Full circle. Grace Fellowship Church of Don Mills Fully Launched

Yesterday I had the privilege of preaching at the ordination service for Paul McDonald at Grace Fellowship Church, Don Mills (DM).  DM is a church we planted under the leadership of Julian Freeman back in Janauary 2011.

The way we plant churches is fairly simple. They remain under our direct oversight until such a time as they gain a plurality of elders. That means that DM is the first of our plants to go all the way to complete autonomy. Now that Paul is joining Julian as a co-elder, there is no more need for the elders here to oversee the work there.

That made yesterday a pretty crazy confluence of emotions. On the one level, I have known Paul for years, had him as a student when I taught at Toronto Baptist Seminary, worked with him as an intern here, and have been very involved with his life for quite a few years. I love him. And, it was all blessing to see him stand and vow to follow Christ as one of His undershepherds.

On another level there was sorrow. Knowing that this church will grow and take on its own personality – I suppose it was something like the feeling one gets when you send a kid off to university. It is not that I fear these guys will blow apart once they are “out from under our roof!” I just know it won’t be the same. That is a good thing. But, there is a kind of sadness to it as well.

Some day I hope Julian and I will be able to sit down and write about what we learned through this whole process. One thing I know I learned is that it is deeply encouraging and humbling to work with guys like him and Paul. They have put up with a lot from me through the years because they value the Gospel over themselves. That bodes well for what the Lord might do as DM takes flight under their wise and careful leadership.

Praise the Lord!

Revelation 20 Started this Church

Have you ever wondered how Grace Fellowship Church came into existence? In a strange twist of providence, it had a lot to do with Revelation 20.

Since that was my text last Sunday, I took a few minutes at the start of the sermon to rehearse some of that history. In a nutshell, my view shifted on what John meant in Revelation 20 about what is called the Millennium. And in the denomination of which I was a part, that was a problem. Without being able to sign off on that part of their statement of faith I had to resign. Yet, in God’s kindness, that led to planting a church just over 12 years ago. And that led to planting three more. And so on!

Anyway, I don’t think I have ever publicly spoken about this before but I think it brings God great glory to see how He works. My remarks were off the cuff, so not as nuanced or perhaps as careful as I would have liked, but if you give me the benefit of the doubt and listen for providence, I think you will find some encouragement!

You can listen here.  The first 5 minutes is my retelling of the story.

Preacher School (on Unashamed Workman)

We had a great summer with our Preacher School.  One brother is left to preach this coming Sunday night and then we are off on a new and exciting series we will tell you about later.

Just thought I would mention the fact that I am blogging what I taught in Preacher School over on the Unashamed Workman site. I plan to do it over several weeks and will try to update my posts there via twitter. So, if you want to know when new posts arrive, either follow me on twitter @pastorpwmartin or get Unashamed Workman on your reader.  The first post outlining the concept of Preacher School is here.

A number of folks had asked me about what we were doing and I thought this would be a great means to publish the material.

What Christians Will Sing, Say or Hear in the Great Day of God's Judgment

“Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

            “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

                        who is and who was,

            for you have taken your great power

                        and begun to reign.

            The nations raged,

                        but your wrath came,

                        and the time for the dead to be judged,

            and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints,

                        and those who fear your name,

                        both small and great,

            and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”

            “Great and amazing are your deeds,

                        O Lord God the Almighty!

            Just and true are your ways,

                        O King of the nations!

            Who will not fear, O Lord,

                        and glorify your name?

            For you alone are holy.

                        All nations will come

                        and worship you,

            for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

            “Hallelujah!

            Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,

                        for his judgments are true and just;

            for he has judged the great prostitute

                        who corrupted the earth with her immorality,

            and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

            Once more they cried out,

            “Hallelujah!

            The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.”

“Amen. Hallelujah!”

            “Praise our God,

                        all you his servants,

            you who fear him,

                        small and great.”

                       

“Hallelujah!

            For the Lord our God

                        the Almighty reigns.

            Let us rejoice and exult

                        and give him the glory,

            for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

                        and his Bride has made herself ready;

            it was granted her to clothe herself

                        with fine linen, bright and pure”—

            for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

One Way to Encourage Your High School Freshman

Here is what Jim Elliot wrote to his sister Jane as she was preparing to enter High School:

“Begin each day with private reading of the Word and prayer.  Bunyan has well said, ‘Sin will keep you from this Book, or this Book will keep you from sin.’  From the very first, as you begin high school, give out gospel tracts to those you meet.  Make a bold start – it’s easier that way, rather than trying to begin halfway through.  Memorize Scripture on the street car. Buy up the time! It’s costly because it’s so fleeting. These are terse remarks, and trite, but I wish someone had said them to me about Labour Day, 1941.  ‘Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth.”

- Quoted from Elisabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty, 38-39.

Some Short Reflections on What it has Been Like to Preach the Revelation - So Far

One of the unexpected effects of preaching the Revelation of Jesus is a growing sense of weariness with the world. I mean this in the best sense possible. My heart is becoming increasingly tired with the lies and deception of this age.

This is not because of some far-off fantasy of a fantastical future, rather a growing awareness of the massive pressure to compromise. Worse, the very thing I am weary of is what entices me the most.

The repeated warnings to stand firm against this invisible onslaught hit hard. How committed to Christ am I in reality? I can imagine myself being Luther-esque in some Diet of Worms, but how will I restrain my passions in my diet of stuff? Or at least my desire for stuff.

This is where I have grown to love the process of “preaching books” (as my Romanian brethren put it). The more one moves ahead in the Revelation, the more its central messages gain momentum in the life. If I had only taken one or two sections of the whole I would in no way have seen all the intricate connections and developments of thought.

Thinking of preaching the Revelation yourself? By all means do so! But be prepared to be broken and re-made with new affections and values.

The 7 Beatitudes of The Revelation

            Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

(Revelation 1:3 ESV)

            And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

(Revelation 14:13 ESV)

            (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”)

(Revelation 16:15 ESV)

            And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

(Revelation 19:9 ESV)

            Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

(Revelation 20:6 ESV)

            “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

(Revelation 22:7 ESV)

            Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.

(Revelation 22:14 ESV)

Double Standards in Ontario Concerning Abortion

The National Post has an excellent opinion piece noting the hypocritical actions of the Crown in persecuting those who voice an opinion against abortion.  The legal issues in the case against Linda Gibbons are complicated, but not more so than many other cases. Somehow, our government seems to have lots of time and resources to keep pounding away at this.

Parade naked in Toronto. Shout at a woman wearing fur. Acceptable.

Stand quietly with information about abortion within 60 feet of an abortion clinic. A crime.

Even the New York Times Agrees with part of my exegetical method

A Picture of Language - NYTimes.com:

Great to see MSM picking up and advocating for what I do every week in Greek or Hebrew! I feel so validated! :-)

"A century and a half later, diagramming sentences is even more out of date than writing lessons on a piece of slate. When the book I wrote about it was published in 2006, a couple of hundred people sent me e-mails. One writer accused me of succumbing to Stockholm syndrome because I wrote so benignly about the nun who brainwashed me into thinking diagramming was fun. Another asked me for a date. Two objected to my political attitudes, as they deduced them between the lines. A dozen or so either faulted some of the diagrams or challenged me with a particularly tricky sentence."

The second article is here: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/taming-sentences/

Great stuff!!


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