Jonathan Edwards: Safe beneath his Sovereign God

“In the spring of 1750, the central discussion at Northampton Church in southern Massachusetts was not how to honor their faithful pastor for almost a quarter century of diligent labors among them. Rather, it was how to most expeditiously get rid of him.

In late June, the church held a series of meetings, and they summarily fired their pastor by a vote of 10 to 1 – of the 253 voting members, 230 voted for him to be dismissed, and 23 for him to stay.

Why were the people pointing fingers instead of offering warm handshakes to their pastor, Jonathan Edwards?…”

– At Desiring God, Dane Ortlund brings godly encouragement from the life of Jonathan Edwards.

Related: Johnathan Edwards’ The Religious Affections is the free Audiobook from Christian Audio for August 2018.

‘Church in Hard Places 2018’ videos now available

Andrew Beddoe has shared this news from the recent Church in Hard Places 2018 workshops:

“If you missed the Church in Hard Places 2018 workshops this year you might be interested to view the sessions …

These videos will not only help those ministering in socially deprived areas but those seeking to bring the hope of Jesus to any community that does not know Him.”

Very helpful resources.

Have we lost evangelism? with Phil Colgan and Craig Schafer

“A good friend tells you when you have something stuck between your teeth just before the photograph is taken.

Scotland’s David Andrew Robertson was a guest on The Pastor’s Heart a few months ago and is a good friend.

In an interview with Australian Church Record, having spent three months in Sydney, he’s had some significant things to say about the Sydney Anglican Church and asks have we gone off the boil on seeking the lost saved? …”

– Take the time to watch Phil Colgan and Craig Schafer discuss the state of evangelism with Dominic Steele at The Pastor’s Heart.

And a response from David Robertson:

“This is a fascinating discussion about evangelism in Sydney – in response to this interview I gave to the Sydney Anglican magazine. This is from an excellent podcast called The Pastors Heart. hosted by Dominic Steele. I found it very encouraging to hear pastors and church leaders take seriously this issue.

I contrast these Sydney Anglican brothers with what I hear from Anglicans here (Rico Tice resigning from the Archbishops commission on evangelism, Kelvin Holdsworth complaining about the roads being closed for a cycle race in Glasgow, the Leeds diocese facing bankruptcy, or the endless attempts to impose LGBT ideology upon the church), and I am heartened by what I hear. (at a personal level it was good to have people take one seriously and not just shrug their shoulders or shake their heads!).

Those of us who are not Sydney Anglicans (or even Australians!) could learn a great deal from this conversation – I loved the line ‘You can’t convert the public square, you can only see people converted’. …”

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.

Six Benefits of Studying Church History

“Many of us may struggle with the feeling that the church is already too old-fashioned. If so, why should we study church history? Shouldn’t we stop looking backward to the 16th century and start living in the 21st century?

Contrary to our concerns, the church has always realized that a forward-looking church is also a backward looking church. Likewise, well-balanced, progressive Christians will be students of church history. …”

– Meet the Puritans wants to encourage you to study church history.

Alight for the Lord

“With an eye to spreading the blessings God has given, CityAlight – the music ministry of St Paul’s, Castle Hill – has created a series of videos about their most popular songs.

The idea behind this is twofold, explains CityAlight’s music director Tiarne Kleyn. …”

– Encouragement from SydneyAnglicans.net.

Torn Between Two Cultures? Revoice, LGBT Identity, and Biblical Christianity

“The chaos and confusion which are the inevitable products of the Sexual Revolution continue to expand and the challenges constantly proliferate.

The LGBTQ+ revolution has long been the leading edge of the expanding chaos, and by now the genuinely revolutionary nature of the movement is fully apparent. The normalisation of the behaviours and relationships and identities included (for now) in the LGBTQ+ spectrum will require nothing less than turning the world upside down. …”

– Albert Mohler looks at how the recent ‘Revoice’ conference in the US adds confusion and an attempted rewriting of the meta-narrative of Scripture. Worth taking the time to read.

Wonderful salvation: A study in 1 Peter 1:1-12

“Peter opens his letter by contemplating the amazing character of Christian salvation. The very thought of it immediately calls forth worship and doxology. Blessed by God the giver!

Let us make what Peter wrote the subject of our own adoring meditation. Let us see what we can here learn about our wonderful salvation. …”

– The Australian Church Record has republished this encouragement from Alan Stibbs from sixty years ago.

Australian Church Leaders, Prepare your People for Persecution

“Mr Ruddock will soon hand down his recommendations – which are expected to include certain legislative protections for so-called ‘religious people’ (doesn’t  everyone have a world-view?).

Laws will likely be made to guarantee certain rights to worship, to publicly communicate one’s religious beliefs, and to work and educate our children according to one’s religious convictions.  I expect that many in the church will raise a cheer when such legal protections are made.

Here, however, is my prognostication, which I extrapolate from parallel events in France some four centuries ago. …”

– At The Gospel Coalition Australia, Campbell Markham has some important observations for Australian Christians.

Specials at Matthias Media

Matthias Media has some specials on offer, up until Thursday 2 August, 2018.

Worth checking out. Details here.

Australian Church Record — Winter 2018 — now online

The Winter 2018 issue of The Australian Church Record (number 1919) is now available on their website.

It’s a must-read. Be sure to download your copy – and let others know.

From this issue:

“The work that only Christians can do should have first priority for most of us.”

– Dean of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel.

The promises of God (2 Corinthians 1:20)

“For how many so ever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea: wherefore also through Him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us” (2 Cor 1:20, R.V.)

Let us see how much we can learn from this one verse about the promises of God. …

– Encouragement from the Rev. Alan Stibbs in The Australian Church Record.

Keep Silent….or Speak Out?

“I can see as clear as day what is coming down the tracks. And I don’t want to have on my conscience the Lord’s people in a few years time saying ‘we didn’t see that one coming!’. Some of us did. And we have to speak out before it’s too late.

Whether people will listen or not – that’s not our concern. We have to speak the Word of the Lord.…”

– At The Wee Flea, David Robertson explains why he believes he must speak out.

GAFCON Jerusalem 2018 Videos

“A number of videos from GAFCON 2018 in Jerusalem are now available to view!

They have been organised in the following order:

  1. Full day livestreams from each of the five days (Monday 18th June 2018 – Friday 22nd June 2018).
  2. Bible Exposition and Plenary Teaching Sessions
  3. Interviews
  4. Miscellaneous videos including the reading of the Final Statement ‘Letter to the Churches’, a number of highlights videos summarising the conference and more.
  5. The conference programme so you can see what happened on each day.”

– Many thanks to the GAFCON Communications team for making these available.

(Photos: GAFCON Media.)

 

The night John Newton ‘attended an eclipse of the moon’

On Tuesday 30th July, 1776, John Newton observed a lunar eclipse.

The experience prompted a diary entry and a hymn!

“The moon in silver glory shone,
And not a cloud in sight,
When suddenly a shade begun
To intercept her light.

How fast across her orb it spread,
How fast her light withdrew!
A circle tinged with languid red,
Was all appeared in view. …”

– Read it all at the John Newton Project. (Linked from their home page.)

If you would like to see tomorrow morning’s total lunar eclipse (Saturday 28th July 2018) – from Sydney, look to the west before sunrise.

Partial Eclipse Begins at 4:25 am AEST
Total Eclipse Begins at 5:30 am (That’s when the Moon moves fully into the Earth’s shadow)
Maximum Eclipse at 6:21 am (That’s the deepest part of the eclipse.)
Moon sets at 6:55 am – which is the same as sunrise.
Twilight will wash out any subtle colours before sunrise.

Watch, and be encouraged by John Newton’s example to draw some meditations from the experience.

(Photo: 15 April 2014 lunar eclipse over Parkes, courtesy John Sarkissian.)

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