Wednesday 26 November 2008

Vindicate His holy name...

A sermon on Ezekiel 36:22-32

http://www.mediafire.com/?tnz4t3d5zni

An attempted explanation on the reasons for the destruction of the physical Israel, sin, the cross, and the new Israel...
(ambitious isn't it? haha)

Lifehouse - Everything

Note the interesting theology of salvation...

To love God is to know God...

"Theology is not a subject like other subjects. Rather, because of the universal claims of Christ, it seeks to boldly go where no mere discipline would dare, and inform every other branch of knowledge. The university grew out of the theological faculty, and, if the gospel is to be believed, may never leave it. For, as Abraham Kuyper said, ‘there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, “Mine!”’ Thus in every aspect of our living and knowing we should seek to be informed by the word which is truth, and not to be led astray by any other words that falsely claim supremely authoritative knowledge. This is doing theology." - Mike Reeves

From this article: http://www.theologynetwork.org/theology-of-everything/starting-out/fear-and-loathing-in-las-vagueness.htm

Wednesday 19 November 2008

The Faithful Witness

Revelation 1:5 ...Jesus Christ the faithful witness...

On judgement day, Christ acknowledges us based on one thing:

Matthew 10:32-33 32 So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

The Christian life we lead now is not a life of morality or 'religion'
Rather it is one of servitude, one of being slaves of the Master, sons and heirs of His household

Who cares if we are 'good people' (e.g. Rich young ruler)
Who cares if we are very religious (e.g. Pharisees)
Who cares if we consider the Lord a hard man (e.g. Parable of Talents)

The Lord wants people who love Him
The Lord wants people who will declare His name for His sake
The Lord glorifies those who glorify Him

Therefore our words matter... because they testify about Him
Indeed how can the mouth that speaks Christ also speak the waters of death?

Therefore our actions matter... we do good deeds in the sole hope that others recognise our Father in heaven
We cannot disqualify our testimony of Him by what we do - and so on this we are also judged (cf. Rom 2, etc)
Works that have no witness to our Father are utterly useless

Therefore above all, our heart matters
Because only a heart in love with God for who God is because of what God has done can and will desire to testify about Him to others for His name's sake

This is the Christian - there is no other who will be acknowledged before the Father
Everyday we deny ourselves, we go to the cross, because only cross-work will allow the revelation of our Father in heaven - as Jesus did before us

What did Jesus actually command?

From Blackham's blog:

The 'direct' commands of Christ in Matthew's gospel's sermon on the mount:

The Commands of Jesus
Matthew 4:17 – “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
Matthew 5:12 – “Rejoice and be very glad”, when you are persecuted for Jesus’
sake.
Matthew 5:16 – “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:22 – “Whosoever shall say “Fool” shall be in danger of hell fire”
Matthew 5:25 – “Agree with your opponent quickly”
Matthew 5:28 – “Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed
adultery with her already in his heart”
Matthew 5:29‐30 – “If your right eye/hand offend you, pluck/cut it off”
Matthew 5:37 – “Let your yes be yes and your no be no”
Matthew 5:39 – “Do not resist evil”
Matthew 5:39 – “If someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you again on
the other cheek”
Matthew 5:40 – “If someone takes your coat, let him have your cloak as well.”
Matthew 5:41 – “If someone forces you to go one mile, then go two miles for
them”
Matthew 5:42 – “Give when people ask from you”
Matthew 5:44 – “Love your enemies. Bless your enemies and never curse them”
Matthew 5:44 – “Do good to those who hate you.”
Matthew 5:44 – “Pray for those that abuse you and persecute you.”
Matthew 5:48 – “Be perfect just as the Father is perfect.”
Matthew 6:1 – “Do not do charity in public”
Matthew 6:5 – “Do not sow off in your prayers”
Matthew 6:7 – “Do not use pointless repetitions in your prayers”.
Matthew 6:9‐13 – Pray using the pattern of the “Lord’s Prayer”
Matthew 6:16 – “When you fast, do it secretly”
Matthew 6:19 – “Do not possess many things that have value in this world”
Matthew 6:20 – “Possess lots of things that will have value in heaven”
Matthew 6:25 – “Do not think about this present life – whether food, drink or
clothing”
Matthew 6:28 – “Consider the lilies”
Matthew 6:33 – “Seek the kingdom of God as your top priority in life”
Matthew 6:34 – “Don’t worry about tomorrow”
Matthew 7:1 – “Do not judge people”
Matthew 7:3‐5 – “Don’t focus on other people’s faults. Deal with your own.”
Matthew 7:6 – “Don’t give holy things to unholy people”
Matthew 7:7 – “Ask, seek and knock”
Matthew 7:12 – “Treat others as you would like to be treated”
Matthew 7:13 – “Enter in through the narrow gate”
Matthew 7:15 – “Beware of false teachers”
Matthew 7:24‐27 – Obey the commands of Jesus.

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Friday 14 November 2008

A little bit of Danish...

For some strange reason..
ended up doing the KFS (IFES equivalent) conference near Copenhagen

these are a couple of hour-long talks on 'Who is Jesus' and 'So what?'

http://www.mediafire.com/?wlzmhyrntzk

http://www.mediafire.com/?dymkktmkqod

Didn't know there was a Scandinavian revival about 100+ years ago!
Although now there must be just around 100 Christian students in the whole of Copenhagen!

Wednesday 5 November 2008

The Golden Calf

Update:



Check out Glen's post:

http://christthetruth.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/not-a-great-image/

How much more revealing can you get...

Tuesday 4 November 2008

If God were your Father...

This still makes my blood boil in so many different ways...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7706977.stm

Monday 3 November 2008

Purifying yourself...

A short 15min sermon on 1 John 2:28 - 1 John 3:3

http://www.mediafire.com/?jozmgwivcry

Sin loves to fester in the darkness - the love of God demands that we drag it screaming out of its hiding hole into the Light where it can be exposed and destroyed, both in guilt and power...

Saturday 1 November 2008

Hammertime...

From the Merrie Theologiane

On this day, 491 years ago, Martin Luther nailed to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg 95 theses for debate over the matter of indulgences.


An actual photo of Luther nailing up his theses

Some of the theses were actually quite funny, like Thesis 82, which asked why the pope didn’t just release all souls from purgatory out of love, instead of charging for it. Later, though, Luther realised he’d missed a trick, and he circulated a pamphlet inviting people to see an even greater collection of relics than that in Wittenberg. This included:

· Three flames from the burning bush on Mt Sinai
· Two feathers and an egg from the Holy Spirit
· Half a wing of the archangel Gabriel
· A section of Moses’ left horn [Exod 34:29, in the Vulgate, Moses‘ face was ‘horned’ from the conversation with the Lord]
· Two ells of sound from the trumpets on Mt Sinai
· A remnant of the flag with which Christ opened hell
· A large lock of Beelzebub’s beard, stuck on the flag

Who says you have to be always serious to reform the Church? The laughter of the Reformation was one its most powerful weapons, exposing and humiliating bankrupt theology.