Because of a hashtag

People exhibit symptoms of computerholicism in different ways. Mine is subtle, hidden within the confines of my four walls. Outside, few of my friends know that I have a blog, and would have no idea of the time I spend in front of the screen. Sometimes, I don't like to admit that to myself.

Others are more up front about their love of computers. Computer geeks, we disparagingly call them. Anyhow, thanks to a number of delightful computer geeks at the Geelong Bible Conference at the weekend, we have the words of the amazing Ted Donnelly recorded on Twitter.

You can see the whole twitter stream yourself by searching for tweets containing #gbc2010. For those who won't or can't though, here are some of my favourite quotes from #gbc2010.

Ted Donnelly in 140 character soundbites:

The Growing Church Commissioned

"You will be my witness" Acts 1:8

“When a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, they will speak about Jesus. My question is; what is wrong with us?” – Donnelly

“We go out into the world & we’re struck dumb. Are you conscious of that impulse within you?” – Donnelly

“When did you or I last speak to a workmate...about their need for salvation and the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour?” -

We can have as many conferences as we like...but nothing will replace Spirit filled men & women who talk about Jesus.” – Donnelly

The Books of Acts = the acts of the risen Jesus, by His Apostles, through the Spirit. - Ted Donnelly

“We’re just silly, feeble, weak, limited little people; every one of us. What can we do? ...but *He* has risen.” – Donnelly

The Growing Church Committed

"They devoted themselves" Acts 2:42

"Living organisms grow... If they don't grow, something is wrong... The Church is a living organism." Donnelly

"It is vital not to measure church growth simply in numerical growth" Donnelly

However, "We can't just salve our consciences and say we're just interested in quality, not quantity"

“Why would you not be where the Word is being taught? Where would you rather be?” – Donnelly

Devotion to the Word of God is the fist sign of a healthy, growing church. Do we hunger for the Word?

The Reformed churches can put so much focus on the sermon that the rest of worship is downgraded as the "Preliminaries".

“How many times we’ve sung words, and after we’ve sung them we can’t remember them?” – Donnelly

Even if we give thanks for the Regulative principle and Biblical worship, if God is not the focus, we have it wrong

RPW can be an idol when we think, "we’re OK because we’re doing it the right way" Maybe we’re not doing it at all!

"Christian life is life in community...you cannot develop the graces of the Spirit on your own!" - Donnelly

“How do we become more loving? By loving people that are hard to love.” – Donnelly

“We need each others’ imperfections that we together may grow in Christ.” – Donnelly

Panel Q&A Session

Q&A Answer Donnelly: Make sure each service helps people to see the Word in a new light. People will notice if they're missing out.

Q&A on evangelism. Peter Owen: How excited are you still about Jesus? Always be ready to give an answer. Think about this!

Q&A on evangelism: Peter Owen: Don't use friendship evangelism to just do evangelism. Genuinely make friends. People see fakeness.

"By very definition, every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit." Lloyd-Jones on Romans 8

If the church is as she should be, people will come. The problem is not with the world, the problem is with the church. Lloyd-Jones

"We need to recover this expectation of steady, uninterrupted church growth" John Stott.

The Growing Church Changing

"It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us" Acts 15:28

"It is possible to be a true believer and to be confused."

If you and I had been there in Jerusalem, this is the group we would have belonged to, the timid, conservative people.

If you add anything you cancel Christ. You destroy Christ. Christ + anything removes Christ. Christ alone or Christ not at all!

"Faith in Christ alone is what is required" Donnelly

The greatest danger to the church of Christ is change. But is it the greatest danger our church faces today?

Where change is possible and necessary, we must not fall into the danger of not changing anything and becoming irrelevant.

Is one of the reasons we are not growing because we do not change where we should change?

Do we give the impression that you have to be like us to join us? What little unconscious things do we do that exclude people?

"We don’t want to be so careful about not changing where we fall into the other extreme where we change nothing." - Donnelly

“Do you want 300 brand new people *very different* from yourself voting at your AGM?” - Donnelly

The Growing Church Communicating

"There is salvation in no one else" Acts 4:12

Absolute truth claims are offensive to our contemporary world. - Donnelly

9/11 has lead not to the blaming of Islamic fundamentalism, but to the blaming of all fundamentalism. - Donnelly.

In Jesus Christ alone is the sacred truth.

Religion is not man's search for meaning. If it were then it would be arrogant to say that we are right and they are wrong.

Religion is not just a search for truth. Salvation is the issue.

Other holy books contain wise advice that gives us peace of mind. But there is no salvation in their books.

We will all stand before Almighty God to account for who we are and what we have done. We cannot escape.

The search for truth will not help us before God at Judgement Day. We need a power outside ourselves to come and save us.

God has entered this world in saving power. He has given us a way for salvation and we have the privilege of telling others.

Jesus Christ of Nazareth. 4:10

No philosopher has ever exhausted his teaching and yet children and commoners could understand his teaching and loved to listen to him.

There is no other answer and no other saving truth. Why would we need another saviour?

Salvation is trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Growing Church Continuing

"You must testify also in Rome" Acts 23:11

The purpose of the Bible is practical and pastoral.

Christians will be persecuted. Be warned. Be prepared for the harsh realities of life. You will be opposed.

Since the Reformation Christianity has been socially acceptable. This is unusual. It is nearing an end.

Evangelical Christians are most unpopular. We will be opposed. Do not be discouraged. Persecution is inevitable.

The early Christians regarded opposition as a platform for evangelism, not as a time to keep quiet.

Because God had a purpose for Paul's life, he was invincible until God's plan for him was fulfilled. He could not die.

We will all leave this earth the second God has foreordained and not a second earlier. We don't need to be afraid.

God's work cannot fail. It is going to be gloriously, amazingly successful. Nothing can hinder the growth of God's church.

P

So there you are. Your very own Twitter summary of my weekend. Which is your favourite quote? If you would like to hear the real words of Ted Donnelly, recordings of the Geelong Bible Conference addresses are available at a cost of $20.00 on CD and $15.00 on MP3 by emailing the conference organisers . They are well worth listening to.

The quotes above of the last two session are by me. The others belong to the clever men I referred to earlier. The photo is by nwbingham here. He is rather clever too, and has his rather clever blog here. I met him in real life at the conference. He was actually rather nice - and not really geekish at all!! Clever, but not geekish. Nice.