Archives for 2008

Anglican rift – a little hardball

A small Anglican church in Toronto has been locked out of its building in consequence of its vote to leave the Canadian diocese in favour of a more conservative South American one. One suspects that this church is singled out because it is small.

The whole scene is not entirely promising … note that the pastor of this small church is female:

Within days of the vote, their minister, Rev. Barbara Richardson, was suspended by the diocese. She later resigned from the national church and has been licensed as a priest with Venables’ church.

This battle looks to be getting uglier by the day.

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the power of God unto salvation … and more

Romans 1.16 is a glorious passage. We are in message #2 on it this week. At least one more week to go…

The Power of God (Rm 1.16b) || Audio

The gospel can be summed by a clear set of theological facts. But the gospel is much more than a mere collection of facts. It is much more than bare orthodoxy. It is the power of God unto salvation.

Read the notes as you listen.

more…

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the heavens declare!

I don’t want to turn this into an entirely space blog, but NASA keeps providing spectacular pics of our Solar System. Check out this one of earth and moon from a Mars orbiter…

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lunar peaks and valleys

“We now know the south pole has peaks as high as Mt. McKinley and crater floors four times deeper than the Grand Canyon,” says Doug Cooke, deputy associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.

The NASA site today has an animation of a ‘lunar day’ as seen on the moon’s south pole. Yet more fascinating info concerning our Lord’s marvellous creation.

With all the stark beauty seen on lifeless planets and moons, it seems to me that the earth is unique in God’s creation. In some ways, the earth is the center of the universe.

But … there is a funny line later on in the article…

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another voice of sanity

I’d like to call your attention to a blog called ‘Mind if I Say Something’. The subject of Marty Colburn’s 2/24/08 blog is You Say You Want a Revolution?

Marty appears to be arguing for the same things I do when it comes to fundamentalism and personal discipleship. I recommend it to you. Here is a taste…

There is also the trend to throw out much of what fundamentalism has been known for. While I am not necessarily speaking out for the movement itself, such an attitude exemplifies a revolutionary spirit that calls all that is old “wrong”, and all that is new “right”.

Read the whole thing! (HT: Ellis Murphree)

The piece reminded me of something I saw over at the 9marks blog today…

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not ashamed of the gospel – 2.24.08 sermons

Our theme for this Sunday came to us from Rm 1.16a, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel . . .” On a day when almost half of our congregation was out with illness, I found myself praying, being very dismayed. It is one thing to preach the gospel before a larger appreciative audience. It is one thing to preach before a hostile audience. It is still another to preach before a weak, shrinking congregation. This was a time when I knew When to Pray.

And still, we are Not Ashamed, and God gives grace to enable us in our extremities and time of need. I believe the Lord gave his grace for the messages on this day and those who were out profited from them.

The summaries and links are below:

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any day with books is a good day

Any day with FREE books is an even better day!

Our local newspaper holds an annual book sale with books donated by the citizens of our fair city. They do it for some charity or other. The day after the sale, they have local non-profit organizations in to pick through the leftovers for free!

This was the first year I have had the time to go by and check the leftovers. I found myself standing in a line of 100 or so others at 9am. I saw one fellow with one of those rolling trash bins, apparently to take his haul home with him. Others arrived with many boxes. A whole team of scavengers was just ahead of me with five people and boxes.

Inside, there were literally thousands of books left. I can’t imagine what they will do with all of them, I am sure the non-profits couldn’t carry them all away. I ended up with 13 books – I am picky, and our city doesn’t tend to give away books that are of real interest to someone as conservative as me.

Nevertheless, here is my list of treasures…

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fastest growing ‘church’

Several news outlets have picked up on a document published by the liberal National Council of Churches, the 2008 Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches.

If you haven’t seen the reports, which church do you think increased the most in 2006 according to self-reported statistics?

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another little Lloyd-Jones gem

“The gospel of Jesus Christ is not popular with the natural man. He is against it. So that if you find the natural, unregenerate man praising either the preacher or his message then, I say, you had better examine that preaching and that preacher very carefully.”[1]

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[1] D. M. Lloyd-Jones, Romans: The Gospel of God, p. 264.

a sad, sad, story

Christianity Today linked to An Atheist in the Pulpit from Psychology Today. It is lengthy, depressing, sad, and hopeless. It isn’t unfamiliar – many people, raised in Christian homes, or involved in Christian ministries of various kinds, make utter shipwrecks of their lives.

I can’t really say much about the article, but I think you should read it. This is the last paragraph:

When you’ve lost God, how do you fill the void?

“That’s what I’m wrestling with now,” says James McAllister. “I don’t have anyone to talk to in my heart. The prayers I used to say, I simply don’t bother anymore. I obviously regard prayer to be silly, even. But it was a comforting place that I could go. I’ve let that go. And there is a void. And hopefully it can be replaced just by appreciating being alive.”

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