Living as God’s woman in God’s world

“Some of the biggest questions you can ever ask yourself  as a human on this planet are: who am I? why am I here? what is my purpose?

We ask those questions because we are human, and we ask them as women. And how we answer them determines how we live our lives, how we see ourselves, how we relate to each other, how we treat each other, and above all, how we respond to God.

Let me begin with two affirmations:

1) that we were created for God, for God’s  glory – created to bring glory to God; and

2) that it is only as we live as God intended that we are truly free.

So the questions we need to ask ourselves are:

• what do we learn about who God is?
• what do we learn about ourselves, as humans and as women?
• what do we learn about how God wants us to live in His world? …”

– At Equal But Different, Lesley Ramsay has been posting on the theme of Living as God’s woman in God’s world –

Part 1 – Living as God’s woman in God’s world: Confusion.

Part 2 – Living as God’s woman in God’s world: Old Testament Clarity.

Part 3 – Living as God’s woman in God’s world: New Testament Clarity.

– with the promise of more to come!

She also recommends God’s Good Design 2nd Edition by Claire Smith (Matthias Media 2019).

Mark as the Backstory to the Gospel: Mark 1:1 as a Key to Mark’s Gospel

“In this article I argue that Mark 1:1, while not a purpose statement for the book, is a title and similarly helps us to correctly orientate ourselves to the Gospel. There is a growing consensus in commentaries on Mark for this reading, and I will show why there are good reasons for adopting it. I also want to explore some of the implications of understanding 1:1 this way. …”

– In the latest issue of Themelios (Vol 47, No 2), Moore College’s Peter Orr looks at what the opening of Mark’s Gospel tells us about why it was written.

Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter — the full set

At Forget the Channel, Moore College Lecturer (and ACL Council member) Lionel Windsor has now posted the full set of his videos on Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter.

Here are the individual posts –

Part 1 – What’s the issue?

Part 2 – What does it mean to “obey” Jesus Christ? (1 Peter 1:1–2:10)

Part 3 – What does it mean to “submit” in human relationships? (1 Peter 2:13)

Part 4 – Why does 1 Peter instruct Christians to “submit”? (1 Peter 2:13-17)

Part 5 – What does it mean for first-century slaves to “submit”? (1 Peter 2:18–25)

Part 6 – What does it mean for wives to “submit” and “obey”? (1 Peter 3:1–7)

Part 7 – What does it mean to “submit” to church leaders? (1 Peter 5:1–5)

Part 8 – Summary.

A very relevant series!

Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter

At Forget the Channel, Moore College Lecturer (and ACL Council member) Lionel Windsor introduces his research on Obedience and Submission in 1 Peter.

Here, he asks, “What’s the issue?”. This is the first in a series of videos.

Meditations from Psalm 19 by John Yates III

At Anglican Connection in the USA, John Mason writes,

“Last year the Anglican Connection held an online conference addressing the theme, ‘The Unchanging God in a World of Change’. As the Bible provides timeless answers to questions about life various speakers brought us reflections on the Scriptures to help us learn of God and the world in which we live.

Dr. John Yates, Senior Minister of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Raleigh, NC, gave us two meditations on Psalm 19.”

– Read his two reflections here and here.

Many will remember that Dr Yates spoke at the NSW CMS Summer School at Katoomba in 2015. While at Katoomba he recorded this interview with David Ould.

Freedom and joy

“I have recently been reading the account of a Christian minister who, upon arriving in his new parish some time in the nineteenth century, found that there was little joy in that church and a tremendous lack of assurance. The people he spoke to could not be sure that they were the objects of God’s love in Christ.

Whenever he preached, whatever he preached, they seemed to hear only a demand that they should be what they were called to be. Even the invitation to put their trust in Jesus was heard to be simply one more thing they must do. The Christian life was, for them, burdensome, punctuated by doubts about whether they were really Christian at all. Freedom, confidence and joy seemed a million miles away from their experience.

Yet the Bible’s picture of those who come to Jesus is one of being freed and released, of having burdens lifted, new life given, life to the full enjoyed. …”

– Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson shares wonderful encouragement at SydneyAnglicans.net. Also in the current Southern Cross magazine.

Phillip Jensen Podcast

From PhillipJensen.com and Two Ways Ministries:

“This new podcast from Phillip features sermons, talks, and other resources which proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through teaching people the Bible. We exist to equip followers of Christ to apply a Biblical knowledge to their priorities and practice to live boldly and single-mindedly for Christ.”

Much food for thought. A very worthwhile way to spend some time.

There’s a new episode every week or so.

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, and on the website.

The trans culture wars vs lovingly pastoring gender incongruent church members – with Rob Smith

At The Pastor’s Heart:

“Sydney Missionary and Bible College Doctrine Lecturer Rob Smith submits his PhD this week on ‘Identity and Embodiment’ asking ‘How significant is our embodiment to our identity? How significant are our bodies to our gender identity?

There’s a new Matt Walsh Daily Wire documentary ‘What is a woman?’ that is causing a stir across the world.  We ask Rob ‘What is a woman?’ and for his review of the new Matt Walsh documentary.  Plus how do we best care pastorally for the gender incongruent church member.

Dominic Steele chairs the Sydney Anglican pastoral ministry Living Faith.  Rob is a member of the Living Faith Council. Living Faith’s ‘Developing Discipleship in Identity and Gender’ with Sam Allberry and Rob Smith is scheduled for Tuesday 2 August 2022. Register at http://www.livingfaith.online.”

– Watch or listen here. Very helpful.

Two Reformed denominations make important moves to defend Biblical teaching on homosexuality

“The summer is the season in general when Protestant denominations meet. They have their convocations, their house of delegates meeting. They have their annual convention, whatever it is, they come together. And there are major headlines that come out from at least some of America’s major denominations. …

One of them calls itself reformed, the Christian Reformed Church and the other one is the Presbyterian Church in America. … Both of them took very important actions to uphold a biblical understanding of sexuality. And in particular, to do so in the face of the LGBTQ challenge …”

– In his The Briefing for Thursday 30th June, Dr Albert Mohler looks at the significance of key decisions just made by two denominations in the USA. Essentially the same issues face Bible-believing denominations in Australia.

Listen, or read the transcript – Part III, 30 June 2022.

Related:

You don’t really know who your friends are until… – Tim Challies.

Suffering – Moore Q&A Video

“What does the Bible have to say about suffering?

A Q&A with me & my Moore College colleagues Jane Tooher, Dan Wu, and Chase Kuhn.”

– Lionel Windsor writes at Forget the Channel.

Dealing with Difficult People in the Church

In a recent sermon in Chapel at Southern Seminary, Dr Rob Plummer turns to the letter of 3 John for wisdom and encouragement in the face of difficult people in the church.

This sermon may resonate with many, but it also lifts our eyes to the Lord Jesus. Most encouraging.

(Dr. Plummer also runs Daily Dose of Greek.)

Being Who You Are: Considerations for Contemporary Dilemmas

Rob Smith concludes his series at The Australian Church Record:

“In my last article, I outlined the four biblical lenses necessary to answer the question “Who am I?”

Putting these four lenses together, I hope now to draw out four implications particularly relevant for our present time. …”

No Mere Mortals: Understanding Myself through Biblical Lenses

“In my first article in this series, I showed some different approaches taken in response to the contemporary question, Have I the right to be who I am?

The deep question, however, is the older question: Who am I? In this article I will outline the four biblical lenses necessary to make sense of who we are. …”

– Rob Smith continues his series at The Australian Church Record.

Have I the Right to Be Who I Am?

“My wife and I enjoy watching the documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are? In it, various British celebrities are taken on a journey of discovery to uncover their family histories. What they find is often quite moving.

JK Rowling, for example, discovered that she comes from a long line of single mothers. Kate Winslet discovered that she has Swedish ancestry on her mother’s side and that her great-great-great-great grandfather had to steal to feed his family, before losing his baby son and dying in prison.

The show taps into our fascination with how individual lives fit into the broader tapestry of history. At the end of the day, that’s a quest we’re all on, in one way or another. We are trying to work out who we are, where we’ve come from, and what our place is in the world. …”

– The Australian Church Record has published the first of a three part series by Rob Smith.

Holy Holy Holy

Emu Music have released a new arrangement of ‘Holy, Holy, Holy’.

“This is the third single from our upcoming album ‘Songs of Grateful Praise’. We don’t often sing about the trinity, so this is an important song to keep in our church song list! We hope you enjoy our version.”

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