Archive for December, 2008

Advent Reflections

// December 30th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

The Advent of Humility
Jesus is the reason to stop concentrating on ourselves.
Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, and author of The Reason for God

Benedictine Wisdom
Quotations to stir heart and mind.
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

Reflections: Following the Star
Quotations to stir heart and mind
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

Christmas Sermons
Quotations to stir heart and mind.
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

Christmas
Quotations to stir heart and mind.
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

More articles from CT’s “Advent and Christmas” section:


Prepare the Way of the Lord
An Advent calendar.
Compiled by Susan Wunderink

{CT Classic}
Philip Yancey: Hallelujah!

On a memorable London night, the bright and glistening theology of Messiah broke through my jet-lagged consciousness.
More articles on worship

{Reflections}
Christmas
Classic and contemporary excerpts.
More Reflections

{Christian History Corner}
Why December 25?
The month and day of Christ’s birth have been hotly disputed for centuries.
More articles on the history of Christmas

Advent’s Spiritual Pilgrimage
The birth of Christ is only the final stop when meditating this holiday season. An excerpt from Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year.
More articles on Advent

Keeping St. Nick, the Man Not Myth, Alive
More and more churches are finding ways to practice the St. Nicholas story.

Editorial: That Controversial Messiah
Christian art continues to stir people in unexpected ways.

Rick Warren: ‘The Purpose of Christmas’
An excerpt on “A Time for Celebration.”

Christmas Quiz
Who gets the credit for chocolate calendars, Christmas trees, and picking December 25?

N.T. Wright: What Is This Word?
The incomprehensible, intimate Christmas story.
More articles on Word Made Flesh

King Jesus the Disguised
There’s a reason it’s not easy to spot him.
More articles on Jesus the Messiah

There’s Something About Mary
Beliefs about Jesus’ virgin mother vary between Christians of the early church, Roman Catholics, and modern-day Protestants, but this model of total trustful devotion has lessons to teach all Christians.
More articles on Mary and Joseph

“Violent Night, Holy Night”
The Apocrypha tells us about the brutal and seductive world Jesus was born into
More articles on the Christmas Story

The Evolution of St. Nick
Tracing the roots of Santa Claus to the early church.
More articles on Christmas Traditions

{CT Classic}
Let the Pagans Have the Holiday
First, let’s take back Easter.
More articles on Contemporary Christmas

The Invasion of God
The so-called Christmas wars are much larger than we imagine.
More articles on the Christmas Wars

I Think My Wife's a Calvinist…

// December 29th, 2008 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

This is hilarious…

“She doesn’t read that Beth Moore book I bought her, she’d rather read St. Augustine.”

“I think my wife’s a calvinist, she only owns an ESV.”

“I’m always catching her reading Romans 8:28-30, and Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology.”

“She has a tattoo that says ‘I heart John Piper’ in greek, and she likes Spurgeon more than she likes me.”

“…But that’s okay, I didn’t choose her, she chose me.”

“If you’ve ever met her, you’d know she’s not mean, she’s really sweet, except for the little bitty matter of doctrine and theology.”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZdoSG0IdNE]

Bio | Matt Chandler

// December 28th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Biographical Sketch:

Matt Chandler serves as lead pastor of The Village Church in Highland Village, TX. He describes his 6 year tenure at The Village as a re-planting effort where he was involved in changing the theological and philosophical culture of the congregation. The church has witnessed a tremendous response growing from 160 people to over 5000 including a satellite campus in Denton. Alongside his current role as lead pastor, Matt is involved in church planting efforts both locally and internationally through The Village and various strategic partnerships. Prior to accepting the pastorate at The Village, Matt had a vibrant itinerant ministry for over ten years where he spoke to hundreds of thousands of people in America and abroad about the glory of God and beauty of Jesus. His greatest joy outside of Jesus is being married to Lauren and being a dad to their two children, Audrey and Reid. Visit Chandler’s Blog at Dwell Deep.


Conference Messages:

Vivification & Mortification: A Process to Holiness 11/20/08

Courage & Calling of a Church Planter 05/06/08

What is Missional Living? 05/03/08

Vision & Mission of a Church Planter 02/26/08

Preaching the Gospel in the Center of the Evangelical World 02/25/08

Creating Pathways for Spiritual Formation for Our People 01/29/08

Leadership: Gathering Your Team 09/07/05

Unplugged Teaching and Q&A – Part 1 02/08/05

Unplugged Teaching and Q&A – Part 2 02/08/05

Don Carson at New Word Alive

// December 26th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

This is another great interview with Don Carson. Adrian Warnock interviewed him during the New Word Alive Conference in April 2008. There is some very insightful stuff in here re: ministry, the church and leadership training.

In Part 1, Don talks about “his reasons for coming to the UK, about how he chose to leave the field of chemistry to become a pastor and then left pastoral ministry to train ministers in a seminary, the crucial importance of the local church, and his relationship with his father.”

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.765215&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

In Part 2, Don talks about “how to prepare people to serve as leaders and preachers in the Church, the place of seminary, and about those who, like Martyn Lloyd-Jones, serve without spending time there. He also spoke about conferences, and the importance of recognizing that most of us are just going to be ordinary Christians.”

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.765216&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

The Cross of Christmas

// December 24th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

"He found a Golgotha...even in Bethlehem"

John Donne, in The Book of Uncommon Prayers, says, “The whole of Christ’s life was a continual passion; others die martyrs, but Christ was born a martyr. He found a Golgotha, where he was crucified, even in Bethlehem, where he was born; for to his tenderness then the straws were almost as sharp as the thorns after, and the manger as uneasy at first as the cross at last. His birth and his death were but one continual act, and his Christmas Day and his Good Friday are but the evening and the morning of one and the same day. From the creche to the cross is an inseparable line. Christmas only points forward to Good Friday and Easter. It can have no meaning apart from that, where the Son of God displayed his glory by his death.
- Skip Ryan, “Contemplating Christmas”, from Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, (Crossway, 2008), page 20

Sometimes mainstream Christianity drives me nuts. The American Christmas season often seems to infect me with a vague sense of conviction and a feeling of emptiness. I think it has to do with the fact that in so many ways I continue to buy into the materialism and the gluttony of it, the focus on family, and the idea that Jesus is just a cute little baby that came into the world so we could be happy and get a bunch of presents.  Christmas has become a holiday of self-centeredness. Rather than inspiring us to give (our worship to God, our resources to those in need, our love to others), today’s Christmas is all about receiving. And even when we do give generously, we do it to feel better about ourselves, so that others would think well of us, ultimately, because we want to be worshipped. Christmas–i.e. the historical fact that the eternal Word became flesh, that our Almighty God came into this world of suffering and pain to live the life we couldn’t live, to die the death we should have died, and to rise in victory over Satan, sin, and death, purchasing our salvation by his sacrifice on the cross–should absolutely destroy any sense of entitlement within us. It should put us on our faces and beat out of us the idea that we somehow deserve blessing, or that God owes us a life of comfort, prosperity and happiness.

The current financial crisis that we find ourselves in has been such a blessing. When the economy is doing well, we are so consumed by our consumerism that Christmas is neutered of its meaning. In times of prosperity, we get our joy from the receiving of gifts, and we associate Jesus’ birth with the attainment of worldly blessing. But in times of suffering, we are reminded that Jesus was born into a life of poverty and pain. We are reminded that God so loved his own, so hated sin, and so empathized with suffering that the Word got off his throne and came here as a warrior on a mission to save us sinners, by suffering on our behalf. Christmas has no meaning unless it is connected to the Cross. Until we understand God’s incarnation, life, passion, death, resurrection, and exaltation as one continuous act of sacrificial love, we cannot begin to grasp the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus’ manger in Bethlehem is connected to his cross on Golgotha. Those who tell the story of Christmas apart from the Cross portray Jesus as a baby Santa Claus (sans the red velvet get-up and the morbid obesity) and effectively distort the Gospel, wrongly emphasizing love apart from sacrifice, and mercy apart from justice.

Those who hesitate to accept this truth–that the purpose of Jesus’ birth was his death–argue that Christmas should be about celebration, and the comfort, peace and joy that the Christmas story brings. They believe that the Cross is disturbing, and in contrast Christmas should be uplifting. I would say this response reveals that they do not understand the real Christmas story: the Gospel. The cross is the ultimate revelation of God’s glory. It shows us the depth of our sin, the size of our debt to God, and the magnitude of God’s provision in Christ. As J.I. Packer explains in his chapter on grace in Knowing God, we cannot respond appropriately to God’s grace until we understand these things that were revealed on the cross. And I would say, therefore, that without a connection to the cross, our Christmas celebrations–the response of joyful worship to the grace and love of Christ our Immanuel–will be inappropriate, inadequate and void of meaning. Likewise, our imitation of Christ’s generous giving will be manufactured for our own sake rather than His. Until we meditate on the Golgotha that Christ encountered in Bethlehem, our Christmases will leave us feeling spiritually empty, and yet full of the worldly kind of joy that so quickly fades away.

Christmas is disturbing:

Many people who otherwise ignore God and the church have some religious feeling, or feel they ought to, at this time of the year. So they make their way to a church service or Christmas program. And when they go, they come away feeling vaguely warmed or at least better for having gone, but not disturbed.

Why aren’t people disturbed by Christmas? One reason is our tendency to sanitize the birth narratives. We romanticize the story of Mary and Joseph rather than deal with the painful dilemma they faced when the Lord chose Mary to be the virgin who would conceive her child by the power of the Holy Spirit. We beautify the birth scene, not coming to terms with the stench of the stable, the poverty of the parents, the hostility of Herod. Don’t miss my point. There is something truly comforting and warming about the Christmas story, but it comes from understanding the reality, not from denying it.

Most of us also have not come to terms with the baby in the manger. We sing, “Glory to the newborn King.” But do we truly recognize that the baby lying in the manger is appointed by God to be the King, to be either the Savior or Judge of all people? He is a most threatening person.

Malachi foresaw his coming and said, “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.” As long as we can keep him in the manger, and feel the sentimental feelings we have for babies, Jesus doesn’t disturb us. But once we understand that his coming means for every one of us either salvation or condemnation, he disturbs us deeply.

What should be just as disturbing is the awful work Christ had to do to accomplish the salvation of his people. Yet his very name, Jesus, testifies to us of that work.

That baby was born so that “he who had no sin” would become “sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The baby’s destiny from the moment of his conception was hell-hell in the place of sinners. When I look into the manger, I come away shaken as I realize again that he was born to pay the unbearable penalty for my sins.

That’s the message of Christmas: God reconciled the world to himself through Christ, man’s sin has alienated him from God, and man’s reconciliation with God is possible only through faith in Christ…Christmas is disturbing.

- William H. Smith, “Christmas is disturbing: Any real understanding of the Christmas messages will disturb anyone”, WORLD Magazine, December 1992 [HT: CJM]

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Worship Matters

// December 22nd, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

HT: WorshipMatters.com

The Leader

(what do I love the most?)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teY8g8TBmUU&eurl=http://www.worshipmatters.com/2008/10/worship-matters-video-vignettes/&feature=player_embedded]

The Task

(what exactly is a worship leader trying to do?)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqq-1h1m4ZM&eurl=http://www.worshipmatters.com/2008/10/worship-matters-video-vignettes/&feature=player_embedded]

Healthy Tensions

(what false dichotomies do we create in corporate worship?)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTGQFwWrNXQ&eurl=http://www.worshipmatters.com/2008/10/worship-matters-video-vignettes/&feature=player_embedded]

Right Relationships

(how can I worship God in my relationships with my team, church, and pastor?)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6VxsfDw1iY&eurl=http://www.worshipmatters.com/2008/10/worship-matters-video-vignettes/&feature=player_embedded]

Interview with DA Carson

// December 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Dr. Carson sat down for this interview while in Seattle for the conference A Day With Dr. Don.

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.763877&w=425&h=350&fv=poster%3Dfiles%2Fresources%2F2008%2F12%2Fda-carson-interview-poster.jpg%26videourl%3Dfiles%2Fresources%2F2008%2F12%2Fda-carson-interview-big.flv%26title1%3DInterview+with+DA+Carson]

Shai Linne | The Gospel

// December 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

This is good stuff. Shai Linne is one of the pastors at Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia. Epiphany is an Acts 29 church plant, lead by Eric Mason and Duce Branch, that’s truly “Reppin’ the King” in the heart of urban Philly.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPZlzDTdSsE&eurl=http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en&source=iglk&feature=player_embedded]

HT: Ray Ortlund

Here is an interview with the teaching pastor of Epiphany, Eric Mason:

Interview with Eric MasonDarrin Patrick

At Text & Context 2008, Lead Pastor of the Journey Church in St. Louis Darrin Patrick sat down for an interview with Eric Mason who is the Teaching Pastor at Epiphany Fellowship in Philadelphia.

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Penn Jillette | That Was a Good Man

// December 19th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Sometimes it takes an atheist to explain that love is at the heart of evangelism…

“How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize?” – Penn Jillette

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM&eurl=http://www.google.com/ig?hl=en&source=iglk&feature=player_embedded]

HT: Ed Stetzer

Bio | Gerry Breshears

// December 18th, 2008 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Educational Background:

Current Profession:

  • Professor of Theology, Western Seminary, Portland, OR
  • Chair, Division of Biblical and Theological Studies

Books Published:

Biographical Sketch:

Gerry Breshears has been professor of theology at Western Seminary since 1980. He co-authored Vintange Jesus and Death by Love, the first two books in the Re:Lit theology series with Mark Driscoll.  He served three years with WorldVenture in the Philippines, teaching at Faith Academy and helping start Calvary Baptist Church.  He received the Ph.D. from Fuller Seminary. He was president of the Evangelical Theological Society in 1993 and Northwest Regional Secretary Treasurer since 1985. In addition to teaching and lecturing at a number of colleges and seminaries around the world, he speaks in many churches and mentors a lot of folk. Gerry and his wife, Sherry, have two sons, Donn and David, and a daughter, Cyndee and three grandgirls.  He is an elder and a member of the preaching team at Grace Community Church of Gresham, Oregon.

HT: ETS


Conference Messages:


Gerry Breshears | The Emerging Church

[TheResurgence 2004 Conference: Reformission and Revival]

In 2004 Dr. Gerry Breshears, professor at Western Seminary, gave a presentation on the Emerging Church at that time during the Reformission Conference in Seattle, WA. In this audio piece we see Dr. Breshears critique the key players in the Emerging Church Movement up to 2004. The great thing about this mp3 that may be different then some other analysis is that Breshears looks through different writings to expose the theologies that tend to drive this movement. Although the audio is long it is because Brashears is taking questions along with his session. With that said we encourage the listener to stay attentive as the majority of the questions were not picked up on the audio.

Click here to download the mp3.
Click below for streaming audio:

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Gerry Breshears | Romans Chapter 9

[TheResurgence 2004 Conference: Reformission and Revival]

The following audio is from a breakout session with Dr. Gerry Breshears, professor at Western Seminary, at the Reformission Conference in Seattle, WA 2004. Dr. Breshears demonstrates that Romans 9 shows the persistence of God to bless his people (Israel) despite their hardness of heart. What we see is that no one is messed up too much where God can not redeem them and God can do what he wants. What is uncovered in Romans 9 is that everyone resists God’s will and the Lord is the persistent one that extends mercy to his people. In this mp3 Dr. Breshears really uses this seminar to encourage folks to read their Bibles more as they get to difficult passage instead of just resorting to commentaries. Helpful advice from a seasoned theologian and practitioner.

Click here to download the mp3.
Click below for streaming audio:

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