Albert Mohler on John 15:18-27
Posted on November 3, 2014
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In a recent sermon on John 15:18-27, Albert Mohler reflects on what it means to be hated by the world.
A mighty balsa wood boat
Posted on November 3, 2014
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“As Paul prepared to leave the church elders in Ephesus, his love for the church, anxiety about what would come, and sorrow at his departure brought forth tears. Presumably he was leaving a tiny group of people behind, a small boat afloat in a sea of paganism.
Paul obviously believed that God was doing a great work there, but that’s not what it may have looked like. In this group of people, God’s great work in gospelling the world and bringing them to salvation was going ahead – but if you were to look at the actual people and what actually occurred, it must have seemed like a balsa wood boat adrift on a sea that was threatening to swallow it up.
If you ever get the chance to do ‘last words’, you generally choose significant ones. The last words of the apostle to the eldership of the Ephesian church are no different…”
– A most encouraging word from Peter Jensen, based on Acts 20, given at the 2014 Nexus Conference.
Tears and Hope 2014
Posted on November 1, 2014
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The annual ‘Tears And Hope’ service of healing for survivors of abuse is to be held at St John’s Darlinghurst, next Monday, November 3rd at 7:00pm.
Download a 1.3MB PDF flier to share with others, and pray that the service may help to bring comfort and healing.
Big changes for Mars Hill
Posted on November 1, 2014
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“Marking its own Reformation Day of sorts, Mars Hill Church will dissolve Mark Driscoll’s multisite network and let each of its remaining 13 churches go their own way.
Founded in 1996, the Seattle-based megachurch planted 15 satellite sites across five states, its passion for creating new churches further evidenced by Driscoll founding the Acts 29 network. By New Year’s Day, the multisite organization and the Mars Hill name will be no more…”
– from Christianity Today.
See also this statement on the Mars Hill website –
“Following much prayer and lengthy discussion with Mars Hill’s leadership, the board of Mars Hill has concluded that rather than remaining a centralized multi-site church with video-led teaching distributed to multiple locations, the best future for each of our existing local churches is for them to become autonomous self-governed entities. This means that each of our locations has an opportunity to become a new church, rooted in the best of what Mars Hill has been in the past, and independently led and run by its own local elder teams. …”
The Briefing: The end of the beginning
Posted on November 1, 2014
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“Back in issue #1 of The Briefing, in 1988, the feature article was entitled ‘Have Evangelicals lost their way?’ With this being our final edition ever, readers may be wondering: ‘Has The Briefing lost its way? Is there nothing left to say?’
To quote Romans 3:10, ‘By no means!’…”
– Sam Freney and Tony Payne on winding up The Briefing. What’s next?
Halloween and the Dark Side — What should Christians think?
Posted on October 31, 2014
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“The coming of Halloween is a good time for Christians to remember that evil spirits are real and that the Devil will seize every opportunity to trumpet his own celebrity…”
– Albert Mohler asks how Christians should respond to Halloween.
Free Reformation Day resources from Ligonier Ministries
Posted on October 31, 2014
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“In celebration of Reformation Day, for the first time ever we’re replacing our usual $5 Friday sale with Free Reformation Day Friday.
Until 11:59pm ET on Friday, October 31, 2014, [2:59pm AEST Saturday, November 01] you can download the following digital resources for free.”
– A generous gift. eBooks, plus audio and video resources on the Reformation, with a focus on Martin Luther and John Calvin. (Around 2GB in total.)
Senator encourages involvement in Solidarity Sunday
Posted on October 30, 2014
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Senator David Fawcett spoke yesterday about the persecution of religious minorities, particularly Christians, under ISIL, and informed the Senate of Solidarity Sunday. (YouTube.)
“Bill Shorten’s description of Christians ‘wide of the mark’.”
Posted on October 30, 2014
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“The Australian Christian Lobby’s Lyle Shelton has said Bill Shorten’s speech backing same sex marriage at their conference was “wide of the mark” because of his characterisation of Christians as people who invoke God and Bible to attack blended families and demonise people for who they love. …”
– report from The Australian.
See also:
- Why we invited Bill Shorten to our National Conference – Lyle Shelton, Australian Christian Lobby (including video of the Q&A session).
“I’m grateful to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for speaking at our national conference at the weekend. Enormous pressure was put on him to stay away….” - Text of Bill Shorten’s Speech to the Australian Christian Lobby National Conference.
Armidale Centenary
Posted on October 30, 2014
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“Sydney Archbishop Glenn Davies will be the keynote speaker at a special service in Armidale next month to commemorate the centenary of the Anglican Diocese of Armidale…”
– from The Armidale Independent. See also the Diocese of Armidale’s Centenary page, history publication (‘I Will Build My Church’), and upcoming events.
Pray for Christians who are ‘living in Babylon’ this weekend
Posted on October 30, 2014
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Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund, calls for prayer for persecuted Christians on the Barnabas Fund Day of Prayer, this Saturday, November 1st:
“The fires of anti-Christian persecution rage on around the world. Through most of the Middle East, and in large parts of Africa and Asia, our brothers and sisters continue to suffer discrimination, ill-treatment and violence because of their love for Christ. Research has estimated that around 200 million Christians – about 10% of the total number – are disadvantaged, harassed or actively oppressed for their faith…”
See also www.livinginbabylon.org
And the Australian Christian Lobby is calling for churches to stand in prayer with their persecuted brothers and sisters on November 2nd – Solidarity Sunday.
The heavens declare
Posted on October 29, 2014
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Beautiful images of the Earth, as seen from just beyond the Moon, taken by China’s unmanned lunar mission.
The State of Theology
Posted on October 29, 2014
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Ligonier Ministries surveyed 3,000 US adults about what they believe.
While the Australian context is not quite the same, it’s worth taking the time to look at the results and hearing R C Sproul discuss them.
Defence Sunday 2014
Posted on October 28, 2014
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Anglican Chaplains to Australian Defence Force would appreciate your prayers – and “Defence Sunday” (November 9th, the Sunday closest Remembrance Day) would be a good time to focus on them and those to whom they minister.
Various resources are available via the Defence Anglicans website, including Remembrance Day Prayers, Bible Readings, and Resources. with audio files of the Last Post and other music.
Mission 2020 — To see Christ honoured as Lord and Saviour
Posted on October 27, 2014
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The Synod of Sydney Diocese last week, in committing itself to Mission 2020, adopted these statements –
Our Vision – To see Christ honoured as Lord and Saviour in every community.
Our Mission – We commit ourselves afresh, in prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit, to glorify God and love our neighbour by proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ, calling people to repent and living lives worthy of him.
See the full statement of Vision, Mission and Values here (PDF file).
And see also SydneyAnglicans.net: Synod recommits to Mission.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…