‘Don’t Drift!’ — exhortation
At the SMBC Centenary Service on April 15th, David Cook preached from Hebrews 1 and 2, with the theme of “Don’t Drift!”.
“When I was Principal here, I received an invitation … to go to a conference in Cape Town, in South Africa, and the invitation was addressed to ‘The most dangerous person in the Church’. It was a conference for the Principals of Bible Colleges and Theological Colleges. The most dangerous people in the church.
That, historically, is an accurate description. If a denomination moves away from the truth, invariably, it is because its denominational College has moved from the truth…”
Audio of David’s sermon is now available (18MB mp3 file) on the SMBC Centenary web page. Encouraging.
Related: In his weekly column, David writes about Chappo and the need for evangelists.
Broken bad
“I’ve noticed something of a cultural shift in the way we evangelicals talk about the human condition: more and more, we are ‘broken’, rather than ‘sinners’ – people who act out of our ‘brokenness’, not our ‘sin’, rebellion’, ‘disobedience’ or ‘rejection’ of God.
And I’m not convinced this shift is all good…”
– At GoThereFor, Claire Smith points out a drift in language you might not have noticed.
Ministry in Exile — Nexus16
Nexus16 is coming up on Monday 23rd May at Annandale.
Speakers include Lionel Windsor, Phil Colgan, Chris Braga and Kanishka Raffel, with an extended Q&A between Dominic Steele and Phillip Jensen.
Tony Payne writes:
“Nexus 2016 is less than a week away (10am 23 May 2016), and we have to tell the caterers this Wednesday how many spit roast lunches to prepare.
So if you’ve been wavering, procrastinating, or just too busy to get to it, now is the time to act. Head over to our website to register. You’ve got till midnight Tuesday 17 May. (You can still come if you register after that time but we won’t be providing lunch for you).
We’re very encouraged not only by the numbers already registered (25% more by this stage than last year) but by the increase in groups all round Australia who have been telling us that they are planning to be part of the day via Livestream (more details here).”
Endurance Needed: Strength for a slow reformation and the dangerous allure of speed
Several people have told us of the encouragement given by Mark Dever’s exhortations on Endurance in Pastoral ministry – at the Together for the Gospel Conference 2016.
Strong encouragement.
Watch it here – or listen at this link.
How a Minority achieved a Majority
“For years leading up to Ireland’s civil partnership legislation, a small nongovernmental organisation (NGO) – the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) – along with its many supporters and collaborators, worked quietly and methodically toward this day. …
In 2005, GLEN received a sizable long-term grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies that allowed GLEN to increase its organisational capacity and to pursue its ambitious advocacy strategy for advancing equality for gays and lesbians in Ireland.
The story of how Ireland’s landmark legislation was achieved for same-sex couples holds insights and lessons for any advocacy group trying to achieve legislative change…”
– This PDF document, available on The Atlantic Philanthropies website, charts how minority groups were able to achieve the goal of Civil Partnership in Ireland back in 2010.
We posted a link to this, and related material, last year. It’s well worth revisiting to be aware of the methods used to shift public sentiment, which resulted a vote to change the definition of marriage in 2015.
Three dollars worth of gospel, please
Adam Ford tackles a well-known illustration from D. A Carson.
The Reason for Faith
“Faith may lack a comprehensive knowledge of its object, but unless it is pure folly, it typically can see enough evidence to know that the testimony about it is, at least, likely to be true. It is more than a mere opinion which cannot commit firmly to one position or another…”
– Dr Andrew Leslie at Moore College writes about Faith in the College’s ‘ThinkTank’ Faculty blog.
A majority of millennials reject capitalism and support Bernie
“After generations of both political correctness and philosophical postmodernism, we now see a generation that seems to be virtually incapable of beginning any sentence with anything other than, ‘I feel like,’ which as is indicated in this article means a retreat from any claim of truth or a fact merely to an assertion of opinion.…”
– Albert Mohler reflects on the belief system (or lack thereof) of many millennials. Insightful and disturbing. From The Briefing, 03 May 2016.
Defence Anglicans Prayer Diary 2016
Our friends who minister to Australia’s Defence personnel would be very glad of your prayers on a regular basis.
The Defence Anglicans Prayer Diary for 2016 is now up on their website.
Be encouraged to download and use it.
FCANZ Opening Conference audio
Audio files from the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans New Zealand’s opening conference have now been posted online.
In his closing address, FCANZ Chairman Jay Behan (pictured) reminds his hearers that human sexuality is not the gospel. However it is a gospel issue which must not be ignored.
Take the time to listen, and be urged to pray for our brothers and sisters in New Zealand as they seek godly wisdom for the days ahead.
(The General Synod of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia meets in Napier 06–13 May 2016.)
Preaching or Social Action?
“Can a ‘church’ be a good church if it minimises the importance of preaching? Or if it does not engage with social action?
How does the New Testament help set our priorities for ministry and preaching?
Should a pastor preach on things such as political matters, social matters or current controversies?”
– In the latest Preaching Matters video from St. Helen’s Bishopsgate, Kevin DeYoung looks at the New Testament pattern.
2016 New College Lectures: Jesus and the Ten Gospels
“Some of the most widely published challenges to the Christian faith today have come in the publicity surrounding the ‘apocryphal’ Gospels not included in the Christian Bible.
The idea that there is nothing particularly special about the four New Testament Gospels has appeared in both the popular media and in Biblical scholarship, from references to the Gospel of Philip in the Da Vinci Code, to the publication by the Harvard Theological Review of the so-called ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ fragment.
These lectures will discuss the relevance of these Gospels outside of the Bible, comparing them with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.”
– New College at UNSW announces this year’s New College Lectures, to be given by Dr Simon Gathercole, Tuesday, 20th & Thursday, 22nd September 2016.
(Photo courtesy Lanier Theological Library.)
Philippians & Philemon: Joy in the Lord now available
Paul Barnett’s new commentary, Philippians & Philemon: Joy in the Lord, is now available from CEP.
You can check out some sample pages at this link.
Update: CEP tells us that that they have a 20% off everything sale – including this new commentary – from now until Friday 29 April.
The Reformation meets ‘Trellis and Vine’
Mark Dever interviewed Phillip Jensen at Together for the Gospel 2016 two weeks ago in Louisville, Kentucky.
In an enjoyable and encouraging interview, Phillip introduces his hearers to Sydney Anglicans and the English Reformation, explains why Anglicanism is the way it is now, and much more. Phillip also speaks of the latest from Matthias Media – The Vine Project, by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. (The book will be available during May.)
Bathrooms and discrimination
“The use of public bathrooms has become a topic of fierce debate in recent days, in connection with the rights of transgender persons. I want to mention a few of the issues raised in the United States before discussing the situation in Australia…”
– In his latest informative post, Neil Foster, Associate Professor in Law at Newcastle, maps out some of the legal background for the controversy in the USA, as well giving a perspective on where the laws in Australia stand.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…