This video, from the folks at St. Helens Bishopgate, asks questions about what Christmas means. If there was ever a time for someone to look into Jesus (like Larry Norman asks), it would be this time of year. Surprisingly, many people don’t think about Jesus at Christmas, but it’s not too late to think about someone and something that’s not tradition or myth, but real history. And this isn’t ancient history, but something that matters for your life right now and every day.
HT: Adrian Warnock
It is a tragic thing when someone commits suicide. A life ended prematurely leaves questions, raises doubts, shakes our beliefs. Suicide touches the lives of many, either through a family relationship or through acquaintance. It is so shocking that one cannot ignore it, yet it is something, because it is so disturbing, that is not spoken about widely.
A valuable resource to help that discussion comes from Desiring God and John Piper, who have published services that Pastor Piper has led for those who have committed suicide. For the families who have graciously shared what must have been one of the most painful moments in their lives, we can be grateful in that these powerful messages can give insight, comfort and guidance to those who have or who are struggling with similar circumstances.
From one of those services, the funeral message for Luke Kenneth Anderson, Piper says this about suicide committed by someone who is a believer in Jesus Christ:
[L]et me put a biblical stake in the ground and then fasten to it a banner of hope.
The stake is this: True Christians can commit suicide. Or to put it another way: There is nothing unique or peculiar about the final act of life that makes it determinative in validating or nullifying our salvation. Or let me say it another way: The final season of faith with all its battles and failures is not the only season of faith that will bear witness in the Last Day that we were born again.
Piper, in this message and others, explains with expositional precision why he believes this way. These are questions we don’t ask ourselves or perhaps don’t allow ourselves to ask. But nonetheless they are important because, like my daughter experienced this past week, there will be times when you are confronted with a tragic suicide by someone you knew and questions will come.
The messages are all available online to read or even listen to the audio.
Funeral Meditation for a Christian Who Commits Suicide
Funeral Meditation for a Christian Who Commits Suicide (1988)
Also, this may also be helpful:
Collin Hansen, editor at large for Christianity Today and author of Young, Restless, and Reformed: A Journalists Journey With New Calvinists, was interviewed recently by Michael Horton at The White Horse Inn. From the book’s blurb:
From places like John Piper’s den, Al Mohler’s office, and Jonathan Edwards’s college, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen investigates what makes today’s young Calvinists tick.
Church-growth strategies and charismatic worship have fueled the bulk of evangelical growth in America for decades. While baby boomers have flocked to churches that did not look or sound like church, it seems these churches do not so broadly capture the passions of today?s twenty-something evangelicals. In fact, a desire for transcendence and tradition among young evangelicals has contributed to a Reformed resurgence.
For nearly two years, Christianity Today journalist Collin Hansen visited the chief schools, churches, and conferences of this growing movement. He sought to describe its members and ask its leading pastors and theologians about the causes and implications of the Calvinist resurgence. The result, Young, Restless, Reformed, shows common threads in their diverse testimonies and suggests what tomorrow’s church might look like when these young evangelicals become pastors or professors.
You can order the book or download the first chapter at Monergismbooks.com
HT: Justin Taylor, whom I am grateful for among many young, restless, reformed men.
You can now download the sermons of John MacArthur for free. For those who are unsure of who John MacArthur is, this is his bio from the Grace to You Web site:
Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God’s Word, John MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker, and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.
John’s pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur. In thirty-six years of ministry, Grace to You has distributed more than thirteen million CDs and audiotapes.
John is the president of The Master’s College and The Master’s Seminary, and he has written hundreds of books and study guides, each one thoroughly biblical and practical. Best-selling titles include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Coming, Ashamed of the Gospel, Twelve Ordinary Men, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.
All the English Standard Version (ESV) daily reading plans are now being offered as podcasts. Or, if you don’t want to wait for a podcast to arrive but would like to listen on your own, you can buy the ESV in a download to put on your iPod or MP3 player. Either way, you need to get into your Bible — for your own good.
Thanks to Justin Taylor for posting this. I would echo Justin’s comments that it is an awesome thing when a public person like Georgia football coach Mark Richt so openly expresses his faith. I am not a Georgia football fan, but I am a huge fan of Mark and Katharyn Richt. God is good. Click on the image to view the video.
Christopher Hitchens and Frank Turek debated at Virginia Commonwealth University on the topic: Does God Exist? The video is below. Click on the image to view it.
While we are soaking in the pageantry of the Olympics this summer in China, let us not forget what life is really like for the Christians there. In a great post at The Blazing Center, Mark Altrogge compares what we see with what God sees:
The Lord who spoke the worlds into existence is not impressed by our pomp and technology and fireworks. But he is impressed by his people glorifying him despite persecution by a wicked government. His eyes are on his precious sheep singing his praises behind closed doors of their homes or praying under their prison covers.
When you watch the Olympics this week, lift up a prayer for the persecuted saints in China. Ask Jesus to have mercy on them, fill them with his joy and give them the grace to persevere. Ask Jesus to bring his kingdom, the most impressive kingdom of all, to earth.
Here are some free things for you to investigate and one that’s worth the price for your own nourishment.
John Lennox (M.A., Ph.D., D.Phil.,), Research Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science and Pastoral Advisor at Green College, University of Oxford recently gave a seminar on God and Richard Dawkins, which is now being offered online at BeThinking.org
For a little background, Lennox debated Dawkins last October in Birmingham, Ala. The debate was sponsored by Fixed-Point Foundation, which now offers videos of the event. Both men debated points from Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion” before an audience of Christians and atheists. Even though this is not a free resource, I would strongly encourage you to see the debate because Lennox pokes all kinds of holes in the arguments Dawkins makes in his book while giving a vigorous defense of Christianity.
My personal connection with this is that Larry Taunton, the founder and executive director of Fixed-Point Foundation, and his wife Lauri are good friends of my wife and mine who we’ve known since high school. Larry and his family were gracious hosts of my in-laws last fall during the debate. But even without that connection, I would still strongly endorse the video. As a followup, Fixed-Point will be sponsoring a debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens in September. Hitchens, you may remember, is the author of “God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.”
And, if you are itching for some more great audio, then you should head over online to ChristianAudio.com and download Martin Luther: In His Own Words (unabridged). From the site:
Each month christianaudio.com gives away a premium audiobook download for free. The way our Free Audiobook of the Month program works is like this: we give away one audiobook download each month totally free. The audiobook we give away is available for free only once – ever.
Use the coupon code MAY2008 to redeem this month’s free audiobook download from christianaudio.com
There are other great free sources out there, but this should be enough to get you started. More later.
HT: Justin Taylor and Tony Kummer
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. — I Thessalonians 5:16-18.
We are told to “pray without ceasing” in the Bible. John MacArthur, in Pulpit Magazine, explores this question:
Unceasing, incessant prayer is essential to the vitality of your relationship to the Lord and your ability to function in the world. But exactly what does it mean to pray without ceasing?
The first time someone hears about the concept of praying without ceasing it may conjure up the image of Christians walking around with their hands folded, heads bowed, and eyes closed, bumping into things. While certain postures and specific times set aside for prayer have an important bearing on our communication with God, to “pray at all times” obviously does not mean we are to pray in formal or noticeable ways every waking moment. And it does not mean you’re supposed to devote yourself to reciting ritualistic patterns and forms of prayer.
To “pray without ceasing” refers to recurring prayer, not nonstop talking. Prayer is to be a way of life — you’re to be continually in an attitude of prayer. It is living in continual God-consciousness, where everything you see and experience becomes a kind of prayer, lived in deep awareness of and surrender to Him. It should be instant and intimate communication — not unlike that which we enjoy with our best friend.
Rockstanding 
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