Tonight we were reading Psalm 83-84. Something I've reflected on a few times in the last couple of years is whether we ought to sing OT Psalms without any reference to Jesus and the New Covenant.

I heard a new (I think) Hillsong song a couple of times over the weekend on the radio. It was musically a great song... and most of the words were straight from Psalm 84.

Blessed are those who dwell in Your house
They are ever praising You
Blessed are those whose strength is in You
Whose hearts are set on our God

I think that I understand what this would have meant for the person living in the Old Covenant... and also how we ought to understand it this side of the cross. However, more often than not, when we sing OT Psalms there isn't always a reference to Jesus and what he has done and the hope we have in him.

Mark Peterson had a song a few years ago called Wonder. I thought it was good because it reflects for a verse or two on Psalm 8 but the final verse was all about Jesus.

I'm sure that you can sing an OT Psalm and still understand your Biblical Theological context... but does that mean you need to explain it to the congregation before you sing it? What then of the person leading the song who doesn't understand the context?

It may even extend to any OT song. When we sing Pharaoh Pharaoh with youth group I try to say something like this: "This song reflects the way that God rescued his people in the OT but we have an even greater rescue in Jesus..."

I'm not suggesting that we don't sing Psalms. Ephesians 5 says to... but my question is ought we not qualify the OT Psalm this side of Jesus? Maybe it's even like the sermon that doesn't mention Jesus...

Question: Can we sing OT Psalms verbatim without any reference to Jesus and the New Covenant?

In Carson's For the Love of God bible reading plan he mentioned Eric Liddell tonight. I had a read about him here. Have a look at the "Service in China" section.

This arvo at staff meeting we had a good wrestle with thinking through what we are aiming for with church. It was good to think through how this is communicated with the church. It's exciting to think, plan and pray about how to best build Christ's church (both spiritually and numerically) by proclaiming God's Word.

This is my brother's blog. He's made some good posts during the last week. There's a bunch on there about films and in particular 'Australian' films. He's also got some great pictures taken at Bronte. Here's my fav. Check it out and write some comments for him.

Check this kid out. He's a four year old forest gump (at least the running part). To find out more about him just google his name: Budhia Singh.

We had a win and a loss with the EV Echidnas (did that name ever stick?? hope not!) on Saturday. But football and Jon Brinton were the winners on the day. Jon was in outstanding form both in his role as striker... and also in strutting the catwalk! The following photos are from his forthcoming catalogue.


Hey Jon if you're reading this give us a wave!
Any other EV football players leave your comments below too.

"Oprah seems to be a contradiction perfectly suited for a confused world of pluralism. She is a billionaire who speaks passionately about the pain and suffering in the world from the comforts of her sheltered life. She is among the most beloved icons of mothers yet she has never had any children. Many viewers tune in to learn how to improve their marriages yet she has never been married. And, she speaks of spiritual matters often and has an entire segment of her show titled "spirit," which makes you wonder which spirit she’s referring to." Read the whole article here.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, as much as I love and am encouraged by the ministry of John Piper, On the Poddy with Dave & Dan is now 3 places higher on the iTunes rankings!!

"Hey dave, frank woodly just signed my nipple!"
I just received this sms off my friend Mal. Back in the late 90's when we were still teenagers we used to watch and love the tv show 'Lano & Woodley' (Woodley is on the left). I'm not sure where Mal is but maybe his next quote might be "I'm never going to wash my nipple again..."

And in second place..."You can only be young once. But you can always be immature." Dave Barry

(Mal if you're reading this... what were you doing?)

I've been doing more reading about the emerging church of late. Haven't read much more of Contemplative Youth Ministry or Becoming conversant with the emerging church but... I have been reading a bit about Mark Driscoll and his books. I've yet to get hold of his them but have read some reviews as well as info on his blog and church site. His latest book is called Confessions of a Reformission Rev. (Avid readers of my blog may remember that my podcast was ahead of his sermons in the iTunes top100 on Monday!!)

Mark Driscoll was one of the early leaders in what has come to be known as the emerging or emergent church. He is careful to define both terms, suggesting that he still believes in the principles upon which the emerging church was founded, but deliberately separates himself from the emergent crowd and such men as Brian McLaren. On pages 21 and 22 he says that "the emergent church is the latest version of liberalism. The only difference is that old liberalism accomodated modernity and the new liberalism accomodates postmodernity." As for Driscoll, he "swim[s] in the theologically conservative stream of the emerging church." (from here)

I'm interested to see how Driscoll interacts with culture without being dictated by it. It seems that in the history of his church at each difficult turn he's gone back to the scriptures.

I've spent a bit of time (not recently) reflecting on Tim Kellar and Redeemer Pressie Church NY. Don Carson has this to say about them:

"The irony is that, while this sounds like an outstanding exemplar of the emerging church movement, this church - Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City - is thoroughly unlikely to identify itself as a candidate for emergin rolls. The reason I talk about this church should nevetheless be clear: it displays all the strengths of the emerging church movement while avoiding most of its weaknesses. In other words, the emerging church movement has numerous strengths, and we should be grateful for them - but they are not exclusively theirs" (from p56 of Becoming conversant)

I'm keen to keep thinking about how to interact with our culture yet not be swayed or shaped by it.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16 (esv)

The rain was falling. I heard a knock at the front door. Knock. Knock. Knock. I opened the door. Behold, it was a man dressed in a Foxtel jacket.

FOXTEL MAN: Good evening Sir.
ME: G'day... sorry we don't have a TV
FM: You what? You don't have a TV? Are you serious?
ME: Yes.
FM: Why is that?
ME: We don't want one.
FM: [laughing] Then I guess you won't be wanting extra channels!
ME: [also laughing] That's right. Have a good night!

That was 2 days ago. It would have been good if I'd said some of the reasons why we're too busy for a TV... could have lead onto a gospel conversation.

On the Poddy with Dave & Dan has made it to number 30 in the Religion & Spirituality section on iTunes!!!


We are ahead of the following:
>>> Matthiasmedia
>>> Max Lucado
>>> Greg Laurie
>>> Saddleback young adults
>>> Mark Driscoll @ Mars Hill
>>> We're only 1 off taking down Joel Osteen!
>>> I can't even see Sydney Anglicans in the top 100 anymore!

Give us one week and I'm confident we can make it into the top25 (which puts you on the front page!). Two weeks and we can maybe even make the top 20!

Around the web:
>>> Floating church
>>> New (& better) design
>>> Mexico should now win!
>>> Episode 12: Funniest episode yet

Last Friday I had a meeting in at St Andrew's House. The car park is tight. And the paint was pretty fresh.

An official apology to Rod & Robyn (my parents-in-law) for taking touch parking a bit too literally! They are currently away overseas for 5 weeks (hence driving their car) so hopefully the ding in the car will be a nice 'welcome home' present.


I buffed out most of the yellow paint... but haven't finished getting it off the black ridge... I think it looks like a nice pin-stripe!

This reminds me of a movie Row and I saw recently: Monster-in-law. Thankfully my mother-in-law isn't like that one!

I started reading Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church by Don Carson in September last year. While pointing out the contribution the movement has to make, he is gracious in showing their weaknesses (read: rips it to shreds!). I still haven't finished it but here are a few problems I have with the movement after reading Carson's book and their websites:

>>> Their critique of the Seeker Sensitive church movement is based on it no longer being what people want. The Bible and theology ought to guide our critique of any movement.

>>> In attempting to be culturally-sensitive it fails to see the need to be COUNTER-cultural. I agree that its appropriate to be sensitive to the culture you're working in, however the call of the gospel is a call to be distinct and different.

>>> Worship of God seems to be on my terms rather than on God's. Eg. "lighting this candle or looking at this cross helps me to feel close to God." That sounds like idolatry.

>>> Their advocates get cranky on forums when you raise the topic!

The whole emerging church thing seems to have significant interaction with a growing number of youth ministries (at least in the US). So I thought I'd read a book on both: Contemplative Youth Ministry: Practicing the Presence of Jesus. So far... it's terrible! Stay tuned.

UPDATE>>> Doctrine doesn't seem to matter - hence evangelicals can hook up with catholics and liberals.

For the past 3 worlds cups I've gone for Germany at the finals. This year they will be my 2nd team because of the SOCCEROOS making it for the first time in 32 years... giddy up!!!

One of the things that we did last world cup was pray for both of the nations at half-time. There is a book called Operation World which has some great info about all the countries in the world along with prayer and praise points for each of them. If you can't get hold of the book you could do a little bit of research into the country at this site.

If you're planning on watching world cup games pray for the teams and their countries... not that they'd win... but that they'd be won for Christ.

I've been in bed (and the toilet) for the last day and a half. It's a bug thing that's spread around some of the staff & their families. Hopefully Row doesn't get it!

The following are the DVDs I had on yesterday:
#1 Napoleon Dynamite
#2 School of Rock
#3 We can be heroes
#4 Frontline

The first three I had playing during the day. They are all very funny, however, I didn't really watch them. At best I would have listened to about a quarter of each video as I slept for most of the day.

Row hired Frontline from the video shop and I watched it in the evening. I was awake for most of the 4or5 Episodes I had playing. It's a really funny show!! I didn't watch it much back when it was on television but I'm a fan of all the shows that the Working Dog folk produce. The sad thing about the satire on Frontline is that it probably is quite close to the truth! Current affairs shows in Australia are shocking in their sensational journalism. Not having a TV the only current affairs program I listen to is HACK on Triple J.

I'm going back to bed. Hopefully I'll be okay to make it to youth group. Rhett has kindly offered to give the talk. We will be looking at Acts 2.

I'm going public with this blog thing!! It's taken 2 years to do it (see the 1st post back in Oct 2004!). I've just sent an email to a bunch of people telling them I've come out of the blogger closet... so there's now no looking back... unless I decide to stop.
-----
Here's a few ground rules for my blog:
>>> Concise - I don't like blogs where the post goes for a few pages
>>> Colourful - put pictures in so it isn't boring and those who can't read will still enjoy the site
>>> Original - I'll try not to just post to other news stories all the time
>>> Insightful - Among other things, I'm keen to talk about youth ministry
-----
The following picture is from a funny site called www.stuffonmycat.com



Is anyone actually reading this???

Let me introduce you to Aaron. Aaron is one of our year 8 boys youth group leaders. We meet on Tuesday afternoons to read, pray and encourage one another. He normally stays for dinner as well. Yesterday we didn't get to open the Bible... BUT we were able to talk about life and ministry all while Aaron had a marvellous haircut crafted by yours truly!


These photos were taken on my phone... there are 4 effect settings: normal, sepia, greyscale & negative. I've used all 4 of those settings in the above photos.

Ian Powell the senior minister of St Barney's Broadway spoke this morning on ABC radio about fire that burnt down the building this morning. It was great! He was able to express that it was disappointing... but that church is not about buildings - it's about people. He spoke about God's sovereignty and how the church would be able to kick on. And he also had the opportunity to speak about how Arthur Stace became a Christian there all those years ago. Hopefully this will be a good gospel opportunity.


By the way... the sign if you know anything about it... is still intact!

The completed rescue of two miners and the funeral of the miner who died in Tasmania. Read about it here [smh]. There are about a trillion articles on it around the world today.


#1 Biggest news event (and for the last 2000 years) find it here, here, here and here.

The High Court today ruled against two severely disabled people who claimed they should not have been born.

In what's been termed a case of "wrongful life," the judges found the pair did not have a right to mount a case for negligence against their mothers' doctors.

Read smh article

High Court Judgment

Can you imagine the precedent that would have been set if the case went the other way!!!

Just listening to a sermon. Put these photos into a collage. The photos were taken in my backyard while preparing some talks in Ezekiel. They're taken with my phone (the camera on it).


Good night.

I've just been reading through the opening chapters of CJ Mahaney's book Living the Cross Centered Life

"The Cross is the blazing fire at which the flame of our love is kindled, but we have to get near enough for its sparks to fall on us." John Stott

"The gospel cannot be preached and heard enough, for it cannot be grasped well enough...Moreover, our greatest task is to keep you faithful to this article and to bequeath this treasure to you when we die." Martin Luther

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1Corinthians 1:18 ESV

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14 ESV

May our boast be only in the cross.

Yesterday we started a new Bible series with our year 7-9 G-TEAMS @ Operation 24/7. Last year we looked at Hebrews 1-4 for a term and this term we are going to finish Hebrews and look at chapter 5-13.

I've come up with a summary (at least it's a work in progress) of the book to help them keep it all in context.

1) Who is it written to? A bunch of Jewish Christians
2) What are they warned against? Going back to the old way (Judaism)
3) What are they encourage to do? Persevere in Christ
4) Why? Because Jesus is 'da Bomb!

My point is that Jesus is far superior to the old covenant, he's far superior to Moses, Angels, High Priests, Melchizedek, etc...

Question:
Do you think it's appropriate to talk about Jesus in those terms?
Can we say that 'he's the bomb'?

What do you think??

Erin Horsburgh is a woman who claims that she may be Azaria Chamberlain, the baby who went missing from camping grounds around the base of Uluru in 1980, and for which her parents Lindy Chamberlain and Michael Chamberlain were initially convicted of the murder and then released.

Read the rest of this story here

What do you think?? Is it possible??

My brother just started a blog... so I might (????) start blogging on this thing? Not sure if I will or not. I already blog once or twice a week as part of an email news list with ccecyouth... do I want or need to have one of these personal blog things??

If somehow you've stumbled on here go to www.ccecyouth.com to find out some sweet things.

Maybe have a listen to 'On the Poddy with Dave & Dan'