Sex, Marriage, and Fairytales | Spoken Word by Jefferson Bethke
Posted January 26, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Miscellanies
Tags: Marriage, Sex, Jefferson Bethke
Cultivating Gospel Communities | PLNTD Conference
Posted January 16, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Church Planting, Community, Conferences, Gospel
Tags: Church Planting, Gospel, Gospel Communities, Jared Wilson, PLNTD, Steve Timmis
Register this week for a special opening week rate of just $29.
We are only making this rate available to the first 100 who register. I would love for you to this training opportunity on how to cultivate gospel communities on mission from Steve Timmis and Jared Wilson, along with local practitioners. More to come . . .
God & Sinner Reconcile | Stephen Miller
Posted January 16, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Gospel, worship
Tags: God & Sinner Reconcile, Gospel, Stephen Miller, worship
I have never considered myself an expert on all things musical. I mention what I believe to be good music because of what it does for my soul. With the recovery of the gospel in all its beauty, this movement of God needs gifted men and women to lead us in singing the gospel. Again and again and again.
That’s why I want to tell you about my new friend Stephen Miller and his new album God and Sinner Reconcile. I have had the privilege of listening to his new album which releases Jan. 17th for the past month. Again and again and again. Why? Because of how good it has been for my soul. Stephen has gifted our generation a great resource for gospel exultation in his new album.
Below is a video about the new album. After Jan. 17th, you can download God and Sinner Reconcile on iTunes. You can also get it at Bandcamp. My “prone to wander” heart has been brought back to Jesus song after song. I hope yours will be too.
The Gospel Alphabet: P is for Passion
Posted January 15, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Gospel Alphabet
Tags: Gospel, Gospel Alphabet, gospel-centered, J.I. Packer
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O
In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.” In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel. Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.” Packer writes,
“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).
This week, we come to the letter “P”.
P is for Passion
Passion comes from the Latin passio, meaning “suffering.” We celebrate each year the passion of our Lord when we attend to the historic remembrance of Holy Week. Likewise, whenever we partake of the Lord’s Supper together we “proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes.” It is given to us not only to believe in Christ the Suffering Servant but also to suffer for him ourselves (Phil. 1:29). Paul saw his own suffering for the Gospel and for the building up of the church as an active participation in the afflictions of Christ (Col. 1:24; Phil. 3:10-11). We must be forthright in teaching our congregants, by word and by example, that this is part of our calling as well.
The Gospel Alphabet: O is for Obedience
Posted January 8, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Gospel Alphabet
Tags: Gospel, Gospel Alphabet, J.I. Packer
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N
In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.” In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel. Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.” Packer writes,
“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).
This week, we come to the letter “O”.
O is for Obedience
The Gospel calls forth obedience (Rom. 1:5) in at least three ways. First, we must obey the Gospel by believing and receiving the Good News (John 6:29). Second, the faith that saves works itself out in obedient living by God’s empowering grace (Phil. 2:12-13). Third, we are to obey Jesus’ command to bring this Gospel to the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). In our ministries of teaching and formation these calls to obey the Gospel must be clear and unequivocal.
The Gospel Prayer
Posted January 5, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Gospel, Prayer
Tags: Gospel, Gospel Prayer, J.D. Greear
This month with ROOTS, we are reading Gospel by J.D. Greear. As an outline for his book, J.D. provides four statements in the form of a prayer intended to internalize and rehearse the gospel on a regular basis. Here’s the Gospel Prayer. I encourage you to reflect on these statements and continue to rediscover the bottomless depths of the glorious gospel.
The Gospel Prayer
“Father, there is nothing I can do today that would make you love me more; nothing I failed to do yesterday made you love me less.”
“Father, your presence and approval are all I need today for everlasting joy.”
“Father, as you have been to me, so I will be to others.”
“Father, I’ll measure your compassion by the cross and your power by the resurrection and pray accordingly.”
Christian Hedonist Calvinism
Posted January 4, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Calvinism
Tags: Calvinism, Christian Hedonism, John Piper, Reformed Theology
I thought this post from John Piper was quite compelling and affection-stirring:
What would the doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight. (that is, Christian Hedonism)?
Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty and deadness to the deepest joy.
Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed as the overflow of God’s joy in the fellowship of the Trinity.
Limited atonement is the assurance that indestructible joy in God is infallibly secured for us by the blood of the covenant.
Irresistible grace is the commitment and power of God’s love to make sure we don’t hold on to suicidal pleasures, and to set us free by the sovereign power of superior delights.
Perseverance of the saints is the almighty work of God not to let us fall into the final bondage of inferior pleasures, but to keep us, through all affliction and suffering, for an inheritance of fullness of joy in his presence and pleasures at his right hand forevermore.
The Outworking of the Gospel [Roots Reading Initiative]
Posted January 4, 2012 by Timmy BristerCategories: Church Planting, Discipleship, Gospel
Tags: Church Planting, PLNTD, Roots Reading Initiative, RRI
Last week, we finished the first installment [Nov/Dec 2011] of the Roots Reading Initiative focused on the mission of the church. In this installment, we read What Is the Mission of the Church? by Greg Gilbert and Kevin DeYoung (November) and Everyday Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester. With each week, discussion questions are made available in the PLNTD Training community, and as each book concludes, we are making a PDF study guide for the entire book that can be used for personal application and training leaders in your own context.
Installment two [Jan/Feb 2012] of RRI begins this week, and the focus is the outworking of the gospel. The goal is to deepen roots in the nature and implications of the gospel individually and corporately. The two books that we are focusing on are Gospel: Recover the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary by J.D. Greear (January) and Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson (February).
For those interested in the self-feeding initiative of this installment of RRI, here is the reading schedule for the next two months:
Gospel: Recover the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary
January 1-7 (1-68)
January 8-14 (69-144)
January 15-21 (145-90)
January 22-28 (191-256)
Gospel Wakefulness
January 29-February 4 (1-58)
February 5-11 (59-112)
February 12-18 (113-68)
February 19-25 (169-218)
If you know a church leader or planter who could be helped/edified by an informal regiment for personal growth and development, please pass this on. Our desire at PLNTD is to facilitate meaningful and accessible ways of teaching and training those leading the mission in the local church.
Signs You Are Growing in Grace, Part 36
Posted December 26, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Compilations, Signs You Are Growing in Grace, Twitter
Tags: Scotty Smith, Signs You Are Growing in Grace
Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8
Part 9 || Part 10 || Part 11 || Part 12 || Part 13 || Part 14 || Part 15 || Part 16
Part 17 || Part 18 || Part 19 || Part 20 || Part 21 || Part 22 || Part 23
Part 24 || Part 25 || Part 26 | Part 27 || Part 28 || Part 29 || Part 30 || Part 31
Part 32 || Part 33 || Part 34 || Part 35
Your weekly installment of 20 grace tweets from Scotty Smith:
A sign you’re growing in grace: It takes more to bug you, longer to rattle you and less to humble you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You find yourself saying, “How did I ever miss THAT?”, about old familiar Bible verses.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You don’t speed up just to keep from being passed on the inside lane.
A sign you’re growing in grace: The ability to pay for something is no longer an indication of its affordability to you.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You’re not arrogant, you just get bored quicker in churches without a heart for evangelism.
A sign you’re growing in grace: You use less confetti at your pity parties.
The Gospel Alphabet: N is for Narrative
Posted December 25, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Biblical Theology, Gospel Implications
Tags: Gospel, Gospel Alphabet, J.I. Packer
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.” In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel. Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.” Packer writes,
“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).
This week, we come to the letter “N”.
N is for Narrative
We must ever study the Gospel because it is the apex and summary of the great narrative of God’s redemptive activity in the world. It is into this Story that we have been called. In an age when many deny the existence of a single metanarrative that applies to all persons it is more crucial than ever that we know the biblical narrative and tell it faithfully to others, asking God to convince hearers as we do so that this is their Story as well.
Joy to the World!
Posted December 24, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Advent
Tags: Christmas, Hymns, Joy to the World
I encourage you to meditate on the lyrics of this familiar Christmas hymn. I have enjoying ruminating over it in recent days leading up to today. May you with gladdened hearts receive the King!
Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.
Joy to the world! the Savior reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.
Merry Christmas! From the Bristers
Posted December 24, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Advent
Tags: Advent, Christmas, Family
The Incarnation [Odd Thomas]
Posted December 22, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Advent
Tags: Christmas, HumbleBeast, Incarnation, Jesus, Odd Thomas, Spoken Word
HumbleBeast puts it out there very nicely. Check out Odd Thomas on the Incarnation . . .
The Gospel Alphabet: M is for Mission
Posted December 20, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Gospel Alphabet, Missions
Tags: Gospel, Gospel Alphabet, J.I. Packer
A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L
In his book, Grounded in the Gospel: Building Believers the Old-Fashioned Way, J.I. Packer has a chapter entitled “The Gospel as of First Importance.” In that chapter, Packer discusses the pastoral and formational applications of the Gospel. Many are familiar with the quote from Tim Keller that “the Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian life; it is the A through Z of the Christian life.” Packer writes,
“In that spirit we offer the following ‘Gospel Alphabet’–twenty-six pastoral and formative reasons why the Gospel must retain primacy as the content of Christian education” (108).
This week, we come to the letter “M”.
M is for Mission
And why we must continually learn and teach the Gospel? We do so that we may not lose sight of the great work that God is doing in our day. God is actively engaged in the wondrous work of reconciling all things to himself. It was for this that the Son of God came forth. ”God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor. 5:19). And this work continues in and through us, the body of Christ, gathered and dispersed throughout the world today. The very work for which the Father sent the Son, the Son has now sent his church to continue (Matt. 28:18-20; John 20:21). And he promises to be with us always. Being in his presence must be taken as seriously as doing the work of true mission, for mission can only have power and a cutting edge when Christ is indwelling us and we him.
P2R Memory Moleskine in 2012?
Posted December 23, 2011 by Timmy BristerCategories: Personal Commentary
Tags: Memory Moleskine, P2R, Partnering to Remember
That’s the question I have been asking since June. The Partnering 2 Remember Memory Moleskine took a life of its own this year with over 30,000 people participating in the challenge. To say that I was blown away by the response would be a great understatement. A Facebook page was created as well as a Twitter account. And even an iOS app was developed in the process. It was so encouraging to hear from small groups in South Africa, missionary moms in SE Asia, entire congregations, and every member in the family–all participating together in putting the book of Philippians to memory.
So naturally, people have been asking about an organizational plans for a 2012 Memory Moleskine for P2R. I have thought and planned through the next memorization challenge, and as the last public poll indicated, the leading passage to memorize is the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Plans were in place this past summer to make preparations for this upcoming year.
However, as 2011 continued to unfold, I continually faced challenges on every front that brought much of my life to a halt. The year I planned and the year I lived had almost nothing in common. As much as I would like to lead another organized effort with P2R and a 2012 Memory Moleskine, providence would have it otherwise, and I am sadly going to have to direct my efforts in the most direct spheres of responsibility.
Those areas include shepherding Grace (which is in transition), directing PLNTD (which is getting started), and directing the Haiti Collective (which is expanding rapidly). Among these, I am planning three conferences, and working to raise $250,000 for 2012. As I consider what the Lord ha allotted to me a this time in my life, I am extremely grateful for the opportunities and at the same time wish I could do more. Including leading another P2R challenge.
I know that there are groups of people planning to do a memory moleskine in 2012, and if you have an iOS device, you can find a lot of texts available on the iOS app for memory. I hope that the vision continues and spreads with a love for internalizing, meditating, and treasuring God’s Word. Personally, I plan to tackle the Sermon on the Mount, so if anyone else is as well, I would love to know.
May the Lord richly bless your efforts to own His Word. And may He be kind to increase interest and expand the numbers of those who are drinking deep from the fountain of Scripture!
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