Reading and Hearing the Bible

In my home we’ve got lots of Bibles. We’ve got different translations, study Bibles, Bibles for kids of all ages. Via our devices, we’ve got access to even more versions of God’s written word.

When most western Christians think about engaging God’s word, they usually think of reading one of their many Bibles. And so it should be! But for centuries, God’s people didn’t typically read God’s Word at all. They heard it. That is, they listened as it was read publicly.

Sola Scriptura and God’s Shaping Voice

The Reformation doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) teaches us that the Bible is uniquely authoritative, sufficient, and necessary. In other words, the Bible is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice; it tells us everything God requires us to know about how to be saved by him and worship him; and we need the Bible if we are going to live as God has created us to live.

If all that is true, then shouldn’t we be willing to let the Scriptures shape our thinking on everything? Shouldn’t the Bible inform the way we see not only God, but ourselves, everyone else, and the world as a whole?

New Themelios Available

Themelios is a journal published by the Gospel Coalition. Volume 34 Issue 1 is now available for your reading pleasure.

Gospel Coalition Live Webcast

Well, technology progresses faster than expected…again.

The liveblog today is still a go for those of you who’d rather skim text and enjoy Cathy’s color commentary. Nevertheless, check out the announcement below, care of  the Desiring God blog:

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The Gospel Coalition’s 2009 National Conference begins today in Chicago. But if you didn’t get a ticket, no worries. They have gone the extra mile (or miles and miles) to include all of us who can’t be there in person.

• All ten of the plenary sessions will be broadcast live on the web, including John Piper’s message at 2pm this afternoon titled “Feed the Flame of God’s Gift: Unashamed Courage in the Gospel” (2 Timothy 1:1-12).

• At their website you’ll be able to download the audio and video for each session within a day after it’s given. Yes, for free.

• And if you want to see what conference attendees are paging through between sessions, the entire conference program (PDF) is downloadable as well. (Bonus: the program also lists the text for all of the conference hymns.)

GCNC Plenary Session #1: Tim Keller

Live-blogging from the Gospel Coalition National Conference, Plenary Session #1: Tim Keller, “The Grand Demythologizer: The Gospel and Idolatry.”

This session begins Tuesday, April 21st at 2PM, CST. Click on the link below to open the liveblog window.

Plenary Session #1

UPDATE: Unfortunately the wireless doesn’t reach into main conference room, so no liveblog! Many apologies. Please check out the live webcast instead.

All You Single Ladies! (… And Men … And Married Folks.)

My short attention span and general lack of large chunks of free time often prevent me from tuning into all the mp3 links people send me.  But this one caught my attention for no reason other than that I finally had an hour free to just sit and listen to something.  I didn’t even know what the topic was, so I had no idea what to expect when I clicked to listen, and I certainly didn’t expect to be as blessed and encouraged as I was.

For the sake of full disclosure, the title of the talk is “We’re Not on Hold: Biblical Femininity For Single Women.”  Carolyn McCulley led this elective seminar at the 2004 Desiring God National Conference, “Sex and the Supremacy of Christ.”  Now, before all you single ladies get all up in a huff, please allow me to tell you straight-up: it’s a good talk.  It is not like any talk you’ve ever heard before about your singleness, or about the Biblical view of singleness.  If you have an hour of free time, I pray that you will also have open ears and a soft heart to check out this encouragement from a loving and eloquent woman of God.

I would also strongly encourage SINGLE MEN and MARRIED COUPLES to listen to this message as well.  Carolyn speaks to the single members of your extended community, your sisters in Christ.  She offers some practical and gentle admonishments and encouragements to you as well.  She speaks words that are often difficult for single women (and men) to say to their married friends and family members.  Please listen and hear her words.

(If you’re better with visual intake, I have transcribed the entirety of her talk so that you can read, rather than hear, it.  Please contact me at cathy.cha [at] nhf-online [dot] org for a copy.)

Audio and Video from the Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

Commending Christ: The Pastor, the Church, and the Perishing
Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors

On my business trip to and from Boston this past week, I was able to listen to most of the sermons from the recent Desiring God 2009 Conference for Pastors, gathering of 1500 pastors from around the world on Feb 2-4, 2009. My dear brothers & sisters of New Hope,  I do hope that you will take the time to listen or watch these sermons. They challenged me, moved me to tears, and made me realize once again the importance of evangelism and missions. The 3 keynote sermons by Mark Dever (Capital Hill Baptist Church) clearly laid out what Gospel means, and the responsibilities and the joys we have in sharing this precious Gospel with people around us.

Matt Chandler (Village Church, Dallas) spoke on evangelism, especially in our American context where the society has been dulled by ‘cheap grace’, legalism, and post-modernism. Michael Oh (Korean American from Philadelphia) is a missionary in Japan, leading church planting ministry as well as a seminary for training young Japanese believers.  John Piper, as is tradition, gave a biographical message on evangelist George Whitefield.

These conference messages were especially relevant for us at NHF in 2009 as we make special efforts on the ‘broadcast’ part of our NHF vision.

The Complete Works of Jonathan Edwards

Image via Wikipedia

John Piper leads us to a great new resource: the complete works of Jonathan Edwards online via Yale University. I had no idea Edwards’ grandfather preached in Northampton, MA!

The reason all this matters is not merely that Edwards is the poster boy of intellectual American Historians, but, even more importantly, that, using the lens of Scripture, he saw and believed and described the greatest realities in the universe in ways that few of us would ever see on our own. He saw Jesus Christ through whom and for whom all things exist. And he saw the Gospel—that Christ died for our sins and rose again to be Lord of all.

New Stuff c/o the Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition has added some material to its website, and has published the December issue of its Themelios journal. There are some good articles in there, ranging from ministering to the poor to the life of the Christian academic. If you haven’t checked this site out, it’s worth spending some of your Christmas vacation exploring the resources on the site. As mentioned in an earlier post, the Gospel Coalition is holding a conference, April 21-23, in Chicago. Spring is just around the corner, so pencil it in.

The following video is NOT part of the new material (some of the new stuff can’t be embedded here), but it is an interesting conversation given the outreach ideas proposed by various members of NHF. This is only part 1 of 6, so check out the rest on YouTube. Enjoy!

New Canaan Society w/Tim Keller

Tim Keller spoke at Friday’s New Canaan Society breakfast meeting and asked the question “How can we handle suffering (at the hands of others) with grace and forgiveness?” He touched on themes raised in his book, The Reason for God, and used the story of Joseph to illustrate his points. The meeting was held at Woodway Country Club in Darien. Apparently, NCS is growing at a rapid clip. They are holding their annual retreat at the Homestead in Hot Springs, VA. You can check out their website for more details. A few highlights: