The elders have recently been reading a book called The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells, the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. To get a flavor of Wells’ work, your invited to listen to a series of lectures he gave some years ago at Covenant Seminary’s Francis A. Schaeffer lecture series. The subject was the disappearance of theology from the church. Each Monday, a lecture from this series will be posted here. You can listen to part 3 by clicking on the play button below.
Sign-up for our free book give-away! We are giving out 3 copies of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. This is a great 30 devotional. Here is what one reviewer said…
“Insulated Western Christianity is waking from the dream world that being a Christian is normal and safe. More and more, true Christianity is becoming what it was at the beginning: foolish and dangerous” (ix). So says John Piper, senior pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and author of Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Piper sees that the professionalizing of the ministry kills pastors rather than refreshes. He calls pastors to abandon a secular view of seeing their pastoral ministry as a professional vocation and to reclaim the view of God’s call as a prophet. “The aim of this book is to spread a radical, pastoral passion for the supremacy and centrality of the crucified and risen God-Man, Jesus Christ, in every sphere of life and ministry and culture” (xi).
Just fill out the form below to enter the give-away.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
An elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church recently shared ten important things he had learned while being unemployed. Here is a summary…
#1: Own your unemployment
#2: Preach to yourself
#3: Prepare for the storm
#4: Depend on the LORD
#5: Be surprised at His kindness
#6: Encourage the unemployed
#7: Beware of idol worship
#8: Cry out to the LORD
#9: Invest the extra time well
#10: Take advantage of unique opportunities for evangelism
To read the full articles, click HERE for Part 1 and HERE for Part 2.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
Congratulations to Arnette B. You are the winner of our first book give-away, Preaching the Cross. If you are wondering how the winner was picked, I use a table of random numbers and then match the number generated to the number in my spreadsheet. The amazing thing is that it is Arnette’s birthday today! Providence in action!
For our next book give-away, we will be giving away 3 copies of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. This books contains 30 days of devotions about the church and ministry leadership. Some examples of the chapter titles includes “Brothers, God is Love” and “Brothers, Let Us Pray”. To enter the give-away, just enter your name and complete email address below. The winner will be announced in 2 weeks.
The elders have recently been reading a book called The Courage to be Protestant by David Wells, the Andrew Mutch Distinguished Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. To get a flavor of Wells’ work, your invited to listen to a series of lectures he gave some years ago at Covenant Seminary’s Francis A. Schaeffer lecture series. The subject was the disappearance of theology from the church. Each Monday, a lecture from this series will be posted here. You can listen to part 2 by clicking on the play button below.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
The Shack has been an international phenomenon, especially amongst Christian readers. But, if we put our discernment antennas up, will it pass the test? Al Mohler discusses this question and says…
The Shack is a wake-up call for evangelical Christianity. The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us — a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.
To read the rest of the article, click HERE.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
David Daleiden and Jon A. Shields from The Weekly Standard published an interesting article about why so many abortion workers are becoming pro-life. They report…
…advances in ultrasound imaging and abortion procedures have forced providers ever closer to the nub of their work. Especially in abortions performed far enough along in gestation that the fetus is recognizably a tiny baby, this intimacy exacts an emotional toll, stirring sentiments for which doctors, nurses, and aides are sometimes unprepared. Most apparently have managed to reconcile their belief in the right to abortion with their revulsion at dying and dead fetuses, but a noteworthy number have found the conflict unbearable and have defected to the pro-life cause.
To read the full article, click HERE.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
The book of Revelation holds a special place in my heart. I had the privilege of teaching through the book for a year of my life and it was a wonderful and challenging time. I have heard few songs recently inspired by Revelation, but I did recently come across this one. The lyrics scroll underneath so you can follow along.
Lyrics | Kari Jobe lyrics – Revelation Song lyrics
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
Sometimes the most important truths are the easiest to forget. I believe the truth of the Gospel is an example of this, especially in the midst of our busy lives. This may be because we think the Gospel was important only for the beginning of our Christian lives and forget that it is also powerful for the continuation of our Christian lives. My thesis in this series of posts is the following: the Gospel is powerful, needed, and necessary in the life of a Christian.
We want to make a correct start in addressing this thesis and ask, what is the Gospel? D.A. Carson defines it this way:
“God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath. But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects. In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them-an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17).”
A simple summary of this long definition is the following: Christ crucified for sinners. In this simple definition, we see four important truths:
1. Christ = the Messiah, the Anointed One, our Savior King
2. Crucified = the cross
3. For = subsitutionary atonement (i.e., He died in my place)
4. Sinners = we are fallen rebel idolaters, loving other things more than God
So, what is your life centered on? The Gospel or something else? And if something else, what? In my next post we will begin to discuss some of the most common “something elses”.
posted by Pastor Matt Rouse
The pastoral staff recently finished reading D.A. Carson’s book The Difficult Doctrine of God’s Love. We found it an interesting and helpful book on what one would think is an easy topic, but actually is more difficult the more you think of it. We read in the Bible that God is a God of love, but we also read that He is a God of Wrath. How do these things relate? Does God have only hatred for the non-believer? Or is there some sense in which God does truly love all His creatures? Perhaps God’s love has more facets than we originally thought? If what I have written has peaked your interest, you can read this short book below for free or click the link above to order your own copy.
