-
A good minister (1 Timothy 4:6–16)
What makes for a good minister? A sermon preached at Moore College chapel. Faith and good doctrine, our personal lives, teaching others.
-
Jesus, Freedom and Authority in Lockdown Part 4: God’s Mediator
When you become a Christian, you don’t give up being a member of the human race. Your fellow human is very much like you: subject to sin, and in need of salvation. And your fellow human is also like Jesus.
-
Jesus, Freedom and Authority in Lockdown Part 3: God’s Salvation
When our physical horizons are narrowed down in lockdown, our gospel vision can also become narrowed to ourselves and our group.
-
Jesus, Freedom and Authority in Lockdown Part 2: God’s Rule
God is not an alternative or enemy to human governments. Rather, he is the Lord over them. That’s why we are to pray to him.
-
Jesus, Freedom and Authority in Lockdown Part 1: Prayer
How should Christians in lockdown respond to authorities? 1 Timothy 2:1–7 tells us to pray. But it’s not a bare command—it also tells us why.
-
God’s heart for all humanity (1 Timothy 2:1–7)
Tensions are very high in our community at the moment. Take the illegal anti-lockdown protest on 23 July 2021 in Sydney. The protesters were expressing a fear and anger that’s clearly present amongst many. They were wrong to express it in this way. But you can feel it, can’t you? I know right now many of us are feeling the frustration. Some of us are in almost impossible situations: climbing the walls! And it’s hard. The catch-cry of the protest was freedom: freedom of movement, of work, of association. And while the protest itself was way out of line, freedom does matter, doesn’t it? It matters for us and our community. The Bible teaches us to live as humans among humans and human authorities, by helping us to see God’s heart for all humanity, as we pray.
-
What can we learn about prayer from Ephesians?
Prayer: What are you doing when you pray? Who are you praying to? Why does it matter? Here are three reflections on prayer from my series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. #liftyoureyes
-
Ministry and mission in Ephesians
Here are the key reflections on the topic of ministry and mission in Ephesians in my series Lift Your Eyes: Reflections on Ephesians
-
Prayer: the heart of evangelism (Ephesians 6:17–20)
One of the best things we can pray for is that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will go out to the world, both through us and through others.
-
Who are you praying to? (Ephesians 3:14–15)
Most people pray. But not everyone prays in the same way. Your view of God will have a profound effect on your prayer life. Who are you praying to?
-
What’s the point of theology? (Ephesians 1:17–18)
The full name of the college I teach at is “Moore Theological College”. That word “Theological” says something important about who we are. It reminds us about what we’re on about. Yes, the Bible is at the centre of everything we do. Yes, we seek to train people for ministry. Yes, we’re driven by the worldwide mission of Jesus Christ. Yes, we’re committed to learning together, and having our characters formed in loving Christian community. But our careful study of the Bible, and our pastorally-motivated ministry and mission training, and our encouragement of one another in our community, all matter because of something more basic: theology. Unfortunately, the word “theology” can be misunderstood. It sometimes gets used to mean something like “technical details about spiritual things that experts argue about and isn’t much practical use to regular people”. But that’s just a caricature. It’s not what theology is. Theology is something far more profound, far more life-changing, and far more fundamental—not just for people at a college, but for everyone. In Ephesians 1:17–18, Paul prays for his readers—people who have come to believe in and live for Jesus Christ. It’s a prayer for more theology.
-
Prayer: What are we actually doing? (Ephesians 1:15–16)
“A Muslim, a Jew and an Anglican Minister walk into a classroom”. This was the advertising blurb for a local Community College seminar I participated in a few years ago. I joined a Muslim educator and a Jewish academic (who is also a friend of mine) to give a series of presentations on different aspects of our three religions to interested people from the community. When we came to the topic of ‘prayer’, I was fascinated to hear what my co-presenters had to say. Even though we were all using the same word, ‘prayer’, the word meant very different things in the different religions. As a believer in Jesus Christ, what did I have to say about what prayer is? What would you have said? Christians, too, can often be a bit confused or unclear about what prayer actually is. That’s where the Apostle Paul really helps us. In these verses in Ephesians, Paul starts telling his readers about his own prayers for them.
-
Speaking Up: The Privilege of Prayer
A sermon preached at St Augustine’s Anglican Church Neutral Bay