GOSPEL DELTA

God’s Wonderful Surprise

// March 23rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Affection

The story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as it is found in the Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones:

http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com

John Piper – Gospel

// March 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Affection, Doctrine, Life

Gospel-Centered Leadership

// March 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Doctrine, Life

To supplement what I’m learning in the 5-week Gospel-Centered Leadership class I’m taking at River West Church, I have been listening to a few resources that I have found invaluable and would highly recommend to anyone involved in leadership or considering it for the future. The first is a 5-part seminar from two pastors from Sovereign Grace Ministries examining what it means to be called to leadership in God’s church. I found the wisdom and teaching of Dave Harvey (author “When Sinners Say ‘I Do’” and “Rescuing Ambition”) to be incredibly edifying. The second is a conference that took place last year in conjunction with the release of Colin Marshall and Tony Payne’s latest book “The Trellis and the Vine”, and focused on exploring the paradigm shifts that need to occur in our thinking if we are going to build ministry around people not programs.

The Summons: Exploring the Call to Ministry (Sovereign Grace Ministries)

Dave Harvey and Jeff Purswell

• In December of 2004, men from three nations and representing more than 20 churches gathered at Covenant Fellowship Church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania for this one-day seminar. The teachings presented that day are designed to provide pastors, leaders, and potential leaders with a biblical framework for exploring a sense of calling to full-time ministry.

1. The Caller and the Summons Part 1 (Dave Harvey)

2. The Caller and the Summons Part 2 (Dave Harvey)

3. Eldership and the Call to Character (Jeff Purswell)

4. The Call to Prepare (Jeff Purswell)

5. Q&A Panel Discussion (Dave Harvey and Jeff Purswell)

GOSPEL GROWTH = PEOPLE GROWTH (Matthias Media)

Gospel growth happens “in” people and “through” people.

• IN PEOPLE: You can have growth in numbers, in budgets, in programs, in activities, in staff, in baptisms, in buildings, in reputation, and even growth in the quality of preaching, but unless individual people are growing in knowledge, in faith, in godliness, and in love as disciples of Christ, it’s all a noisy clanging gong. Are your people really growing? How would you know whether they are or not? Who is discipling each person in your congregation?

• THROUGH PEOPLE: Jesus commissioned every disciple for disciple-making, and a pastor-teacher’s job is not only to proclaim and to pray but also also to equip, train and mobilize People for the task. Gospel growth multiplies as Christians get involved in the three P’s: Proclamation, Prayer, and People — in prayerfully speaking God’s word to other people, in whatever way they can, large or small, at home or at work, in small groups or one-to-one. Is this happening where you are? Or is the ministry basically done by the staff? How many people in your congregation, for example, would be willing and able to do the foundational personal discipling work of following up a new believer and establishing them in the basics of the faith?

The Spark and the Fuel

// February 20th, 2010 // No Comments » // Doctrine, Life

HT: Timmy Brister

Listen as Tullian Tchividjian describes how the gospel is not just what ignites us as believers but fuels everything we do in the Christian life.

Hero Worship vs. Holy Emulation

// February 17th, 2010 // No Comments » // Affection, Life

Oftentimes people ask me about my love of pastors, preachers, and authors, and wonder if it is an unhealthy thing that I listen to and read the thoughts of men whose opinions most Christians could care less about. Many of my friends in Christian community hear me quoting Puritans and other dead and living theologians like Tim Keller, D.A. Carson or John Piper and write me off as another “fan-boy” of celebrity Christian culture, if there were such a thing as celebrity in this small corner of Christian world known as “The New Reformed.” They call it being a “second-hander” or “hero-worship.”

But there is a difference in my mind between “hero worship” and “holy emulation.” Throughout his letters, the Apostle Paul exhorts others to imitate him, as he is imitating Christ. Most notably in 1 Cor 11:11 (“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ”) and Phil 3:17 (“Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us”). If another brother in Christ speaks truth to me, or reflects Christ to me, or illumines my mind with spiritual thoughts in such a way as to renew my spirit with the Gospel, I love that brother for it. And if they do so on a consistent basis, ministering the Gospel to my soul through their preaching, writing, or leading, then I am drawn to emulate them, and want to be like them…and I thank Jesus that through them he is shining his divine and supernatural light upon me.

True to form, and in ironic fashion, I will quote Puritan Thomas Brooks to conclude my point. In The Secret Key to Heaven, Brooks wrote this about holy emulation:

Bad men are wonderfully in love with bad examples…. Oh, that we were as much in love with the examples of good men as others are in love with the examples of bad men.

Shall we love to look upon the pictures of our friends; and shall we not love to look upon the pious examples of those that are the lively and lovely picture of Christ? The pious examples of others should be the mirrors by which we should dress ourselves.

He is the best and wisest Christian…that imitates those Christians that are most imminent in grace…. It is noble to live by the examples of the most eminent saints. (12-13)

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” – Romans 10:14-15

Missional Church Made Simple

// February 4th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Doctrine, Life

This is a helpful introduction to the difference between missional and attractional models of being the Church. However, this understanding of missional church is a tad individualistic. The Church should be doing mission as a community, locked arm-in-arm, and living everyday lives together with Gospel intentionality. One of the pitfalls of the missional model is the over-reaction against Christian community, where we see individuals leaving to become vigilante missionaries and eschewing all meaningful ties to the local church. Mission without community is not mission at all.

Some good books for follow up:

Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples

Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church

Sanctified Materialism

// December 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine, Life

Watch this video. The Prosperity Gospel in Ghana. Money karma. False hope.

“It comes to a point where things don’t seem to work the way we’ve been taught they’ll work.”

In a way this is the end of the line for the prosperity gospel: Pilgrims desperate for God’s blessings, but incapable of grabbing them for themselves. Perhaps the only difference between them and me is that for me to be materially blessed, I don’t have to turn to God at all.

How is The Gospel Coalition Helpful?

// December 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

Pastor Thabiti Anyibwale explains how The Gospel Coalition holds great promise for the advance of the Gospel:

Click on the links below to view The Gospel Coalition’s foundational documents:

• The Gospel for All of Life
• Confessional Statement
• Vision for Ministry

Do’s and Don’ts of Moralism

// December 5th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

Here’s Matt Chandler preaching about how not to preach the Gospel. Strike zone:

Why is the Prosperity Gospel so Abominable?

// November 3rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

John Piper explains in depth some reasons why the prosperity gospel is an abomination: