Our new teaching series at St Faith’s is called The Powerful, The Poisonous & The Personal. In it we’re looking at some potentially controversial teachings within the church. This past weekend I spoke on the book of Ephesians and what it means to be a Spirit-Filled church.
Here is the MP3 from the sermon:
HOW TO BE A SPIRIT-FILLED CHURCH – EPHESIANS – Dave Miers
[right click etc to download]
Feel free to leave any questions or comment. Peaceout.
The following quote is from the end of John Stott’s commentary on Ephesians 5:18-21 (I think it’s also in his book Baptism and Fullness). Most of it is on the cutting room floor for my sermon on “Filled with the Holy Spirit”. Still worth a read.
We need now to return to the imperative on which these four participles depend, that is, to the Christian duty and privilege from which these four Christian attitudes result. It is the command Be filled with the Spirit. The exact form of the verb pl?rousthe is suggestive.
First, it is in the imperative mood. ‘Be filled’ is not a tentative proposal, but an authoritative command. We have no more liberty to avoid this responsibility than the many others which surround it in Ephesians. To be filled with the Spirit is obligatory, not optional.
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I found this table from the ESV Study Bible useful in Ephesians sermon prep.
[click to enlarge]
‘Missing Person’ is the first video from Mike McCarthy’s single ‘In Ages’ (2011). Produced by Frederic Dickerson, on location in Alaska, the clip shows a beautiful sparsity that adds to the music and performance of the music. Download the audio at inages.bandcamp.com
I dig it, it’s beautiful. Personally, I think I like the rawness of the earlier film clip better:
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Not only have Matthias Media put the full back catalogue of Kategoria online, but they have all of the content from The Briefing now online. I think this is a good move. Check out their archives and keep up with all the fresh content. The new bi-monthly print edition is also worth checking out.
“WHAT’S IN THE BRIEFING? 1) Articles to help every Christian in their walk with God. 2) Ideas and thoughts to encourage all to be getting on with ‘everyday’ service and witnessing. 3) A Christian perspective on the actions and events of the world around us. 4) Resources for pastors and lay leaders that provide encouragement and ideas for ministers of God’s Word.”
All the back issues of Kategoria are now available online for free via The Gospel Coalition website. I used to subscribe to Kategoria, but I don’t think I was smart enough to keep up. I think I’m slightly smarter now… so might give it another crack. My brother had an article in Issue 18. I’ll probably never be smart enough to understand it ;) Check it.
“Kategoria was a quarterly journal published by the Matthias Centre for the Study of Modern Beliefs, a non-profit body established to research and critique the modern intellectual estate from a Christian perspective. For 31 issues, Kategoria provided a probing critique of the secular world and offered a reminder that Christianity holds the answers that so many are searching for. Although the journal has finished, Kategoria lives on in these resources of every issue of this acclaimed journal in Adobe PDF format. With articles covering science, ethics, law, philosophy, history and more, these resources are an indispensable tool for research and critical thinking.”
Last week: Digital Natives. This week: Digital Immigrants. Cute + funny old couple:
(h/t Justin Buzzard)
Jason Perini stars in this funny short film. Best Film, Script + Male Actor. Check it:
More on 48 hour film project. Cool concept.
“In each generation, we are only ever a small step from losing the gospel. Generation 1 preaches the gospel; generation 2 assumes the gospel; generation 3 neglects the gospel; and generation 4 denies the gospel. How do we avoid this potential slippery slope with this current generation? The key to keeping the gospel is keeping the cross of Christ central to all that we do. We preach the cross not just for conversion, but as the daily bread for the Christian. How can we keep the cross central in our youth ministries? Do our ministries actually reflect the cross?”
Above is the blurb for my second elective yesterday arvo at NYMC… again you might need to ask someone who attended if it lived up to expectation! I’m pretty passionate about keeping the cross central in life and ministry. I really hope that people were encouraged to keep the main thing the main thing.
HERE ARE MY SLIDES FROM THE ELECTIVE
Talks will be available for download from the NYMC website.
If there’s anything else I said that I’d put on line that I haven’t… let me know!
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact me, or if they might be helpful for other people – leave them in the comments below.
See more of my posts on Jesus.
See more of my posts on youth ministry.
Here are two related videos:
Continue Reading…
“A ‘Digital Native’ is someone who has grown up in a digital and web-connected world. How do we effectively minister to ‘Digital Natives’? The Internet brings with it great dangers as well as incredible opportunities. How can we teach our young people to avoid the harmful while leveraging it for good? This seminar will not just raise the questions; it will give you an achievable strategy for developing an effective web presence for your youth ministry. This includes creating a website, using social media and protecting children online.”
The above is a blurb for a 3 hour workshop I ran today at National Youth Ministry Convention (NYMC). Did I deliver? You might need to ask someone else! But it seemed to be a useful time for people with plenty of good interaction. I really appreciate the collective wisdom that can be gleaned from that type of forum. My prayer is that youth ministries would unleash the internet for good that Jesus would be made famous and God glorified
HERE ARE MY SLIDES FROM THE WORKSHOP
Here are websites I referred to that aren’t on the slides:
Talks will be available for download from the NYMC website.
If there’s anything else I said that I’d put on line that I haven’t… let me know!
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact me, or if they might be helpful for other people – leave them in the comments below.
See more of my posts on technology.
See more of my posts on youth ministry.
Steve Jobs, co-founder of technology giant Apple, died today aged 56. Jobs had an extraordinary impact upon our world. The internet (well, at least twitter) was almost in meltdown following the death of this godlike figure. I’m sure tributes will continue to flow.
Here are a few responses from some Christians:
Bloodlines is “An exclusive video documentary featuring Pastor John Piper as he walks through his personal story of growing up in the segregated South. His personal story boldly champions the transforming power of the gospel and the beauty of racial diversity and harmony in Christ.” Watch the full vid here:
Find out more about the Bloodlines book from Crossway.
“I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant. This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time :) Edit: For those of you who have asked the implant I received was Esteem offered by Envoy Medical. Sarah Churman.”
How sweet is her reaction…
(h/t scot mcknight)
As a long term resident of the Northern Beaches, I’ve been showing my support for OUR Team. Well done to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles… WE won the NRL Grandfinal!
Welcome to another back-dated edition of Pinch + Punch! According to the dmdc archives September 2011 had only 11 blog posts. This is the lowest number since 7 posts in January 2007. Is this blog dying? No! Never! Look out October 2011!!
The Smashing Mag desktop calendars have been getting worse. So this month I chose the above desktop calendar from Challies.com – I don’t think the design is brilliant, but it’s good prep for Reformation Day at the end of October. If you are a new reader of DMDC – the posts below were the most clicked for the month of September. Check ‘em:
