Tom Habib — new Lecturer at Moore College — interviewed

For the latest issue of Moore Matters from Moore College, Tom Habbib shares his story –

“I remember reading through Isaiah 53 at my first Youth Group camp and being struck by how Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus’s death for my sins. Another time, I was convicted while reading Mark 8:36, ‘What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?’.

I realized that up until then, I had been trying to ‘gain the world’, and from then on, I wanted to live for Jesus. …”

– Read it all here.

See also: Various articles by Tom.

Tom Habib to join Moore College Faculty

“The Governing Board of the College has approved the Principal’s nomination of the Rev. Thomas Habib as a full-time member of the Moore College Faculty from the end of this year.

Tom is completing his PhD research and expects to submit his thesis on moral characterisation in the Gospel of John in August. …”

– The latest from Moore College.

What I need most from my minister

“When we forget that ministry is godliness, we forget that godliness is the goal. Churches can begin to exist simply for the purpose of increasing the number of people coming on a Sunday. Ministers can begin to overlook the sinful habits in their own lives, perhaps even justifying them or rationalising them away, because of the good ‘ministry’ that they are doing. And individual Christians in the church can begin to measure their own Christian walk simply by how involved or active they are. …”

– Tom Habib reminds us of the greatest need we have for the personal lives of our ministers – at SydneyAnglicans.net.

Evangelists in No Man’s Land: On Not Losing the Gospel in the Culture Wars

“Ah, the culture wars. Never was so much owed by so many to so few. For every keyboard warrior who wastes a good half day on Facebook or Twitter, there are a thousand regular people who just want to get on with life.

And yet, as Christians it can be hard to work out if we should be getting involved. Should we be taking sides, or can we just sit on the sidelines and remain neutral? …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Tom Habib writes to encourage Christians to not lost sight of what’s most important.

When to take a stand

“From time to time, faithful Christians have been called on to take a stand for the gospel.

In the 1st century it was over circumcision and Gentile inclusion in the church.

In the 4th century it was over the nature of God and the divinity of Christ.

In the 16th century it was over the authority of Scripture and justification by faith.

In the 18th and 19th centuries it was over the possibility of miracles and the historical reliability of the Gospels.

And in the 21st century, it is over marriage, gender and sexuality. …”

– Tom Habib writes plainly at The Australian Church Record.

True Discipleship and The 51st Synod

“He said what?!

By now, most of you would have heard about Archbishop Glenn Davies’ address at the 51st Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney.  It has been quoted and misquoted on social media, the Sydney Morning Herald, and has even reached British shores where I am living, with an article in the Guardian from former Sydney pastor Joel Hollier.

As he has made clear, Archbishop Davies was not calling on those struggling with same-sex attraction to leave the church. We all struggle with sin, which is why the grace and mercy of Christ is such a wonderful message to the world. But there is a difference between struggling with sin, and declaring something not to be a sin. …”

– Tom Habib cuts to the heart of the matter at The Gospel Coalition Australia. Be sure to read it all.

By sad contrast:

“The Bishop of Liverpool [in the Church of England] told the Guardian: ‘I still hope that bishops from Sydney will attend the Lambeth conference next year so that we can all talk together and learn from one another there.

‘Meanwhile, I’m glad that other parts of the Australian church are engaging in dialogue with Sydney and are advocating for a greater inclusion and a wider and more diverse church. It’s good to be in the same communion with all these people.’

Other Church of England bishops declined to comment on Davies’ comments, saying they did not represent mainstream views within the church.”

– from The Guardian.

Australian Church Record Journal for Spring 2019 now out

Download your copy of the latest Australian Church Record Journal for Spring 2019 here.

Contents:

Thank God for Ordinary Pastors
Mark Earngey

Wangaratta Defies National Church
Kanishka Raffel

The Opened Eyes of Wilberforce
David Ould

Evangelism in the Upper Mountains
Jon Guyer

Gospel Growth through ANeW
Sam Broadfoot

New Life in an Ancient Parish?
Ben Wilkinson

Contending side by side
Tom Habib

Some Observations for Ordinary Pastoral Ministry
Archie Poulos

The Christian and His Worship
D. Broughton Knox.

Five tips for reading daily Bible reading and prayer

“The most important resolution you can make this year is to read your Bible and pray each day – this, along with meeting with God’s people, is what makes a Christian’s heart beat.

However, by this point in January most of our resolutions will have failed – including our daily quiet time. We’ve started to get busy, missed a few mornings and it’s starting to feel like 2019 will be very similar to 2018 after all. But just because you didn’t read your Bible yesterday, doesn’t mean you need to give up.

So here are my top five tips for starting and maintaining a regular quiet time in 2019…”

– These tips from Tom Habib might be just what you need. At The Australian Church Record.

Also from the ACR: Biblical mentoring: its pattern and place – Mike Leite.

Real Faith

“The simple goal of evangelism is for people to believe in Jesus and be saved. This is our mission.

Whether it is through our personal relationships, large-scale events, evangelistic courses or the regular preaching of the word on Sunday—we want to see people come to faith in Christ and remain in Him.

But if we want people to come to faith, we must first be clear on what real faith is. We may have gathered a crowd or filled a church, but have we made real disciples with real faith? Real evangelism must seek real faith. …”

– Tom Habib writes in the most recent issue of The Australian Church Record’s Journal.

How I talk to people about the Trinity

“It was the first evangelistic course that I had ever run. I had just finished my presentation on the authority of Jesus in Mark 1-2 and opened up for question time. The first question, right off the bat, was…

‘So, what’s the deal with the Trinity?’

Since then I have found that of all the questions I get asked, this is the most common one. …”

– Maybe you’ve had similar experiences to Tom Habib, who writes at The Australian Church Record.

All You Need is Love … ?

“Between writing a sermon and posting hilarious gifs from Suits, I watched a bit of the Royal Wedding on Saturday night. Of course—it was the sermon more than the dress that caught my attention. That’s no surprise—being a Christian, a preacher and having zero interest in dresses. What was a surprise was that everyone else focussed on the sermon too! When was the last time that happened?

It was also interesting to watch the reactions from fellow Christians on social media. ‘Great sermon!’; ‘Loved it!’; ‘I wish my minister preached like that!’ And then—‘Heretic!’; ‘Disappointing’; ‘Dangerous!’. How can fellow Christians have such opposing views when they listened to the same sermon? And what should we think about all this?

First of all, to understand the reaction from some Christians you need to understand who Michael Curry is. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Tom Habib provides crucial background for that sermon – and has some suggestions on how you can talk about it.

(Photo: Episcopal Church.)

God’s Strategy for Evangelism

“Whether it’s war, sport or business, everyone needs a good strategy. Strategy is the ‘how’ question. You might have a vision – what you want to see happen. You might have a mission – what you are going to do. But do you have the strategy – how are you going to do it?

What is our strategy for evangelism? As Christians, we have our vision: the nations before the throne praising the Son (Rev 7:9-10). And we have our mission: to go and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19). But what is our strategy? How are we going to do this?”

– Encouragement from Tom Habib at The Australian Church Record.