The Prayer that turns the World upside down

“… Christians pray this prayer as a way of learning how to pray and what to pray – as Jesus teaches us to pray.

The Lord’s Prayer is the prayer that turns the world upside down. Are you looking for revolution? There is no clearer call to revolution than when we pray ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’ But this is a revolution only God can bring … and He will.

This short prayer turns the world upside down. Principalities and powers hear their fall. Dictators are told their time is up. Might will indeed be made right and truth and justice will prevail. The kingdoms of this world will all pass, giving way to the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ.

It all comes down to one of the shortest prayers found in the Bible. The Lord’s Prayer takes less than 20 seconds to read aloud, but it takes a lifetime to learn. Sadly, most Christians rush through the prayer without learning it – but that is to miss the point completely.

Perhaps this is part of a larger problem. Gary Millar, who has written some enormously helpful resources on prayer, goes so far as to argue that ‘the evangelical church is slowly but surely giving up on prayer.’ The statement is shocking, but the truth of his assessment is even more shocking. Why are evangelicals giving up on prayer?

The statement is shocking, but the truth of his assessment is even more shocking. Why are evangelicals giving up on prayer?

Millar suggests that life is easy for most evangelicals – perhaps too easy. …”

– Albert Mohler has posted this excerpt from his new book (also available on Audible) on the Lord’s Prayer.

(Gary Millar will be the speaker at the CMS NSW/ACT Summer School in 2019.)

T.C. Hammond: Who is a Sinner?

“Christ in the truth of our nature was made like unto us in all things, sin only except, from which he was clearly void, both in his flesh, and in his spirit. He came to be the Lamb without spot, who, by sacrifice of himself once made, should take away the sins of the world, and sin, as Saint John saith, was not in him. But all we the rest, although baptised, and born again in Christ, yet offend in many things; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

– Those are the words of Article 15 of the Thirty Nine Articles, “Of Christ Alone Without Sin”.

The Australian Church Record is continuing to republish T.C. Hammond’s 1956 series on The Articles.

‘Taking the truth of God’s word into God’s world’ – new book of Mike Ovey’s writings launched

“Moore College Principal, Dr Mark Thompson, reflects on his close friend, the late Mike Ovey, in this video encouragement filmed for and played at the January book launch in the UK of The Goldilocks Zone: Collected Writings of Michael J. Ovey.”

– News and video from Moore College.

The book was launched in London last week.

Here’s a list of sellers, in Australian dollars. Also available here.

The Pastor’s Heart – deep interviews with Aussie pastors 2:00pm Tuesdays

Starting today (Tuesday 23rd January 2018 at 2:00pm), Dominic Steele is kicking off a series of interviews with pastors – The Pastor’s Heart.

They will be streamed live on Facebook, and the podcast will also be available on iTunes afterwards.

See all the details at thepastorsheart.net – and hear David Mansfield speak about John Chapman and the new book The Chappo Collection – today at 2:00pm.

Update: Watch the recorded chat here.

A most encouraging and heart-warming tribute to Chappo.

Translation at Chester Hill

“The full script of each sermon is sent to a translator a few days prior to preaching, and a full translation from English to Arabic can take four hours. During the sermon, the translator speaks into a small microphone that is then wirelessly transmitted to the earpieces. …

Buying headsets online has been revolutionary for the Syrian families at Chester Hill.”

– What a good idea from Chester Hill Anglican – reported at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Church of England bishops ‘block’ demand for transgender prayer – update

“Church of England bishops have blocked the introduction of a new prayer celebrating a transgender person’s change of sex.

The House of Bishops was strongly urged to draw up the ‘baptism-style’ services for sex-change Christians by the Church’s ‘Parliament’, the General Synod, last summer. …” – Story from Mail Online.

However, also see this: Welcoming Transgender People – an update – Church of England website, dated 21 January 2018:

“Following the debate and vote at General Synod in July 2017 on Welcoming Transgender People, the House of Bishops has prayerfully considered whether a new nationally commended service might be prepared to mark a gender transition.

The Bishops are inviting clergy to use the existing rite Affirmation of Baptismal Faith. New guidance is also being prepared on the use of the service. …”

Abortion, Canada, and the relentless wave of Authoritarian Secularism

“I love taking Claude (family greyhound) for an early morning walk through the streets of Parkdale and Mentone, and to listen to the Bible as we go. Today in the Psalms, I was struck by Psalm 8:2, which says,

‘Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.’

Afterward, I was catching up on the news and heard a report about a recent announcement by Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Organisations applying for Government funding for the Canadian Summer Jobs program, must now sign an attestation that they support abortion. …”

– Murray Campbell in Melbourne looks at the Canadian example as a foretaste of what Christians in Australia can expect.

Alasdair Paine to visit Australia

Alasdair Paine, the vicar of St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge, is visiting Oz in March to expound Philippians at two conferences for Pastors:

On 6-8 March is speaking at the Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, and 13-15 March at the Sydney Missionary and Bible College. David Cook and David Jones are also speaking at the conferences.

(Prior to ministry training at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, Alasdair studied geography at Trinity College in Cambridge and was Head of Geography at Eton. While in Sydney, he will speak to young geographers at the Scots College.)

GAFCON YouTube channel

From the GAFCON Communications Team:

“We are delighted to announce the launch of a Gafcon YouTube channel to keep people like you more informed and better equipped to stand up for uncompromised biblical truth.

There are 17 videos posted currently and we will be adding more regularly. Please take a moment to have a look.

You’ll find yourself both more aware of what’s happening – and encouraged by the words of people like you who are coming together to stand for the Bible and preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ.”

12 Ways your Phone is Changing You

The Audiobook of Tony Reinke’s, “12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You” is the free audiobook from Christian Audio for January 2018.

The text, as a PDF file, is also available as a free download from Desiring God. Check it out.

Related: Why I Pray With an App – Tim Challies explains why he uses Prayer Mate.

Good Grief!

“Grief is a fault line. It opens us up. It exposes us. But it doesn’t just do this emotionally; it does so theologically.

If you want to know a person’s true theology, speak to them when they are grieving. There you will discover what they hope in; how they cope; what makes sense of their world.

As a listener to those grieving, I became acutely aware that grief is never something we feel prepared for, but a season in which we must be prepared. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Moore College’s Chase Kuhn calls us to have a biblical understanding of death and grief.

Isesomo: God’s Servant in Congo

“In this short book we are introduced to Bishop Adolphe Isesomo, second bishop in the Diocese of North Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

While the book is essentially a biography in the style of a ‘missionary biography’, Josh Maule neatly intertwines three different but interrelated histories. Isesomo’s story is told in the context of the development of the Anglican Church of Congo, especially the Diocese of North Kivu, but also the sad account of the country that was Zaire and is now the DRC. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, CMS NSW ACT General Secretary Canon Malcolm Richards points us to a book worth reading.

(The book is available locally here, as well as from other sellers.)

Tim Challies in Sydney next month

“I will be in Sydney on February 22 [2018] and would love to meet you for an informal drop-in event at the Reformers Bookshop! I am dedicating 2018 to traveling the world for my EPIC church history project and am making a stop in Australia. …”

– Canadian blogger Tim Challies will be in Oz next month. More here.

When must we break unity?

“At the recent Synod of the Sydney Diocese two important motions were passed concerning the wider Anglican communion.

The first affirmed our Archbishop for attending the consecration of Bishop Andy Lines as a Missionary Bishop for the UK.

The second expressed our sadness that the Scottish Episcopal Church had broken communion with us, and other faithful Anglicans, by their decisions concerning so-called ‘same-sex marriage’.

In those debates, the importance of unity in the church was raised as an argument against these actions. Such arguments need to be heard and considered. …”

– At The Australian Church Record, Canon Phil Colgan asks if ‘unity’ is needed at all costs.

Reclaiming religious freedom in the UK

“Barnabas Fund is seeking a new Act of Parliament in the UK to guarantee seven fundamental aspects of freedom of religion. These seven freedoms have developed in the UK by various mechanisms over the last five centuries but are now under threat. A law to protect and guarantee them is urgently needed.

Tracing the heritage of religious liberty takes us back more than 800 years to Magna Carta in 1215. …

As we will explain in a new booklet which Barnabas Fund will shortly be launching, Magna Carta’s affirmation that ‘the English Church shall be free’ was gradually worked out over the centuries into seven specific aspects of freedom of religion…”

– News from Barnabas Fund, via Anglican Mainstream.

← Previous Page — Next Page →