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Acts 4:23-31 – Under fire – sermon notes

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Peter and John are under fire for two reasons: they have been speaking boldly for Jesus and they have been performing miracles in his name.

They’re thrown into jail, and the next day they are hauled in front of the Jerusalem authorities.  Peter and John explain that the crippled man has been healed in the name of Jesus, and, since the man himself is standing there, the accusers are left speechless.  Peter and John are released, but given a stern warning not to teach any more in the name of Jesus.…

Giles Fraser: “The Death of Christ was not a Sacrifice”

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Having posted quite a bit recently on the Cross of Christ and the doctrine of atonement, I was interested to read Giles Fraser’s firm dismissal of any understanding of the death of Christ as a sacrifice for sins.  He is eager to stress how important it is for us to insist on a non-sacrificial understanding of the death of Christ:-

For too long, Christians have put up with a theory of salvation that has at its core the idea that God requires the sacrifice of his own son so that human sin can be cancelled.

…

Quotes on Election

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You begin at the wrong end if you first dispute about your election. Prove your conversion, and then never doubt your election. If your cannot yet prove it, set upon a present and thorough turning. Whatever God’s purposes be, which are secret, I am sure His promises are plain. How desperately do rebels argue! `If I am elected I shall be saved, do what I will. If not, I shall be damned, do what I can.’…

Divine Fore-ordination

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According to Eph 1:11, God ‘works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will’. Nothing comes to pass that has not been fore-ordained by God. The fall of the sparrow, the throw of the dice, and the number of the very hairs on our heads lie under his fore-ordination. So do the free actions of men and women Phil 2:13. Even the sinful actions of men lie within God’s will and purpose, Acts 2:23.…

Thomas Watson on Divine Providence

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Thomas Watson (roughly 1620-1686) was ‘one of the most concise, racy, illustrative, and suggestive of those eminent divines who made the Puritan age the Augustan period of evangelical literature.  There is a happy union of sound doctrine, heart-searching experience and practical wisdom throught all his works’ (Spurgeon).

The following is abstracted from Watson’s A Body of Divinity.…

The Emerging Church in its own words 5

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Chapter 6 of Gibbs’ and Bolger’s book, Emerging Church: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures, is entitled, ‘Welcoming the Stranger’.

Here are some extracts.

I’m more convinced than ever that we don’t have a clue about Christianity.  I’m not an orthodox Christian anymore; I’m not Protestant.  The kinds of questions we are asking are very different from the questions asked at other times.  Is Christianity necessary?  Whose religion is it anyway?  What does it mean for us to incarnate Christ, to live redemptively in a materialistic world? 

…

The triumph of the Cross

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The New Testament (writes John Stott) sounds a note of victory that is sadly muted in many parts of the church today.  The victory is God’s and he has achieved it through Jesus Christ; more specifically, through the cross of Christ (1 Cor 15:57; 2 Cor 2:14; Col 2:15; Rom 8:37; Rev 3:21; 5:5; 12:11).

What seemed like the defeat of goodness by evil was, in fact, the defeat of evil by goodness.  The victim is the victor. …

Isa 58 – It’s Sunday – but Monday’s coming! – sermon notes

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[I have borrowed my title from a thought expressed by John Piper in one of his excellent messages on this passage]

God has no interest in anything I am about to say.

Nor does he much care whether you pay any attention or not.

If fact, God is not impressed by anything we have done our service this evening.

Or any other service, for that matter.

We might go to church twice every Sunday. We might listen to faithful sermons from which we take copious notes.…

Modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, logos

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Aristotle, in his work On Rhetoric, described three modes of persuasion.

1.  Ethos – this is the appeal of the speaker’s personal character, his authority, sincerity and integrity.

2.  Pathos – this is the appeal to the emotions.

3.  Logos – this is the appeal to reason.  The speaker seeks to persuade by offering relevant facts or arguments.

It scarcely needs saying that effective preaching will draw on all three modes.

Ethos: The preacher must be known as a person of integrity, whose life is consistent with his message. …

Images of salvation

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We have been considering four of the principal New Testament images of salvation – propitiation, redemption, justification and reconciliation.  These are derived from the shrine, the market, the lawcourt and the home respectively.  Because they draw on different life situations, they cannot be perfectly integrated with one another.

However, certain themes emerge:-

1.  Each highlights a different aspect of human need – wrath, captivity, guilt and alienation respectively.

2.  All emphasise God’s saving initiative.  He propitiated his own wrath, redeemed us from our bondage, declared us righteous, and reconciled us to himself. …