Weekly Links (2/18/2011)

A gospel which is only about the moment of conversion but does not extend to every moment of life in Christ is too small. A gospel that gets your sins forgiven but offers no power for transformation is too small. A gospel that isolates one of the benefits of union with Christ and ignores all the others is too small. A gospel that must be measured by your own moral conduct, social conscience, or religious experience is too small. A gospel that rearranges the components of your life but does not put you personally in the presence of God is too small. (Fred Sanders, The Deep Things of God. HT: Jared Wilson)

by Stephen Rodgers

And by the way, that book is good.  Really, really good.

And that brings us to the links for the week…

  • First of all, I was interested to see this article appear in the Wall Street Journal of all places.  In a piece entitled “Where Have All the Presbyterians Gone?” the WSJ explores how denominational churches and attendance is shrinking, while non-denominational churches and attendance are actually growing.  It’s an interesting read. (WEB)
  • I was stunned at how well John Piper broke down the difference between God’s moral will and His sovereign will in this article.  I’ve tried to explain that to dozens of people, and sometimes I think I just confused them more.  So if you’re one of the people that I’ve confused, go read Piper!  (WEB)
  • All of you should know that as a church we are going through The Peacemaker by Ken Sande as part of our Sunday morning classes.  What you might not know, is that Peacemaker Ministries has a blog. They typically only post about two articles a week, but they are always good to reflect on.  (WEB)
  • And speaking of peacemaking…I know when we talk about it, most people realize (correctly) that we are talking about conflict resolution.  But do you also realize that we are discussing evangelism? Andy Naselli (quoting from J. Mack Stiles’ book) has the details over at his blog.  (WEB)
  • And here’s some food for thought for our current and future seminarians: CJ Mahaney interviews James MacDonald on pursuing pastoral ministry.  (VIDEO)

Alright folks, that’s it for this week.  I’ll update the Recommend Resources when I get a chance and let you know what I add.

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege