“This letter is truly the most important piece in the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian’s while not only to memorise it word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul. It is impossible to read or to meditate on this letter too much or too well. The more one deals with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes.” (From Martin Luther’s Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans)

Get it in ya belly!

Here is the whole series:

• Never Be Destroyed Part 1 – Daniel Introduction
• Never Be Destroyed Part 2 – Know Your Identity (Daniel 1)
• Never Be Destroyed Part 3 – Know Your Team (Daniel 2)
• Never Be Destroyed Part 4 – Know The Cost (Daniel 3 & 6)
• Never Be Destroyed Part 5 – Know Your King (Daniel 4 & 5)
• Never Be Destroyed Part 6 – Know Your History (Daniel 7)
• Never Be Destroyed – Talk MP3’s from QLD Launch Camp
• Never Be Destroyed – Talk MP3’s from CMS Camp MMM

(The talks from CMS Camp MMM were probably the better ones.)

Shout out to John Woodhouse and his 1984 sermon series, Daniel for Today.

If you’re in the area make sure you get your butt along!

Download the PDF flyer.

Greg Gilbert from 9 Marks ministries has recently written a book that answers this question with great clarity in a small and very readable book.

Here’s the description from Crossway books:

What is the gospel? It seems like a simple question, yet it has been known to incite some heated responses, even in the church. How are we to formulate a clear, biblical understanding of the gospel? Tradition, reason, and experience all leave us ultimately disappointed. If we want answers, we must turn to the Word of God.

Greg Gilbert does so in What Is the Gospel? Beginning with Paul’s systematic presentation of the gospel in Romans and moving through the sermons in Acts, Gilbert argues that the central structure of the gospel consists of four main subjects: God, man, Christ, and a response. The book carefully examines each and then explores the effects the gospel can have in individuals, churches, and the world. Both Christian and non-Christian readers will gain a clearer understanding of the gospel in this valuable resource.

The God, man, Christ, response formula is nothing new. So the book isn’t offering a new or fresh understanding of the gospel, but rather restating the gospel as it is revealed in the Bible. I really love the way that Gilbert writes. This book is only 100 (small-sized) pages, but in those pages he packs in a lot of quality content without some of the technical clutter you might find in a more academic work. That doesn’t mean that this book lacks academic integrity, rather it’s written at a level that is accessible to a general readership.

Here’s a video of Gilbert explaining why he wrote the book:

I reckon all Christians should regularly read books that clearly explain the gospel. This is one of them. So if you’re a Christian, read it and be reminded to keep trusting in Jesus. The book is also very suitable for those who aren’t Christian or others who may have been confused in churches that don’t clearly preach the gospel.

Youth Pastors: this book would also be suitable for typical high-school reading and engagement level. Have your youth group read through it and do a study series on the key passages from each chapter. It would be good for your young people to be clear on the gospel, and it would also be an effective tool for equipping them for evangelism. Likewise it would be a great book to give away to teenagers who don’t yet know Jesus.

Get yourself a copy (or copies). It’s cheaper than a family meal at McDonalds.

Crossway | Amazon | Koorong | Booko

You can also browse the whole book online

I haven’t tried to explain the actual gospel in the this blog post. But I’m desperate for everyone who reads this to know the gospel. Don’t have time to read the book? Still keen to find out about the gospel of Jesus? Go check out this brilliant (and brief) outline.

Here are 3 benefits of two local youth groups joining up for a camp/special events: 1) Once a room has 50 peeps in it, there is enough of a critical mass to start creating a pretty sweet vibe; 2) 50+ people makes organisational sense, good for booking a camp site, good for sharing the leadership responsibility with both churches; 3) While it doesn’t make you any more or less the people of God, it’s a good thing to unite with brothers and sisters from your broader family.

If you help run a smaller group, why not share some of the love with another smaller and like-minded group of believers? Do it.

Here are the talks from the CH-URAL camp:

• The Jesus Revolution 1 – Captured by Jesus – Luke 9
• The Jesus Revolution 2 – Changed by Jesus – Luke 19
• The Jesus Revolution 3 – Shaped by Jesus – Luke 16
• The Jesus Revolution 4 – Question and Answers (also with Dan Wu)

When we went to the Sydney FC vs Everton match the other night they were confiscating Vuvuzelas from people on their way in. I’ve also heard they are being banned at lots of English Premier League clubs. Good decision!

See you in four years time World Cup!!

Psalm 46 – NIV

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song. ^[a]

 ¹ God is our refuge and strength,
       an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
       and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
       and the mountains quake with their surging.       Selah

⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
       the holy place where the Most High dwells.
⁵ God is within her, she will not fall;
       God will help her at break of day.
⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
       he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

⁷ The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.       Selah

⁸ Come and see the works of the LORD,
       the desolations he has brought on the earth.
⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
       he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
       he burns the shields ^[b] with fire.
¹⁰ “Be still, and know that I am God;
       I will be exalted among the nations,
       I will be exalted in the earth.”
¹¹ The LORD Almighty is with us;
       the God of Jacob is our fortress.       Selah 

1. Psalm 46:1 Title: Probably a musical term
2. Psalm 46:9 Or chariots

Was I viciously tackled from behind by a South American while playing football? No. Did I fall off my bike while riding in the picturesque French Alps? No. Were my calculations slightly out when dropping into a 90ft half-pipe on my skateboard? No.

I broke my toe writing an essay.

Embarrassing. I know. Yep. My first broken bone is from an academic injury. How the heck can you break a toe writing an essay? Let me explain.

At Moore College, we have electronic submission for essays. They need to be uploaded by 11:55pm on the due date. I normally submit mine between 11:47 and 11:54pm. Last night, I was on track for another “comfortable” submission.

The wireless Internet isn’t working on my computer at the moment. So at 11:51pm I picked up my computer to plug it into the modem in the kitchen. Plenty of time, no stress.

But the Internet wasn’t working. Losing time, stress. Clock ticking. So I plugged in my phone to tether the Internet, but it wasn’t working either. 11:52pm. Then I thought that maybe I needed to plug the computer into the power socket to get the network cable to work. 11:53pm. I began my sock lined run across our polished floor boards. Bang. Crash. Crack. Smash. As I slipped, I collected the wall, filing cabinet and futon. Ouch. My arm. My bottom. My back. My little left toe. I got the power cord and jogged back to the kitchen. 1154pm.

By this stage, Rowena had been woken up the bang-crash-cracking-smash.

“Dave, are you alright? I thought you were getting beaten up by an intruder!?”

“No. I’ll be fine. I’m just getting beaten up by this essay!”

The power cord didn’t work.

11:55pm.

So we tried to transfer it to Row’s computer. Except my computer wasn’t recognising the USB key.

11:56pm. It was too late.

I tried to re-start my computer. It crashed. It’s a PC, so it took 15 minutes to sort itself out. By 12:14am, it was submitted. Yay. But late. Un-yay.

Ice. Sleep. Limp.

I’ll probably spend an hour or two today tightening up the essay, to make up for the marks I’ll lose.

Any medical people out there? Should I see a doctor? They can’t really do anything anyway?

Any fashion police out there? I’m sorry. Today I’m breaking your number 1 rule: I’m wearing jeans and running shoes.

Any Dell or Windows computer people out there? I don’t blame you. You can only cut it fine so many times before something like this happens!

Anyone still reading this far? Thanks. If someone asks you how I broke my little toe, tell them I broke it wrestling a lion.

Any lame injury stories waiting to be told???

The 200 or so peeps on camp were challenged each day to be on board with God’s mission of taking the gospel to the ends of the earth. It was such an encouragement to hear from a bunch of different missionaries about the work they are part of in different corners of the world. Check out CMS website: click me.

I spoke from Daniel 1-7 on the topic Never Be Destroyed (read the blog posts here). God is very kind: 4 of the senior campers became Christian; and another 10 or so recommitted themselves to live with Jesus as their King. Yeeeeewww!! Here are the talk MP3’s, right click to download:

• Know Your Identity – Daniel 1
• Know Your Team – Daniel 2
• Know The Cost – Daniel 3 & 6
• Know Your King – Daniel 4 & 5
• Know Your History – Daniel 7

Find out more about Christianity here.

If you are a Christian, go read about our family who are suffering because they wear the name of Jesus. Then pray for them as if you were their fellow prisoner, as if you yourselves were suffering.

Props to Mikey Nhieu and the incredible team of leaders making CY happen each week.

Check out: the CY website | all the media from the night | all the media from the talk

The Joy of Knowing Christ – Dave Miers – MP3 (right click to save)

The video of the talk is broken into chunks below the jump:

It was great to hang out with old friend Danny Mitchell and new friend Stu Hoadley. They’re both doing a killer job championing youth ministry in Queensland.

Here are the talk MP3’s. Right click to download.

• Know Your Identity – Daniel 1
• Know Your Team – Daniel 2
• Know The Cost – Daniel 3 & 6
• Know Your King – Daniel 4 & 5
• Know Your History – Daniel 7

This is the final study in the Daniel 1-7 series. Daniel 7 will give us a bigger picture of history that will enable us to keep trusting Jesus until the end.

Daniel 7 marks a shift in the form of literature from Dan 1-6. Daniel 7-12 belongs to a type of writing called ‘apocalyptic’. Basically apocalyptic writing includes a whole bunch of crazy things like beasts, dragons, angels, dreams, visions, numbers, colours and images. It’s a symbolic type of writing that began appearing around the time of Exile. It was to bring a private and hidden type of comfort to the People of God in times of trial. They were reminded that, regardless of the trials they were going through, God was still in control and that in the end everything would be okay.

The setting of the vision in Daniel 7 is the great sea (7:2). The sea was a symbol of the forces of evil in the world. Out of this great sea came 4 great beasts. First there was a lion with eagle wings (7:4). Second there was a rib eating bear (7:5). Third there was a 4-winged and 4-headed leopard (7:6). And then the fourth beast had crazy teeth, 10 crazy horns and was basically too terrifying for words! This forth beast was far more dangerous than the other 3 (7:7). It’s all pretty hectic, go and read it now to get a glimpse!

What do the beasts represent? They are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth (7:17). Who are they? It could be 1 Babylon; 2 Medes; 3 Persians; 4 Greeks. On one level that might be right. But it doesn’t really matter who the beasts are! To identify them with one ruler only, would be to misunderstand the nature of apocalyptic writing. So what is the point? This is what human power in human history is like: A succession of beastly rule after beastly rule. It even represents powers in our own world today.

In verse 9 there is a shift in the scene. The setting: a court room scene. The judge: The Ancient of Days. Who is that? It’s God, the great judge (7:9-10). In verse 11-12 we see his judgement begin with the 4^th beast. This will be the reality for any power and any person who tries to run their life without God. In verses 13-14, “one like a son of man” approaches the Ancient of Days:

He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Dan 7:14)

This son of man figure is obviously Jesus. But don’t jump to the New Testament too quickly. First you need to notice the contrast between this son of man and all the beasts that came before him. This one is MAN-like rather than BEAST-like. In the reign and rule of this son of man, God is restoring things to his original creation purposes: a man, ruling the world under God’s sovereign rule. But this is better than the original creation. In this New Creation, the Son of Man will reign and rule and sin will never again enter that Kingdom.

In the New Testament, Jesus identifies himself with ‘the Son of Man’. Mark 10:45 and Luke 19:10 are two of the many places he does this. And then in the final book of the Bible, Revelation, a book also written in the apocalyptic style, Jesus is introduced as the one “like a son of man” (Revelation 1:9-20). Jesus is the one who has overcome. Jesus is the King of all Kingdoms. Jesus is the one who will judge the living and the dead.

In the second half of Daniel 7, we see what will happen now for the People of God, but we also see what will happen in the future. Bad things will happen now as they are persecuted. Good things will happen in the age to come when God’s people will actually reign and rule with Jesus (Daniel 7:15-28).

What will enable you to persevere when the world seems overwhelming? Know your history. Knowing your history will involve knowing what happened in the past, knowing what is happening now, and knowing where God is taking all of history. When you know where God is taking history, you can keep clinging to Jesus now, even if times are tough.

Do you trust the God of history? God has made it clear that “he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Act 17:31) God will judge the world. The only ones who will stand on that day are those who trust in Jesus – the Son of Man who gave himself as a ransom for many, and then 3 days later rose again.

Find out more about:  Jesus the Saviour King | Christianity | Two Ways to Live

If you’re already Christian:

1. Don’t forget Jesus - keep clinging to Jesus, long for the day he returns, and even if you have to put up with crap in this life, know that good times are coming!
2. Don’t give up meeting with Christians – in a world often hostile to Christians, don’t neglect meeting with each other. Hebrews 10:24-25
3. Don’t waste your life – as those who are part of a kingdom that will NEVER BE DESTROYED, give the rest of your life to letting other people know about the eternal life they can have by trusting in Jesus.

(Read the rest of this series)

I’m on holidays for the next week. I might get a chance to blog, or I might not!

Here’s some posts coming soon:
- final “Never be destroyed” post
- mp3s from preaching in QLD
- a letter from some Afghan Christians
- mp3s from preaching in Katoomba
- book review of “What is the gospel?”
- FIFA World Cup wrap
- a 10-part series on “Techno Youth Ministry”
- finishing of Vanuatu 09 series (long overdue!)

Hope you’re well.

Catch yo on da shizzle

(if formatting/spelling is bad, I wrote this on my mobile phone)

July is good. I’m enjoying the crisp winter weather, another camp, and looking forward to time off. Above is my choice of the July Smashing Mag Desktop Wallpapers.

Here’s the best of June (according to clicks) and some other stats:

• Most popular Jesus post: Praying for the World (Cup)
• Most popular Life post: 7 Years = Perfect Marriage
• Most popular Culture post: “Young Punks” – you heard it here first
• Most popular Design post: 3photos: Outside Inside
• 21% less hits than the same month last year
• 9% less hits than the previous month

Germany for the win!!

In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar has another hectic dream (4:1-18). It’s about a massive tree that gets cut down. The stump from the tree (which really sound like a man), is then forced to live among the wild animals. Daniel is then called into action to interpret the dream (4:19-27). Neb is the tree, and he will live among the animals until he acknowledges “that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (4:25). This is exactly what happened (4:28-37). Neb repents of his arrogance and acknowledges God’s rule over all the kingdoms of the world.

What’s the point? All leaders (and in fact all people) must humbly acknowledge that God is the true king. Any human rule and leadership is to be exercised under the dominion of our Sovereign God.

In the following chapter, Neb’s son Belshazzar is now the king of Babylon. He’s extravagant and worships created things rather than the creator (5:1-4). At one of his block parties, he has this crazy experience where a hand appears from no where and tags some graffiti on his wall (5:5-6). This freaks him out. So Daniel is called back on the field to work out what the heck it means (5:7-17). Daniel kicks off by telling Belshazzar that he’s a tool for failing to learn from the example of his father Neb (5:18-21). Belshazzar failed to acknowledge God (5:22-24) and so he meets his end that very night when he is struck down (5:25-30).

What’s the point? All leaders (and in fact all people) must humbly acknowledge that God is the true king. The outcome for all proud people who fail to recognise God’s rule will, one way or another, have the same outcome as Belshazzar. Death. Judgement. Hell. There is no lasting place in the kingdom of God for those who think they can rule themselves.

Ultimately Daniel 4 and 5 remind us about the type of leader that we need. The pattern throughout the whole of the Old Testament is that humans have failed to rule the world as they should. Israel’s leaders continually failed to lead God’s people, and the rulers of the nations failed to acknowledge that God is the ruler. In the New Testament we meet the leader that Israel and the world have been waiting for. Jesus is the King who “came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Jesus is King. Jesus is in charge of the universe. Jesus rules and he reigns. Do you acknowledge the rule and reign of Jesus in your life? If not – know that you will be shut out from Jesus’ eternal kingdom. If so – keep trusting Jesus. Know your king.

Find out more about King Jesus.

For info and online rego visit their website.

I kicked off in the Great Commission, encouraged the group to think like local missionaries and then gave a strategy for evangelism in youth ministry that doesn’t depend on big events. It was a bit rushed in the 2nd half, but I think it was useful. If you were there and want any of the stuff I spoke about, let me know.

Dave Miers “LOCAL MISSIONARIES” MP3 (right click to download)

Find out more about RICE Youth Sydney and the RICE Movement.

Check out a whole bunch of brilliant photos from boston.com.

If you don’t know the true and living God… check this out.

In both Daniel 3 and Daniel 6, God’s people are called to compromise their faith in God by giving their total allegiance to Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are told that every time they have hear certain music they are to bow down and worship this massive gold statue set up by Nebuchadnezzar; if they don’t they will be thrown into the fiery furnace (Daniel 3:1-15). Likewise for Daniel, during the reign of King Darius, it was decreed that anyway who prayed to a god other than Darius would be thrown into the Lion’s den (Daniel 6:1-9).

What would you do in the circumstances? Maybe you could bow down to the statue, but on the inside say that you are worshipping the God of Israel? Or if you were Daniel, you could still pray to the God of Israel, but just do it in secret?

Dan and his mates didn’t compromise. They all knew that while they lived in Babylon, following God would be costly. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship a statue (3:16-23) and Daniel continued his normal practise of praying in public (6:10-18). They weren’t afraid of being different in Babylon and so continued to obey God, no matter what the consequences.

They all knew that their God is the “living God” (6:26) and he is able to rescue them: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (3:17-18) If God doesn’t rescue his people from strife in this life, God’s people can be certain that they are part of his kingdom that “will not be destroyed” (6:26). Knowing this enabled them to trust God and not compromise their faith in him.

Jesus makes it clear that following him will be costly (Luke 9:23-26). Paul says that it’s normal for godly Christians to be persecuted (2 Timothy 3:12). Peter says we shouldn’t be surprised by painful trials in the Christian life (1 Peter 4:12-14). Count the cost of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Know that you’re part of a kingdom that will NEVER BE DESTROYED. And therefore, don’t compromise! Know the cost.

Read the rest of the series