Gladstone

Greetings folks

Today I would divert your attention to an interesting piece in memory of one of our greatest Prime Ministers, William Ewart Gladstone, over on Archbishop Cranmer’s blog. He was born 200 years ago today. The shameful things being done in the name of this committed Christian man  are worth our notice – but we should more than anything be thankful to the Lord for what He has done through His servants in previous times.

Happy Christmas

Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad,
From everlasting was the Word;
With God He was, the Word was God,
And must as God be here adored.

By His own power were all things made;
By Him supported all things stand;
He is the whole creation’s Head,
And angels fly at His command.

Ere sin began, or Satan fell,
He led the host of morning stars;
His generation who can tell,
Or count the number of His years?

But see, He leaves his home above,
A body takes on earth below,
That He may show His glorious love,
And save us from our guilt and woe.

Mortals with joy beheld His face,
The eternal Father’s only Son;
How full of truth! how full of grace!
When through His eyes the Godhead shone!

Archangels leave their high abode
To learn new mysteries here, and tell
The love of our descending God,
The glories of Emmanuel.

Isaac Watts

Repeated from ‘Notable Hymns XI – 2006′

A telling post from Pastor Conrad Mbewe

Here is a post I recommend. You might think that it is from ‘another culture’ but I believe that Christian standards of behaviour should be the same, whichever culture we are from. I highly commend this post to you – it is by Pastor Conrad Mbewe, known by many as ‘the Spurgeon of Africa’. I am sure that he himself would not wish such a comparison – but he is held in high esteem and often speaks at well-known conferences here and in the USA.

The reason I so like this post – the subject of which is having distinctively different Christian weddings – is that Pastor Conrad does not ‘lash out’ at vague notions like ‘worldliness’ but he reasons everything through, giving specific examples. Go read.

Some things in creation just amaze me…

A debate on the 400th anniversary of the King James Version

A debate from Westminster Hall very much worth reading, as a couple of DUP politicans put the case for the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the King James or 1611 Authorised Version in 2011.

One does not have to be a daily user of the King James Version (I use the NKJV) to know that its influence upon British life has been quite staggering. It is the finest work of English literature ever penned. It contains memorable phrases. Furthermore, as the government will never acknowledge, it is the living word of the living God. May God bless the celebrations and bring many through them to read His word, perhaps for the first time.

The debate is here.

Seasonal busy-ness

Having recovered from a dodgy knee and swine flu, despite the protests of the gym staff I have not been back there… yet. I want to, I really do, but right now I don’t dare to – because there is too much to do this week and next, and any recurrances of injuries will be very limiting. As a church, we purchased 1000 copies of the evangelistic Christmas edition of Evangelical Times. This is the biggest outreach we have done, but probably with the fewest helpers, and so I am trying to cover half the work personally – which is why I’m not preaching this Sunday.

Each time I go out, I am praying for opportunities to talk to people, and for safety – but also that my knee will hold up until this work is done. In the past we have handed out about 500 Day One Calendars, but there are many people in the community around the church building who are at home all day, and I do believe that they will actually sit and read the paper (which contains an invitation to our evangelistic service on 20th December).

We are fortunate at church to have a faithful attender fromn Slovakia, who is adept at graphic design. His work is here on this post, and is displayed in A2 size outside the church. One of this years’ minor triumphs is being able to display posters on our church doors which can be seen from the road. Clare and I were visiting one of the older church members this morning, and on the way home we decided to get another street’s deliveries done. One lady waved her newspaper in anger at Clare and hurled it dramatically into her paper recycling bin. Another was heard shouting from inside the house ‘more rubbish!’. Judging by the number of pizza leaflets on doorsteps in the area I can see why some get upset. Nonetheless we pray that many will take up and read the many testimonies and stories, and come and hear the gospel.

If you’re interested, here is the sermon from last year’s ‘Carol’ Evangelistic Service, ‘The Death of Fear in the Birth of Christ’

A video worth watching

Firstly, sorry that this site is deader than a dodo. Other priorities are higher right now.

Many of you who drop by here may not be familiar with Tim Chester.  You might not much like the look of him with his shirt hanging out and his scruffy jeans, and you might disagree with some of what he says, but I thoroughly recommend to you his video hosted on his blog here, talking about ‘Mission as Lifestyle’.

Take the time. Yes, it is an hour long, but if you are concerned about the future of witness, the future of your local church, how to interact with those around you, and so forth – give it your time. The point he makes about how alien it is for most people to walk into a church building is absolutely vital. He showed this to his local church members by asking them to go and place a bet in a betting shop. He did it himself, and he didn’t want to be there. He felt out of place. He didn’t know how to behave or what to ask for. He hoped that the cashier would ask him no awkward questions and he hoped he could get out of there as soon as possible. And that is how many people feel walking into a church building.

Take the time.

Seeking to ingratiate oneself…

Here is a thought-provoking little post by Adrian Reynolds about the practice of  ’sucking-up to those we think are holding the cards’. Ouch, it certainly convicted me.

‘Fearless’ by Max Lucado

I’ll admit, I’ve not read a book by Max Lucado before. If this is his best offering, I doubt that I will be going through the back-catalogue.

I don’t want to be entirely negative about the book, but in my letter from the author, he said I didn’t have to give a positive review just because I’d had a free copy. This book is not outright bad, but there is so much out there that is better, and more helpful to Christians.

Lucado has written a comprehensive summary of all of our fears in life, and used some bibical examples of folk who faced these fears, laced with many witty anecdotes and modern-day stories also. It is certainly readable and in some ways quite enjoyable. He argues that fear is the great problem of our times, and that we need to be freed from it. The biggest issue I have with this book is that it is not distinctively Christian. You might be surprised at that, after all, it is full of Bible quotes.

In general, the advice about dealing with fear is good. The constant encouragement to trust in Christ for life and for eternity is good too. But more than this is needed – sin is rather overlooked and downplayed, and the standard Arminian ‘say this prayer and all will be ok’ insertion in chapter three is as light-hearted as the chapter title, regarding the fear that ‘God is ticked off at me’. No, sinner, God is more than ‘ticked off’. Sin is serious, salvation is amazing, and Christ is a wonderful Saviour. I fear (pun intended) that this book, as well-intentioned as it may be, falls at the very first hurdle. If you want to be fear-free, you’ll need more than watered-down theology. This book is good for inspiration, illustration, and encouragement. But then again, so are many secular books.  The fact that one of the endorsements quotes Obama’s catchphrase ‘Yes we can!’ rather says it all.

Were Spurgeon and Ryle et al legalists and pharisees?

Here is an excellent article by Jim Savastio. He says things that others should be saying, and pushes buttons that perhaps we would prefer to be left unpressed.