The reality of ministry – 2 Corinthians 4
Archie Poulos preached at Moore College’s chapel this morning.
From 2 Corinthians chapter 4, he spoke about The Reality of Ministry.
Pray for your enemies
“Friends in Christ, here are some words I would like you to consider learning off by heart:
‘But to you who are listening I say: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you.’ [Luke 6:27-28]
These are the words of the Lord Jesus. He spoke them particularly to his disciples, but also in the hearing of the large crowds who were following him.
And these are words for our times, our very divided and uncertain times …”
– Dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney Sandy Grant was writing in last week’s Cathedral Newsletter.
ESV Bible Translation Update
From Crossway, publishers of the English Standard Version of the Bible:
“The ESV Translation Oversight Committee (TOC) is a standing committee of the Crossway Board of Directors. The purpose of the TOC is to carry forward the publication of the English Standard Version Bible translation and to preserve the ongoing accuracy and fidelity of the ESV Bible for this generation and generations to come.
The Stability and Future of the ESV
With this purpose in mind, we are committed to maintaining a faithful, stable, and standard ESV Bible text that will meet the reading, memorizing, preaching, and liturgical needs of Christians worldwide. It should be noted that Crossway does not plan to introduce frequent text updates, and it has been nearly ten years since the last update in 2016. …
In light of this commitment, the TOC met over the summer of 2024 to consider a limited number of changes to the ESV text. Briefly summarized, the committee made text changes to 36 Scripture passages involving 42 verses, resulting in a total of 68 word changes.”
Two Ways News Podcast — The Foundations of Genesis Part 2
The second episode of the 2025 series of Two Ways News Podcasts is now out, with Phillip and Peter Jensen. They continue on Genesis 1–11.
“We spent last time talking about the background ideas of how we come to read Genesis, but Peter, you said something about the nature of literature, and I’d like to follow you up more on the assumptions when you’re reading, because you talked about how you approach reading.”
Exploding pastoral leadership myths — with Craig Hamilton
On The Pastor’s Heart this week:
“What happens when a leader operates without a clear vision. And how poetic or concrete should a vision be?
How to organise things so the overall vision cascades down through every area of church life?
What should our pastoral approach be to innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, laggards and the nos.
Biblical vision and Leadership vision: What is the difference? Why do people mangle Proverbs 29:18?
Plus infusing the church with vision, in a significant moment and especially via drip feed.
Craig Hamilton is senior pastor of Pitt Town Anglican Church and author of ‘Wisdom in Leadership.’ ”
Dave Moore on Why your church needs Healthy Teams
Matthias Media has recently published The Team Leader’s Handbook by Dave Moore at Hunter Bible Church.
The Australian Church Record speaks with Dave about his background, his ministry journey, and about the book.
Men Meeting the Challenge Conference 2025 – promo
Rory Shiner and Dave Jensen are speaking at this year’s Men Meeting the Challenge Conference.
Saturday 29th March.
Celebration of the 50th year of Campus Bible Study
Campus Bible Study at the University of NSW is turning 50!
“Over many years, God has been working through people at UNSW. The foundation of CBS is prayer and proclaiming the crucified and risen Christ as Lord of all. From CBS, God has raised many servants for Sydney, Australia and the world.
So, join past and present CBSers on campus to give thanks to God for his incredible kindness and faithfulness through CBS. We will look forward to the next 50 years (or until the Lord returns) of proclaiming Christ to future generations of university students.
Please join us and many others on Saturday 15th March 2025 at UNSW.”
– Details here.
Guess who’s coming to podcast?
“The former Dean of Sydney, Phillip Jensen, has been joined by his brother, former Archbishop Peter Jensen, in a refashioning of the podcast Two Ways News.
The podcast was previously hosted by Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne. …
In the first episode of 2025, Mr Jensen introduces his brother Peter as the new co-host. “This year we’re looking at Genesis,” he says in the first episode. ‘Last year we worked our way through Romans and we just thought, well, the opening chapters of Genesis open up so many questions for us that it’ll be a great passage to have as the backbone of the year.’…”
– Russell Powell shares the news at SydneyAnglicans.net.
This podcast will be a real treat. Listen to the first episode for 2025, released today.
Image: Peter and Phillip at the 2023 King’s Birthday Conference at Moore Theological College.
Ten archaeological facts to increase confidence in the Old Testament — Hans Kristensen
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“There are claims – and you hear them every so often – that archeology has disproved this story or that in the Bible, and claims from this or that scholar of particularly late dating of different bible books.
How do we as evangelical pastors react/respond/answer those claims?
Hans Kristensen is senior pastor of Marsfield Community Church in Sydney and is studying archaeology.
He suggests that there are 10 major archaeological finds that help us to increase our confidence in the Old Testament…”
– Fascinating. Watch or listen here.
Book review: ‘Proclaiming Christ’
“The past two hundred years of human history has seen the rise of so-called ‘modern’ thinking, which has created unprecedented challenges for Christians around the world.
As it stands, our current society is underpinned by a subjective approach to truth – emotions determine worldviews; objective biblical standards are labelled extremist; and unalterable biological realities like one’s own gender are contested on the grounds of personal feelings. In turn, this subjectivity has accompanied religious pluralism, as no revelation from God can be considered objectively true, because nothing is objectively true.
Against this cultural backdrop, believers are constantly in need of reminders to keep preaching Christ crucified. As a compilation of Packer’s 1978 lectures at Moore Theological College on Common Objections Against Christianity, this book serves to do exactly that. …“
As we noted when Campbell Markham reviewed the book last year, as well as reading the book, you can watch Packer’s 1978 Moore College lectures – About an hour each:
Lecture 1 – We’ve a Story to Tell.
Lecture 2 – The man Christ Jesus.
Lecture 3 – He emptied himself: the divinity of Jesus Christ.
Lecture 4 – The wonderful exchange.
Lecture 5 – No other name: the uniqueness of Jesus Christ.
Nexus 25 coming up on 17th March
The Nexus25 conference is coming up on Monday 17th March at Village Church Annandale:
“Nexus25 is about how we can reach our city with the life-giving gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Our conviction as a Nexus network is that the death and resurrection of Jesus, and his imminent return, means that our lives and churches must be driven by the urgent proclamation of our Saviour and Lord. And yet if we’re honest with ourselves, this conviction often wanes and does not flow into concerted, effective action in our churches. We believe that God is not done with Sydney. Christ still has many people in this city—people who have not yet heard and believed the gospel of Christ—and we long to see them saved and gathered around his throne.
Together under God, let’s think about what we need to do in our churches as we strive to reach this city for Christ.
Dave Jensen and Phil Colgan are going to help us think about how we can help everyone in our churches be on board with the mission that drives us. What are the convictions we need to sharpen in ourselves and encourage in others if we are going to be evangelistically effective? Are there things holding our churches back? Are there better ways to do things that flow more truly from our convictions? Those are the sorts of questions we’re going to consider.
Of course, along with this, we’re going to do what we always do at Nexus – come together for encouragement, fellowship and prayer, to spur one another on to persevere in the noble task of serving God’s people as pastors, teachers and evangelists.”
– Learn more, and register, at the Nexus25 website.
Bishop of Bathurst’s HOPE25 Newsletter
The Bishop of Bathurst, Mark Calder, has released his HOPE25 Newsletter.
Many churches around Australia are planning to take part in the HOPE25 “intentional season of sharing hope in Jesus” between Easter and Pentecost.
Find your copy here – food for your prayers.
Crucifixion Historicity
“Friends in Christ, on Monday as I left the Cathedral to go home, my exit was impeded by a Muslim man praying right outside our office door on the landing. I had to excuse myself and step over and around him. But something, presumably the Holy Spirit, then prompted me to pause and pray for his salvation for as long as it took him to finish his set prayers.
I then explained that he should not pray so as to block a doorway. It could impede people in an emergency. He did apologise but his excuse was to say it was a house of God. I said, it was a Christian house of God. He then claimed we all worship the same God.
However as we talked a little further, it emerged that we disagreed over whether Jesus died on the cross. …”
– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant reminds us of the solid historical attestation for the Crucifixion. From the Cathedral newsletter 16 January 2025.
Three Recommendations for Parents
“Being a parent is a joyful struggle. In my mind, it’s pure, undistilled hospitality: ‘Hey there! Make yourself at home … forever.’
As with any act of hospitality, there can be so much joy—there’s a new perspective on the world to discover and appreciate as it forms and matures; a new heart to embrace with all its loves and dreams and fears.
But as with any act of hospitality, there can also be struggles. This new perspective doesn’t know your way of doing things; their ways may irk you. This new heart may love different things, dream in different directions, or fear peculiar things—all of which makes everyday tasks more complicated, like breakfast, shopping, or going to the toilet.
Unlike other acts of hospitality, there is a pressure and constancy with parenting that can make it more difficult. Even change itself is constant, such that raising children often feels like we’re always playing catchup.
So here are three very different resources I’ve found particularly helpful as I navigate this parental calling. …”
– Callan Pritchard shares “three very different resources” at The Australian Church Record.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…