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Monthly Archives: August 2016


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Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 35

Westminster Larger Catechism – Lord’s Day 35

Q & A 143
Q Which is the ninth commandment?
A The ninth commandment is, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”.

Q & A 144
Q What are the duties required in the ninth commandment?
A The duties required in the ninth commandment are, the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor, as well as our own; appearing and standing for the truth; and from the heart, sincerely, freely, clearly, and fully, speaking the truth, and only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice, and in all other things: Whatsoever; a charitable esteem of our neighbors; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending their innocency; a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning them; discouraging gossips, flatterers, and slanderers; love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requires; keeping of lawful promises; studying and practicing of: Whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely, and of good report.

Q & A 145
Q What are the sins forbidden in the ninth commandment?
A The sins forbidden in the ninth commandment are, all prejudicing the truth, and the good name of our neighbors, as well as our own, especially in public judicature; giving false evidence, suborning false witnesses, wittingly appearing and pleading for an evil cause, outfacing and overbearing the truth; passing unjust sentence, calling evil good, and good evil; rewarding the wicked according to the work of the righteous, and the righteous according to the work of the wicked; forgery, concealing the truth, undue silence in a just cause, and holding our peace when iniquity calls for either a reproof from ourselves, or complaint to others; speaking the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end, or perverting it to a wrong meaning, or in doubtful and equivocal expressions, to the prejudice of truth or justice;speaking untruth, lying, slandering, backbiting, detracting, tale bearing, whispering, scoffing, reviling, rash, harsh, and partial censuring; misconstructing intentions, words, and actions; flattering, vainglorious boasting, thinking or speaking too highly or too meanly of ourselves or others; denying the gifts and graces of God; aggravating smaller faults;hiding, excusing, or extenuating of sins, when called to a free confession;unnecessary discovering of infirmities; raising false rumors, receiving and countenancing evil reports, and stopping our ears against just defense; evil suspicion; envying or grieving at the deserved credit of any, endeavoring or desiring to impair it, rejoicing in their disgrace and infamy; scornful contempt, fond admiration; breach of lawful promises; neglecting such things as are of good report, and practicing, or not avoiding ourselves, or not hindering: What we can in others, such things as procure an ill name.


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The Preacher As Faithful Home Cook (via Robert Farrar Capon)

If you’re attending worship with other Christians tomorrow and hearing a sermon, may it have this character:

Preachers of the Word labor under three distinct requirements. First, they are to be faithful (pistoi). They are called to believe, and they are called only to believe. They are not called to know, or to be clever, or to be proficient, or to be energetic, or to be talented, or to be well-adjusted…
Second, the clergy are to be wise (phrenimoi). They are not to be fools, rich or poor, who think that salvation can come to anyone as a result of living. The world is already drowning in its efforts at life; it does not need lifeguards who swim to it carrying the barbells of their own moral and spiritual efforts. Preachers are to come honestly empty-handed to the world…
But it is the third of these clerical requirements that strikes me as the most telling: preachers are stewards whom the Lord has ‘set over his household servants to provide them with food at the proper time.’ After all the years the church has suffered under forceful preachers and winning orators, under compelling pulpiteers and clerical bigmouths with egos to match, how nice to hear that Jesus expects preachers in their congregations to be nothing more than faithful household cooks.
Robert Farrar Capon, The Parables of Grace, Eerdmans, 1988, 91-2.


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Due Credit (preparing for mgpc 28/8/2016)

Songs of preparation: From Heaven You Came (The Servant King) and What A Wonderful Saviour Is Jesus.
Call to worship:
Praise: Come O Fount Of Every Blessing.
Corporate Prayer of Confession:
Song of assurance, confession of faith, doxology: O Lord My God (How Great Thou Art); Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 60; Unto God Be Praise And Honour.
Consecutive reading: 1 Corinthians 7: 1 – 24 – The Apostle Paul answers questions the Corinthians had raised regarding marriage, singleness, and divorce.
Bible Memorisation: Ephesians 2: 8 – 10.
Praise: Holy Spirit, Living Breath Of God.
Reading: Ephesians 2: 1 – 10
Sermon: Due Credit – God gets the credit for our salvation, it’s not just right, but a vital element to healthy Christian community life.
Tithes and offerings.
Departing praise: This Life I Live.


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Rest In You by All Sons And Daughters

All Sons And Daughters’ forthcoming album Poets And Saints, collection of new songs that seek to evoke connections with past generations of God’s people.
This is Rest In You.


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God’s Highway by Sandra McCracken

This is a recording from last year of the title track from Sandra McCracken’s forthcoming album God’s Highway.


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Footy Tipping 2016 – NRL Round 25 / AFL Round 23

The final home and away round of AFL for 2016, along with the penultimate NRL round.
The top eights of both comps seem settled, though there are many permutations of places in the AFL with results and percentages all important.
For all my bleating about the NRL, all the teams currently in the top eight have more wins that losses (Gold Coast are equal, but have one draw) and all have positive points differentials.

NRL (last round 7/8; season tally 114/178)
North Queensland
Melbourne
Canberra
Gold Coast
Cronulla
New Zealand
Souths
Paramatta

AFL (last round 6/9; season tally 132/189)
Adelaide
Geelong
Carlton
Sydney
Port Adelaide
Greater Western Sydney
Saint Kilda
Hawthorn
Western Bulldogs


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The Church Is Important Because The Fruit Of The Gospel Is Not Just The Conversion Of Individuals But The Creation Of The Church (via Peter Adam)

Being a Christian is a corporate experience with individual implications, not an individual experience with corporate implications.
Peter Adam is writing a brief series about preaching. Here he addresses what it means to understand the Bible (and preaching) is “mainly addressed to God’s people, not to individuals.”

Individualism in preaching [that is, merely addressing individuals] misses the main purpose and aim of the Bible, and so mistreats it. Even in individual Bible reading, we should be thinking of how this message impacts our church. We need to realise how frequently “you” in the Bible is “you” [plural], rather than “you” [singular]. It would help if we popularised the word “youse”, as we could then use it in our translations of the Bible! We should use the Bible for the main purpose for which God wrote it, to create, mature, train, correct, transform, equip, and perfect his church.

Read the whole post here.