reMARKable

Easter Sunday 10.30am

Magical!

If you haven't seen it already, go and see CATS! 

It is on tour at the moment. And at it's The Grand till the weekend. 

Mr Mistoffelees is especially Magical! 

Nice one Joseph Poulton! 

You can see him in action behind the scenes here:

corrupt beyond all hope?

So long as we are aware that we are wicked, we are not corrupt beyond all hope. Our present dissatisfaction with ourselves is a good sign. We have only to be careful that we do not get too disheartened and abashed to do anything about it. (p27 Creed or Chaos? )

snow chance

I couldn't resist building this when clearing the path this morning. 

Baptism won't save you

Or is anyone hearing this who is relying upon his or her baptism? I do not care whether you were baptized as an infant or whether you were grown-ip - it make not the slightest difference, if you are relying upon it. 

If you think that the act of baptism is the thing that saves you and puts you right, whatever you may be doing with your life, you are in the identical position of the Jews. As they relied on circumcision you are relying upon baptism, whether it is sprinkling or immersion, or anything else you make like - mode, again, it does not matter. 

Anyone who relies upon it, and upon it alone, is in the position of the Jew who was relying upon circumcision. [see Romans 2:25-29]

 (p156  Romans: 1 to 3: 20 - The Righteous Judgement of God An Exposition of Chapters 2 - D.M Lloyd-Jones )

helping parents not to parent

The view seems to be that it’s just about all right for women to give birth, but after that can we please separate them from their young as soon as possible, for the sake of the economy?

Peter Hitchens at his spicy best giving the 'narrative' of how men have again stuffed up women, but this time with the help of women (feminism). Read the article here.

Dave Thomas is to thank for putting me onto it in his own piece responding to the recently proposed £1200 'gift' to working mums (it is here and well worth a read). 

Does God care what we eat?

Emma Scrivener on 4thought. 

Does God really care what we eat?

Singing with saplings

This morning's car journey was huge fun. I just massively enjoyed singing along to Songs for Saplings Vol 1 (we got through 7 songs in a 20 min journey). 
Truly these CD's are one colossal blessing ... fun and formative. Child friendly but in no way childish. 
In days of unsteady economics an investment truly worth making (digital download is $5 per album! So not even an investment - A BARGAIN!).  

Dave Thomas has helpfully blogged about the whole series. 

grace all the way back

God himself, in many different ways, prepares for his gracious work in human hearts. He aroused in Zacchaeus the desire to see Jesus (Luke 19:3), produced distress in the crowd that listened to Peter (Acts 2:37), caused Paul to fall to the ground (Acts 9:4), disconcerted the jailer at Philippi (Acts 16:27), and so directs the lives of all his children even before and up to the hour of their rebirth. 

Even if on their part they have not yet received the benefits of reconciliation and justification and have not yet been born again and given faith, yet they are already the objects of his eternal love, and he himself already leads them by his grace to the Spirit, who alone can regenerate and comfort them. 

All things, accordingly, are connect by divine prearrangement to their subsequent 'enlistment' and calling in the church. Conception and birth, family and lineage and people and land, upbringing and education, development of heart and mind, preservation from hideous sins, above all from blaspheming the Holy Spirit, or perhaps abandonment to all sorts of wickedness, disasters and judgment, blessings and benefits, the preaching of law and gospel, distress about sin and fear of judgment, development of conscience and the felt need for salvation: all this is grace preparing people for rebirth by the Holy Spirit and for the role that they as believers will later play in the church. 

True: there is only one way to heaven, but many are the leadings of God both before and on that journey, and the grace of the Holy Spirit is abundant and free. Jeremiah, John the Baptist, and Timothy were brought into the kingdom differently from either Manasseh or Paul, and each performed a different task in the service of God. Pietism and Methodism tend to ignore these leadings, limit God's grace, and want to convert and mold everyone according to a single model. but Reformed theology respects the free sovereignty of God and marvels at the riches of his grace. (p40 Reformed Dogmatics: vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation)

good people resist grace

When he (Paul) spoke of the Gentiles being 'without excuse' (Romans 1:20), there was no dialogue with them; they were silent, as if acknowledging the justice of their condemnation. It is the moral man, not the corrupt Gentile, who is disposed to argue, and to resist the unsparing and unqualified judgment that he is in the same predicament as the other, and in the same need of the grace of the gospel. 

It is significant, too, that this form of argument continues right to the end of the section, at Romans 3:20. The respectable, moral or religious man is much more difficult to convince of his need of grace than the other, and it is long before Paul an arrive at his verdict that 'the whole world' (including the good pagan and the religious Jew as well as the corrupt Gentile) is 'accountable to God' and guilty in His sight (3:19). (p35 Power of God: Exposition of Paul's Letter to the Romans)

Is 'same sex' marriage good for society?

It really kicks off at 3:57 with Peter Hitchens' introduction. It is meandering. And long. And frustrating as debates can be. But it is very good. And don't whatever you do miss the last 15 mins.

Jesus then and now

Where I am heading tomorrow with the rest of the eXcel leaders:

Serve Christ with us in Tipton

New Gospel Worker by Timandjane Ambrose