Exciting Conference News!

On October 26th we at Calvary Presbyterian Church will be hosting our conference for the 10th time and we have a number of developments to share:

1) The conference's name is changing. To this point, it has been called the Mid-Michigan Conference on Reformed Theology. Beginning this year it will simply be called the Mid-Michigan Reformation Conference. The name change reflects a number of things. While we are still unquestionably Reformed in our theology, our intention is to have a Gospel-centered conference instead of having a Reformed Theology-centered conference. The teaching will still be from a Reformed perspective, but we hope this change will reflect our realization that we are not saved by having really sound theology, but by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The reality also is that, perhaps since we have always held the conference on Reformation Weekend, many (most?) of the people we spoke with already referred to it as our "Reformation Conference." Perhaps this was also because of the fact that it's less wordy, which is another benefit of the new name.

2) This year's theme will be "The Glory of Christ" and we will once again have four gifted pastors from our region coming to speak to us. David Crabb of First Baptist Church in Lapeer, Jason Helopoulos of University Reformed Church in East Lansing and Don Galardi of Community EPC in Owosso have already agreed to speak. We are still waiting on confirmation from our fourth speaker and will pass along word as soon as we have it.

3) And the biggest news is...THIS YEAR'S CONFERENCE WILL BE ABSOLUTELY FREE! We will gladly accept donations to help support the conference and enable us to continue to provide it, but we wanted to remove the possible obstacle of cost so that as many people as possible could be a part of this thoroughly enjoyable and edifying experience. 

So make sure you mark October 26th on your calendars now. There will be more information coming out soon. In the meantime, feel free to email me with any questions at Pete@CalvaryFlint.com.

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Calvin on the Believer's Security

"Christ instructs his followers to remember that, in this world, they may be said to be in the midst of a forest, surrounded by innumerable robbers, and are not only unarmed and exposed as a prey, but are aware that the cause of death is contained in themselves, so that, relying on the guardianship of God alone, they may walk without alarm. In short, our salvation is certain, because it is in the hand of God; for our faith is weak, and we are too prone to waver. But God, who has taken us under his protection, is sufficiently powerful to scatter, with his breath alone, all the forces of our adversaries. It is of great importance for us to turn our eye to this, that the fear of temptations may not dismay us; for Christ even intended to point out the way in which sheep are made to live at ease in the midst of wolves."

John Calvin
Commentary on John 10:28

What Exactly Do We Owe the President?

In a post today entitled The Most Disobeyed Commandment in the Church, David Murray cites the Westsminster Larger Catechism (Answer 127) in outlining what we owe the President:

1. All due reverence in heart, word, and behavior
2. Prayer and thanksgiving for them
3. Imitation of their virtues and graces
4. Willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels
5. Due submission to their corrections
6. Fidelity to, defense and maintenance of their persons and authority
7. Bearing with their infirmities
8. Covering them in love

I fear that many Christians I know (including at times myself) have failed miserably at these (especially numbers 1 & 8). I'll let you and the Holy Spirit be the judge at how well you specifically have done, but Murray puts it this way:

Many Christians have shattered this commandment in a thousand pieces over the last four months, perhaps even over the last four years.

Sure, we must defend the sanctity of life and of marriage, but we must not do so at the expense of the fifth commandment. Since when do we get to pick and choose which commandments are most important and which are irrelevant?

Serious moral errors in some areas of government policy and practice are no excuse for failing to obey this commandment in all other areas.

Thankfully and mercifully, God offers forgiveness for this sin too – if we repent of it and believe in Jesus.
 

A Word for Preachers...Alexander on the Key to Applicatory Preaching

"I am told that someone said of Robert Murray McCheyne of Dundee, 'He seemed, as his preaching progressed, to advance upon you until he was standing inside your heart, applying the Word of God to all your life.'

"My own increasing conviction is that this application begins at our own door. I think the secret of applicatory preaching is that we must apply to ourselves the Word of God while we are meditating upon it, while we are studying it. We must do this before we ever begin to think about applying it to other people.

"John Owen wrote, 'A man preacheth that sermon well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. If the Word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us.' And again, 'He who doth not feed on and digest and thrive by what he preaches and prepares for his people, may give them poison as far as he knows,   for unless he finds the power of it in his own heart, he cannot have any ground of confidence that it will have power in the hearts of others.'"

Eric J. Alexander
What is Biblical Preaching?

Where Theology Intersects Life

Here is an example I noticed last night of the type of theological insights that make Kevin DeYoung a must-follow at Twitter:

Get the Word Out!

If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may be familiar with the Smith family. Friends of mine back in Webster Groves, Missouri, and one of my favorite families on earth, I've mentioned them before (here, here, here and here).

Karen created a missionary organization called Get the Word Out, Inc. Its underlying goal is to distribute Bibles with the understanding that God's Word changes lives, replacing despair with hope, conflict with peace, and hurt with healing. Much of their ministry has taken place in Kenya where they have also been able to help people through such projects as digging fresh-water wells, building an orphanage and a school, and even bringing children with cancer back to the United States so that they receive medical treatment which otherwise would have been impossible.
  
They are preparing to send a team to Kenya in a little over a week, and just the other day, the resale shop they started to help fund the ministry was featured on KSDK Channel 5's Show Me St. Louis. Check out the video below. And please consider how you might be a part of the wonderful work they're doing!

If you live in St. Louis and are interested in visiting the GTWO Store, their address is 10050 Manchester Rd. in Glendale and their phone number is 314-368-8184. You can also reach them via email at gtwothrift@gmail.com.

 

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...DeYoung on the Gospel and Holiness

"(T)he gospel aids our pursuit of holiness by telling us the truth about who we are. Certain sins become more difficult when we understand our new position in Christ. If we are heirs to the whole world, why should we envy? If we are God's treasured possession, why be jealous? If God is our Father, why be afraid? If we are dead to sin, why live in it? If we've been raised with Christ, why continue in our old sinful ways? If we are seated in the heavenly places, why act like the devil of hell? If we are loved with an everlasting love, why are we trying to prove our worth to the world? If Christ is all in all, why am I so preoccupied with myself?"

Kevin DeYoung
The Hole in our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness

A Word for Preachers...Alexander on the Unction of God

"When the unction of God is upon the preacher of his Word, people will go away saying, not 'What a great preacher!' but rather, ' Truly, God is in this place! How great and glorious he is!'"

Eric J. Alexander
What is Biblical Preaching?

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Calvin on the Principal Office of Christ

"The principal office of Christ is briefly but clearly stated; that he takes away the sins of the world by the sacrifice of his death, and reconciles men to God. There are other favours, indeed, which Christ bestows upon us, but this is the chief favour, and the rest depend upon it; that, by appeasing the wrath of God, he makes us to be reckoned holy and righteous, that, by not imputing our sins, he receives us into favour."

John Calvin
Commentary on John 1:29

A Word for Preachers...Ferguson on the Preacher's Heart

"There is a widespread need for (preaching that produces inner prostration of the hearts of listeners). We have an equal need as preachers to catch the vision for it in an overly pragmatic and programmatic society that believes it is possible to live the Christian life without either the exposing of our own hearts or the accompanying prostration of ourselves before the majesty of God on high.

"It is just here that one notices a striking contrast between the biblical exposition one finds in the steady preaching of John Calvin in the sixteenth century and preaching in our own day. It is clearly signaled by the words with which he ended virtually every one of his thousands of sermons: 'And now let us bow down before the majesty of our gracious God...' Reformed biblical exposition elevates God and abases man. By contrast, much modern preaching seems to have the goal of making man feel great, even if God Himself has to bow down.

"So a leading characteristic of preaching of to their heart will be the humbling, indeed, prostration of hearts before the majesty of god on high. This is simultaneously the true ecstasy of the Christian, and therein lies the paradox of grace: the way down is always the way up.

"But if, through the preaching of the gospel, we want to see people prostrated with mingled awe and joy before God, the essential prerequisite is that we ourselves be prostrated before him. John Owen's words still ring true even after three and a half centuries: ' a man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul....If the word do not dwell with power in  us, it will not pass with power from us.'"

Sinclair Ferguson
Feed My Sheep: A Passionate Plea for Preaching

Sinclair Ferguson to Leave First Presbyterian

I know it's probably wrong to have "favorite pastors" that you don't even personally know. Even so, I must admit that Sinclair Ferguson has long been one of my favorite pastors. In seminary I was greatly blessed by such books of his as The Holy Spirit and Children of the Living God...and that was before I was even aware of his incredible accent! A number of years ago he spoke at my denomination's General Assembly and preached the two best sermons I've ever heard at a GA. I subscribe to his podcast through SermonAudio, and am routinely blessed by his preaching from the pulpit of First Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Columbia, South Carolina.

Yesterday I received an email from a friend informing me that Ferguson would be retiring. It contained a link to an article from The Aquila Report that included part of the message he wrote to his congregation. As I read it I was struck (though not surprised) by its pastoral tone and Christ-centeredness. He wrote the following:

I do not really need to remind you of the first thing. Christ alone is our anchor.
Our church is first and, foremost Jesus Christ’s Church. He has built us together
here over the centuries; his servants have come and gone. But he has remained
“ever faithful, ever true.” It is always right and healthy when we love our
pastors—and like my predecessors here I have felt myself to be deeply loved; but
we are here only to point to the Savior whose church we are. I did not anticipate
that the last series of sermons I would preach to you would be from Hebrews (I
wanted to expound Philippians!). But how appropriate that these Sunday
morning we hear the message again and again: See how great Jesus is. Fix your
eyes on him.

I do not really need to remind you of the first thing. Christ alone is our anchor.
Secondly, let us continue to love and encourage one another. I have often said
that I believe the most important picture of the church in the New Testament is
that of a family. More and more I have felt that is what we want to be here at
First Presbyterian. It is certainly here that a chief element in the impact of our
witness will be found in a day when so many natural families have become
dysfunctional. Life as it is meant to be is found in Christ. His grace runs in the
dried up riverbed sin has created in every dimension of life—not least family. So,
in the church, as we often sing,

He wills us be a family, diverse, yet truly one:
O let us give our gifts to God, and so shall his work on earth be done.

The third thing (yes, there would be a third thing!)? Let us continue in prayer
that the Lord will work on among us, and provide for us the ongoing ministry
that will keep us growing in Christ and faithfully serving him into the future.
On Monday night when I went home after breaking the news to our elders,
Dorothy overheard me singing and commented on the words: “Through the love
of God our Savior, all will be well…” “Yes” I said, “but as I was singing the words,
tears were flowing down my cheeks!”

Surely if the heart of a stoic Scot can be melted with love for this congregation,
the capacious heart of the Lord Jesus is filled with a love for us that knows no
bounds, and “all must be well.” I certainly believe that will be so.

Whatever he may choose to do upon his return to Scotland, my prayer is that Sinclair Ferguson might be blessed at least a fraction as much as he has been a blessing to me. If so, he will be mightily blessed indeed!

Friday Fun...Trick Shot Titus

My favorite part begins at the 1:42 mark.
 

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Keller on Rejoicing and Repentance

“Rejoicing and repentance must go together. Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair. Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change. Indeed, it is when we rejoice over Jesus’s sacrificial love for us most fully that, paradoxically, we are most truly convicted of our sin. When we repent out of fear of consequences, we are not really sorry for the sin, but for ourselves. Fear-based repentance (‘I’d better change or God will get me’) is really self-pity. In fear-based repentance, we don’t learn to hate the sin for itself, and it doesn’t lose its attractive power. We learn only to refrain from it for our own sake. But when we rejoice over God’s sacrificial, suffering love for us -- seeing what it cost Him to save us from sin -- we learn to hate the sin for what it is. We see what the sin cost God. What most assures us of God’s unconditional love (Jesus’s costly death) is what most convicts us of the evil of sin. Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.”

Tim Keller
Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope That Matters  

A Word for Preachers...William Taylor on Evangelistic Preaching

"To call upon men constantly to come to Christ and to repeat perpetually the words of Paul to the jailer, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,' without at the same time telling them who Jesus Christ is and what it is to come to Him, is the merest mockery. It is using the name of Christ as though it were some cabalistic charm and reducing the Gospel message to an empty formula. If therefore we would be effective evangelists, we must be ready to give an answer to him who asks us, 'Who is this Jesus that I believe upon him? What is there in His dying that has any relation to me?'"

William M. Taylor, in his book The Ministry of the Word
cited in What is Biblical Preaching? by Eric J. Alexander

Friday Fun...Top TV Marriages

Yesterday being Valentine's Day, I saw an interesting article at Relevant Magazine offering up the top TV marriage of each decade since the 1960s. According to the author, the winners were:

• 1960s - Rob and Laura Petrie of The Dick Van Dyke Show
• 1970s - Bob and Emily Harley of The Bob Newhart Show
• 1980s - Cliff and Clair Huxtable of The Cosby Show
• 1990s - Homer and Marge Simpson of The Simpsons
• 2000s - Eric and Tami Taylor of Friday Night Lights
• 2010s - Peter and Kristina Braverman of Parenthood

You can click here to read the whole article and I'd love to hear your feedback. First though, here are a few of my own observations:

1. It's odd that the first three selections all come from shows called "The (Star of the show's name) Show." Not the name of the character played, but the actual name of the actor. Bizarre.
2. Interestingly (albeit, I would argue, not coincidentally) Friday Night Lights and Parenthood both had Jason Katims as executive producer and a main creative influence. Both of these shows were/are favorites of my wife and mine. In fact, we only watched Friday Night Lights (on DVDs from the library) after having gotten hooked on Parenthood and finding out that Katims had also done FNL. 
3. The Simpsons? Either TV marriages were horrible in the 1990s or...well, you'll just have to read the article.

2013 Magnify Conference with Alistair Begg

If you plan on being anywhere near Mid-Michigan on April 5th and 6th, please allow me to heartily recommend that you attend the Magnify Conference, hosted by a quintet of churches from the Lansing area. Alistair Begg will be the featured speaker and will be examining the priority of God in a world that is eminently consumed with self.

The conference is very affordable ($20 for an individual, $10 for each additional family member) and you can register by clicking here.

If you're interested the schedule will be as follows:

Friday
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm...Plenary Session #1

Saturday 
8:00 am – 9:00 am...Musician & Pastor Breakfast Seminar (RSVP only)
9:15 am – 10:45am ...Plenary Session #2
11:00 am – Noon...Q & A
Noon – 1:30 pm...Lunch on your own
1:30pm – 3:00 pm...Plenary Session #3