This is our biggest issue of J-walk ever! It’s my last one as editor. To be honest… I didn’t do much editing at all. I wrote the editorial. So… it’s my last editorial. Alex Hartley has now begun editing j-walk. This is good… I’m excited about some of the plans for the magazine next year.
Jack Miller on Prayer & Preaching
“Basically I am convinced that men who do not make praying their first priority in life and ministry should not preach or pastor. As preachers they will be confusing models of a Christian man, and as shepherds they will not show willingness to die for the sheep…As we seek faith and pray together, the power will be in the preaching, and other matters such as style will begin to take their own course.” (h/t The Buzz Man)
CCEC Christmas
Josh Harris on Affluenza
I listened to some sermons from Covenant Life Church last year on Affluenza (1, 2 & 3).
What is affluenza? Josh Harris explains it like this:
Affluenza is a nifty little word that some clever sociologist created by mixing two different words together. The word affluence means having a great deal of money. Influenza is a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease. When you mash these two together, you get affluenza, which is a useful word for describing the problems generated by a rich consumer culture that has an endless hunger for more and more stuff. Affluenza is the disease of greed. It’s the materialistic mindset that says getting more money and possessions is the ultimate aim of life. Affluenza is the spirit of our age, and it has infected all of us.
Josh is currently blogging the text from the first affluenza sermon. In the sermon and the blog post Josh speaks from Luke 12 on the ‘Disease of Greed’. Good, challenging stuff.
Affluenza, Part 1: The Real Money Problem
Affluenza, Part 2: The Deception of Greed
UPDATE: Affluenza, Part 3: Greed Destroys Us
I’ll pay for my own lunch thanks…
Chatted to a guy at a 21st last night for about an hour and a half. I’d been praying that I’d be bold and take the opportunity to chat to him… one of the speeches was gold! It really lead well into a discussion. It was tragic to chat to this guy. The last thing he said was that even if I could 100% convince of the truth of the claims that Jesus makes about himself, he’d rather just stand before God and take his own punishment. Tragic. Row found this quote from John Stott (The Cross of Christ) today. The last sentence (in bold) pretty much summarises this chap. Pray for him that God would give him ears to hear.
The doctrine of substitution affirms not only a fact (God in Christ substituted himself for us) but its necessity (there was no other way by which God’s holy love could be satisfied and rebellious human beings could be saved). Therefore, as we stand before the cross, we begin to gain a clear view both of God and of ourselves, especially in relation to each other. Instead of inflicting upon us the judgment we deserved, God in Christ endured it in our place. Hell is the only alternative. This is the ‘scandal’, the stumbling-block, of the cross. For our proud hearts rebel against it. We cannot bear to acknowledge either the seriousness of our sin and guilt or our utter indebtedness to the cross. Surely, we say, there must be something we can do, or at least contribute, in order to make amends? If not, we often give the impression that we would rather suffer our own punishment than the humiliation of seeing God through Christ bear it in our place.
Yesterday I got my mobile phone back from 3 months using a loan phone. This photo was taken last night. 7 warm fuzzies to the first person or reptile to correctly identify the car I was driving…
The Cross
I’ve just been reading through the opening chapters of CJ Mahaney’s book Living the Cross Centered Life
“The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us.” John Stott
“The gospel cannot be preached and heard enough, for it cannot be grasped well enough…Moreover, our greatest task is to keep you faithful to this article and to bequeath this treasure to you when we die.” Martin Luther
“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1Corinthians 1:18 ESV
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14 ESV
May our boast be only in the cross.