A Biblical guide to giving your Testimony

“When the apostle Paul tells his own story, he doesn’t focus on how bad he was before Christ. He emphasises Jesus.

That instinct runs counter to much of what passes for testimony-giving today, where the drama of a former life tends to take centre stage and the gospel itself gets relegated to a supporting role. The personal story matters, but it is the garnish, not the main course.

The focus of any testimony ought to be the person and work of Jesus: who he is and what he came to do. …”

– Very helpful reminder from Jordan Thyer at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

The Biggest Tell that something was written by AI

From an essay by Eve Fairbanks in The Atlantic,

“We tend to believe that efficiency is the highest virtue, the four-hour workweek the ultimate goal. Why sweat over the introductory paragraph of an essay if an AI program can sail over whatever argumentative obstacle you have in the space of 15 seconds? But the effort and the hang-ups are, as they say, a feature of the human thought process, not a bug. …”

– Read it all (link thanks to Tim Challies). How might it apply to sermons?

A related topic:

Before You Use AI, Read Ecclesiastes – Darin White at The Gospel Coalition.

“Young people will need to know how to use AI at a high level. But even more, they’ll need to be able to use it without being mastered by it. As Christian leaders, we don’t have the luxury of ignoring this moment. The generation sitting in our pews, at our dinner tables, and in our classrooms right now is learning to trust machines with the decisions that require the wisdom only God can give. …”

The ‘senior pastor loneliness problem’ – with Sheridan Voysey

An important topic from The Pastor’s Heart –

“The loneliest person in church may be the one standing at the pulpit.

Pastors spend their lives surrounded by people, but ministry can make real friendship strangely difficult.

Confidentiality, responsibility, expectations, perceived favouritism and the pressure to “have answers but not needs” can leave church leaders profoundly alone.

Sheridan Voysey says pastors don’t just need supervision, systems or resilience strategies. They need real friends: people they can talk to, depend on, grow with and enjoy. People who know the weight they are carrying. People they can call at 2am when everything has gone wrong.

Sheridan helps us think pastorally and practically about the lonely pastor, the friendship Jesus modelled and how churches can give leaders permission to be human.”

– Watch here.

Contentment in Practice — Avoiding marriolatry

From Phillip Jensen –

“For many years, Christians have been teaching on marriage and family life. But recently, the focus has moved somewhat towards singleness. This is in part because of our society’s movement away from marriage towards singleness, which is itself somewhat due to an attempt to correct an overemphasis on marriage.

This week in Two Ways News, we are discussing the issue of singleness not for either of those reasons, but because of Paul’s dealing with the subject in 1 Corinthians 7:25-40. So, following on from Paul’s discussion of contentment, we address the issues around whether we should marry and the consequences that flow from it.”

– Hear Phillip and Peter Jensen discuss at Two Ways News.

Also see –

Is prophecy dead? Where have all the prophets gone?

Amos said he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, and yet he was one of God’s prophets in Israel. Do we have prophets and prophecy today? Should we all prophesy or is it the task of some of us?

The issues around prophecy are many and varied; this King’s Birthday Conference will look particularly at a Biblical view of prophecy today.

– Less than a week away. Register at this link.

Sexual Contentment — As called, so remain

From Phillip Jensen –

“As we work through 1 Corinthians 7, we come to a paragraph that seems to have nothing to do with glorifying God with your body in love, sex, or marriage. Suddenly, there is a paragraph about slavery and circumcision. But this is the most important passage in the chapter, for it is simply using these topics to discuss contentment, which is the key to love, sex, and marriage.

I hope you enjoy this discussion. Please remember that Two Ways News is provided free of charge by the generosity of friends. If you would like to become one of our generous friends, at the end of the transcript are details regarding how you could contribute.”

– Listen to Phillip and Peter discuss, at Two Ways News.

Also mentioned and good to check out:

Book Recommendations on Corporate Worship from Pastors

From 9Marks:

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).

Is there a singer or musician in your church who is hungry to glorify God as they lead in corporate worship? Or do your members need to be taught that they’re all “part of the choir”?

9Marks asked a couple of pastors who have thought a lot about corporate worship for book recommendations on the subject.”

– See the recommendations here.

Among the comments –

“A collection of and commentary on liturgies from the 16th century, but the three introductory essays are worth the price of the book.”

“Of all the books on a biblical theology of worship, Peterson’s work is one of the most focused, thoughtful, and helpful. This will provoke your thinking on the ultimate reason the church gathers.”

Freedom Matters — latest conversation

From Freedom for Faith –

“Freedom Matters is a conversation with Bishop Michael Stead and Monica Doumit about religious freedom issues across Australia.”

– The latest episode was published last month. Well worth watching to give an idea of current and future challenges.

Michael Stead is the Bishop of South Sydney and Chair of Freedom for Faith.
Monica Doumit is the Chancellor of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and FFF board member.

Related:

In this three minute video, Freedom for Faith’s Executive Director Mike Southon explains Freedom for Faith’s mission.

King’s Birthday Conference 2026 — early bird prices ending soon

The King’s Birthday Conference 2026 is coming up on Monday 8th June at Moore College.

We’ve been reminded that the standard rates below will apply until the end of this week:

Regular $25, Concession $10

and that they increase from Monday 25th May.

“Is prophecy dead? Where have all the prophets gone?

Amos said he was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, and yet he was one of God’s prophets in Israel. Do we have prophets and prophecy today? Should we all prophesy or is it the task of some of us?

The issues around prophecy are many and varied; this King’s Birthday Conference will look particularly at a Biblical view of prophecy today.”

See the website for full details and registration.

The Remarkable Story of Ayaan Hirsi Ali

A recommendation from AP, the Australian Presbyterian journal –

“If you’ve never heard the story of how Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Muslim from Somalia and subsequently outspoken atheist who then became a Christian, then you’re in for a treat. Focus on the Family has recently published a short fourteen minute summary of her conversion. …”

– Read here.

The Most Neglected Element of Church?

From Tim Challies –

“There are some elements of public worship that receive a great deal of attention. These elements are taught, practiced, rehearsed, and perfected until they are as good as they can be. In most churches, this includes the music, of course, and often the preaching. … But either way, some elements receive the lion’s share of attention.

What elements often do not receive nearly as much attention? What elements are often not taught, practiced, rehearsed, and perfected until they are as good as they can be? …”

– Read it all here.

Related:

Wonderful help for reading the Bible in public.

Marriages in Mission

From Phillip Jensen –

“A mission church has many basic Christian morality issues to resolve.

The old culture, not built on the gospel, will have practices inconsistent with the gospel. But as with most cultures, these practices are assumed rather than thought out. The gospel revolutionises all cultures, and Paul the Apostle is dealing with the marriage cultures of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 7.

This episode of Two Ways News is a difficult unravelling of Paul’s advice on several complex issues.”

– Listen to Peter and Phillip Jensen discuss – at Two Ways News.

Faithfulness When Freedoms Diminish

“How should Christians live wisely and remain faithful to Christ in a society where religious freedom is on the wane? This is the question driving Patrick Parkinson’s new book, Unshaken Allegiance: Living wisely as Christians with diminishing religious freedoms.

Parkinson writes not as a theologian or a pastor but as a Christian legal academic, and as someone who has experienced intense religious restriction first-hand through his time in communist Czechoslovakia in the early 1980s.…”

– At TGC Australia, Marty Robinson reviews Patrick Parkinson’s new book.

Expository Preaching Trust expands

“The work of the Expository Preaching Trust is expanding.

As well as Preaching clubs, workshops and conferences, we now have 50 preachers being mentored by 16 experienced preachers.

The Trust began in 2012 and we are now in need of extra help.

From 1 July Michael Leong will join us for one day per week to be the Trust’s Operations Associate. …

Michael holds the degrees of Bachelor of Divinity and Master of Theology from Moore.

As well as mentoring and speaking at the Trust’s conferences, Michael will oversee the promotion of our website and events and coordinate the implementation of the calendar. …”

– Read more at the Expository Preaching Trust.

Should evangelicals sing Hillsong, Bethel and Elevation songs in evangelical churches? — with Mal York

This week from The Pastor’s Heart –

“Church music is one of the most formative and contested parts of local church life.

People join churches because of music. People leave churches because of music. But music is not a filler between the sermon and the prayers. The songs we sing put theology into people’s mouths and memories.

So how should we choose the songs we sing in church?

Mal York, the dean of students at Sydney’s Moore Theological College, joins us to talk about principles and pragmatics in choosing songs for church.

We discuss theological depth, singability, musical excellence, doctrinal drift, performance culture and what to do with songs from movements like Hillsong, Bethel and Elevation.”

– Watch or listen here.

A quote from Mal York to consider  –

“Hillsong, whether we like it or not …  see their songs as advertising for them. So, they see that whenever you sing a Hillsong song in your church, you are advertising their ministry. Now, some churches might be happy to advertise their ministry, but for me, I found it hard to sing those songs.” (At 13’20”.)

Sex in Marriage

From Phillip Jensen –

“When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he had to deal with many issues, some of which were raised by the Corinthians themselves. Several of the issues related to the subject of sexual morality.

Chapters 5 and 6 of 1 Corinthians conclude with the importance of serving God with our bodies, and chapter 7 opens with the issue of how to serve God with your body in the face of sexual immoralities. The answer is not in celibacy, but a right understanding of sex in marriage.

Peter and I are going to take several weeks to discuss the many issues raised in 1 Corinthians 7. This week, it’s sex in marriage, verses 1-6.”

– Listen at Two Ways News.

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