does not lessen our concern and interest in you (it just makes our relationship more difficult to define) and also we would sooner that someone fully thought through church membership following God’s leading rather than jumping into it because of someone applying external pressure. The leadership will, for the most part, await the individual taking the initiative in this.

Ministry and service
There are certain areas of ministry in the church that we consider to be reserved for church members. Leadership, preaching, praise leading, prayer team membership will only be conducted by church members. On a slight side note, the local church is the primary place of Christian service; the place envisaged for the outworking of the grace gifts (spiritual gifts and natural abilities) that God gives to all believers. It is the privilege and responsibility of the leadership to prayerfully discern the place and practice of these gifts within the church and with godly wisdom to deploy the church membership into areas of ministry and service.

Membership Responsibilities
Our constitution indicates that attention is required by members in the following areas:
Members joining the church shall come under the obligation to attend worship regularly, to contribute systematically as the Lord has prospered them towards the support of God’s work, to engage in some form of Christian service in connection with the church, and to maintain the spirit of Christian love and unity.

Attendance
Hebrews 10:23-25
Again, our constitution indicates that:

'Should any member fail to attend communion for a period of three months without giving satisfactory reason for absence when visited, the matter shall be brought before the Church Business Meeting, when, if the church so decides, the name of the absentee will be removed from the roll of membership.'

Attendance is vital in for a number of reasons. First, the Bible has in view the people of God gathering regularly to worship together- our attendance at church is indicative of how much we prize such times. Second, it provides a thermometer of your relationship with God, He prizes the church and expects you to be part of it; do you prize what He prizes? Third, it supports and sustains your Christian walk; it is unhealthy for a Christian to frequently be absent from Christian fellowship in a local church. Fourth, the witness and welcome of the church suffer because visitors might variably think the place is empty and dying. Fifth, you miss the opportunity to bless and be blessed. Sixth, it makes it difficult to plan services and promote activities when those involved are unclear as to who will be there.

Giving
We are called to give to the work of the church from the material gifts we are given from God’s grace to us. This involves giving
· Sacrificially (this is reflective of our worship of God. King David said that He would not offer to God something that had cost him nothing, we should take a similar approach).
· Regularly (this helps the financial planning of the church)
· Cheerfully (It is an act of praise and worship responding to God’s goodness- not some form of spiritual taxation).

Service
There are many areas to serve in the local church. Not all are glamorous, but all can be done to the glory of God. Cleaning, making soup, clearing tables, making tea and coffee for people arriving, participating in the praise band, youth work…. The list is long and varied.

Find an area to serve in because as people get involved in service in one area we see opportunities for developing and growing the ministry of the church in another area. As an increasing number of people involve themselves in a variety of ways the leadership can see ways of expanding ministry in keeping with an expanding group of people committed in membership and action to the goals of the church.

Church membership part 2

2008-08-28T08:00:00.000Z

What does church membership mean?
First, we must say that it carries great meaning for the Christian and is the primary place envisaged in the Bible for Christian service (Ephesians 4: 11-13).

It is for all Christians
Church membership is for those who profess Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour in word and deed. We do not believe that salvation is accomplished through anything we do or belong to. Membership of a local church is part of the fruit of that salvation and is a source of support in our walk with God as an aid to our pursuit of holiness.

It is based on a Covenant
Church membership is designed to produce strong Christians living spiritually fruitful lives for the glory of God. This is best and most consistently achieved through the accountability, encouragement and challenge of fellow Christians. This can only be effectively conducted within a context of church membership. It is about investing ourselves in God’s best for one another and with one another. It is covenant because it is the local church saying we will stand with you, and you saying to the local church I will do the same with you.

It provides Clarity
The church you belong to will quickly become the major influence upon what you believe about God. Considering church membership by necessity encourages you to think through what you believe and whether it is in keeping with that church’s stated beliefs. Avoiding that process means that you deprive yourself of an opportunity to really think through a) what you believe and b) whether you agree with the key teachings of the church that you go to. Your belonging to the local church should equip you to know what you believe, to explain that to others, to have confidence in God’s Word and from that to have boldness with the Gospel.

It regulates Conduct
Matthew 18:15-17, 1 Corinthians 6:1-6, 1 Timothy 6:3-5, 11-16
Our constitution states that

In cases of open back-sliding, inconsistency or doctrinal error, it is the duty of the church to exercise discipline- 2 Thess. 3: 6, 14,15; Titus 3: 10-11. All such matters are to be regarded by the members as strictly private.

Church membership ultimately only means something if a person can be removed (as a final and sad end). Church discipline is not often practised in churches because there often seems a fear of what is involved. The true nature and basis of Biblical church discipline must always be love. It comes from an attitude that says if we love you we want God’s best for you- the way you are living is not God’s best for you so we want to humbly intervene in order to set you back on the path of grace. We all need Biblical church discipline in our lives so that we can be corrected and trained in righteousness for the glory of God.

We must prize the reputation of the church, not because it reflects on our standing and status but because it is designed to exist for the praise of God’s glory- therefore church discipline is a necessity. Conduct that legitimately causes accusations of ungodliness, hypocrisy and the like should and must be challenged in all of us out of a desire first and above all for God’s glory then the good of the individual.

Wednesday Quote

2008-08-27T13:36:00.000Z

'As wonderful and sophisticated as the heart is, it was never made to be just a heart, but a part of a body. It has no value to the body outside the body. And the heart itself can't thrive outside the body. As incredible and wonderful as you are, Christian, you were never made just to be an individual Christian, but a part of body. As every organ and every cell is God-created to be an active member of the human body, so every true Christian is God-created to be an active member of a local body of Christ.'
Donald S. Whitney

Dever and Azurdia in Church Membership

2008-08-26T07:14:00.002Z

Today is Pastor's Day at Resolve. As we continue thinking about church membership this week we feature an article from Mark Dever entitled 'An Introduction to the Church.' We think it contains some helpful reminders.

'In today’s world, the concept of membership makes one think of clubs and other voluntary associations. Such organizations exist in the world of the Bible, too.20 But the idea of membership is even more basic to humankind. Households and families have members. Races and tribes and clans have members. So, also, do communities and parties and elite groups like orders, guilds, and councils. An even more basic meaning of member refers to the human person. Our bodies have members.21 The Bible uses the concept of “member” and “membership” in all these varieties.

The Bible also represents churches as composed of members. From the earliest of times, local Christian churches were congregations of specific, identifiable people. The idea of a clearly defined community of people is central to God’s action in both the Old and the New Testaments. The lives of Christians together display visibly the gospel they proclaim audibly.
If the church, in fact, presents a glorious climax in God’s plan, several questions arise: How does an individual know he or she belongs to the church? How can one become a part of it? What is entailed by membership? The responsibilities and duties of members of a Christian church are simply the responsibilities and duties of Christians.22 But Christians also have particular duties in relation to the congregation. “Christianity is a corporate matter, and the Christian life can be fully realized only in relationship to others.”23 The most fundamental duty Christians have in relation to the congregation is the duty to regularly attend gatherings of the congregation.24 In general, membership duties can be divided into duties toward other members and duties toward pastors.

The duties and responsibilities church members have toward one another summarize the life of the new society that is the church. As followers of Jesus Christ, Christians are obliged to love one another.25 Christians are members of one family, even of one another.26 Church-members are also obliged to seek peace and unity within their congregation.27 Love is expressed and unity is cultivated when church-members actively sympathize with one another. Church-members also have particular responsibilities toward the leaders of the church.28 Church-members should remember their leaders and imitate their life and faith.29'

Also worth checking out these audio messages from Arturo Azurdia on 'the responsibilities of church members.'

Church Membership Part 1

2008-08-25T07:03:00.003Z

This week at Resolve we're going to spend some time thinking about the importance of church membership.

'In a society that is best summed up by the word individualistic the idea of belonging is becoming less and less understandable to this present generation. Certainly the idea of belonging and committing for the long haul is a challenging one and in many ways is alien to the culture that we experience day in day out.

That membership of a local church is at such low ebb is a representation of this cultural understanding of belonging. Thus churches providing statistics of membership will often claim that more people come regularly than is reflected in these statistics. The average Christian seems to consider church membership to be a matter of optional choice rather than Biblical direction.

This understanding, it seems, is partly born out of a desire for convenience- what suits us. It is representative of commercialism- what our tastes are. It reveals something about our lack of clarity- which sounds like, ‘we’re not really sure what we’re looking for in a church.’ All of which is often, either consciously or unconsciously expressed in a sentence like ‘we’ll stay while it satisfies us.’ The challenge for the Christian is that belonging to a church is not to be founded on a basis of convenience, individual tastes, or personal satisfaction but rather in response to the clear Biblical call to belong and serve His people through membership of and ministry in the local church.

What does the Bible say?
This should always be the first question that we ask in regards to our Christian life and practice. The New Testament clearly assumes church membership and its existence (e.g. 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31). The Epistles are overwhelmingly addressed to groups of Christians in particular cities. That the individual’s walk is a community project is clear from the number of references made to collective accountability, challenge and encouragement (Hebrews 10: 19-25). All these things are to happen between one Christian and another in a committed relationship to one another.

The words of scripture do not point to a makeshift, freelance approach to one another in church but of an established, committed investment in the lives of our brothers and sisters. The people of God (you and I) are to be a building, they are the house of God founded strong, deep and sure (Ephesians 4: 19-22). May I ask you; why then are we, in the most important aspect of our lives and in the most significant calling in the world satisfied to appear like a gazebo (Ephesians 4: 14-16)? The Christian cannot, must not, should not adopt a ‘wherever I lay my hat, that’s my home’ approach to the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5: 22-30). It is a matter of deep importance, one that requires our diligent attention.'