Right now there’s a conference happening in the States, in Durham, North Carolina, called Advance 2009.

Piper, Driscoll, Chandler, Stetzer, Chapell and a few others…

I’m guessing that full audio/video will be available at a later date, but the audio is being made available straight away on Desiring God… listening to Chandler ranting, his intro makes me laugh becuase he has “a picture of Dr. Piper on his fridge”.

So somehow, I’m still not quite sure how, I ended up on the Victoria Derbyshire show on Radio 5 Live (starts about 42 mins in) this morning talking about why as a Christian I wouldn’t have a relationship with a non-Christian. There was also a Jewish girl called Jade, and a Hindu guy called Amit as well as a couple of others who joined the conversation.

I only got a couple of questions to briefly say why faith is a key factor in looking for a partner, I made it clear that while there are many factors, the key factor for a Christian relationship is to look for someone who loves Jesus. I was at a bit of a disadvantage in the conversation as I was sitting in a small room by myself in Brighton while the others were up in the studio in London.

It’s an interesting discussion, but I felt it missed the point – most of what was talked about was cultural differences, Jade (the Jewish girl) talked lots about cultural differences with a Catholic boyfriend and pragmatic differnces in potential partners. So I felt the point was missed as we were seeking to discuss how FAITH is a factor in relationships… given that I was expecting to hear about what the Torah says to Jade about relationships, and what the Hindu gods say about this stuff… I was expecting to talk about what the Bible says about relationships, but we never get round to this question!

Anyway, good fun, a good experience and they taxied me to and from home which was cool.

Last night I had the privilege to preach my first ‘proper’ sermon… when I say ‘proper’ I mean at a main church service – the 8am communions with a congregation of 10 is a little bit different. I got to speak on 1 Corinthians 9, but choose to just look at verses 19-27. I put a shirt on for the occasion, but kept my un-ironed jeans and dirty trainers on… it’s all about becoming all things to all men… to the people who wear scruffy jeans I became like one who wears scruffy jeans!

I titled the sermon ‘Freed to Serve’… but have since changed it to ‘Serve/Win, Run/Win’… because I can.

You can listen to the audio here…

…and my preaching notes – maybe Josh Harris could add it to his preachers notes series… maybe not

Two points:

1. Serve to Win
2. Run to Win

Q: How do we live as Christians in Brighton & Hove?

A: We run, and we do everything we can to win others on the way!

Earlier this week my vicar, Phil Moon (also my boss) took part in a public debate with Clive Gardner, a local LGCM leader in Brighton. Interestingly despite Brighton being a ‘gay capital’ the LGCM is pretty small, but they initiated the idea of a public debate, the two speakers also aired on local radio earlier in the day.

Phil started off, taking us through what I think were 7 ‘gay’ passages in the Bible, explaining what they meant and building a case to show how the Bible condemns not only gay sex, but sex outside of God’s plan for it – heterosexual, monogamous marriage.

Now I could have guessed what Phil was going to say, so I was more intrigued to hear what Clive was going to say – but was disappointed. Here was the basic flow of his argument…

1. I love Jesus and I love the Bible
2. We can’t be sure what the Bible says in the 7 ‘gay’ passages
3. Why would God be against stable, loving homosexual relationships?

These were not good arguments – the first aims to appeal to our emotions, the second is an argument from silence, well trying to silence what the Bible says, and the third is a pragmatic argument. What I wanted to hear from Clive, was a Biblical (some verses) case in support of homosexual relationships.

When pressed further on the Romans 1 passage and also on the nature of God, his relationship in Trinity and with the Church, the LGCM position of claiming to love the Bible and belief in its authority was sadly exposed.

At the end of the evening we said ‘the Grace’ together, a nice sentiment, but tragically I fear those from the LGCM aren’t actually Christians! I don’t say this to provoke, or to be controversial, or to deny the LGCM the things they claim to believe, but… if 1 Corinthians 6:9 refers to those in homosexual relationships, as I believe it does, then it also says that those who continue in that way of living will “not inherit the Kingdom of God”.

If you’re interested in listening to the full debate and the Q&A then you can download the audio.

In the summer edition of The Briefing, Nathan Walter gives some tips on listening to sermons (back page)… he starts off with a gentle rebuke to people who say “Mark Driscoll says…”, I don’t know anyone like that, hmm… but that is always a danger isn’t it, that we hold too high an opinion of the words of [insert your favourite preacher here] diminishing both our own pastors and our personal time with God in His word. Here are his tips:

• Vary your diet of preachers, and, sometimes, why not simply listen to an audio Bible?
• Be wary of comparing the online preacher (publicly or privately) to your own God-given pastors.
• Don’t forget your responsibilities as a listener. Test everything. Never listen without your Bible open. Chase up the passages and write notes.
• Keep audio sermons in their place: like good Christian books, they can help us grow enormously, but we mustn’t let them loom too large. Nothing beats the godly discipline of reading your Bible.
• As with all preaching and teaching, don’t just listen to store up knowledge; listen to sermons in order to put the Word into practise. Listen to an iSermon on your iPod, but make sure you also have an iHarvest of righteousness.

Some good advice. The only one I would question is point 3 – while I agree in principle and certainly would do this when listening to a talk while at home, a lot of the time if I’m listening to a sermon on my iPod I’m doing something else; walking around town, travelling, at the gym (rarely but has been known)… it’s on my iPod because I’m not in the position to sit with open Bible and make notes.

Adrian Warnock interviews Mark Driscoll – videos here

Mark Driscoll reflects on his time in the UK here and here

My posts on Together on a Mission 2008

My posts on the Dwell London conference

Mark Driscoll’s pastors training track (audio) – Be Radical Plant Radical Churches

Together on a Mission 2008 (audio) – Main Sessions

Off to CYFA camp in Colwyn Bay (sunny North Wales tomorrow) – 10 days of fun, hard work and learning lots about Jesus from John’s Gospel.