Category: Jesus

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Before the Throne of God Above

In my Zechariah 3 sermon this weekend, I quoted from the 1863 hymn Before the Throne of God Above. Here is a link to the sermon. Check out the video of the song in full:

Here’s the bit I quoted:

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Amen.

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Sick of half-hearted Christianity?

Below is a 50 word book plug I wrote for Thirteen Three to use for some upcoming events. Radical is my favourite book of 2010 written by David Platt. Stay tuned for more reflections on Radical, including an exciting event coming up in July: Soulies Underground.

Sick of half-hearted Christianity? Read RADICAL by David Platt. No other book (outside of the Bible) has challenged me to take seriously the radical call to follow Jesus. His stories about persecuted Christians have encouraged me to be bolder, more hungry for the Word and prayerful for the world.

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In other Thirteen Three news, SOULIES is raising money for underground Bible school students in Vietnam. More info here.

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John Piper Interviews Rick Warren on Doctrine

I’m about half way through watching this fascinating interview that John Piper recently did with Rick Warren. Warren is the Senior Pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California. Piper and Warren have very different methodological approaches to their ministry. I’ve read some fairly harsh criticism of the author of the massively best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life. Some of those haters might want to repent of their critique that Warren lacks any doctrinal depth. Piper has a thorough break-down and overview of the interview here.

(Click here if you can’t see the video)

Let me know what you think.

Warren is one of my favourite Tweeters. Earlier today he began an encouraging trend on twitter: #GospelHaiku. Go have a read. Here’s mine.

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No Bible No Blogs

My bible reading has taken a bit of a hit lately. Is it because of our expanding family? Not really. I’ve had plenty of time, I’ve simply been lazy and ill-disciplined. It’s time for me to enforce “No Bible No Blog”. I find I’m often distracted by blogs, twitter, facebook, SBS World News app (it’s amazing!) and the like. I need to make sure that before hearing what other people think, I kick off the day hearing what God thinks.

I’ve heard of others that have operated with “No Bible No Breakfast”. You might be easily distracted like me. Maybe you need some self-control in a wired-world, or something else. Whatever it is, prioritise time with God before anything else. Not because God accepts you based on your bible reading performance, but because the Word of God is gooood, what better way to start the day!!

Jesus is still speaking, are you listening?

Here are some resources that might help you work out what to read.

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Strategy for Connecting with your Neighbours

While mowing the lawn this week, I was warmly greeted by my next door neighbour. Our first interaction three months ago also occurred while I was mowing the lawn, but wasn’t so warm. Why? Because during that first interaction, I was rude to her for asking me to stop mowing the lawn while her kids were trying to go to sleep.

I didn’t sleep well that night, not because of any lawn mower noise, but because I knew that I’d been a jerk in my response. So the next day I wrote a letter to apologise for my behaviour. That was the right thing to do, and she was very gracious in accepting my apology.

The cool thing is that we’ve now had more opportunities to connect with the family next door since the incident! So here’s my strategy for connecting with your neighbours: be offensive.

Just joking. I don’t think we should deliberately cause offense. However, I do think that we should be real with them. Show your warts, but then show how you deal with warts.

Offending your neighbour and then genuinely asking for forgiveness is one way of showing the gospel to them. Don’t pretend to be perfect. Christians are those who recognise that they have offended God and are in need of the forgiveness that comes only through Jesus.

I’m praying that I’d be able to continue building authentic relationships with our neighbours that will lead to more opportunities to show the gospel and share the gospel.

Got any other ideas? Let me know…

Interested in finding out more about the gospel? Here’s one place to start.