Below I have pasted a blog post from Erik Raymond over at the Irish Calvinist blog.  The heart Spurgeon expresses in this quote is a good summary of our heart as leadership here at ASGF.

“If ever there should come a wretched day when all our pulpits shall be full of modern thought, and the old doctrine of substitutionary sacrifice shall be exploded, then will there remain no word of comfort for the guilty or hope for the despairing. Hushed will be forever those silver notes which now console the living, and cheer the dying; a dumb spirit will possess this dying world, and no voice of joy will break the blank silence of despair. The gospel speaks through the propitiation for sin, and if that be denied, it speaketh no more. Those who preach not the atonement exhibit a dumb and dummy gospel; a mouth it hath, but speaketh not…

“Would you have me silence the doctrine of the blood of sprinkling? Would anyone of you attempt so horrible a deed? Shall we be censured if we continually proclaim the heaven-sent message of the blood of Jesus? Shall we speak with bated breath because some affected person shudders at the sound of the word ‘blood’? or some ‘cultured’ individual rebels at the old fashioned thought of sacrifice? Nay, verily, we will sooner have our tongue cut out that cease to speak of the precious blood of Jesus Christ.” (Charles Spurgeon, as quoted in Pierced for Our Transgressions)

When was the last time you asked for another’s input and critique of your life?

Over at the New Attitude Blog (another good blog to add to your list if you read blogs) Isaac Hydoski wrote a post last week entitled “Involve Others, Invite Input.”  This is just one aspect of the fellowship that Josh preached on this last Sunday.

Here are some highlights.

We’re created to need others. In the beginning we were created to first have fellowship with God and then have fellowship with each other. We were never created to get by alone, to simply trust our own thoughts and opinions. So I want to introduce a very simple but necessary concept: biblical involvement in a local church means involving others in your life and inviting their input.
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Before I get to what I love about our church here are three quick points of qualification-

Here they are, in no particular order.

• I love the diversity of ages represented at our church. We may be lopsided towards the young families’ category but it is sweet to see teenagers, more mature couples, singles, etc. interacting with the body, contributing to the body, and recognizing Christ as the what is truly central in enjoying fellowship.
• I love the eagerness our church expresses to hear and learn from God’s word. I am constantly hearing how people were convicted, challenged in their thinking, and provoked to a greater love for God through sermons and studies. I love the way people examine Scripture passages, ask tough questions, think hard about issues, and want to truly learn what God’s word means and how it applies to their lives.
• I love the way God has put our church together with different people fulfilling different roles. We have people who are constantly positive and always ready with an encouraging word. There are people who see what needs to be done and are on it. We have people who will take time to just sit and listen giving godly advice and wisdom. There are people who will open their homes at any time and welcome people in to share life together.
• I love the people quickly step up and meet needs when needs are made known. When a need is communicated we often have swarms of people ready to help with their time, their resources, their finances, etc. It seems that between children’s ministry, facilities, and various Grace Group service opportunities almost everyone is finding a way to practically contribute to meeting needs in the body.
• I love the honesty with which our church admits their sinfulness. On the whole we readily acknowledge we are sinful. I am constantly in contact with people who recognize their fallenness and its effects in their lives. Even better- it seems that people see sins ugliness and hate it. As I talk with people about sin they battle repeatedly, a real desire for holiness and change is evident.
• I love the way our church points back to the cross in every situation. It is becoming clear to me that we are growing to understand how the gospel connects to everything in life. When we confess sin to each other we point each other back to the cross. When we see our sin revealed in the pages of Scripture we also recognize God’s grace and patience with us displayed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is beginning to permeate our thinking- as well it should.
• I love the way our church cherishes children and the way we work together to raise them. Children are seen as gifts from God to be cherished and loved. At the same time we all understand parenting is hard work and a heavy responsibility. Because of this I see us responding by supporting and encouraging each other in this rather overwhelming task.

This list is just a beginning- What would you add?

Beginning this last Sunday through the first part of January we will be in a sermon series entitled “Body Life.”

The goal of this series is to enrich and inform what we do as a body of gathered believers- the church. What should we be doing? Why do we do it? How is it to be done? Etc.

God’s design for the church is beautiful and this series should be a rich time digging into the word together. To correspond with the topic each week I will be posting further resources on the blog.

Here is a schedule of the topics by Sunday-

November 25th- Body Life Pt. 1- Fellowship

December 2nd- Body Life Pt. 2- Service

December 9th- Body Life Pt. 3- Learning

December 16th- Body Life Pt. 4-Worship through Music

December 23rd- Christmas Sermon

December 30th- Body Life Pt. 5- Giving

January 6th- Body Life Pt. 6- Ordinances- Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds recently posted some summary points of a recent piece written by Wayne Grudem on interpreting Scripture (the peice is part of a book called Preach the Word: Essays on Expository Preaching: In Honor of R. Kent Hughes).

As people of the book it is important that we understand rightly how to study and dig into the revealed word of God.  I commend Grudem’s points for your consideration and practice.

General Principles for Right Interpretation

1. Spend your earliest and best time reading the text of the Bible itself.
2. The interpretation of Scripture is not a magical or mysterious process, because Scripture was written in the ordinary language of the day.
3. Every interpreter has only four sources of information about the text [(1) The meanings of individual words and sentences; (2) The place of the statement in its context; (3) The overall teaching of Scripture; (4) Some information about the historical and cultural background.
4. Look for reasons rather than mere opinions to give support to an interpretation, and use reasons rather than mere opinions to attempt to persuade others.
5. There is only one meaning for each text (though there are many applications.
6. Notice the kind of literature in which the verse is found.
7. Notice whether the text approves or disapproves or merely reports a person’s actions.
8. Be careful not to generalize specific statements and apply them to fundamentally different situations.
9. It is possible to do a short or long study of any passage. Do what you can with the time you have, and don’t be discouraged about all that you cannot do.
10. Pray regularly for the Holy Spirit’s help in the whole process of interpreting the Bible.

Keeping the “Big Picture” in Mind: Some Observations about the Whole of Scripture

Big Picture 1

The Bible is a historical document. Therefore, always ask, “What did the author want the original readers to understand by this statement?”

Big Picture 2

The original authors wanted the original readers to respond in some ways. Therefore, always ask, “What application did the original author want the readers to make to their lives?”

Big Picture 3

The whole Bible is about God! Therefore, we should always ask, “What does this text tell us about God?”

Big Picture 4

The center of the whole Bible is Jesus Christ. The entire Old Testament leads up to him and points to him, and the entire New Testament flows from him. Therefore, we should always ask, “What does this text tell us about the greatness of Christ?”

Big Picture 5

All history can be divided into several major “ages” or “epochs” in salvation history. Therefore, we should read every passage of the Bible with a salvation history timeline in our minds and constantly remember where every passage fits on the timeline.

Big Picture 6

Themes: Because the Bible is a unity (it has one divine Author though many human authors), there are many themes that develop and grow from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore, for each significant element in any text, it is helpful to ask, (a) Where did this theme start in the Bible? (b) How did this theme develop through the Bible? and (c) Where is this theme going to end in the Bible?

Tim Pickard helps us reflect on giving thanks.

 

 1 Thessalonians 5:18 [46:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds recently linked to an article by Al Mohler on reading Bible stories to your children.  Below is the substance of the article.

Here are a few suggestions for maximizing the reading experience for school-age children.

1. Read at a specific time set as part of the ritual of the child’s life. Children thrive on structure and are motivated by anticipation. Make a special reading time part of the family’s day. The obvious time for this is bedtime, and for good reason. The child senses the end of the day is near, knows sleep is coming, and is more likely to be both calm and attentive.

Furthermore, the child is more likely to anticipate a special time of closeness with Mom or Dad (or both) at bedtime, dressed for bed and gathered with parents to end the day. There is nothing wrong with reading to the child at any hour of the day, but bedtime is undeniably special.

2. Read in a clear voice and avoid both excessive drama and a lifeless reading. A listless and lazy reader will lose the child’s attention, but an excessively dramatic reader will make the child grow accustomed to drama — often at the expense of thoughtful content and retention. You want the child to be fully drawn into the story, but you also want the child to be thinking about the story and its meaning.

3. When reading a Bible story, help the child to find the actual text of the account in the pages of the Bible. The child needs to learn to read the Bible itself — not just Bible story books, and to know that the Bible is God’s perfect and sufficient Word.

4. Place the story in its context within God’s plan and within the Bible. Help children to understand how every word of the Bible is fulfilled in Christ and finds its meaning within God’s plan to redeem His people from sin.

5. Recognize that many of the stories of the Bible teach a clear moral lesson — a lesson that children clearly need to learn and take to heart. At the same time, recognize that these accounts are never merely morality tales. Point your child to the big picture.

6. Never read down to your children, treating them as dull. Instead, give them a substantial story, lay out the narrative, and then trust that they will want to learn and to push themselves toward understanding. Then, be the human agent of that understanding by explaining the story with patience, creativity, and insight based in the fact that you know both the story and the child or children hearing it.

7. Be as honest as the Bible in revealing the strengths and weaknesses of God’s people. Children need to know that God loves us in spite of who we are as sinners, not because of our supposed worth. Children need to learn moral honesty and to know that all (even you, dear parents) are sinners.

8. Ask your children questions about the story to measure understanding, and make sure to see if they have any questions. Ask questions the next morning, during the day, on the playground, in the car, and when the child is in the bathtub. Encourage conversation about the Bible and Bible stories.

9. Ask older children to help with the reading and to grow accustomed both to reading for themselves and to reading aloud.  There is much too little reading of the Bible aloud to the congregation in many churches.  Let the recovery of reading aloud the Word of God begin in your home.

10. Finally, teach them to pray the Scriptures, talking about the story just read and its biblical text as you pray. Pray that God will apply His Word to their hearts, thank God for His Word and for His love, remind them of Christ and His promises, and entrust them to God for the night and for eternity.

No moment invested in teaching your child the Bible and reading Bible stories is ever wasted time. If your reading of a story is interrupted by circumstances (or by a child who has lost the fight against sleep), just pick it up the next time and move on. Enjoy every moment while your children are at this precious and promising stage of life.

Here is some info to fuel your preparation for this Sunday’s service.

I’m going to be preaching on giving thanks from…

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Here are the songs-

God of Wonders by Marc Byrd and Steve Hindalong

Praise to the Lord by Joachim Neander

All I Really Need by Mark Altrogge

All I Owe by Robert M. McCheyne and Matthew S. Smith

Be Thou My Vision by Irish Folk Hymn; Elanor H. Hull

Holy Holy Holy by E.L. Ashford

Almighty God by Tim Hughes

Last Friday an article I wrote appeared in the Auburn Journal.  For some reason it did not appear online until today.

Here is the link if you want to check it out.

Justin Buzzard posted a little while back on the importance of relating everything we read in Scripture back to the cross.  This has been a concept that has been hugely helpful in my study of Scripture.  For every passage we look at there is a gospel context- the gospel relates to it at some level and at some point in the text of Scripture.  We cannot miss this or we miss the message of Scripture itself.  Anyways, enough from me- enjoy.

In your regular reading of God’s Word, are you regularly making it to the cross?

Today, whether you read a few chapters in Leviticus or Luke, Ezekiel or Ephesians, Proverbs or Philippians, you must make it to the cross. If you don’t make it to the cross, if you don’t see the connection between a chapter in Proverbs and what Jesus accomplished on the cross, you’ll miss the whole point of your regular Bible reading. The whole point of reading through your Bible on a regular basis is to begin to see and celebrate that the whole Bible is about the cross–about the gospel, about the good news of what Jesus has done for you.

Make it to the cross.

If you don’t make it to the cross, if you read a few verses in Proverbs and a paragraph of commands in Philippians without detecting how these sentences connect to the blood-stained beam of wood where, “For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21), then consequences will follow.

If you don’t make it to the cross, you’ll make your Bible reading and your relationship with God about your performance rather than about Jesus’ performance. You’ll gravitate away from the gospel and towards religion. Anxiety and fear will take the place of confidence, joy, and rest. Legalism will replace freedom. If your eyes don’t catch a glimpse of the cross as you turn the pages of Scripture, you’re likely to spend much of your day staring at yourself, wallowing in endless introspection, rather than staring at your Savior, delighting in his costly love.

Cultivate the habit of making it to the cross every time you read your Bible.