The law of the LORD is perfect
“During the lead up to the same-sex marriage plebiscite in 2017, I remember being surprised at the number of Christian people in my own circles who could confidently say ‘I know what the Bible teaches about homosexuality’, whilst at the same time having no idea why that teaching is right and good, other than for the bare fact that God says it is.
I have even heard people make apologies on behalf of the Apostle Paul’s teaching on marriage, as if to say, ‘I’m sorry he says what he says, but because he does, I’m afraid that’s the way it is.’ …”
– Andrew Leslie helps us see why we can cling to God’s Word even when our culture demands we change. At The Australian Church Record.
Why ChatGPT can’t produce great sermons
“In Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic Blade Runner, Harrison Ford plays an LAPD bounty hunter who hunts ‘replicants,’ bioengineered humanoids that are identical to adult humans except with vastly superior intellect and strength. When Ford’s character is told to ‘retire’ a replicant, he faces the initial task of discerning whether the subject before him is human or not. Christians may soon be asking a similar question: Are the sermons and Bible lessons we’re hearing human or not?
The advent of ChatGPT and other accessible AI programs has thinkers positing all the ways it can aid, or even replace, our work. A pastor’s work isn’t immune from this danger …”
– At The Gospel Coalition, Aaron Shamp argues some key aspects of biblical sermons can’t be replaced by clever computers.
Gafcon Collect
“Eternal God and gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ died for our redemption; commissioned His disciples to preach the good news; and sent the indwelling Holy Spirit in every generation to embrace and proclaim salvation in Christ alone:
Arise and defend your Church, the pillar and bulwark of the truth. Shine the light of your Holy Word upon hearts darkened by error and strengthen the work of Gafcon so that the Anglican Communion throughout the world proclaims Christ faithfully to the nations, that captives may be set free, the straying rescued, and the confused restored. Bind your children together in truth, love, unity, and courage, that we, with all your saints, may inherit your eternal kingdom, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.”
– from GAFCON.
Southern Cross, June-July 2023
The latest issue of Southern Cross magazine from the Diocese of Sydney is now out in churches – and also available online.
The Global Anglican 2022 Digital Digest
Church Society has published a Digital Digest with excerpts from Volume 136 of The Global Anglican:
“This new digital digest aims to make some of the best content from the previous year accessible to everyone.
Included are all four editorials from Peter Jensen, as well as an extra editorial piece from Bishop Keith Sinclair, published ahead of the 2022 Lambeth Conference.
There are four further articles and ten book reviews, selected from the four issues that comprise volume 136.”
It’s available for free download on this page – as an encouragement to subscribe.
Photo: Church Society Director Dr Lee Gatiss with Global Anglican Editor Dr Peter Jensen.
Know and Tell the Gospel — 42 years on!
Back in October 1991, the ACL’s newsletter featured this short article by the Rev Brian Telfer, Rector of Christ Church Gladesville. Brian was writing on the tenth anniversary of the publication of John Chapman’s book Know and Tell the Gospel.
Without doubt, our culture has changed a great deal since the book was published in 1981, but every Christian will benefit from reading it – for the first time, or the tenth time – and may our hearts be stirred to know, and to tell, the gospel.
___________________
Ten years, and nearly 45,000 copies down the track, John Chapman’s book on Evangelism is still required reading.
But it may be that some have not yet discovered this most useful and encouraging book!
Brian Telfer gives Know and Tell the Gospel a timely plug…
Many books written on Evangelism could be described as HOW TO books. John Chapmans’ book is a WHAT and WHY book first and a HOW TO book second.
1991 marks the 10th anniversary of the publication of Know and Tell the Gospel – and it has gone through eight subsequent printings.
What makes it so popular?
There will be as many reasons as readers. You’ll probably add others, but let me share with you a few that immediately come to mind…
John Chapman has been a friend and encourager to many— not only in this Diocese, but throughout the world. We “put not our trust in men”, but approach Know and Tell the Gospel with confidence in the writer as a teacher and preacher of the gospel.
It is a lifetime reflection on the nature of the gospel — having grown out of discussion and debate with friends and opponents alike — the result of 30 years of preaching. It is vintage Chappo.
PRACTICAL HELP
Know and Tell the Gospel refuses to avoid the difficult questions like God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility and sets the gospel where it ought to be — at the heart of Biblical Theology.
And it is readable — accessible to those who wouldn’t call themselves readers — as well as to those who are theologically trained.
When I first read the book I saw its value as a study book for the congregation.
It begins dealing with basic questions such as — What is the gospel? Why must it be preached? and What is God doing in Evangelism?
It continues by looking at the Howto’s — giving us a model to follow and suggesting ways to answer difficult questions.
As we studied the book I was again impressed — it was rooted in Scripture and centred on Jesus. It helped people understand their faith and convinced them they should share it.
If you are looking for some thing to help you and your congregation “get started” in telling the gospel, you can’t go past Know and Tell the Gospel.
_____________
The art of Christian pastoring after Christendom
From The Pastor’s Heart –
“Major cultural change is making a big impact on Christians and the church. Something radical has changed.
Admitting you follow Jesus ‘weirds people out’ in a way it never has before. And doing church the way we did no longer yields the same results.
Senior minister of Dapto Anglican David Rietfield says there’s fewer new people and the regulars are coming less frequently.”
– Watch or listen here, and learn about David’s new book.
Created male and female — ACR Journal
Gav Perkins writes in the latest ACR Journal (Easter 2023 – PDF) – and now featured on the ACR website –
“It is foundational to what we know of God, as the one who speaks his powerful word to bring all things into being, and who then orders, arranges, and blesses.
It is foundational also to what we know of ourselves, as uniquely created in the image of God, and commissioned to rule and subdue.
We learn here what it means to live and work in God’s creation and relate to the rest of that creation, leading to a genuine Christian – rather than pagan – environmentalism.
We also learn what it means to have a genuine Christian – rather than pagan – understanding of gender and sexuality. These chapters are simultaneously timeless and profoundly pertinent within our culture.
In Genesis 1 and 2 we see that our gender, male or female, is a central part of who we are, as created by God. …”
– Read here. Very timely.
Heritage of Evidence in the British Museum — A review
“Dr Peter Masters (Spurgeon’s latest successor at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London) takes us in this book on a room-by-room tour of the British Museum, pointing out various exhibits and assessing each one of them as being direct evidence for biblical events and names, or confirming the authenticity of biblical descriptions, or giving insights into the biblical environment. …”
– Bob Thomas at AP (The National Journal of the Presbyterian Church of Australia) provides a brief review of Heritage of Evidence in the British Museum by Peter Masters.
Living without fear
The latest Church Society podcast:
“Ros Clarke and Lee Gatiss discuss how the psalms can help us overcome fear and anxiety with Kirsty Birkett.
Her book, workbook and journal include reflections on several psalms, along with suggestions about how to put them into practice as we negotiate life in a complicated and confusing world.”
– Listen here.
Forthcoming Book: Truth be told: Living truthfully in a post-truth world
“As Christians, we cannot afford to let our society’s loose relationship with truth influence our thinking, living and speaking. In Truth be Told, Lionel Windsor goes back to the Bible to show how the gospel provides a foundation for both understanding truth and interacting truthfully with our culture. Provocative and timely, this book offers Christians practical help in the task of sharing the truth of the gospel with confidence and conviction. …”
– ACL Council member Dr Lionel Windsor has a new book coming out in September from Matthias Media.
Concupiscence and Sexual Same Sex Attraction? – The Pastor’s Heart
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“What is the relationship between concupiscence and sexual same sex attraction?
One of the most contentious issues facing the Christian Church at this moment is how can Christians think and speak truthfully, clearly and compassionately about desire and temptation in a way that does not condone or encourage sin? …”
– Rob Smith is this week’s guest with Dominic Steele. Watch or listen here.
If “Concupiscence” is a new idea (or you’re feeling a bit rusty on the idea) this will be especially helpful.
How to preach truth yet teach falsely
“In Spurgeon’s Lectures to my Students, in addressing the matter of ‘The Sermon’, Spurgeon exhorts his students ‘to give a clear testimony to all the doctrines which constitute or lie around the gospel.’ His point is simple. Some preachers are reticent to teach the whole counsel of God fearing the truth they teach may be irrelevant (or perhaps, even offensive!) to their hearers. Spurgeon was a great believer in all of God’s word as good and profitable, and therefore, in his usual straight-speaking manner declared that ‘No truth is to be kept back […] Cautious reticence is, in nine cases out of ten, cowardly betrayal’.
However, it’s the illustration he gives to make his point which provides some real food for thought. …”
– Mike Leite writes at The Australian Church Record.
This article is also printed in the current ACR Journal (issue 1926, Easter 2023). Download your copy here. Recommended!
The Promise of Providence — Plus Tim Keller and the virtue of godly disagreement
“A wide-ranging episode this week that starts with an appreciation of the gospel generosity of Tim Keller and moves from there to the blessings of positive disagreement, the problem we have in keeping personal attacks out of our debates, why Donald Robinson and John (Chappo) Chapman were so good at having productive arguments, how we should vote on the Voice referendum, and (just to cap things off) a discussion of the increasingly forgotten concept of providence and what it has to do with God’s guidance.”
– Tony Payne speaks with Phillip Jensen in the latest Two Ways News podcast.
Encouraging and interesting.
What is the gospel? — Dr Mark Thompson
“I remember, more than twenty years ago now, an international visitor to Sydney being asked this question.
Throughout the week that he had been here, the speaker had appealed to the gospel many times. Clearly in a part of the world well-known for the strength of its evangelical witness, such an appeal was essential if he was to get a hearing. But the appeal had not been convincing and it had become increasingly obvious that at this most basic level our guest had a very different idea of what exactly it was that he was appealing to repeatedly throughout the week.
So some brave soul — someone braver than me — publicly asked him the question. What is the gospel? …”
– Back in 2015 we published this very helpful article by Dr Mark Thompson, Principal of Moore College.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…