Thursday 27 August 2009

Calvin on Unity

Commentary on Ephesians 4:2

'On the subject of unity, humility is the first step... Whence come quarrels, insults, and reproaches? Come they not from this, that every one carries his love of himself, and his regard to his own interests, to excess?'

Wednesday 26 August 2009

A Preacher's Prayer

My Master God,
I am desired to preach today,
but go weak and needy to my task;
Yet I long that people might be edified with divine truth,
that an honest testimony might be borne for thee;
Give me assistance in preaching and prayer,
with heart uplifted for grace and unction.
Present to my view things pertinent to my subject,
with fullness of matter and clarity of thought,
proper expressions, fluency, fervency,
a feeling sense of the things I preach,
and grace to apply them to men’s consciences.
Keep me conscious all the while of my defects,
and let me not gloat in pride over my performance.
Help me to offer a testimony for thyself,
and to leave sinners inexcusable in neglecting thy mercy.
Give me freedom to open the sorrows of thy people,
and to set before them comforting considerations.
Attend with power the truth preached,
and awaken the attention of my slothful audience.
May thy people be refreshed, melted, convicted, comforted,
and help me to use the strongest arguments
drawn from Christ’s incarnation and sufferings,
that men might be made holy.

I myself need thy support, comfort, strength, holiness,
that I might be a pure channel of thy grace,
and be able to do something for thee;
Give me then refreshment among thy people,
and help me not to treat excellent matter in a defective way,
or bear a broken testimony to so worthy a redeemer,
or be harsh in treating of Christ’s death, its design and end,
from lack of warmth and fervency.
And keep me in tune with thee as I do this work.
Amen.

-The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Thursday 11 June 2009

Advance 09 Audio and Pictures

We're back in B.C. now and all the audio is available now thanks to Desiring God. I'm including some photos from the conference taken by Gabriel Boone. Be sure to check out the rest of photos on flickr. I've put a few stars besides the ones I'd recommend first. Enjoy.

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Mark Driscoll - "What Is the Church?"
Mark Driscoll - "Ministry Idolatry"

John Piper - "Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 1" *****
John Piper - "Let the Nations Be Glad, Part 2" *****

Ed Stetzer - "Keys to Understanding the Church and Kingdom"

Matt Chandler - "Preaching the Gospel to the De-churched" *****

Tyler Jones - "The Resurgence of the Church"

Bryan Chappell - "Communicating the Gospel Through Preaching"

J. D. Greear - "Planting Is for Wimps: Revitalizing a Church Around the Gospel"

Eric Mason - "The Ultimate Shepherd"

Danny Akin - "Marks of a Healthy Community of Faith" *****

Chandler, Driscoll, and Chappell - Q&A Session

Piper, Driscoll, Greear, and Stetzer - Q&A Session

Saturday 6 June 2009

'It Was Like Drinking From A Fire Hydrant'


After weeks of anticipation since Amanda and I spontaneously decided, 'we need to be there!' after watching the Advance09 teaser on youtube it's now over. What a stunning few days. One of the fascinating things to watch was how this generation of 'New Reformers' *cringe*, or whatever you want to call us, utilizes the internet. The hashtag '#advance09' was one of the top trending tweets over the conference and I've been told that 'Matt Chandler' made it way up the rankings too. Of course there was the usual liveblogging, but 'tweeting' really has changed things. I don't have an iPhone or net compatable phone of any type yet so I had to get home to see what people had been tweeting. What a useful tool this has been to share notes, or more accurately, short moments of brilliance. Here are a few examples from only the most recent twenty of the hundreds, probably thousands, of tweets from the conference.

teamallred Piper: 'Missions' is not being invited. If there's someone to invite you, it's not a mission field. #advance09

jaysonwhelpley Driscoll: Evangelicals are blind to the idol of family. Don't worship family; worship God as a family. #advance09 - @PiperTravel

sistrbride RT @ggrobinson #advance09 orthodoxy + orthopraxy -love = the death of the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7). Matt Chandler

danwadams RT @PiperTravel: Piper: Missions is not the ultimate goal of God and history; worship is. #advance09

myklf RT @NationsBeGlad: Piper - Don't let your theology get in the way of the Bible. #Advance09 (via @lovebrokethru) GREAT!

You may not be immediately struck by the usefulness of Twitter, but in this context it's certainly been helpful for sharing notes.

Now, to the conference itself. The title of this blog post was featured multiple times on different men and women's twitter streams. I have to agree. These three days really have been 'drinking from a fire hydrant'. The sheer amount of wisdom made it almost impossible to remember anything once the day was done. I tried to shoot vlogs (video blogs) at the end of each day but found myself just friend and unable to remember much at all. It will be necessary to listen to all of the messages again taking notes. I knew this might be the case, so during the messages themselves I just sat there, soaking it in, allowing them to affect me. I'm not ashamed to admit that when Piper spoke of the glory of God, or when Chandler hit hard, there were a few tears of both joy and repentance in my eyes.

Once I've had more time to relisten and reprocess maybe I'll post some thoughts, but I don't think you'll really care. I wouldn't waste time reading my thoughts about the messages before listening to them yourself.

PLEASE VISIT the Advance 09 messages to listen for yourself. If you're pressed for time, I'd recommend Chandler's first, Akin's second, and - if you're feeling brave enough - endulge in both of Piper's messages. That said, all of the messages, without exception, were excellent.

On a personal note, Amanda and I are now sitting, well, she's sleeping, in Raleigh-Durham International waiting for the next flight to Seattle via Atlanta. We were supposed to stay until Wednesday, arriving back on the Thursday, but we simply did not enjoy the Carolinas (North and South) at all. Our experience was rather disappointing unfortunately. We have saved our money for months to take this vacation so it's a shame that we're now having to spend it on early flights home. But we'd rather cut our loses now rather than waste any more of it down here. Maybe we'll take a night or two in Tofino or Whistler if we've got any of our savings left by the time we get home. We're obviously very disappointed, and quite upset, but it's been a good lesson to learn. It's very difficult to have a good holiday anywhere else when you have some of the most beautiful places in the world in your backyard.

Signing Out,
Tired But Thankful Dave


QUESTIONS FOR YOU (Use the Comments Section Below): What do you think about Twitter? Any recommendations for a relaxing break next time we can afford to go anywhere? What did you think of the Advance09 messages?

Saturday 25 April 2009

Gospel Coalition Messages


While I was away on Youth Pastors Retreat the Gospel Coalition 'Entrusted With The Gospel' Conference took place in Chicago. I believe this conference to be the most important of the year so here are the session videos that are online. Feel free to work through them as I do the same.

Click on the sermon title for the link.

Session 1: Tim Keller: "The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry" (Acts 19:21-41)

Session 2: John Piper, "Feed the Flame of God’s Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel" (2 Timothy 1:1-12)S

Session 3: Phil Ryken, "The Pattern of Sound Words" (2 Timothy 1:13-2:13)

Session 4: Mark Driscoll, "Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth" (2 Timothy 2:14-26)

Session 5: K. Edward Copeland, "Shadowlands: Pitfalls and Parodies of Gospel-Centered Ministry" (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

Session 6: Bryan Chapell, "Preach the Word!" (2 Timothy 3:10-4:5)

Session 7: Ajith Fernando, "Gospel-Faithful Mission in the New Christendom"

Session 8: C.J. Mahaney, "The Pastor's Charge"

Session 9: Ligon Duncan, "Finishing Well" (2 Timothy 4:6-22)

Session 10: Don Carson, "That By All Means I Might Win Some': Faithfulness and Flexibility in Gospel Proclamation" (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Panel Discussion: Don Carson, Stephen Um, John Piper, Ligon Duncan, Tim Keller, Crawford Lawrence, "Panel Discussion"

Friday 17 April 2009

We're Going To...

It's true, out of nowhere, we decided 'we need a break, and this is exactly the kind of thing that brings life to us'. So, we're jumping on a plane in Seattle on June 3rd and flying to Raleigh, North Carolina to spend three days listening to Piper, Driscoll, Chandler and many others. We'll also get the chance to fellowship with other Brothers and Sisters stoked on the Gospel. We've never been to a conference like this before, so it will be a real experience for the two of us. We're going to try to follow up the conference with a couple of days on the coast for a well earned rest. We praise God for this opportunity. He is faithful and has provided us this opportunity just at the right time.

Wednesday 15 April 2009

Vintage Reel Life

Hey all, this coming Sunday will be the first night of 'Vintage Reel Life'; a film and theology evening at a local coffee house here in Cloverdale, B.C.

I've never done this before, so it should be a good experience. We're going to watch and then discuss
'Iron Man' this week. This may become a regular event with Vintage Young Adults depending on it's success.

Hopefully see as many of you out as possible!

Blessings,
Dave

Sunday 12 April 2009

The Resurrection

O GOD OF MY EXODUS,
Great was the joy of Israel's sons,
when Egypt died upon the shore,
Far greater the joy
when the redeemer's foe lay crushed in the dust.
Jesus strides forth as the victor,
conqueror of death, hell, and all opposing might;
He bursts the bands of death,
tramples the powers of darkness down,
and lives for ever.
He, my gracious surety,
apprehended for payment of my debt,
comes forth from the prison house of the grave
free, and triumphant over sin, Satan, and death.
Show me herein the proof that his vicarious offering is accepted,
that the claims of justice are satisfied,
that the devil's sceptre is shivered,
that his wrongful throne is levelled.
Give me the assurance that in Christ I died, in him I rose,
in his life I live, in his victory I triumph,
in his ascension I shall be glorified.
Adorable redeemer,
thou who wast listed up upon a cross
art ascended to highest heaven.
Thou, who as man of sorrows wast crowned with thorns,
art now as Lord of life wreathed in glory.
Once, no shame more deep than thine,
no agony more bitter, no death more cruel.
Now, no exaltation more high,
no life more glorious, no advocate more effective.
Thou art in the triumph car leading captive thine enemies behind thee.
What more could be done than thou hast done!
THY DEATH IS MY LIFE, THY RESURRECTION MY PEACE,
THY ASCENSION MY HOPE, THY PRAYERS MY COMFORT.
Amen.

- 'The Resurrection' - Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Happy Easter Everyone!
Dave

Wednesday 1 April 2009

My Google Life

Last week's computer problems really brought home the face that I really am unbelieably reliant on this complicated piece of machinery. Without it, my ministry and life in general grinds to a near standstill. Sure, I can still converse with people face to face, or on my cell phone, but I lose all my sermon notes; half my library which is contained on Logos, not to mention the exegetical capabilities that have been so useful; emails; online sermons; blogs; and so much more.

I've taken the opportunity of this collapse to update my computer setup, including going wireless with my keyboard and mouse, picking up a large monitor that I can use whilst sitting on the couch (honestly, not just lazy, my fused vertebrae make laptops/books rather painful viewing after a few minutes), and picking up some more powerful speakers that I can hear around our little basement suite now that the computer is grounded.

I've also began to use a few different organisational/networking tools; most notable of which are Twitter, Google Reader and Google Calendar.

Twitter: This little micro-blog tool has already thrown up some diamond links. I follow other pastors, authors and theologians as they update their personal lives, research and general thoughts; including links. So far I've been linked to a Sinclair Ferguson lecture on the puritans; a 10 question evaluation tool to determine how missional our church is; a video of Pastor Josh Harris and his family enjoying a day off; stats from the Resurgence website; and lots of insight into the lives of pastors I look up to, appreciate and enjoy.

Google Reader: There's a list of blogs that I read daily on the right-side navigation bar, right here on my blog. If you, my readers, wanted a constant stream from these blogs you would only have to access this blog and then jump from there. I was using bookmarks still! Of course, it's not THAT hard, but Google Reader gathers all the blogs I follow into one place and I can enjoy them from there. Great tool.

Google Calendar: This has been the most useful and practical of my updates. It's helped Amanda and I look ahead at this coming month and plan together. It's also helped me visualise where I'm taking my various ministries over the coming month in regards to meetings, sermons, study topics, etc.

All of these have handy little quick links that allow me instant access. April is looking like a quieter month, which we're looking forward to. Now, because of these helpful little tools, we'll be able to free up even more time.

Thursday 26 March 2009

Pray For My Computer

It seems in the run-up to preaching any Sunday there is always an issue. This week's issue is particularly irritating. There seems to be an issue with my keyboard's 'firmware' that is making the letter 'e' repeat itself constantly, making it impossible to write sermon notes, insert passwords, search on Logos; it's driving me crazy. I spent hours and over $300 yesterday trying to get it to stop. It seems completely random, but happens less now that I am using a Bluetooth Keyboard. If anyone's got any ideas how to fix this I'd love to hear them. I've already had the key taken off and cleaned underneath. On the up side, Cam Dailly is preaching for me tonight to help me focus on Sunday's message. Unfortunately this time has mostly been spent trying to fix my 'e' problem; but I am very much looking forward to sitting back and enjoying my gifted young friend preach tonight.

Monday 23 March 2009

Twitter Time


You can now follow me on Twitter: 'ReformedDave'.

As for a quick blog update: I'd like to complete a blog post on Spiritual Disciplines and New Media over the next few days, between sermon prep and other ministry related stuff. That should be up before this time next week, Lord willing.

Also, take a look at my new blog roll. These are the blogs I check daily. I hope they can serve you as well as they have served me.

Sunday 22 March 2009

For Not Blogging

It's about time I start blogging again. It's been 14 months and a lot has changed. I'm joining the blogosphere again. Accompany me if you like. Blessings.