Tim Keller on evangelism in the 21st century

Posted on February 23, 2012 | Leave a comment
Some excerpts (slightly paraphrased):
What is the relationship between word ministry and deed ministry?
Word ministry and deed ministry go hand in hand… integrating the two is very necessary but is not that easy to do.
How can we bring word and deed ministries together?
Word and deed ministry integrate best at the one-on-one level. If you are reaching out to a neighbour and trying  to talk to them about Christ… yet they have any kind of personal needs… just to be involved with those folks as a Christian friend means you’re going to be bringing word and deed ministries together.
How can evangelism through word ministry be approached?
Word ministry for lay people:
1. Let other people know you go to church. It’s a pretty simple thing, but it’s important, sometimes you say ‘I’m going to church’ to four people, and one of them later on asks you about it.
2. Let people know that you are a Christian and that it means something to you. It may be a passing comment, sharing something and saying “My Christian faith has really helped me here”. Just a passing comment…if your friend picks it up and says “Really, how?”, good. If she doesn’t,  fine, there are a lot of simple behaviours that lead in an organic way to more extensive, in-depth discussions. You should do the simplest behaviours first: loving people, caring for people, being a person of integrity, letting people know your Christian faith is there, and it will just bubble up naturally. Most of us feel if I’m going to do word ministry, then I need to find a way to get the whole gospel out in one conversation or get into a debate. That’s not the way to go, be simple.
How can we share the gospel with people living in cities?
 Cities are so diverse which means there is no one way to share the gospel. You have to learn how to share the gospel differently with different people. It’s the same gospel, there’s still the same gospel kernel: God, sin, Christ, your need to repent and believe. In cities you have to be more culturally sensitive, spend more time talking with people to understand their culture.
How do you approach contextualising the gospel?
Contextualising largely means different ordering of gospel truths. For example in Acts, with Greeks Paul starts with the doctrine of God, but with the Jews he goes to the Scriptures first and gets to Jesus more quickly. Eventually he has to get the whole counsel of God to a person, but the order and emphasis is the key to contextualisation.
(H/T:  L-T Hopper   )

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Posted in Evangelism, Tim Keller

Christmas Myths

Posted on December 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

Attempts to discredit the Biblical narratives of Jesus’ birth often appear around Christmas. This year is no exception with an article by Fenella Souter in which she claims elements of the Biblical accounts are “highly questionable as history” (“Divine Intervention”, Good Weekend  - Sydney Morning Herald, December 3, 2011, 25-30). The article is not available online, but some helpful responses are, including from:

Paul Barnett, here (pdf) and here (blog)

Sandy Grant, The Briefing, (Matthias Media), here.

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Posted in Christmas

Do you know any good books for ….?

Posted on December 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

To make it easier to answer this question, I have listed some books I’ve found helpful or hope to read soon under various topics in this Amazon store:  GraceTransforms  a-store . If you’re interested, you can view the store or click the link below for a particular category.

Christianity – Common questions 
Bible reading and prayer
Marriage , Single Life 
Parenting
Children’s Bibles 
Family devotion aids
Christian books Ages 0-4 ,  Ages 4-8 ,  Ages 8-12 , Ages 13+
Teaching your children about sex 
Counselling / Issues Christians face
Fear and Anxiety
Grief and Suffering
Small Groups / One-to-one
Christian Biographies
 Fiction – Christian
Humour / Just for fun
Free Kindle  books – Christian , Classics , Children 

Although Amazon is not always the cheapest store, you can easily browse there and purchase elsewhere. I have added links to Kindle versions where possible, as it enables you to download a free preview of the book to your pc, mac, phone etc using the  free Kindle reading app .

I have set up this store to help others, not to make money. If anyone purchases a book through the store I receive a small percentage, which I would use towards costs related to running this website. However, feel free to buy any books you might like from a cheaper site or local store. Australian and UK readers may find better prices at  www.bookdepository.co.uk .

I hope to add more to these book lists as I have time. I’d love to hear any books you’ve found especially helpful. For other book recommendations on a wide variety of Christian issues, see this list from The Gospel Coalition .

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Posted in Book Recommendations, Book Reviews

Christmas Advent Family Devotionals

Posted on December 11, 2011 | Leave a comment

Christmas can be a great opportunity for parents to help our children (and ourselves) grow in amazement at the wonder of Jesus’ incarnation. Yet with so much activity in the lead up to Christmas it’s important to be intentional or the opportunity can be missed. Here are some simple ideas to help your family focus on Jesus during Advent:

1. Advent calendar packs. The Good book co. has produced three different packs which each contain a calendar and an accompanying book of short Bible readings. Our family has enjoyed and been helped by these. Links to calendar packs in their online stores here: UK store ,  US store  ,  Australian store .

Christmas Opened Up   The Coming of the King   The Real Christmas Tree

2. Jotham’s Journey / Tabitha’s Travels / Bartholomew’s Passage. Each of these books contain daily advent readings of a historical fiction adventure set in Palestine in the lead up to Jesus birth. Each reading also considers and applies a Bible passage. Our family have enjoyed using two of the books in this series over the last couple of Christmases, and look forward to trying the third. The stories are well told, and provide helpful background and sense of expectation and wonder at the birth of the Messiah.

Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent

Tabitha's Travels: A Family Story for AdventBartholomew's Passage: A Family Story for Advent

3. Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative. Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative
Russ Ramsey takes his readers on a walk through God’s story of redemption. Dan Doriani says: “Ideal for personal or family devotions, the stories are told with imagination, verve, and Gospel-driven joy.”
4. Free Advent Guide.  The Village church have produced  this free guide  “to walk you and your family through the season.”
I’d love to hear of other Advent devotional guides or ideas you’ve found helpful in focussing your attention on Jesus during this season.  If you think it’s too late to order any of these for this year, you can still open your Bible in the coming weeks and read some of the passages that point to the amazing truth of Jesus’ incarnation. You may also consider ordering one of these devotionals now to help you be prepared for next year.
Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links with The Good Book Co and Amazon. If you click on the link, and purchase a product, I would receive a small percentage of the total. This would go back into the small cost of running this site. I do not run this site to make money, so feel free to buy from elsewhere.

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Posted in Australians and Christmas, Book Reviews, Christmas

Hallelujah Chorus – Handel’s Messiah

Posted on December 3, 2011 | Leave a comment

Composed in 1741 by Georg Friedrich Handel, the Messiah remains popular, particularly the well-known Hallelujah Chorus  which featured in these surprise shopping centre performances from last Christmas:

While many find the music inspiring, the words are a profound recognition of God’s reign. Hallelujah literally means ‘Praise Yah’ – a shortened form of God’s name ‘Yahweh’. It is an invitation for us to join in praising God/the LORD. The lyrics are below, followed by the Bible verses they are drawn from.

Lyrics:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
 
Hallelujah!For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. [KJV: Lord God Omnipotent reigneth] (Revelation 19:6)
                                                                                   
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, 
King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:16)
 
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15)
 
 

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Posted in Christmas, Music clips

Did Jesus really rise from the dead?

Posted on August 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

Can we know there is a God? One way we can know that God exists and calls everyone to turn to him is through the resurrection of Jesus. “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). The resurrection of Jesus is central to Christianity. The Bible says “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead…” (1 Corinthians 15:17-20).

If Jesus really rose from the dead, it transforms both the way we think of the future and the way we live in the present. Among other things it means forgiveness, hope, meaning and power to change are possible. But can we be sure Jesus rose?

‘Nothing in history can be proven the way we can prove something in a laboratory. However, the resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact much more fully attested to than most other events of ancient history that we take for granted. Every effort to account for the birth of the church apart from Jesus’ resurrection flies in the face of what we know about first-century history and culture. If you don’t short-circuit the process with the philosophical bias against the possibility of miracle, the resurrection of Jesus has the most evidence for it … first-century people … found the resurrection as inconceivable as you do. The only way anyone embraced the resurrection back then was by letting the evidence challenge and change their worldview, their view of what was possible. They had just as much trouble with the claims of the resurrection as you, yet the evidence-both of the eyewitness accounts and the changed lives of the followers-was overwhelming.’ (Tim Keller, the Reason for God)

Below William Lane Craig presents some of the historical evidence for Jesus’ resurrection:

The New Testament documents give us reliable, eyewitness, historical accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. As John writes: these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name (John 20:31).

Related Links:

Isn’t believing in the resurrection ridiculous? (Christianity Explored)

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Posted in Jesus' resurrection, Uncategorized

Risen – songs celebrating Jesus’ resurrection

Posted on August 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Some songs from Sovereign Grace Music’s album Risen , celebrating the resurrection of Jesus (click links for mp3′s or here for sheet music )

Behold our God (Jonathan Ryan/Meghan Baird/Stephen Altrogge)

1. Who has held the oceans in His hand?
Who has numbered every grain of sand?
Kings and nations tremble at His voice
All creation rises to rejoice

CHORUS
Behold our God seated on His throne
Come let us adore Him
Behold our King nothing can compare
Come let us adore Him!

2. Who has given counsel to the Lord?
Who can question any of His Words?
Who can teach the One who knows all things?
Who can fathom all His wondrous deeds?

3. Who has felt the nails upon His hands
Bearing all the guilt of sinful man?
God eternal humbled to the grave
Jesus, Savior risen now to reign!

TAG
Men: You will reign forever!
Women: Let Your glory fill the earth

© 2011 Sovereigns Grace Worship (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

You Have Been Raised (Mark Altrogge/Bob Kauflin/Ken Boer)

1. How do we know we’ve been forgiven?
How do we know that we’ve been made  clean?
How do we know we’ll go to heaven?
How do we know we’ve been redeemed?

CHORUS
You have been raised, the tomb has been opened
Nothing can take away our hope in You
You have been raised
You have been raised, the work is completed
Hell and its powers have been defeated
You have been raised

2. Now we are free from condemnation
There is no judgment left for us to fear
We don’t have to wonder if we’re welcome
You are the One who’s brought us near

BRIDGE
The price You paid for us
Has fully been accepted
Because of Your shed blood
We cannot be rejected

© 2011 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)/Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

Jesus_Lives (George Romanacce/Bob Kauflin)

1. I no longer fear the grave
Christ has come
Took the sting of death away
Through His saving blood
Though my body fails and my flesh grows weak
Till my final breath to this hope I’ll cling

CHORUS
Jesus lives and so shall I
I’ll be raised from the dust with Christ on high
Jesus lives no more to die
And when He returns with Him I’ll rise
Jesus lives

2. In this fallen world I cry
For the day when Your glory splits the sky
And You come to reign
All creation waits for that promised hour
When the saints of God are revealed in power

BRIDGE
Not death nor any power of hell can separate me from
The love of my Savior

© 2011 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP)/Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI).

 Alive (Steve & Vikki Cook)

1. My heart of stone was dead to You
Asleep within a world
That scorned its Maker
Until You breathed into my soul
And I woke up to You
My glorious Savior
You became my all
You became my all

CHORUS
Now I am alive, I am alive in You
You are alive, You are alive in Me
You called my name
And raised me from the dead
Now I am alive I am alive in You

VERSE 2
In You my life’s completely new
I’m blameless in Your eyes
Because of Calvary
The Father welcomes me with joy
Your Spirit makes me know
Your great love for me
Jesus, You’re my all
Jesus, You’re my all

BRIDGE
Bought with a price that cannot be measured
Chosen before all time
You are my joy, my prize, and my treasure
Jesus, You are my life

© 2011 Sovereign Grace Worship (ASCAP).

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Posted in Jesus' resurrection, Music clips