http://www.reformation21.org/Reformation_21_Blog/Reformation_21_Blog/58/?vobId=617&pm=114
NOW that is refreshing! Fellowship instead of frenzied fanatical fighting!!! THIS is unity around the gospel and around the Word of God and the Person of Jesus Christ!!
Phillip
8/22/2005
posted by Ligon Duncan
Yesterday, C.J. Mahaney preached the worship services at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. In my opinion, that is a sign of good things quietly astir in the evangelical and Reformed community today - new networks of friendship, kinship in the truth and cooperation in ministry. And it's something you wouldn't have guessed twenty years ago.
Many evangelicals will recognize Grace Church as the congregation pastored by John MacArthur. Many will also know that John has been a strong critic of charismatic theology (how many printings and editions has Charismatic Chaos gone through?), and that C.J. is leader of a family of churches that is both Reformed and charismatic. So what's up? Is John going soft on his positions? No, not at all.
But they've gotten to know one another (through mutual friends like Mark Dever). And John has seen that C.J. is a man of the book (you can be sure that John would never entrust his flock to someone in whom he did not have that confidence). Indeed, C.J. and John are bold soldiers of the Gospel - they delight in God's sovereign, saving grace and they love to proclaim it. John is still a committed cessationist, and my dear friend C.J. is not. But they are both committed to the powerful and propositional truth of the Word of God. I'm also glad to say that they are both colleagues of mine, serving as Council members of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
Both these men are huge encouragements to me. C.J.'s infectious passion for Christ and zeal for the truth (the veritable personification of heat and light!), John's sheer steadfastness and serious commitment to following the Word of God where ever it leads him -- these things and more, in them, spur me on in serving the Lord, his Word and his people.
So, together with them, in the Alliance, we are working to spread the humbling, delighting, God-exalting, Christ-centered Gospel of sovereign grace, through the churches, to the ends of the earth, all to God's glory and for the everlasting good of his redeemed.
Thanks John and C.J. We love and appreciate you both!
NOW that is refreshing! Fellowship instead of frenzied fanatical fighting!!! THIS is unity around the gospel and around the Word of God and the Person of Jesus Christ!!
Phillip