Don't Go to Moore College To Become a Theologian!!!!

1. How do you become a theologian?

1. Read/hear God's gracious gospel.
2. Accept it in its entirety.
3. Pray to your heavenly Father, be obedient to Christ as Lord, and walk in the Holy Spirit.
4. Join with God's people as they do all of the above.

2. How do you become a good theologian?

Keep doing all of the above. Grow in the knowledge of God.

3. How do you become a discerning theologian?

Do all of the above as you engage with non-Christians and Christians with whom you disagree.

4. How do you become a well read and discerning theologian?

Do all of the above and read lots of books.

The Rich Life: Psalm 112

This Psalm is surely a vivid image of the good life. In the first place it finds its expression in Christ and yet somehow also resonates with us. Although we ought to think: are the expressions of blessing, blessings of the Old Covenant?

Praise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.
His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.
Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.
He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.
The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

The Healing Service at the Cathedral

Read Ali's experience. h/t Craig.

Jonathan Edwards on Hypocrites and Prayer

I've just been reading through one of Jonathan Edward's (1703 - 1759) sermons with a young man. We talked about it briefly and prayed about it. We read "Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer".

He has three points at the beginning
1. False Christians (hypocrites) call upon God for a time
2. After a while they stop private prayers
3. And he gives reasons why they do that

The reasons
1. False Christians never had the spirit of prayer given to them.
2. False Christians don't think they need anything from God
3. False Christians don't understand the force of God's commands for his people to watch and pray so that they will not fall into temptation
4. False Christians return to sinful practices which keep us from praying. Like Adam who hid from God when he knew he had done the wrong thing.
5. False Christians never counted the cost of perseverence.
6. False Christians don't value those kind means that God gives us to keep strong as Christians of which prayer is one of the most important.

If anyone wants to read through some Jonathan Edwards with me in a group at my church OR in an online discussion group - I would be count it a joy and a great honour and will make time for it.

Nametags

It was this brief clip that has pushed me towards wearing handwritten sticker name tags at our new Saturday Church and for the next four weeks at Evening Church.



And it has been received really well. We love our brothers and sisters, we love those who are looking for God, but sometimes we just don't know their names. And this is the only thing that stops us talking to them.

God looks at those who listen

“This is the one I esteem [literally - "look at"]: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." (Isaiah 66:2)

The Saturday Church launch is only hours away

What are some things I'm looking forward to about Saturday Church? (in no particular order)

1. Heading up a ministry that my family is a part of.
2. Working with such a theological solid, yet highly entrepreneurial leadership team.
3. Seeing men and women who would not normally go to church go to church.
4. Seeing people try new things for the sake of Christ.
5. Lifting up Christ and see him draw people to himself. I'm really looking forward to preaching today from Luke 15:1-10 about a welcoming God and a welcoming church.
6. Having Sunday mornings with my family.
   
7. Having more energy for Sunday Evening Church. Paradoxically (perhaps) I have been able to see things more clearly and have actually had more energy for people at Sunday night when I wasn't at church all day.
8. Seeing God's people show acts of kindness to each other and express real hospitality after church.
9. Already seeing Saturday Church to be a blessing to the other congregations.
10. Seeing prayers answered.

Saturday Church begins in 5 hours

I can't wait. At 5:30pm today we have our small launch of Saturday Church. I am blown away by the way that God's people have been pulling together to make this happen.