How to Present Your Sermon Really Well

“Like every skill worth doing, good preaching requires sustained study, effort, practice, self-evaluation, and a determination to improve and master the skill.

Good delivery must come not as a replacement for, but as the culmination of the certain basic convictions about preaching:

That preaching is central to Christian worship, growth, and evangelism;

That preaching must be Christ-focussed;

That the preacher must be a godly Christian growing in Christ;

That the sermon must expository and carefully prepared. …”

– Agree or disagree with details, Campbell Markham writes to encourage and help preachers do what is vitally important. At AP.

How God works in our hearts

“God works in many ways to bring His people to Himself.

Sometimes He works over a long period of time, such as with those people who grow up in a Christian home, where ‘Christ is the Head of the house, the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener at every conversation’. They’ve been dedicated to God as covenant children and day by day, year by year, they grow into Christ.

Sometimes God brings people to Himself with a sudden flash of enlightenment, as with Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.

Sometimes God brings people to Himself by bringing them to their senses in the far country, as with the Prodigal Son who went through a troubled and strugglesome journey.

Often He brings them to Himself after ongoing prayer for them by His people.

But all these ways have much in common, as Paul sets before us in Ephesians 3.14-20. …”

– Bob Thomas shares this encouragement at AP, the Presbyterian journal.

Anglican Heroes: J. C. Ryle — Church Society podcast

From Church Society:

“Andrew Atherstone talks to Ros Clarke about the life, ministry and legacy of J. C. Ryle, the first Bishop of Liverpool.”

– Listen here.

Related:

His Sermons Roused a Sleeping Church – article by John Piper.

Evangelical Religion — Bishop J.C. Ryle.

Why were our Reformers burned? — Bishop J.C. Ryle (republished by Church Society in 2017).

Church music in a culture obsessed with self expression – with Alanna Glover

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“What does healthy, joyful, word-shaped congregational singing look like in a culture obsessed with self-expression?

We are shaped more than we realise by the culture around us. And today one of the most powerful cultural forces pressing on our churches is expressive individualism — the idea that the authentic self must be expressed and affirmed.

But what happens when this cultural air we breathe seeps into our church music? When sincerity becomes more important than truth, when the band is excellent yet the congregation is silent, and when singing shifts from ‘we proclaim Christ together’ to ‘I express what I feel’?

If we do not address this, we risk disengaged congregations, weakened church identity and a missed opportunity for deep spiritual formation that comes as we sing God’s word to one another.

Alanna Glover — longtime church music leader, former member of Garage Hymnal, ten years with Emu Music, songwriter, trainer and theologian — has just completed significant research on expressive individualism and congregational singing in evangelical churches.”

– Watch here. (Emphasis added.)

Seeing God at Work — Unearthing genealogical treasure

From Phillip Jensen:

“This week in Two Ways News, we continue the theme of family. Having dealt with the family of Cain in chapter 4, we turn to the new family of Adam. In this family, God’s word enables us to see the Lord’s plans for salvation, hinted at in Genesis 3:15 and worked out in Noah.

We don’t often have sermons on genealogies, but hopefully this episode will help us see their importance.”

– hear the latest podcast with Peter and Phillip Jensen at Two Ways News.

Moore College Style Guide: Music Video

A bit of fun from the 2025 Moore College Review and Dr. Lionel Windsor.

Even if it’s not your style, you might learn something!

What Happened on Reformation Day?

“On October 31, much of the culture will be focussed on candy and things that go bump in the night. Protestants, however, have something far more significant to celebrate on October 31.

It’s Reformation day, which commemorates what was perhaps the greatest move of God’s Spirit since the days of the Apostles.

But what is the significance of Reformation Day, and how should we consider the events it commemorates? …”

– At Ligonier Ministries, Robert Rothwell writes about the significance of Reformation Day.

Image: Martin Luther in 1532, by Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Help! The wrong type of person is turning up at church!

“The wrong type of people are turning up at our churches. The wrong type of non-Christian people.

Not convinced? Let me explain.

The quiet revival – in which young men in particular are turning up at churches – is presenting something of a problem for evangelical churches of a certain stripe. And the recent death of Charlie Kirk has cast this problem into sharper relief.

What’s the problem? I hear you ask. Well it’s this:

Many of our more middle class, evangelical churches – especially in urban areas –  have been prepping themselves for a certain type of non-Christian to come through their doors. Yet in the wake of Kirk’s murder they are less prepped for another type of non-Christian altogether – the type that actually is coming through their doors!

It’s not as simple as ‘the wrong type’ of inquirer coming to our churches. There’s no such thing.

But our evangelical churches, especially in our big cities, are more unsure about what to do with a Jordan Peterson reading/Charlie Kirk socials-watching young bloke turning up, than they are about a gender-fluid university student with all the progressive boxes ticked, turning up. …

Why have we been caught out by this surprising turn of events? Because the culture has been caught out by this surprising turn of events. And we have followed the culture’s lead. …”

– Many churches are seeing this ‘quiet revival’. Stephen McAlpine writes with encouragement to engage.

Betrayed by my King

From The Pastor’s Heart –

“Marcus Loane said no. The King said yes.

For the first time in more than 800 years, an English monarch has prayed publicly with the Pope.

King Charles III — the Supreme Governor of the Church of England — joined Pope Leo XIV in the Sistine Chapel in a highly choreographed moment of unity. But for many Protestants, this was not a moment to celebrate, but to grieve.

The Reformation was born out of deep conviction that Rome had departed from the apostolic gospel — that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Those convictions have not changed. And yet, the sight of a Protestant king kneeling in prayer beside the Pope suggests that they believe these dividing lines no longer matter, that the Reformation is no longer relevant.

Half a century ago, in 1970, when Pope Paul VI visited Australia, Sydney Anglican Archbishop Sir Marcus Loane — refused to pray with the Pope, saying shared prayer implied shared faith, and that the great truths of the Reformation still mattered: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Loane’s grandson, Dr Stephen Tong, joins Rachel Ciano, Lecturer in Church History at Sydney Missionary and Bible College, and Dominic Steele on The Pastor’s Heart to discuss what’s happened in Rome this week – as the leaders of the Roman Catholic and Church of England Churches downplay the Reformation’s significance.”

– Watch or listen here.

Family Likeness — Who do you think you are?

From Phillip Jensen:

Welcome again to Two Ways News. Working with my brother makes it a bit of a family concern.

The last episode of the older brother killing the younger reminds us of the mixed blessing of family life. In this episode, we follow through the family of Cain. It’s not a pleasant story, though in the midst of evil there are great achievements.

Don’t forget to tell others of Two Ways News.

– Listen at Two Ways News.

The Growing Threat to Religious Freedom

“I have long been an admirer of Professor Patrick Parkinson and his work. The Emeritus Professor of Law and former Dean of the University of Queensland, has been outspoken in his Christian faith, his defence of religious liberty as well as his academic critique of The Safe Schools program. And so my interest was significantly piqued when I heard about his new book Unshaken Allegiance: Living wisely as Christians with diminishing religious freedoms (St Matthias, 2025). …”

– At AP, Mark Powell reviews Unshaken Allegiance by Professor Patrick Parkinson.

Image from Mark Powell’s recent interview with Professor Parkinson.

The Book of James — Church Society podcast

From Church Society:

“Lee Gatiss talks to Daniel Eng, author of a new commentary on the book of James, about the book’s key themes and practical applications.”

– Listen here.

Celebrating the Nicene Creed

At AP, the Presbyterian journal, Campbell Markham at Scots’ Church Fremantle begins a four-part series on the Nicene Creed.

“Christians confess their faith in God as He Is.

This year (2025) marks seventeen centuries since the writing of the Nicene Creed which is, with the Apostles’ Creed, one of the two most important extra-biblical documents that the Christian church possesses.

Creed derives from the Latin credo, ‘I believe.’ It is the first word of the Nicene Creed and identifies it as a statement of Christian belief.

In this article I look at the history of the Nicene Creed and why it is critical that Christians confess right belief in Christ. In the following three articles I plan to look in turn at the three main sections of the Nicene Creed, focussing especially on its Christology: its definition of the person and work of Jesus Christ. …”

– So he begins part 1.

And part 2:

“God the Father and the Person of God the Son

I was fifteen when I first saw those creepy life-size models of famous people, hands and faces of painted wax. Too often people handle Jesus Christ as a wax mannequin, to be reshaped and adjusted to suit their own ideas and desires.

Anti-theologian Barbara Thiering taught that Jesus was the natural child of Joseph and Mary and that he did not die on the cross but rather swooned and was revived to consciousness in the tomb.

Sixteen centuries prior the heresiarch Arius taught that Jesus was not the self-existent and eternal Creator of all, but was himself created in time.

There has been no end to this wretched remodelling.

About 300 bishops at the Council of Nicaea in 325 refused to do this. They recognised Jesus as a true and historical person described in the Bible with all the depth and complexity that God wanted us to know and own. …”

The Clapham Sect and their Influence on Sydney

Videos from the 2025 Donald Robinson Library Lectures at Moore Theological College – The Clapham Sect and their Influence on Sydney:

“Held on 8 October 2025, the Library Day Lectures explored the remarkable legacy of the Clapham Sect — a network of evangelical reformers whose faith and friendships shaped British society and left a lasting mark on early Australia.

Through eight talks by Moore College faculty and guest scholars, the event traced their impact on mission, education, social reform, and the formation of Sydney’s evangelical heritage.”

– See all the lectures in this YouTube playlist from Moore College.

The Nicene Creed: The nature of Christian unity and the meaning of gospel words — reviewed by Robert Doyle

“The Nicene Creed: The nature of Christian unity and the meaning of gospel words is a carefully written, informed, and thoughtful examination of basic Roman Catholic beliefs following the implicit and explicit trajectory laid out in the Nicene Creed: the doctrines of the authority of Scripture, Trinity, person and work of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the virgin Mary, salvation, church, and the world to come.

It arises out of the teaching and pastoral ministries of the authors, who all – whether in Italy, France, Belgium, Ireland, Australia or the United States – are involved in proclaiming and explaining to today’s Roman Catholics the gospel of Jesus Christ as it is presented in the Scriptures.

The book is marked by careful attention to sources and fair critical evaluation of them. It is missiological. The intended audience is Bible study groups in Evangelical churches. More widely, its analysis and presentation make it an excellent introduction to contemporary, foundational Roman Catholic beliefs and how the scriptural gospel speaks to them. …”

– Dr Robert Doyle reviews this important book at The Australian Church Record.

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