Our leader

Mark Dever - Study Video from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

A year ago...

--We were writing papers on the first portion ofPolity and The Bruised Reed.
--We were having our third Intern Discussion--surely all still humbled by Merker's affection and perplexed by Lingle's opposition to Bridges.
--We were leaving for the Desiring God Pastor's Conference--which would be a turning point for all of us in our perception of Manley.
--I think Garrett and Stam got closer on the plane ride with talks of life in marriage.

Grateful to God for bringing you into my life a year ago!

S-L-E-D: A Response to Pro-Choice Thinking

Yesterday, Denny Burk preached from Proverbs 24.10-12 on abortion. He gave us a useful mnemonic device to respond to people who make arguments to deny the humanity of babies in the womb: SLED.

Size: Is Klon Kitchen more human just because he's bigger than Michael Jr.?
Level of Development: Is Garrett more human because he's more developed mentally, physically, emotionally than Jackson? (This assumes Jackson isn't yet doing his own searches for '80s classics on YouTube.)
Environment: Is Merker more human just because he dwells in the capital of the free world, whereas Lingle resides in Hicksville, Carolina? (Likewise, the womb doesn't preclude humanity.)
Degree of Dependency: Were the four more human than the paralytic they lowered to be near Jesus? After all, the paralytic's image-bearing accountability was affirmed when Jesus forgave his sins and healed him.

Anyway, I thought this was a worthy tool to memorize. Hope you're well, brothers!

This is how you pose for a pastoral portrait.

Idolatry?

Open Night of Worship from Jamie Clements on Vimeo.

Haiti Canceled

Hey brothers,

Our trip to Haiti has been canceled due to the earthquake. Please pray for missionaries and members of our church who were in Port-au-Prince awaiting our arrival when the earthquake hit. All landlines and mobile communications have been knocked out so we have not heard from them yet, but we anxiously wait for word of their safety.

Praise God for his control over all of creation. And praise him that even as he shakes this world now, there will be a greater shaking to come. But we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:28-29).

More about Haiti

Nik,
We'll be praying for you as you're there. Most of all for the people of Haiti after this tragic earthquake today. I'm not sure what it will look like when you get down there, but of course your trip may be different than you expect. Hope God will use you to help in ways that you weren't planning.

-Mark

Haiti

I'll be traveling to Haiti tomorrow morning (Wed, Jan 13) and will be there for 6 days. My pastor and a few others will be going down to teach. I'll be teaching the teen sessions from Psalm 19 and our pastor will lead a weekend pastor's conference on the nature of Biblical worship. There will also be a ladies conference and a vacation Bible school. Please pray that all these ministries would build up the local bodies in Haiti. Our goal is to strengthen the churches there with the faithful teaching of the Word.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)

I'll be sure to update the blog with pictures and reflections when I return next week.

Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

Finding Meaning in the Pentateuch Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

For Ryan

I found some old notes from intern discussion.

Once during intern discussion we were talking about the Lord's Supper in its observation apart from one central gathering.

I remember the points that came out from discussing with Mark and these were the ones I jotted down.

1. Having the Supper outside of one gathering undermines discipline.


2. It is fundamental to "the" gathering.


3. It is the active picture of who can and cannot come to the table.