Kevin DeYoung wrote a great article about the Trinity a few weeks ago at the Gospel Coalition’s website. What is it? Where is it found in Scripture? Why does it matter? Check it out.
Missions Exist Because Worship Doesn’t
Hopefully, Pastor Aaron’s sermon this past Sunday got everyone fired up about the mission. I just wanted to pass on a few things from Desiring God Ministries.
First, Aaron mentioned a book called Let the Nations Be Glad, by John Piper. It contains many profound insights (especially the definition of a “people group” and how that affects the mission). I think it would be very helpful to have the vision of that book ingrained in RVC’s fabric.
Secondly, DGM is putting on a conference at the end of September called “Finish the Mission.” You can guess what it’s about. It would be nice if some folks went up there, especially for the purpose of casting a vision for our role and networking with like-minded believers.
And lastly, John Piper preached a sermon at Wheaton College a long time ago called Doing Missions When Dying is Gain. I’ve probably listened to it a dozen times and can quote stretches of it verbatim (“Will you please join me in reversing American Evangelical priorities?”). I hope you have time to listen to it and that it will ignite a passion for goers and senders.
Bible Reading Plan
Private and corporate Bible study tends to orbit around the familiar and perspicuous. In order to know and love “the whole counsel of God,” it is important to study the Scriptures systematically and regularly. One way to do that is through a bible reading plan, to keep you on a schedule so as to make it all the way through the Bible in a set amount of time (typically 1-2 years).
A couple of years ago, Justin Taylor put together a list of several useful plans. Almost a decade ago, I took the Discipleship Journal reading plan and have modified it almost annually until it reached it’s current form, attached below.
Regardless of specifics, make sure you have a plan to abide with God through the Word.
The Gift of Friendship
Kevin DeYoung, a pastor in East Lansing, MI, posted a great series a few weeks back called “The Gift of Friendship”. It’s been converted into a short pdf. It’s an appropriate article leading up to the (re-)launch of small groups this week. Kevin is the author or co-author of some great books, including Just Do Something and Why We Love the Church. Check it out!
Peaking with the Puritans
We’ve been trying something this year called “Peaking with the Puritans.” As we said when we started this, most people think of the Puritans as a dour lot, spending their time burning witches and stitching scarlet letters. These days historical conventional wisdom is no more accurate than a game of telephone in a knitting circle. Puritanism was a revival of true religion (in the best sense of the word) that came out of the Reformation. It was a time of intense persecution. Out of this fiery revival a corpus of powerful, English-language, Spirit-saturated writings have been left to us. The Banner of Truth has been re-publishing the best of these writings in various forms for years. They have a series called Puritan Paperbacks.
Peaking is a reference to a word my friends and I used to throw around to refer to intense spiritual experiences. We misappropriated the term. I now see that I didn’t know what a peak experience was at that time.
So, consider this another invitation to join us for monthly discussions of these great works.
August 6th (this Saturday) – The Mortification of Sin by John Owen
September 24th (tentative) – Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks
It may be too late for you to get and read the Owen book, but it’s definitely not too early to by the second one.
Theses discussions have been very helpful and I hope you’ll consider joining us.