Glad to have Rob aboard. In case you missed it this past Sunday, here’s his first sermon in the Ministry Center:

A portion of a sermon preached by Melito Bishop of Sardis around 180 AD:

And so He was lifted up upon a tree and an inscription was attached indicating who was being killed. Who was it? It is a grievous thing to tell, but a most fearful thing to refrain from telling. But listen, as you tremble before him on whose account the earth trembled!
He who hung the earth in place is hanged.
He who fixed the heavens in place is fixed in place.
He who made all things fast is made fast on a tree.
The Sovereign is insulted.
God is murdered.
The King of Israel is destroyed by an Israelite hand.
This is the One who made the heavens and the earth,
and formed mankind in the beginning,
The One proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets,
The One enfleshed in a virgin,
The One hanged on a tree,
The One buried in the earth,
The One raised from the dead and who went up into the heights of heaven,
The One sitting at the right hand of the Father,
The One having all authority to judge and save,
Through Whom the Father made the things which exist from the beginning of time.
This One is “the Alpha and the Omega,”
This One is “the beginning and the end”
—the beginning indescribable and the end incomprehensible.
This One is the Christ.
This One is the King.
This One is Jesus.
This One is the Leader.
This One is the Lord.
This One is the One who rose from the dead.
This One is the One sitting on the right hand of the Father.
He bears the Father and is borne by the Father.
“To Him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.”

Melito Bishop of Sardis, translated and quoted by James White in his book, The Forgotten Trinity.

(H/T: Awakening Grace)

Regardless of what the final product demonstrates, we really do spend quite a bit of time on sermon prep at SAMP. Part of our prep includes a Thursday morning all-staff walk-through (varying perspectives are offered, questions of clarity are asked, general discussion of the biblical text and your exegesis takes place) of your Bible study and thoughts about the text and where you think you’re headed with the sermon. It’s one of my favorite parts of the preparation process.

I recently found this this helpful article by Rich Nathan on the matter. Rich is one of my favorite preachers and is the Sr. Pastor of the Columbus Vineyard in Columbus, Ohio. He’s also a repeat New Wine UK speaker.

Rich writes:

We need to figure out, as preachers, what people’s primary problem is. The difficulty that I have with much contemporary evangelical preaching is that it seems to assume that people’s primary problem is a lack of social skills (therefore, practical “how-to” messages are what is needed) or that people’s primary problem is emotional/psychological (therefore, people need some sort of cathartic experience). It is clear, at least in Jesus’ mind, that people’s primary problem is that they don’t know God (John 15:21, 16:3, etc.) and don’t understand His rule and reign in their lives. I like J.I. Packer’s old distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. Most church people know about God, so they think they can move beyond “God talk”- that their deepest need is helpful tips on living life better. But the preacher should be the one person in the community who understands that people’s deepest need is to know God.

Read the rest.

A lot of talk lately about the end of all things. Alistair Begg offers good insight into Christ’s return in these talks. Well worth your time to listen.

Click here for sermons.

Ran across this wonderful sermon series by the Revd’s Rob Sturdy and Iain Boyd a few weeks ago when Jacqui, the boys and I dropped in on them one Sunday morning during a little pre-Easter holiday. Listen to them all. Solid, biblical, classically Anglican and a corrective to the fluffy sentimentalism masquerading as theology.

Find them here.

My Sheep Hear My Voice from St. Andrew's Church on Vimeo.

Having problems viewing the video in a news reader? View it at TreadingGrain.com.

One of my favorite J John clips

Classic.
Favorite quote: “By the time we get to the New Testament God has it all figured out. Jesus it a total sweetheart. He holds lambs, he feathers his hair, he’s a real sweetie-pie . . . . Did Jesus ever get angry?”

Great teaching by Jackie Pullinger.

Quotes:

“When I meet Him I don’t know whether I’m going to fall on my face or whether I’m going to run into His arms . . . I’m torn.  I don’t know which.  I suppose I’ll know when the time comes whether to prostrate myself in front of the King of Glory or whether to run into the arms of my Father.”

“As I think about that place, there is no more crying because of Him.  No more sickness because of Him.  No more pain because of Him.  The only one scarred in the whole of heaven is Him.  For that book called Revelation tells us that there is a Lamb looking as if He’s been slain.  How strange that in eternity we are perfected in the presence of a scarred lamb.”

Listen here.

Well, another New Wine is in the books.  We had a FANTASTIC time.  Vicky Beeching was an amazing worship leader.  Kenny Borthwick’s humility and insight was inspiring. The seminars though, rose to a new level.  I had the chance to sit in on a couple, and I’ve listened to two more (looking forward to hearing the rest).  The ones I’ve heard thus far are: Peter Moore’s teaching on postmodernity, Rob Sturdy on discovering our purpose, Andy Morgan’s encountering the glory of God and Sherri Grady’s address on grief.  Andy Morgan has posted the text of his talk which I’ve reprinted below.  Other talks will follow.  If you wish to obtain a CD or MP3 of the talks, contact Catherine Guerry in our bookstore (843.284.4339 or  CGuerry@WeAreStAndrews.com).  Now, the talk: “Encountering the Glory of God”:

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins with the Question What is the Chief End of Man. The answer is to Glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

What does it mean to both glorify God and enjoy Him?

How do we enjoy God? What happens, or what should happen when we encounter the glory of God?

This is what I hope to begin to explore and at least scratch the surface of this topic this morning.

Why do we need to understand or grasp this issue? Because, I think, that the Church and Christians today in the west, and especially in the USA and UK have not fully grasped what it is to encounter the glory of God and how that should effect us. Of course that is a broad brush stroke and you may know many people who are indeed living a life glorifying and enjoying God. But generally most of the Church is not, as we can see when you look at the impact of the church in our society.

Christian conversion and discipleship have become a sterile transaction for many.

You accept Christ as Lord and Savior after a period of time of reflection and interaction with Christians or a fellowship; you join a Church; you begin to get some teaching; you stop doing some things which you used to do (sins) and you do some things you did not do (reading the bible, praying and going to church). But generally our lives remain pretty much the same – we continue in our jobs (although some do leave their careers often to go to seminary) and our lives go on.

continue reading "Encountering the Glory of God"