Church / Ministry – Pastor Rocklyn's Blog

N. T. Wright: The Kingdom and The Gospel

Church / Ministry, Expanding God's Kingdom, Theology No Responses »

Jun 192015

N. T. Wright, the former Bishop of Durham for the Church of England, is a devoted pastor, a renowned biblical scholar, and a prolific author. Over the past year or so the following books of his have given me a much better understanding of God’s Kingdom and of The Gospel.

You can order them here (as an Amazon.com Associate Life Church receives a portion of the purchase price):

Surprised By Hope
This is my blog post with links to N. T. Wright’s book “Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church” (2010) and several short videos of his on the same subject. In the book and the videos he teaches that in our zeal for articulating and proclaiming the theological conditions for getting to heaven, we have shortchanged the Kingdom that Jesus came to announce. This book explores our destiny beyond heaven.
How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels: N. T. Wright: Amazon.com: Books (2012)
In this book N. T. Wright calls the church back to an authentic understanding of the meaning of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John:
- The gospels reveal that in Christ:
  - Israel’s history reaches its climax.
  - God returns to Israel.
  - Israel is redefined as those who follow Jesus.
  - The Kingdom of God confronts the kingdoms of this world.
- Here are some related videos:
Scripture and the Authority of God: How to Read the Bible Today: N. T. Wright: Amazon: Books (2013)
In this book N. T. Wright provides a fresh perspective on how to understand the Bible and apply it to our lives. He describes human history as a five-act play in which Acts 1 – 4 (The Old Testament) and Act 5 Scene 1 (The New Testament) have already been performed our job is to live out the rest of Act 5 in light of all that has already been performed.
Simply Good News: Why the Gospel Is News and What Makes It Good: N. T. Wright: Amazon.com: Books (2015)
In this book N. T. Wright explains how our adoption of a post-enlightenment world view has resulted in us proclaiming good advice rather than the good news proclaimed by the early church. He also suggests some ways back to the authentic Kingdom message.
- NT Wright: “Simply Good News: ” – YouTube

There is more material related to Professor Wright available here:

Pastor Rocklyn’s N. T. Wright Page

N. T. Wright’s books and video clips have been a great blessing to me over the past few years and I believe that they will be a blessing to you as well!

Wiffle Guitar

Church / Ministry, Developing Mature Believers No Responses »

Dec 052012

Have you ever played wiffle ball? Would you use a guitar as a substitute for a bat in a wiffle ball game? This is one of the questions posed by Shane Hipps, in an unusual yet enlightening sermon. Shane Hipps is one of the teaching pastors at Mars Hill Bible Church and on Sunday June 27, 2010 he taught a sermon entitled “Wiffle Guitar”. In which he explored spiritual gifts and shares some powerful insights about how God views our quest to understand what our gifts are.

Shane’s sermon is available from the Mars Hill web site:

Wiffle Guitar by Shane Hipps – Sunday June 27, 2010

Check it out and enter into a new experience of your gifts and your ministry.

Abundant Life Is Relational

Church / Ministry, Developing Mature Believers, The Life Church Difference, Uncategorized No Responses »

Apr 042012

Abundant Life

In John 10:7-10 Jesus makes a powerful statement about life:

Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

The phrase “to the full” has also been translated “more abundantly” and this leads to the important understanding that Jesus has come to give us abundant life. As we examine Jesus’ lifestyle it also becomes apparent that he expected his followers to be a community – praying for them to be one just as he and the Father are one (John 17:20-23). In other words, the abundant life we have in Jesus includes our relationships with other believers. If our lifestyles diminish our relationships then we won’t experience life as abundantly as we ought to.

Rethinking Grace

Church / Ministry, Developing Mature Believers No Responses »

Feb 102012

Note (April 13, 2017): This post will be updated (something it badly needs) over the next few weeks!

Old Word – New Meaning

Several years ago (probably sometime in 2006), while attending a meeting for local clergy, I heard the keynote speaker make a statement that I have never forgotten:

“Grace is the empowering presence of God enabling you to be who God created you to be, and to do what God has called you to do – right where you are.”

The speaker was the late Pastor James Ryle; he had been invited to address the monthly meeting of the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston (BMA) by then BMA President Bishop Gideon Thompson. Later that year Pastor Ryle (again at Bishop Thompson’s invitation) taught several sessions at the 2006 Jubilee Christian Church annual convention. He elaborated on this same truth. Up until this time I had always thought of grace as “God’s unmerited (i.e. undeserved) favor” or “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense”, but on that day Pastor Ryle gave me a new and extremely helpful way to understand this critical concept. It blessed me so much that I wanted to share it with others; I began looking for Pastor Ryle’s teaching in written form.

Pay Attention (If You Can)

Church / Ministry No Responses »

Oct 022011

Several years ago a friend of mine discovered that he had ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). The diagnosis and the medication that he took as a result had a profound effect on him. For the first time in his life he was able to focus. This included actually hearing what people were telling him and remembering it. He was a changed man!

My friend had also recommended to me a book on ADD that I hadn’t taken the time to read. Some years later, when I was told about a ministry colleague with ADD, I remembered the book. It was written by Dr. Edward M. Hallowell and Dr. John J. Ratey, two psychiatrists who themselves have ADD. This time I read the book and discovered a world of new information and a number of resources:

ADD & Loving It?!

One especially helpful resource is the film ADD and Loving It?! starring comedian Patrick McKenna. You can access it in the following ways:

Official web site
Extended trailer
On Amazon.com

ADD & Loving It?! – Extended Trailer

ADD & Loving It?! – on Amazon.com

Amazon.com rental	Amazon.com purchase

If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably interested in ADD. I hope you find these resources to be helpful.

Be Careful Out There!

Church / Ministry No Responses »

Sep 212011

In “Hill Street Blues“, Steven Bochco’s 1981 television series about an urban police precinct, there was character named Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (played by actor Michael Conrad) who was the desk sergeant. Sgt. Esterhaus would typically wrap up his daily message to the patrol officers with the words: “Be careful out there!”

In 1 John 4:1 the Apostle John warns us:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Ever since Jesus established it, the Church has faced competition from false prophets preaching strange gospels. Like the owner’s servants in Matthew 13:24-30 who found weeds growing up right next to the wheat, we believers face the challenge of distinguishing between truth and error in the “field” of modern Christianity. Since I became a believer in 1979 I, like many of you, have come across various problems and failures in Christian ministry. You have probably noticed however that things are different today. Ministry failures and excesses that would once have circulated mainly as rumors are now recorded as video and viewable by anyone on the internet. Of course the internet doesn’t just facilitate viewing of ministry failures. It also provides a platform for the bloggers who want to comment on it and I want to share some of their comments with you. Of course I don’t agree with all of the posts on these blogs, but I have found a number of them to be helpful: