Category: Recommended

yep, I recommend this link, article or whatever it is

Why Not to Visit Israel

~ fundyreformed ~ 22 Comments

Every decent Christian longs to go to the Holy Land.   They would love an opportunity to see the places where Biblical events happened, touch places Jesus may have touched, see where the Temple stood and where the empty tomb may have been.   Right?   Isn’t that true?

Well, I agree with John Piper.   I don’t really want to go to the Holy Land.   I don’t feel I need to.   This past Sunday, in Pastor Piper’s message, he declared that he’s never been to Israel, and he doesn’t want to go.   He even asked the church not to send him.   His sermon is available here, but Junior transcribed the part about Israel.   I’ll post his transcription here, and then the edited version in the print copy of his sermon.

Jesus is where we meet God. If you want to say, “Where on the planet today is a holy place that I can do a pilgrimage and be in the house of God?” Answer, “Jesus!” You want to go to a holy place on the planet? Stand still and come to Jesus. There aren’t any holy sites in the Christian religion. Zero. I’ve never gone to Israel mainly for that reason. Please, when I’m here 30 years don’t give me a free trip to Israel – fix my car. I got no problem with you going to Israel. I don’t want any emails. There’s just no more Jesus in Israel than there is in your pew right now.   [Actual quote]

Now Jesus is the new Beth-el. He is the place where God is present. Heaven has opened, and Jesus has appeared. And from now on, Jesus will be the place where God appears most clearly among men, and where men find their way into fellowship with God. There are no holy geographic places any more designated by God as his meeting place with man. Jesus is that meeting place.   [Edited revision of this part]

The reason pastor Piper says these things is that the Bible doesn’t teach that Israel is some special holy land that believers should long for.   No Israel–the land–pointed to a greater reality, that of spiritual fellowship with God.   We don’t need to go anywhere to be closer to Jesus, we are members of His Body.   We don’t need to look for a future Temple, we are the reconstituted Temple.

For more on this idea, I’d encourage you to check out my series of posts on Understanding the Land Promise.

Quotes to Note 5: Earning God’s Mercy

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

I am currently reading Him We Proclaim: Preaching Christ from All the Scriptures by Dennis E. Johnson. The good folks at Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing kindly supplied me with a review copy.

In a chapter contrasting different approaches to preaching, Johnson picks Tim Keller’s preaching style as exemplary of his ideal view. What distinguishes that style is primarily that the gospel is preached to both saved and unsaved alike in the congregation. Johnson describes this view as follows:

What both the unbeliever and the believer need to hear in preaching is the gospel, with its implications for a life lived in confident gratitude in response to amazing grace. Christians are constantly tempted to relapse into legalistic attitudes in their pursuit of sanctification…. We need to repent not only of our sins but also of our righteousness–our efforts at self-atonement in lieu of surrender to the all-sufficient grace of Christ.

Johnson then points out that Keller traces his discover of the need of “two-fold repentance” to George Whitefield’s sermon, “The Method of Grace”. In the footnotes, Johnson provides the following quote from that sermon. This is the quote that arrested me and I pray will impact you as well.

When a poor soul is somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, then the poor creature, being born under the covenant of works, flies directly to a covenant of works again. And as Adam and Eve hid themselves… and sewed fig leaves… so the poor sinner, when awakened, flies to his duties and to his performances, to hide himself from God, and goes to patch up a righteousness of his own. Says he, I will be mighty good now–I will reform–I will do all I can; and then certainly Jesus Christ will have mercy on me.

I found Whitefield’s sermon available online here. If you have some time, you may be blessed by reading the entire sermon.

To get your own copy of this great book on redemptive-historical, gospel-centered preaching, compare prices at Amazon.com with the Christian bookseller Westminster Bookstore. The quotes above are from pages 55-57 of my copy.

John Piper on the Most Important Issues In the 2008 Election

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

As the election approaches, John Piper shares some gospel-centered thoughts on how a Christian should think about politics and this vote. Please watch this video! A related clip with additional perspective from Pastor Piper is available here.

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more about “The Most Important Issues In the 2008…“, posted with vodpod

Reformation Day Reading

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

Happy Reformation Day!

This is the 491st anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenburg Church. Because of the printing press, this step by Luther was soon the spark that kindled the Reformation fires across much of Europe. And as Dan Phillips points out, if we enjoy the privilege of freely worshipping in a non-Catholic, Christian church of almost any Protestant denomination (or even no denomination), we have Martin Luther to thank. We don’t need to idolize Luther, however. Instead we can be thankful for God’s mercy in providing us with the Reformation and the blessings we still enjoy because of it.

Here is some reading for you this Reformation Day.

Breaking News: The Bethlehem Institute to Become a College and Seminary

~ fundyreformed ~ 5 Comments

This is a surprising but encouraging development. For 10 years now, Bethlehem Baptist Church (pastored by John Piper) has offered one of the finest church-based Bible institutes around. The Bethlehem Institute teaches a variety of courses designed for everyone from the average Joe (or Jane) in the church pew to the pre-seminary young person preparing for full time ministry. They have had a wonderful apprenticeship program with intensive classes which is accepted as 1 or more years of seminary credits at several leading theological seminaries.

Recently, the institute partnered with Northwestern College to offer a freshman year of college at a discounted price, taught at Bethlehem Baptist by our TBI instructors. Now, however, God has blessed us significantly, to allow the institute to become a College and Seminary. The Desiring God blog recently highlighted the freshman year of college program and also mentioned the news of a 4 year program plus a seminary just yesterday, so this is still breaking news.

Last night the announcement was made that in next week’s Wednesday church service, Pastor John will explain the vision for the new College and Seminary. I’m really excited about this, as I have a few TBI classes under my belt, and am currently taking 1st year Hebrew through the institute. The quality of education is superb, and the commitment to a conservative approach to the Bible, as well as the priority of the local church, is singular.

With this announcement, when the details are fully released, I’m sure that the doors will open for even more poeple to come and study here. I would encourage anyone who is checking out seminary options to pay close attention to this option.