In rebuking the church at Corinth for allowing incestuous relationships, Paul quotes the law of the Old Testament from Deuteronomy both explicitly and implicitly and applies it directly o the church. On the one hand, the New Testament teaches that we are not under law. It was a temporary school master which is no longer needed now that Christ has come. We are led not by 613 rules but the Spirit. On the other hand, the whole Bible is God’s relevant and authoritative word to us. The law has always been the law of love and God’s standards haven’t changed. What use, therefore should we, like Paul, make of the Mosaic Law? How might it help us to deal with issues in the church today? Chris Bennett will lead us through some examples of the New Testament’s use of the Law of Moses and help us to see what principles should guide us. Chris is pastor of Wilton Community Church, Muswell Hill and lecturer in New Testament and New Testament Greek at the London Theological Seminary.
Over the last decade awareness of Islam in this country has deepened both politically and socially. Moreover, in God’s providence many of us find ourselves living alongside Muslims who might never hear the gospel in an Islamic country. This morning will help us gain some understanding of Islam, its beliefs and our responsibilities with respect to it. We will then consider how to engage in apologetics with Muslims, answering their questions and communicating the gospel as we do so. Jay Smith has been a full-time missionary since 1983, working in evangelism among Muslims in France and Senegal. He is currently working in apologetics among the Muslims of London, and teaches Muslim/Christian apologetics for those exploring ministry in the Muslim world. Jay has been active in debates and seminars on university campuses around the world and written a number of tracts and papers on Muslim Apologetics found at www.debate.org.
Evangelistic preaching formed a core part of the ministry of the late Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and he saw a very great deal of fruit from it in terms of conversions. This aspect of his preaching, though, is not as well known as his exegetical preaching – for example, the series on Romans and Ephesians. As a result, preachers today are perhaps not as aware as they could be of what they may be able to learn from him for the purpose of their own evangelism. Although culturally our circumstances are very different from those prevailing in the mid-20th century, the principles on which Lloyd-Jones based his evangelistic ministry are still well worth considering. Robert Strivens will give some brief introductory background to Lloyd-Jones and then explore the principles which guided his evangelistic preaching, with examples and illustrations, before examining how we can apply and/or adapt those principles for such work today. Robert is Principal of London Theological Seminary. He was previously pastor of Banbury Evangelical Free Church.