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"

This Sunday we continue our summer sermon series, “Shaped by our Story,” as we look at the topic of revelation and the manner in which God makes Himself known to us.  As a bit of listener prep (“expository listening”), here’s a very short video clip from John Piper discussing the difference between general revelation and special revelation:

This, from Iain Murray, on the topic of expository preaching.  Much to chew on:

Why has this view of ‘expository preaching’ become comparatively popular? There are several reasons. First, it is believed that the practice will raise the standard of preaching. By a consecutive treatment of a book of Scripture, it is said, the preacher is taken away from any hobby-horses, and congregations are more likely to be given a broader, more intelligent, grasp of all Scripture. The preacher is also delivered from a constant search for texts – he and the people know what is before them. These reasons are perhaps confirmed for younger preachers by the fact that at our main conventions and conferences the well-known speakers commonly deal with one passage in a few addresses, and when these find their way into print they are taken as models of the best way of preaching. Published sermons of any other kind are few and far between for publishers definitely favour the ‘expository’ on the grounds of their popularity.

In our view, however, it is time that the disadvantages of this view of preaching are at least considered:

Read the rest.

Here’s the link.

One of my favorite preachers, Alistair Begg of Parkside Church, just outside of Cleveland, speaks on temptation:

Listen.

An old friend, Kim Swithinbank, current Vicar of St. James, London, is in town this week.  Had him over to preach this morning.  Here’s his wonderful sermon, “Two Prodigals?”, preached at the morning celebrations.

The Rev’d Dr. Kendall Harmon talks a bit about Augustine’s life in his opening remarks at St. Paul’s Theological Centre’s new course – Great Theologians.

Here’s clip with Tim Keller discussing the “new atheism.”  See what you think: