Gospel-centred counselling / How People Change

Two practical seminars to help you and help others in your ministry develop a biblical understanding of how the gospel can transform us from within and affect our communication and relationships with each other.

The first day will focus on gospel-centred counselling, and is aimed primarily at pastors, elders and church leaders although anyone is welcome. We will think about how whether such a model is possible in the local church, how it influences other areas of church life, and how a church can facilitate such counselling.

The second day will reflect extensively on the question of how people change, and is for everyone. This is especially if we feel stagnant, or tired of the same old problems. This seminar will refocus us back on the gospel, and how the gospel enables us to meet everyday relational challenges such as family conflicts, exasperation with children, past hurts, loneliness and singleness, anger, co-dependency and so on.

These will be led by Timothy Lane, president of the Christian Counselling and Education Foundation in the United States, and Janet Nygren, who also works for CCEF.

You can register here (for one or both days). We look forward to seeing you!

The First Christmas: Myths and Realities

We know the Christmas story. Or do we? How much of it do we learn from children's book, from songs, from repeated "facts", and how much of it from the Scriptures themselves?

Read about the first Christmas, the surrounding myths, and the realities.

Christmas Eve Guest Service (ACA)

The Gift: Christmas Guest Night

Time: 7pm, December 10th
Venue: St. Mary's Cathedral, Multi purpose Hall

Who?
Everyone! Children welcome too!

Come and enjoy good hospitality and food, and learn about the astounding gift God has provided. =)

Steve Jobs, the Silicon Valley, Jesus

Steve accomplished a staggering amount in 56 years. In my opinion, my life and your life is better because of a man named Steve. And now, Steve is dead. The man who improved our life has lost his life...

Read on...

Why the Trinity is important

If any doctrine makes Christianity Christian, then surely it is the doctrine of the Trinity. The three great ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed—are all structured around our three in one God, underlying the essential importance of Trinitarian theology...Yet, when it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, most Christians are poor in their understanding, poorer in their articulation, and poorest of all in seeing any way in which the doctrine matters in real life.

Read the entire thing.

Doctrine of the Trinity Seminar - venue for Day 1

NOTE: Just a reminder that Day 1 of the Trinity Seminar (see next post) will be held at Ascended Christ Anglican Church - a map is available here. The change of venue is due to the Malaysia Day Celebrations held at the Dataran Merdeka.

Day 2 of the Trinity Seminar will be held at St. Mary's Cathedral as usual.

Doctrine of the Trinity Seminar

WHY?
We know that as Christians, we’re meant to believe that the God we worship is the God who is Trinity. Yet often we find it hard to see why this fact is so significant, or what relevance it might actually have on our day-to-day lives. In addition, it can also be confusing to explain – is God one? Is God three?

This two-day seminar is designed to help Christians deepen their understanding of the Trinity. We hope that as we deepen our theological foundations, we will also find our discipleship strengthened and our heart warmed as we explore the very being of our Triune God himself.

WHO?
Rev Dr Andrew Reid will give the 4 main talks. Andrew is currently senior pastor of Holy Trinity Doncaster, Melbourne, Australia. He has extensive teaching and ministry experience, having also served as a lecturer at a Ridley College in Melbourne and as Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES).
We will also have a range of people in various local ministry contexts serve as workshop or small group leaders.

WHERE?
The second day of the seminar will be held at St. Mary's Anglican Cathedral, next to Dataran Merdeka. However, the first day will now be held at Ascended Christ Anglican Church (MAP) as the Dataran Merdeka is being used for Malaysia Day celebrations.

WHEN?
It will be held on Friday 16th September (Malaysia Day) from 9am to 9pm and continuing Saturday 17th September from 9am to 6pm. Accommodation is not provided.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
RM45. You can pay on the day when you register. This covers lunch and dinner on Day 1, lunch on Day 2, refreshments and study materials.
If you would like to attend but cannot afford this, please let us know. If you would like to contribute financially in any way to the costs, please also let us know.

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT AT THE SEMINAR?
The seminar will be organised around four main talks with further sessions looking at the historical development of this doctrine. In addition, there will be time spent in small groups studying the Bible together to work through the relevant biblical passages. There will also be electives offered to equip Christians to explain the Trinity better, and to explore the application of the doctrine to various aspects of Christian life.

Expect to be stretched, which is a good thing! We are, after all, exploring the deep things of God. Refreshments and lunch will be served on both days, as well as dinner on the Friday, to help keep you going.

HOW TO REGISTER
Email smacc [dot] info [at] gmail [dot] com with your name, email, phone number and church/congregation. If you are at a SMACC service, you can either register at the welcome desk or approach Brian King.

New books in the SMACC Library

Some new titles in our SMACC Library to be aware of:

Dug Down Deep, Joshua Harris - Is theology irrelevant? Does doctrine just divide? Josh Harris in this memoir cum basic systematic theology explains how he discovered differently in a winsome and conversational way.

Reading the Bible with Heart & Mind, Tremper Longman - Wanting to learn to read your Bible better but wondering how? Here's a book that explains the how and why, without neglecting the devotional aspects that should come whenever we drink of God's Word.

Experiencing the Spirit, Graham Beynon - An immensely readable primer on the Holy Spirit. If you're feeling a bit confused by all the things you've heard on the role of the 3rd person of the Trinity, here is a book for you.

From the Resurrection to his Return, D.A Carson - Don Carson expounds on 2 Timothy 3 to help us see how we should live in light of Jesus 2nd coming.

Listen Up!, Christopher Ash - This unique booklet addresses the question of how we should listen to sermons. Christopher Ash lists the ingredients of healthy listening, and shows how we can be encouraging and growing listeners of the Word.

Some books, new and old, that you might be interested from the cathedral bookshop:

Bringing the Gospel Home, Randy Newman - Randy Newman recognizes it can be more difficult and frustrating to witness to a family member than to nearly anyone else. In Bringing the Gospel Home, he delivers practical and holistic strategies to help ordinary Christians engage family members, and others, on topics of faith.

Cross Examined, Mark Meynell - A brilliant book explaining the significance of the cross, using a wealth of illustrations and anecdotes to help us understand afresh the centre of the Christian faith.

God is Enough, Ray Galea - is God enough? With honesty and humility, Ray Galea reflects on ten psalms that have helped him put God back in the centre of his life.

Maybe not prosperity gospel, but...

...Does your average church-going, Bible-believing, middle-class, suburbia-bred Christian really believe God wants to give them a million dollars for being good?

In my opinion, no. For the most part we see the crazies on late night “christian” TV stations teaching prosperity theology and are quick to write them off as borderline entertaining, but inherently wrong...

BUT...there is a much more subtle danger.

Read on to find out more...

DUMC Press Statement on JAIS trespass

For context, see The Malaysian Insider report

John Stott (1921-2011)

John Stott possibly had more impact than anyone else (except perhaps for Billy Graham) in the 20th century on the Christian world. He was known for his formidable intellect - having gained first class honours at Cambridge University, and for his faithful and crystal, clear expositions. These were especially seen in his New Testament commentaries in The Bible Speaks Today series, which had a huge influence globally. As his biographer, Timothy Dudley-Smith, put it: 'All over the world, as preachers and pastors prepare sermons, they turn to their book shelves and ask, “I wonder what John Stott has to say about this passage.”’

He was a visionary. He was the architect of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974, which was a significant document for evangelicals worldwide. He also recognised the importance of a theologically robust and evangelical education for the Majority World, and founded an initiative, now known as Langham Partnership International, to provide scholarships for the best and brightest Christians to further their studies. Furthermore, he was a shining example in encouraging Christians to engage with society in a biblically faithful way, seen for instance, in his founding of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity (LICC). He was passionate about global mission - "We must be global Christians with a global mission, because our God is a global God", he once wrote.

Among his most influential books include The Cross of Christ, which is probably the best book of its kind of the 20th century. He considered The Incomparable Christ his favourite book, which is in keeping with a man who clearly loved the Lord Jesus. Of course, who could forget Basic Christianity, which was a life-changer for so many in its clear and warm-hearted exposition of the basics of the Christian faith.

Finally, what comes across again and again was that he was a man marked by deep humility. He lived in humble surroundings all his life, and was often embarrassed by what he perceived as unwarranted attention and praise. He wasn't just a preacher, but a pastor - often making time just to chat with you and pray with you. This was a man whose public and private life was one and the same.

We praise God for the life of John Stott, and rejoice that he is safely at home with the Lord.

Brian K

Selected writings:
Basic Christianity (1958)
What Christ thinks of the Church: An Exposition of Revelation 2-3 (1958)
Christ the Controversialist (1970)
Understanding the Bible (1972)
Your Mind Matters (1972)
Baptism and Fullness (1975)
The Message of Ephesians (1979)
I Believe in Preaching (1982)
Issues Facing Christians Today (1st edition 1984, now in its 4th edition 2006)
The Cross of Christ (1986)
The Contemporary Christian (1992)
The Incomparable Christ (2001)
The Living Church (2007)
The Radical Disciple (2010)

Obituaries and Tributes
John Stott Memorial
Tribute from All Souls, his home church
A tribute from Dr. David Wells, distinguished senior professor at Gordon-Conwell Seminary
John Stott: An Appreciation
Tributes from Biblemesh
A tribute from John Piper

Christianity Today Obituary
BBC Obituary
NY Times piece
Obituary in the Independent
Obituary in the Telegraph
A Youtube tribute

Biographies of John Stott:
2 volumes - The Making of a leader and A Global Ministry by Timothy Dudley-Smith (available in the SMACC Library)
Inside Story by Roger Steer

First Things First

What we should do with our money

Give to relieve the suffering of others, especially of fellow Christians (1 Cor 16:1–4). This “collection” was a special offering in addition to regular giving.

Give to support the work of the gospel (1 Cor 16:5–11).

To unpack these statements more, and to find further resources, go here

Longing for the return of the king

We may laugh at Harold Camping, but do we long for the return of the King?

Christianity Explored

One Life. What's it all about?

The -ations of the cross

From The Gospel Driven Church:

Mediation - There is a gulf between us and God, held in tension by his justified wrath owed to us for our sin. At the cross, the sinless Christ does the work of mediation both necessary and ordinarily impossible.

Condemnation - The mediator must accept the place of the guilty in order to exchange his innocence. Therefore he goes to the cross willingly, because it is the foreordained place of condemnation where we all belong. He becomes the substitute condemned and takes on the condemnation.

Propitiation - A blood debt is owed, legally speaking, because without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. But we cannot make this payment because we have no currency with which to do so. We are morally bankrupt, every last one of us. So at the cross, Christ makes this payment with the riches of himself, supplying his life to take the debt upon himself and thereby satisfying the law's demands. God's wrath is thereby appeased.

Imputation - By propitiating the debt of sin, he takes it off of the condemned onto himself as he becomes the condemned on the cross, but in doing that, he conveys his innocence to those actually guilty. He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God. His righteousness is imputed to us; this means that we are counted righteous despite our sin.

Expiation - But Jesus doesn't stop there. With his life given sacrificially on the cross, he doesn't just take on our debt, he eradicates it completely. He takes it upon himself like the scapegoat to carry our sins into the void. Another way to say this is that Jesus' work on the cross doesn't just reckon us righteous, it actually makes us righteous.

Sanctification - An ongoing work of the Spirit, to be sure, but thanks to Christ's expiating work on the cross, we are also declared sanctified on the cross, which is to say, cleansed by his blood. (1 Corinthians 6:11)

Justification - Nearly all of Christ's crosswork put together merits what we receive through faith: right standing before God. Because of the cross, we for whom there was no justification are now justified.

Reconciliation - And since we are justified before God, we are reconciled to him. The gulf is bridged, the wrath appeased, the debt canceled and cast into the void, the soul cleansed. Christ's wide-open arms at the cross reveal to us the means of the Father embracing his once-lost children. Through the cross, Christ reconciles us to God. (Colossians 1:20)

Nations - Who is Christ's crosswork for, exactly? (1 John 2:2)

Good Friday and Easter Sunday

Join us on Good Friday (22nd April) at 7pm at St Mary's Cathedral as we remember the death of the Lord Jesus on our behalf.
And come back on Easter Sunday (24th April)at one of our usual gathering times to celebrate his resurrection.

Proselytizing in a multi-faith world

Why mutual respect and tolerance require us to witness for Christ. An excerpt:

"...Though the imam and I were in a minority in that group of predominantly liberal Protestants, we represented the movements among us that are actually growing in numbers. Both he and I believed in sharing and enlarging our faiths. We did not think we were worshiping the same God or gods, and we were not there under the pretense that we held the same beliefs. In other words, our goal was not merging faiths, combining beliefs, or even interfaith partnership.

The imam and I had a good laugh after the meeting. At the same time, we acknowledged that we were not of the same faith and, honestly, that we would each be overjoyed if we could bring the other to the truth—not just our truth but the truth, as we firmly believed it..."

An excellent article worth reading in its entirety.

Not Lords, stewards

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (1 Corinthians 4:1)

The apostle Paul was neither afflicted with false modesty nor with any sort of apostolic pomposity. He understood his role and his office in the household of God. At times we find him needing to assert his apostolic office to the end that his readers would heed him as they would the Lord. On other occasions we find him passionately putting himself in place. He strove valiantly with the Corinthians to maintain their firm grasp of his apostolicity that they might obey his charge to regard him rightly as a man, a servant, and a steward, and most certainly not a king, a deity, or a little messiah.

As we read between the lines of Paul’s letters, attempting to become more intimately acquainted with our beloved older brother in the faith, we come away with the impression that he hated the celebrity that seemed so often to accompany his office, and one thing is abundantly clear from what we read here in chapter four, considering the Corinthians’ borderline deification of the apostles, Paul saw himself as nothing more, and nothing less, than a steward.

Read on

20 things God does in salvation

A helpful breakdown of 20 things that God does when He saves you, courtesy of Norm Millar, Senior Pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel London.

When God saves you, He…

1. Regenerates you, moving you from spiritual death to life. (John 3:1-8)
2. Redeems you, buying you out of slavery to sin. (1 Peter 1:18-19)
3. Justifies you, declaring you innocent in His sight. (Romans 5:1-9)
4. Sanctifies you, setting you apart as holy. (1 Cor 1:2,30)
5. Forgives you of all your sins. (Ephesians 1:7)
6. Cleanses you, removing from you the stain of sin. (Hebrews 9:14)
7. Reconciles you to Himself. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)
8. Seals you with His Spirit as a guarantee of your future hope. (Ephesians 1:13)
9. Indwells you, sending the Holy Spirit to live in you. (Romans 8:9)
10. Adopts you, making you His child. (Romans 8:14-17)
11. Baptizes you into Christ’s body, the Church. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
12. Illuminates your mind so you can understand the Scriptures. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
13. Makes you a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
14. Reveals you as one of His elect. (Ephesians 1:4, Romans 8:29-30)
15. Grants you eternal life. (John 11:25-27, 1 John 5:11-13)
16. Names you an heir with Christ. (Romans 8:17)
17. Grants you an inheritance. (1 Peter 1:3-4)
18. Declares you a saint. (Romans 1:7, Colossians 1:2)
19. Grants you new citizenship, making your home heaven rather than this world. (Philippians 3:20)
20. Makes you a slave of Christ, a slave with the greatest, most glorious Master that any could ask for. (1 Corinthians 7:22-23)

(HT: Blogging Theologically)

Why read the Bible? 9 reasons

1. We need to read the Bible to know the truth. We want to think clearly about what God says is true and valuable (2 Pet. 1:21).

2. We read the Bible to know God in a personal relationship (1 Cor. 1:21; Gal. 4:8-9; 1 Tim. 4:16).

3. We read the Bible to live well for God in this world, and living out his will expresses our love for Him (John 14:23-24; Rom. 12:2; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

4. We read the Bible to experience God’s freedom, grace, peace, and hope (John 8:32; Rom. 15:4; 2 Pet. 1:2).

5. We read the Bible because it gives us joy (Ps. 119:111).

6. We read the Bible to grow spiritually, as we reject conformity to the world and are changed by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:1-2).

7. We read the Bible to minister to other Christ-followers and to those who have yet to respond to the Gospel, experiencing God’s approval for work well done (Josh. 1:8; 2 Tim. 2:15; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).

8. We read the Bible to guard ourselves from sin and error (Eph. 6:11-17; 2 Pet. 2:1-2).

9. We read the Bible to be built up as a Christian community with others in the Body of Christ (Acts 20:32; Eph. 4:14-16).

from Read the Bible for Life, George Guthrie

Speak O Lord

A great song from Keith Getty and Stuart Townend, reminding us to humble ourselves and respond rightly to God's life-giving word.

10 tips for faithful sleep-deprived living

Sleep is one of God's good gifts. Most of us chug though life without thinking much about it, which is usually a sign that we're getting enough. But for some of us, that blissful enjoyment of the half-regarded treasure we know as a ‘good night's sleep’ is shattered for some reason.

The effects of sleep deprivation are substantial. A lack of sleep overshadows all aspects of our lives, including how we go about seeking to follow and serve Christ Jesus. In order to be prayerful and diligent in serving God, we need to think about how we can ‘manage’ this condition, rather than become overwhelmed by it.

The list:
10. Trust God now
9. Don't resent it
8. Gratitude matters
7. Be godly by God's grace
6. Pray
5. Be governed by Scripture
4. Be wise
3. Be kind
2. Hope in heavenly rest
1. Grace conquers all

Read the whole thing here for an explanation of each of those points.

Redeeming the misses

If January is the month to set new goals and resolutions for the New Year, February is the month to desert resolutions, like the abandoned cars on D.C. side streets packed tightly under the snow tossed from city plows.

Pastor John Newton (1725–1807) was familiar with this challenge of attaining lofty goals, a topic he discussed in a letter written in February 1772 to one of his friends.

Newton writes, “The Lord has given his people a desire and will aiming at great things; without this they would be unworthy of the name of Christians.”

Continue reading...

Finding Jesus in the Psalms

As we've been thinking recently about Jesus as true Man and true God, as well as all his titles, here's a little something that touches on all those themes! :)

From the New Testament through the church Fathers (including Tertullian, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine, Hilary) to interpreters of recent centuries (Luther, Spurgeon, Bonhoeffer), Christians have seen Jesus as one of the chief subjects of the Psalms. Jesus has also been seen as the one who sings the Psalms: he experienced the full range of human emotions and the full, intimate, honest relationship with God depicted in the Psalms.

Read on...

Resolutions

It's that season once again. It's the fodder for blogs, newspaper articles, TV magazine shows and way too many Twitter posts. It is the time for the annual ritual of dramatic New Year's resolutions fueled by the hope of immediate and significant personal life change.

But the reality is that few smokers actually quit because of a single moment of resolve, few obese people have become slim and healthy because of one dramatic moment of commitment, few people who were deeply in debt have changed their financial lifestyle because they resolved to do so as the old year gave way to the new, and few marriages have been changed by the means of one dramatic resolution.

Is change important? Yes, it is for all of us in some way. Is commitment essential? Of course! There is a way in which all of our lives are shaped by the commitments we make. But biblical Christianity—which has the gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart—simply doesn't rest its hope in big, dramatic moments of change.

Read the entire thing.