Tim Keller’s latest book[let] is 44 pages long, and can be read in an hour. But its weight and worth is utterly disproportionate to its size.

Have you ever given the time you should spend sleeping, lying awake and replaying criticisms you’ve received during the day? Or have you ever found yourself changing your clothes 3 or 4 times before leaving the house for fear of what others might think when they see what you’re wearing? If so, this book is for you.

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness is a short book designed to tackle the double danger of ego: thinking too much about what others think about us, and thinking too much about what we think of ourselves. Taking us to 1 Corinthians, Keller shows us how there’s a remedy for both of these, but it’s not in worldly appeals to self-esteem, but in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I’ve just spent an hour reading this book, and intend to re-read it at least a couple of times over the weekend. It’s easy to read, punchy and affecting. Grab a copy in the bookshop – at only £2 you won’t find many better bargins.

Here’s a new song taken from Worship Central’s ‘Spirit Break Out’ album which we’ll be singing very soon. It’s called ‘Saviour Of The World’. Here’s the lyrics and video:

God so loved, that He gave His Son
To lay down His life for the sake of us
He bore the weight of our sin and shame
With a cry He said, ‘It is Finished!’

Christ the Lord overcame the darkness
Hes alive: death has been defeated!

For He made us a way by which we have been saved,
He’s the Saviour of the world.
So we lift up a shout for His fame and renown
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord
Jesus, Saviour of the world

We must spread the word of His soon return
To reclaim the world for His glory
Let the church now sing of this coming King
Crowned with majesty, our Redeemer

And He reigns, ruler of the heavens
And His name is Jesus, the Messiah

So here’s what we’re going to do instead. After everyone’s left church on Sunday, Equipped is staying behind for a Dominos lunch, and then we’ll drag every sofa in the building into the main hall for a double header on the big screen of ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight’.

Spread the word. Don’t bother with the suntan lotion.

Catch you Sunday.

Lew

ps  - bring a couple of quid to pay for your grub.

Who remembers all the way back to 2011? It was a great year. One of the big highlights for me was spending most of the year going through the Old Testament with you guys in our Biblical Theology series.

Remember it?

We explored the grand storyline of the bible, discovering how all of the Old Testament points forward to Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death on the cross.

Last year was a long time ago though, and I’m sure you’ve forgotten bits of the story. So here’s a brilliant video that packs our entire series into 10 minutes! Think of it as a revision break……

(By the way…….don’t pay too much attention to the dates he talks about at the start – they’re his interpretation and we may not necessarily agree. Apart from that though, enjoy!)

I couldn’t agree more. I do it too. In fact I reckon that anyone who’s read the book of Acts has known the draw of zooming in on the ‘phenomena’ and missing the overall picture that Luke is trying the paint. There’s no doubt that the Holy Spirit did some incredible things through the church in those early days, and we believe that God the Spirit can and does do similarly remarkable things today. But it’s so easy to  focus on these details and miss the overall point Luke’s getting at; Acts is about  gospel centred, Spirit empowered mission. A church filled with faith and fire from God the Spirit to tell people of all nations about the wonderful rescue mission King Jesus has come on.

We thought it would serve to upload an expanded version of Bob’s notes from Sunday’s message. You may find them useful to flick through before reading through the book. So here they are: download Acts overview notes.

Over the next year we’ll track the trek of the church from humble beginnings in Jerusalem, through Samaria and on to the outer expanses of the known world. As we give time to the book of Acts, we’re going to see how 12 men with a message changed the world, and we’re going to see how God’s Spirit can transform the weakest and use them in extraordinary ways; and how the gospel truly is an unstoppable force which when unleashed can redirect eternities.

This afternoon as Pete left the office to prepare for Sunday’s message, he happened to mention that he was going home to “read straight through Acts”. In one sense, there’s nothing unusual about this. In order to get a handle on context and flow of a book, a ‘straight read through’ is the first thing we generally do in sermon prep. But of course, some books are easier than others to do this with (you ever tried reading straight through Numbers?…).

But it caught my attention because I realised how helpful it would be for us all to do likewise. The book of Acts isn’t difficult to read. Yes, there’s stuff in there that’s hard to picture and hard to grasp, but it’s not difficult like Ecclesiastes is difficult. It’s a story, a story with the flow and momentum of a rapid river. You’ll find as you read it chapters fly by as you get engrossed into the narrative. And not only that, but you’ll find that as you read it, your faith will be stirred and increased as you watch an awesome God using average men and women in ways they never imagined.

So why not commit to reading through Acts? It’s not a long book, it’s 28 chapters that read like an action film. It’ll take somewhere between 2-3 hours to read it all carefully. Pick up your Bible, and familiarise yourself with this thrilling story.

This doesn’t have to be a big deal; you don’t have to make a pact with a friend to read it twice every morning before work, this doesn’t have to be a big homegroup initiative – it’s not going to be something we push from the front on a Sunday morning. It can simply be a few  hours given to seeing what Jesus did next.

 Table Talk is our monthly meeting for men (roughly 18-25) who desire to go deeper theologically. We gather round a sticky pub table and chat through a pre-read chapter of theology. This week, we’re looking at the doctrine of ‘The Gospel Call’. That’s chapter 11 in your folders, or page 295 in Bible Doctrine. For those of you who’d rather listen to the material being taught, it’s lecture 93 on the itunes page.

Men – see you at the TA, this Sunday at 7:30pm.

For the girls, it’s Tea Party, and an opportunity to gather for tea and scones, and chat through Tim Keller’s latest booklet, The Freedom of Self Forgetfulness. This is an excellent book written to show how a right grasp of the gospel frees us from the worry that accompanies thinking too much of ourselves. We all do it, and this little book points us towards the power of the gospel – the only source of true liberation.

It’s a short book, and will take less than an hour to read (so long as you switch your mobile off…). It’s so good in fact, you don’t even have to pay for it! If you’re an equipped age girl (roughy 18-25), and are able to come to the building on Tuesday at 7:30pm, you can pick up a free copy from me or Joe Williams this Sunday.

And just like with the boys, if you’d prefer to listen to the material presented as a sermon by Keller, you can find the message which turned into the book here.

We hate having to do this, but Friday’s Open Mic has been cancelled due to a lack of signed up musos.

It’s going to be rearranged for later in the year. Keep an eye out on the blog to know when.

This week at the Equipped Gathering, we’ll be asking the question, ‘how can God be good if hell is real?’.

If you’re looking into the Christian faith, or would like to establish yourself in your faith as you engage with a world that doesn’t believe that God is God, this is for you.

As always, it kicks off at 18:30 and if you’re a student in Newport, a bus will be on to run you guys home.

Sign up to keep updated.

See here for more details.