A Timely Reminder

On Sunday morning, I'm due to preach at Memorial Community Church, Plaistow. I'll be co-leading a UCCF Summer Team in July which will be working alongside the church, and on Sunday Abi and I will be introducing ourselves and the project (expect more blogging about that when I come back). It's a while since I've preached to a church, and I'm really looking forward to it (although my sermon is quite a long way from prepared).

So this was a really timely reminder. John Piper has probably done most to shape my thinking over the short time I've been preaching. His book The Supremacy of God in Preaching literally changed the way I think about the task forever. If you've never heard John describe what he means by preaching, then you should listen to this. And this sentence stuck out in particular, a really timely reminder as I stand before MCC on Sunday and dare to preach God's Word for them:

I standing vigilantly on the precipice of eternity speaking to people who this week could go over the edge whether they are ready to or not. I will be called to account for what I said there.

That's what I mean by preaching.

Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller!

I guess it's a bit cheeky nicking entire blog posts, but I LOVE this from John Piper. I think out of everything I've learned from the guy, this emphasis is probably the one which has affected me most, and it's one I try to get across to students whenever I can. Anyway, it's brilliant. Print it out and stick in on your fridge!

Here is a simple exhortation that I have been trying to implement in our family:

Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

* grace gets bigger;
* Christ gets greater;
* his death gets more wonderful;
* his resurrection gets more astonishing;
* the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
* the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
* its global extent gets wider;
* your own sin gets uglier;
* the devil gets more evil;
* the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper;
* its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
* and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.

Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel.... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Forum 2008 Part 1 - The Important Bits

All the cool people are blogging about Forum. It was the wettest, mankiest, smelliest Forum ever, but it was quality. Bish has already written loads about Forum - he live-blogged and has been following up with lots more great stuff. And check out what Rosemary has to say about the response of the students to what could have been a pretty depressing situation.

John Piper took us through Ruth as only he could. We saw the reality of God's sovereignty in the tragedy that Naomi and Ruth had to deal with, but also in his love and care for them. It was a great reminder of things I should know, but which can often get lost.

Graham Daniels rounded off the week with two passionate talks on Matthew 10, challenging and encouraging us to share Christ with those who don't know him. It was a great end to the week, as all the excitement was focussed in commitment to the thousands of lost students on campuses around the country.

A real highlight for me was the Digging Deeper track called "Serving our Missionary God." Over three days we saw the mission is not just an idea God had - it's who he is. We covered loads over the three sessions, but the key thing was that God is jealous for his own glory. He wants all people to worship him, and that's why mission exists. It's a world-changing, brain-expanding truth, and it was great to work through it a bit with the South-East guys in my group. John Piper's book "Let The Nations Be Glad" was recommended to us, so I was delighted when every student was given a free copy of LTNBG! It was a hugely generous gesture from SIM and IVP, and one which could potentially have a massive impact if even half of those students read it and find a passion for God's glory.

And the Digging Deeper track was a great background for the nights which focussed most clearly and powerfully on mission. But more on that in Part 2...