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Archives for April 2011

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PCRT 2011 Children of God Conference and Live Webstream

If you live anywhere near the Philadelphia area I want to remind you that that the Philadelphia Conference of Reformed Theology (PCRT) is going on right now (April 29-May 1). The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is hosting their annual conference at Tenth Presbyterian Church. Joel Beeke, Rick Phillips, David Wells and Steve Lawson will be speaking on various subjects re...

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Eric Alexander on the Cup of Bitterness and Cup of Blessing

In 1958, Rev. Eric J. Alexander delivered a lecture at the Keswick Convention in which he pointed out one of the most wonderful parallels in the Bible. Drawing attention to the fact that God the Father placed  a cup of cursing and bitterness before Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he noted that Jesus had another cup on that same night--a cup of blessing--that He set...

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Rejoice in the Murder of Jesus!

If Jesus died merely to set an example, what example would that be? If His death was some kind of humanitarian lesson, what was that lesson? He was murdered. Executed. His death was a death of capital punishment. He died the death of traitors, murderers and robbers. Why wouldn't we be angry that an innocent man died such an unjust death? If that was all it amounted to...

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Lloyd-Jones on Preaching and the Use of Media

Here is recent post that Tim Keller wrote with regard to Martyn Lloyd-Jones' statements about the primacy of preaching. In the course of the post, Keller mentions the Doctor's warnings about the use of recorded sermons. I remember hearing Lloyd-Jones' strong warnings against the use of audio recordings, while listening (the irony of it all) to his Preachers and Preaching l...

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Twelve Years of GPTS Conference Audio Online

Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary has put their Spring Theological Conference audio from 1998-2010 online. The themes of the conference span such subjects as covenant, sanctification, Scripture, eschatology, John Calvin, Southern Presbyterianism, Reformed spirituality, the Church, missions, and worship. You can find all the audio here....

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Daniel's Audacious Prayer

Last week I had the privilege of preaching at Hudson Valley United Reformed Church in New Hampton, NY (outside Middletown, NY) and in the evening I unpacked Daniel's powerful and audacious model prayer in Daniel 9:1-19.  I noted that the Scriptures contain several model prayers.  For instance, 1st Chronicles 29:10-13 records David's prayer over the materials Solomon woul...

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Two New Acts Commentaries

Ministers and other students of the Word can rejoice that two stalwarts of the Reformed faith have each published a new commentary on the things Jesus continued to do and teach through his Holy Spirit and Word directed apostles in the early church.  That was a mouthful!  Both Derek Thomas and R. C. Sproul have graced us with thoughtful and stirring expositions of the boo...

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Edwards on Spiritual Pride and Self-Righteousness

If the heart of man is, as Jeremiah wrote, "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked," then we must vigorously guard against the most deceptive forms of sin. One of the most subtle and oftentimes seemingly implacable sins is spiritual pride and self-righteousness. Jonathan Edwards noted this when he wrote: He that is under the prevalence of this distemper, is apt ...

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Simeon and Levi: Destroying with the Gospel

There are several difficult portions of Scripture throughout the pages of the Old Testament that can only be properly interpreted in light of the covenant promise. Some of the more difficult texts in the Bible are actually found in the book of Genesis--the foundational book of the Covenant of Grace. God is a God of Covenant. He immediately entered into a Covenant of Grace ...

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Research That Chastens the Researcher

Some readers may wonder whether doing research is merely a dry, academic and clinical exercise.  For me I can say that it is not.  Recently as I was doing some reading for the third chapter of my dissertation, I had reason to read Gerald C. Cragg's Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, 1660-1688 (Cambridge:  Cambridge University Press, 1957).  While I was ...

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For Pastors and Scholars

For those of us who believe that pastors ought to be scholarly and that scholars in the seminary ought to be pastoral, two new books have recently been released that are food for the soul.  The first is a new English translation of a Dutch original.  Willem Van Asselt in 1998 edited a delightful series of essays explicating in brief fashion the contours of Reformed Schol...

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Spurgeon on the Church Planting Magnet

Thanks to Joe Holland for pointing out this devotional by Spurgeon titled The Mighty Magnet: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” John 12:32 Come, ye workers, be encouraged. You fear that you cannot draw a congregation. Try the preaching of a crucified, risen, and ascended Saviour; for this is the greatest “draw” that was ever yet m...

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Too Busy for the Son of God

In preparation for tomorrow morning's sermon, I happened upon a very affecting quote by Martyn Lloyd-Jones--from his sermon on Acts 23:5-6. The apostle Paul, having stood in the midst of an angry mob of Pharisees and Saducees, divides them over their belief, or lack thereof, in the doctrine of a bodily resurrection. Lloyd-Jones made the following masterful observation and ...

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Darrin Patrick Audio from the Sovereign Grace PLANT Conference

Sovereign Grace Ministries has been been planting churches for nearly 30 years. They currently have 95 local churches throughout 21 countries. SGM has initiated a cooperative effort to advocate church planting discussions among their own organization, the PCA, ACTS 29, IX Marks, and the Southern Baptist Convention. The Conference they recently held in the Philadelphia area...

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