Category: Revelation
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Are we really devoted to the public reading of Scripture? (Scott Newling, Cambridge)
As evangelicals, we’ll often claim to believe that God speaks to us through the Bible. But do our public church gatherings actually reflect this conviction? This article by Scott Newling (currently in Cambridge), which appeared last year, is a salutary reminder to put our beliefs into action: Many evangelical churches are today characterized by what…
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Identity and reality in the modern Australian and ancient Jewish diasporas
Our family has been away from Australia for almost 3 years now. One of the funny things we’ve noticed about ourselves is how much our Australian identity is wrapped up in symbols and dreams that have little to do with reality. For example, this 1-minute ad for Tourism Australia–based on Les Murray’s poem, “The Dream…
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God’s Word versus the Kingdom (1 Kings 21)
This sermon is part 3 in a 3-part series on 1 Kings 17-22. Outline: The manic street preacher Who rules Israel? (vv. 1-16) God’s word versus the king (vv. 17-29) God’s word, God’s kingdom and us
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God’s Word versus the Prophet (1 Kings 19)
This sermon is part 2 in a 3-part series on 1 Kings 17-22. Outline: Looking for a revelation? Things fall apart (vv. 1-3a) Elijah: back to the Fathers (vv. 3b-7) Elijah: back to Moses (vv. 8-14) Elijah: back to work! (vv. 15-18) Looking for a revelation?
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God’s Word versus Religion (1 Kings 17-18)
This sermon is part 1 in a 3-part series on 1 Kings 17-22. Outline: What do you need? Scene 1: God’s word alone meets Elijah’s needs (17:1-7) Scene 2: God’s word alone meets the needs of his enemies (17:8-16) Scene 3: The man of God’s word brings life (17:17-24) Scene 4: Obadiah is afraid (18:1-16)…
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Luther On Law
This is an astonishingly profound and helpful summary of Luther’s understanding of the significance of God’s “Law”. I commend it especially to preachers. A warning though: Don’t try to read it on the run. You need some time and space to digest it properly. Luther On Law – Jono Linebaugh. PS Jono is a former…
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Paul and the Law by Brian Rosner – free download of lecture series
Brian Rosner’s Annual Moore College Lectures on Paul and the Law are now available for download (MP3 and PDF) at the Moore College site. I expect it’ll be well worth listening to. Overview Paul and the Law: Keeping the Commandments of God Five Lecture Series “Circumcision is nothing”: The Puzzle of Paul and the Law “Not under…
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Brian Rosner on Paul and the Law
If you’re anywhere in or around Sydney in August, don’t miss Brian Rosner’s lecture series. This is a very important topic. I’m guessing the lecture series will touch on issues like: What does the Old Testament law have to do with Jesus? Will God judge me based on whether I keep the law? What does…
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Scripture and the Authority of God – again
I notice Tom Wright has re-released his book, Scripture and the Authority of God (first published in 2005). I guess that gives me an excuse to re-post my review of the book [PDF], originally published in The Briefing 330, March 2006. HT Scot McKnight.
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Keeping the Solas Together
From the Sola Panel One of the aims of the Sola Panel is to go back to basics, to remind ourselves of the importance of the ‘solas’ (i.e. scripture alone, faith alone, Christ alone, grace alone, glory to God alone). This post will look at one way in which these solas all fit together. I’m…
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Happy 400th Birthday, King James Bible
Last year I lamented the fact that some educated Brits have squandered their heritage and effectively transferred the emotional and spiritual ownership of the King James Bible to the Americans. Thus I’m very pleased to hear that BBC Radio 4 is broadcasting extensive readings from the King James Bible to mark its 400th anniversary. Well…
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Innasense
What’s the point of having your own blog if you can’t occasionally share a good old rant? I’ve noticed recently that educated people speaking extemporaneously in public often randomly pepper their discourse with the term, “innasense”. I have had two theories as to how this term came about. The first theory was that these people…
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Word and Action
On the Sola Panel: How do you react when you notice that you or your church has a dull, dry, inactive faith, even though you are committed to God’s word? Elvis, in his song, A Little Less Conversation, gives us a model for one way that we could try to solve the problem: A little…
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Talks on the Authority and Sufficiency of the Bible
Here are two talks I recently gave on the doctrines of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. Unfortunately the more detailed application is missing from the first talk because the laptop that was recording the talks ran out of battery partway through my talk! However, there’s still about 50 minutes of material in both talks.
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Silence about the Spirit
From the Sola Panel: I’ve been enjoying Paul’s series on lousy arguments. At the risk of stealing Paul’s thunder, I’ve got another argument to add to the mix: the Argument from Silence. The Argument from Silence is rather simple, often wrong, but sometimes spot-on. The Argument from Silence happens when you listen to a speaker,…
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Bringing the Bible alive?
We can’t bring the Bible alive; it is far more alive than we are. But often we do need to bring the Bible teaching and the Bible teachers alive.
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Is the wisdom literature of the Old Testament an exercise in natural theology?
Introduction Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes have posed a puzzle for interpreters eager to account for their place in the canon. What, if any, connection there is between the Old Testament Law and Prophets, whose topic is the Israel’s history, and this ‘wisdom literature’, which, at best, seems only to allude to Israel’s history? One popular…
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The Bible alone: what does that mean in practice?
This is an imaginary dialogue between a Roman Catholic and an Evangelical written to help Christians better understand the Reformation principle of “Scripture Alone”. “Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word.” (Ps 119:169) (Nigel’s words are from an anonymous pamphlet written and distributed by a Roman Catholic…