“Not by might, nor by power… Spirit-filled ministry”

Main speakers are John Piper, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, and Christopher Ash.

Looks like PT are getting a bit more charismatic, or at least open but cautious as they also invite Wayne Grudem, John Coles and Terry Virgo to give a bit more of a charismatic spin on things…

I’ll be there I guess, stewarding I think… should be fun!

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”.

Rupert Bentley-Taylor is Pastor at Widcombe Baptist Church in Bath.

Parable of the Banquet. What does the future look like? Blessed is the man who eats the feast v.15 – prophets, Jesus, Revelation all speak of the feast, the man was right, but… What was in the man’s heart? He was complacent, assumed he’d be at the feast. He was claimless, the belief had no impact on the way he lived. What you believe about the future should affect your living now.

Matters of the heart v.15-20
- the generous heart of God v.16 – God has amazing plans for your future, he prepares a great banquet with many guests.
JC Ryle – ‘the gospel has everything that humans need’
God says ‘come’
- the hard heart of men – lots of excuses, but the problem is in the heart, they knew, but couldn’t be bothered, they were in love with other things. The invitation is rejected. Jesus says come, but they crucified him – men reject the grace of God.

* England 1 – 0 Ukraine (Crouch) *

A matter of others v.21-24
There is one day left, the coming of Christ in judgement, one thing restrains that, the patient, gracious heart of God that longs for men to be saved.
- God wants the sinners, the waifs and strays, the outcasts, no one wants them, but God does! Friendship evangelism is great, but God says go and invite the people that no one wants to be friends with.
- God wants those outside the city – the gentile. Go and invite them, go with a passion, out of your comfort zone to bring Christ to all people everywhere. The heart of God longs for others to come.

Do we share the master’s heart – then invite. Jesus looks beneath the words and looks at our hearts – if you share his heart you will eat at his feast. They will cross every barrier to bring that invite to all.

“It is not my calling to help you to have chipper feelings while the whole of creation groans. My job is to put the kind of ballast in the belly of your boat so that when these waves crash against your life, you will not capsize but make it to the harbour of heaven – battered and wounded but full of faith and joy”

John Piper, Spectacular Sins [pg. 28]

“At the all-important pivot of human history, the worst sin ever committed served to show the greatest glory of Christ and obtain the sin-conquering gift of God’s grace. God did not just overcome evil at the cross. He made evil serve the overcoming of evil. He made evil commit suicide in doing its worst evil.

Evil is anything and everything opposed to the fullest display of the glory of Christ. That’s the meaning of evil. In the death of Christ, the powers of darkness did their best to destroy the glory of the Son of God. This is the apex of evil. But instead they found themselves quoting the script of the ancient prophecy and acting the part assigned by God. Precisely in putting Christ to death, they put his glory on display – the very glory they aimed to destroy. The apex of evil achieved the apex of the glory of Christ. The glory of grace.”

John Piper, Spectacular Sins [pg. 12]

When I read this it blew me away, and this is just part of the introduction! I’m going to give a full review when I finish reading it… shouldn’t be long, it’s hard to put down!

At the last Resurgence conference there was the joke question from Driscoll… “Would you let an Arminian cut your grass?” and just after the infamous Driscoll-Chandler punch.

Then there’s his 4 reasons why I love John Piper…

and reason number 5, “He’s a good sport”… see below:  John’s Piper’s New Coat!

Hope to see him preaching in it soon! Best line in the video… “I love John Piper… but not in an Episcopalian way!”

I suggested that there were perhaps two types of Christian discernment; discernment of God’s will, what we might call guidance, and also discernment of truth, from error – particularly focusing on the truth and error in doctrine, what we believe as Christians.

The second type, discerning Truth, comes with a big premise, namely that there is Truth and error. So already with this premise we are battling against prevailing worldviews: post-modernism that says there is no ultimate Truth, and relativism which says there are many truths – which taken to it’s logical conclusion also affirms there is no ultimate Truth.

So… What is discernment?
Groups looking at:  Hebrews 5:11-14, Philippians 1:9-10, Romans 16:9, Ephesians 5:8-10, Romans 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22, 1 John 4:1

We need to have a good grasp of the gospel to be able to discern truth from error!

What is the Gospel?  – 1 Corinthians 15:1-5

Gospel – it’s good news!

It’s apostolic – Paul preached it!

It’s a first-order, fight over, go to the stake issue – FIRST IMPORTANCE!

Cue 6 points nicked from John Piper: Planned, Historical, Objective Accomplishment, Free offer to faith, Application to the individual, joyful eternal future.

Warning against false gospels! -  Galatians 1:6-9

It’s not good news – no gospel at all. Perversion of the true gospel. Eternal condemnation!

Case studies

Here’s the PDF handout from the study, complete with case studies – wonder if you can guess who the dodgy quotes are from…

From Desiring God.

Desiring God conference – ‘The Power of Words and the Wonder of God’ – begins 26th September