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.”

Clarity, Truth, Sufficient and Efficient – with Mark Thompson

From The Pastor’s Heart:

“How do we start with Jesus in formulating a view of Scripture today?

What is Jesus’ view of scripture? How do clarity and simplicity relate? How do we move from the speech of God to the word of God written? How does the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture play out in the different stages of biblical revelation?

Can you give us a sixty second answer on canon formation? And how does speech-act theory impact the issues of the inseparability of Word and Spirit, and the efficacy of Scripture.

Principal of Sydney’s Moore Theological College Mark Thompson has a new book ‘The doctrine of Scripture: An introduction’.”

– Always encouraging to hear someone who loves and thinks clearly about the Word of God.

See also:

How do we read the Bible differently as Followers of Jesus?

More Moore Q&A videos released

See the latest videos released in the Moore College Q&A series.

Available so far:

Coming soon:

On Moore College’s YouTube Channel.

Commanding the heart: Lust

Marshall Ballantine-Jones and Dani Treweek spoke on “Commanding the heart: Lust” at a Centre for Christian Living event at Moore College on 4 May 2022.

“Jesus raises alarm when he warns us that adultery isn’t limited to sexual intercourse outside of marriage, but begins earlier in the lustful glance of the eye and in mental fantasies. Adultery isn’t just physical; it can be done in the heart. So great is the threat of a wandering eye or straying hand that Jesus suggests losing a part of the body instead of facing the fire of hell.

Kingdom righteousness demands more than physical abstinence from sex outside of marriage, but not less. In view of such teaching, what kind of sexual conduct is becoming of a disciple of Jesus?

Dr Marshall Ballantine-Jones and Dani Treweek help us consider how to deal with lust in our hearts.”

The video has now been made available. Very sobering and very helpful.

Related:

Adultery of the heart – SydneyAnglicans.net.

A good minister — 1 Timothy 4:6-16

ACL Council member and Moore College lecturer Lionel Windsor spoke on 1 Timothy 4:6-16 in Moore College Chapel last week.

He began by speaking one of faithful minister who was recently called home – Neil Prott.

Outline:

How do we read the Bible differently as Followers of Jesus?

“The Christian attitude toward the Bible is part of Christian discipleship. To follow Jesus is to follow him in this too. Put simply, we want to have the same attitude toward the Bible as Jesus had.

We must not pit the authority of Jesus—or the power of the Holy Spirit, for that matter—against the teaching of Scripture. Jesus himself turned to the Scriptures as the final word: sufficiently clear, true, and powerful to make known the person and purposes of God, and to direct a faithful response to what God has done for us in his Son. ‘It is written,’ Jesus said. ‘What does the Scripture say?’ asked his faithful servant, the apostle Paul.…”

– Crossway has published this encouraging article by Moore College Principal Dr Mark Thompson.

It’s adapted from his just-released book, “The Doctrine of Scripture: An Introduction”. (It’s available to order from these booksellers.)

General Synod and comprehensive Anglicanism

“Some believe that the scriptures are quite clear in their condemnation of same-sex sexual activity and that the Church has no authority to act contrary to the clear teaching of the scriptures. Therefore marriage, in their understanding, must continue to be exclusively between one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others, for life.

Others believe that what’s at stake here is an important matter of justice and that LGBTI people should be fully included in the life of the Church and allowed to express their sexuality through life-long, faithful, monogamous relationships just as heterosexual people do. Other parts of the scriptures are cited in support of this view.

…

In Southern Queensland we have set as a key focus area promoting ‘comprehensive Anglican identity and purpose.’

This approach recognises that there will be different convictions, understandings and priorities among Anglicans. And it is likely that each of these perspectives includes insights into the truth.

This means that in order to comprehend the whole truth we need these various insights and perspectives to be present and engaged. …”

– Archbishop of Brisbane Dr Phillip Aspinall writes about the upcoming General Synod to be held next month on the Gold Coast – and the range of theological convictions on the question of the blessing of same-sex marriages.

How ‘comprehensive’ can Anglicans be? Worth considering:

From Article 20 of The Thirty Nine Articles:

“… it is not lawful for the Church to ordain anything contrary to God’s Word written, neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another. Wherefore, although the Church be a witness and a keeper of holy Writ, yet, as it ought not to decree any thing against the same…”

Photo: Anglican Focus.

← Previous Page — Next Page →