How to preach to the occasion

“How do you preach at a wedding? How do you give a funeral message? How do you prepare a graduation or ordination address?

Over the last few years I’ve had opportunities to speak at these special occasions. Here are some focus areas I’ve found that help get me in the right zone, rather than accidentally preparing another Sunday sermon. …”

– At GoThereFor.com, David Martin shares some helpful thoughts.

The worst sermon on the Internet?

Tim Challies has been exploring “great sermons that have made a widespread impact and stuck around for the long haul”.

In this final entry in his series, he turns to a sermon which is not so great.

Heroes at drinking wine (aka intoxicated masculinity)

“Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!” (Isa 5:22-23)

The battle-lines have been dug in the conflict about Christians and alcohol, with entrenched positions generating pamphlets, sermons and even denominations.

But those trenches are now largely empty. Most of the fighting has already taken place; and the fortifications are largely abandoned with only a small cadre of hold-outs remaining, fighting for abstinence. And while I am not one of those who argues practically for this position, I do see their wisdom. The cost of new generations moving on from this discussion, is that unexamined worldliness seems to be winning. In interest of deeper healing, let’s reopen the wound…”

– Andrew Barry looks for true heroism and valour – at the Australian Church Record.

Living on prayer

“Having just returned from Jerusalem, attending the third Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), I was again reminded of the history of the old city, where God’s glory was made manifest in the presence of the incarnate Jesus…”

– Archbishop Glenn Davies shares these words of encouragement at SydneyAnglicans.net.

When the church lets you down

“In the C S Lewis classic (Screwtape Letters), senior devil whispers to his apprentice: ‘one of our greatest allies at present is the church itself’.

Screwtape is aghast that Wormwood’s patient has become a Christian, but he encourages his junior devil by saying that the church is in such a mess that ‘it matters very little … your patient will quite easily believe that their religion must therefore be somehow ridiculous’.

I feel sad today, and ask: Is one of the devil’s greatest allies at present the church itself?

It’s one thing to have Australian society approve of same-sex marriage, but when a church approves – it’s disturbing … and confusing.

To be sure, not our church, but nevertheless a branch of the Christian church in Australia. …”

– Presbyterian Moderator-General John P Wilson responds to the Uniting Church of Australia’s decision about marriage last week.

Leviticus in The New York Times: What’s the Real Story Here?

“Even in this secular age, the conscience of Western civilization continues to be haunted and shaped by the Bible. The inherited moral tradition of the West was explicitly formed by the Bible – both the Old and New Testaments – and the moral power of the Bible continues as the main source of the principles, intuitions, impulses, and vocabulary of modern times.

But if European and American cultures have been morally shaped by the Bible, these same cultures are now haunted by the Bible. The Bible haunts all the modern efforts to push a vast revolution in morality – specifically sexual morality. …”

– Albert Mohler looks at one attempt to make the Bible say the exact opposite of what it says.

Why the Catholic Church is anti-Catholic

It’s like a company where the boss says to his employees, “There is a ‘no smoking indoors’ policy at this workplace”, and then the shift manager tells the employees, “What the boss really means is that you can’t smoke indoors while he’s around”…

– At GoThereFor.com, Mark Gilbert highlights the division at the heart of Roman Catholic teaching.

Societas 2018 now out — available in print and online

The Moore College annual student magazine is out now! The theme of Societas this year is ‘Resilience in Christian ministry – discovering your hidden reserves’. You will find articles on resilience and endurance in ministry, student stories and profiles as well as Christian reading recommendations from the College faculty. …”

– Details from Moore College.

The Soft and Hard Intimidation of the Church

“It’s been an intense but revealing 24 hours. I have learned to an even greater extent just how deep the rot is in the contemporary church, and just how easy it is for us to be intimidated and bullied into silence.

Let me set the background, then explain what happened yesterday, and then offer some analysis of what precisely is going on.

Vicky Beeching brought out her book Undivided a couple of months ago and has been touring the TV studios and doing newspaper interviews ever since, telling everyone how bad and wicked the evangelical church is. I wrote an honest review of that book trying to empathise with her, whilst not agreeing with her theology. …”

– David Robertson at The Wee Flea shares something of the intimidation he has been experiencing after writing his open letter to Vicky Beeching.

Pastoral Burnout: Its Causes & Cures — 9Marks Journal

The latest issue of 9Marks Journal turns to the question of pastoral burnout.

“Every job has its occupational hazards. Loggers lose fingers. Businessmen go bankrupt. Wrestlers grow cauliflower ears.

What about pastors? Pastors experience burnout. Burnout isn’t so much about physical depletion, though that may be a variable. It’s about spiritual depletion. You spend all day ministering to people. But now you don’t possess the emotional and spiritual resources to continue ministering. You’re like a gas station with no gasoline left. Or a candle whose wick has burned down low. …”

– Read or download it from 9Marks.

Wanted: A party to stand up for parents

“The row at Heavers Farm Primary School in Croydon, south London, caused by the head teacher’s plan to parade pupils as young as four on a homosexual pride march, illustrates a terrible truth: British state education has now become an engine for imposing anti-Christian cultural Marxism to the spiritual and moral harm of children…”

– Julian Mann in South Yorkshire wonders which British politicians will stand against the tide.

Further background in this earlier article by Anglican Mainstream’s Andrew Symes.

(Photo: Julian Mann with Archbishop Ben Kwashi.)

Praying for George Whitefield College

This introductory video to George Whitefield College is a good reminder to pray for that strategic college.

Not familiar with GWC? Learn about their history:

“David Broughton Knox came to South Africa – from Sydney, Australia – in 1989 to establish George Whitefield College and be its first principal.

Arising from his conviction that Christian ministers are primarily teachers of the Word of God, he laid the foundations of a college that would have as the focal point of its study program the ‘whole counsel of God’. …”

The Mark Drama returning to Moore College

The Mark Drama – a fast-paced reenactment of Mark’s Gospel – is returning toMoore College on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd August.

“A production of the Moore College community, the Mark Drama turns Mark’s biographical account of Jesus into a 90-minute, theatre-in-the-round stage production. Fully immersed in the action, here you can decide for yourself – is Jesus just another guy with imaginative ideas about God, or is he truly the King of the universe?”

– Details from Moore College.

Oxygen 2018 talks available

The main talks from this year’s Oxygen 2018 conference have been made available by KCC.

Check them out here.

Whatever happened to that same-sex marriage boom?

“Now that all the glitter has settled after last year’s non-binding voluntary postal survey – remember, we couldn’t be trusted to have a plebiscite, let alone a fair dinkum referendum – just exactly how many of the LGBTIQ community have tied the knot?

Well, rather than being the over-whelming flood, it has turned out to be nothing more than a trickle. In short, we were conned.…”

– At The Spectator Australia, Mark Powell asks the question.

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