We have a strong city;
God makes salvation
its walls and ramparts.
Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord for ever,
for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 26:1-4
"You must be born again" is either deluded or devastating to the one who would be captain of his soul.
The term born again is very precious and very crucial in the Bible. And our main concern should be to know what God intends when the Bible uses this language, so that by his grace we may experience it and help others do the same. It is of enormous consequence that we know what being born again really means. John Piper has great insight and encouragement in his book Finally Alive for us.
Read more HERE and get the book for just £5 until midday on Monday. Use code fa0914 at the checkout.
Plan to send 300,000 new Bibles into Iran
Religion can be 'dangerous and lethal', warns Bishop of London
Religious education 'too weak' in Anglican primary schools
Christianity will live on in Iraq
Christianity in Iraq is finished
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Are you looking forward to getting older?
Not the aches and the pains or the more serious bodily deterioration. Nor the reduction in energy. Those things are no fun at all. But the wonderful benefits of age - are you looking forward to them?
We live in a culture obsessed by youth - looking young, living young, feeling young - but the Bible has a different perspective.... continue reading
I’ve just come back to the office after having spent two months in South Asia with Serving in Mission. Here I tell the story of one of the believers I met there—I’ll call her T. As I sat in her living room eating the traditional sweet dessert she’d served me (like many things there, it was made from rice), I asked her how she had become a believer. This is what she said:
“It all started with my husband.”
As a young woman, T had an arranged marriage. This would have been very normal, except for the fact that—unlike herself, her family, and almost everyone else in the region—her new husband was not the Muslim T had assumed he would be. It was only after she married him that she discovered, to her alarm, that he was in fact a Christian.
Her family advised her to get divorced at once, but T knew she would have no hope of getting married again. In any case, her husband seemed like a good, caring man. “I was on this path”, she told me, “so I thought I might as well see where it led.”... continue reading
1. Doubt in Perspective ebook just £4.99 till midday Thursday
Get the ebook version of Doubt in Perspective for just £4.99!
2. Over 125 Free eBooks
A number of free ebooks made available by Monergism.
3. Four Benefits of Social Media
Richard Perkins at The Urban Pastor shares four benefits of social media.
4. The Magnificent Seven
A new video series from Mike Reeves at Union Theology.
5. And finally...
Our video of the week, Tim Keller introduces the book of Romans for our Explore daily Bible reading notes:
Found something that you think should make it on to the On to a Good Thing round-up? Send it to: ontoagoodthing@thegoodbook.co.uk
Where would we be without our weekly notice sheets? They’re an invaluable hub of communication. But all too often they don’t get read or they don’t get read with joy.
The problem is, church notice sheets tend to be quite good at setting out what is happening or needed. But they are often very bad at focusing us all on why such things are happening and why our involvement is so vital. Week after week, they invite us to ‘do things’ rather than encourage us to reflect, pray and function as the body of Christ is called to do (1Cor 12:12-31). They encourage us to become burdened instead of inspiring us to serve.
It’s time to put Jesus back at the centre of our notice sheets!
Next time you are advertising a service or event, try to avoid merely saying where and when it’s happening. Remind people why it’s happening. And how it fits with the overall mission and vision of the church. Is it an exciting opportunity to get to know Jesus better? Or an event that is great for introducing non-believers to Christianity? Let people know how it will enhance their personal relationship with God or equip them to serve him more.
And the next time you are looking for a volunteer, be clear that you’re not just looking for someone to do a task, but that the role is a chance to serve our heavenly Father, using Spiritual gifts in ways that glorify Jesus. It’s an opportunity to be part of the mission of God and the mission of the church. And prayerfully getting involved will help both personal growth and progress the gospel.
With Jesus right at the centre, we might just find that people start reading the notice sheet that little bit more enthusiastically!
This blog post was originally posted on The Good Book Blog on September 28th 2011.
How often is your faith challenged, I mean really challenged? In the course of the last five years, I've been in situations where God has really been in control and has blessed me immensely in many different ways. Equally however, in that time I've been in places where I also wondered where God was, what he was doing and of course why. It's only looking back that now I can see the answers to those questions, but when you are in the middle of a storm (as I often seemed to be a while back) your mind gets clouded, pressures close in and that is when the doubt sets in even though in our Lord Jesus Christ we have something more wonderful than we could ever deserve.
Alistair McGrath's, Doubt in Perspective addresses many of the doubts we as Christians experience in the modern world and their origin.
It's clear, says McGrath, that doubt isn't just a Christian phenomenon but a universal one. However, as Christians, we have the opportunity to let our doubt grow and strengthen our faith.
The book is both sensitive and practical and is a vital read for any Christian plagued by doubt. Read more HERE and get the ebook for just £4.99 until midday on Thursday. Use the code dip0914 at the checkout.
Atrocities in the world flash across our screens daily. Newspapers detail the horrors of terrorism, torture, murder and injustice. People around us crumble under the weight of relationship strife, bereavement, illness and more. Our own lives too, at times, plunge to the depths.
And sometimes, just sometimes, the question crosses our mind: has God really got everything under control?
Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, couldn't have been more convinced about the answer.... continue reading
There are lots of great Christian conferences around this autumn, so why not take the opportunity to get some great training? Register now for some short, biblical, practical days - it's never a waste to spend a few hours getting better equipped for Kingdom living.
What's on?... continue reading
