Month: June 2016
Sermons
Today’s sermon, plus those of the previous two Sundays are now available on the New Life web-site.
Today I spoke about the Spirit of Sonship, the first in a series on this topic.
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Last Sunday (May 29th) Susan Nash talked about Nehemiah.
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On Sunday May 22nd, Sue Walker talked about intercession
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If you go to our web-site and click on Downloads and then Sermons, you can find links to our sermon lists and instructions about receiving our sermons as a podcast.
Stephen McAlpine: Don’t Let Your Church Be A Hanoi Jane
Stephen McAlpine has some solid warnings on the “two-speed church.” Well worth reading.
Don’t Let Your Church be a Hanoi Jane
04SaturdayJun 2016
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Once again The Australian newspaper’s Foreign Editor, Greg Sheridan has hit the nail on the head, in an insightful article today, entitledChristian churches drifting too far from the marketplace of ideas.
His opening lines are a cracker:
Australia’s Christian churches are in crisis, on the brink of complete strategic irrelevance. It’s not clear they recognise the mortal depth of their problems.
The churches need a new approach to their interaction with politics and the public debate, and to keeping themselves relevant in a post-Christian Australian society.
I wish I’d said as much myself. Hey, Ididsay as much myself. It’s a year ago this week since I wrotemy most read post ever, with dealt with this question exactly. And that post has raised a lot of good conservations in the past twelve months, taking it to a level of debate and push back that I had not envisaged.
Now, as an aside, there was a distinct possibility raised earlier this week that Greg Sheridan was going to ask my opinion on these issues, as he has been reading my articles recently, but I guess he had enough to go on. But if he had, I guess I would havea)succumbed to hubris and,b)told him what I am about to say now.
And it’s this:
Just as there has been a two-speed-economy here in my home city of Perth during the now, sadly, historical commodities boom, there is a two speed religious economy in Christendom recently, and only one speed will survive our cultural malaise.
The slow speed religious economy is headed for disaster. And it is made up of two groups; traditionalists and progressives.
The traditionalists have pretty much aligned with the state down the years, and include such behemoths as the Catholic Church. It is this group that Sheridan has in his sights when he memorably states:
The churches cannot recognise and come to grips with their strategic circumstances. They behave as though they still represent a living social consensus.
They remind me of South Vietnam’s government in 1974. It over-estimated its strength and tried to hang on to all of its territory, including the long narrow neck of its north. It did not retreat to its formidable heartland in the south, which would have been vastly more defensible. Had it done so, it might have survived. Instead, the next year, the armoured divisions of North Vietnam invaded and Saigon lost everything.
These lumbering giants are dying the death of a thousand cuts as they fail to realise how much the culture has shifted against them. As Sheridan points out, less than 10 per cent of Australian Catholics attend Mass on a given week, down from 74 % in 1954.
But for every foolish South Vietnamese general who fails to see the writing on the wall, there is always a treacherous Hanoi Jane on your own side who will dig the knife in a little further, right?
Hollywood pin-up girl Jane Fonda earned the nomenclature “Hanoi Jane” for her support for the communist North Vietnamese as they steamrollered all in their path on the way to victory.
And so the slow-speed-economy church today has the Hanoi Jane of the progressive, post-evangelical churches, along with the pretty-much-moribund Uniting Church and Anglican Church (save for some noble exceptions).
These Hanoi Jane churches are unlike the “vegetable love” of the traditionalists, in that they are onlyminutely slower than the culture.
How much slower? About two seconds slower. The culture jumps in one direction, be that ethical or whatever, and these Hanoi Janes’ suddenly find voice, scampering around and shouting “Me too! Me too!” to whoever is bored enough to be listening to them.
And all this despite clear evidence that this reactive approach to the cultural zeitgeist has been an abject failure for almost a century! Hanoi Jane churches would rather die than stand for any gospel convictions. And die they will. History has borne that out.
Read the rest of the article here
Lifesitenews: Lego Baby Figurine
Awesome news from LEGO:
From lifesitenews.com:
LEGO announces new baby minifigure with awesome ultrasound image
June 3, 2016 (SPUC) — LEGO is tapping into the joy many parents experience when they see their unborn child for the first time on an ultrasound screen.
In an announcement for a new baby minifigure this week, the toy company created a life-affirming graphic depicting a LEGO “baby in the womb.” The company made the graphic look like a birth announcement coupled with a ‘photo’ of the toy baby on an ultrasound screen. The hazy gray ultrasound ‘photo’ shows the smiling ‘baby’, its size and estimated birth date.
“It’s a big day! The first ever LEGO baby minifigure says HEY! to the world, arriving with the LEGO City 60134 Fun in the Park set, tomorrow June 1st !” the announcement reads.
“Simply the best”
The ad was well-received on social media, with many pro-lifers thanking the company for the life-affirming announcement. Actress and pro-life advocate Patricia Heaton tweeted about it, too:
The power of ultrasound images
The ad taps into the strong feelings that ultrasound images of real unborn babies often create. Ultrasounds have become powerful tools in the abortion debate because they show what until recently was hidden from the public eye – a baby in the womb. Ultrasound images show that unborn babies are valuable human beings who act in much the same way that born babies do. Thanks to the new technology, parents have watched their unborn babies smiling, sucking their thumbs, grimacing, clapping, turning somersaults and much more. Texas Right to Life’s Melissa Conway described the ad as “simply adorable” in an interview with the Independent Journal Review.
“LEGO’s introduction of the LEGO baby acknowledges that life, including preborn life, is literally and figuratively a growing industry,” Conway said. “This campaign and expansion to the toy line is a fun way to acknowledge that life begins in Mom’s tummy and affirms that children can easily and undeniably grasp the importance of life, growth, and family.”
Doritos and “humanising foetuses”
However, abortion activists have gone to extremes to suppress information about unborn babies from the general public. Last winter, they even went so far as to openly criticize a Doritos commercial that showed an unborn baby on an ultrasound screen. Sean Davis, co-founder of The Federalist, saw the new LEGO ad and remembered what happened with Doritos:
Abortion activists try to avoid anything that “humanises foetuses” because they know the facts change people’s minds. One study found that 78 percent of women considering abortion chose life after seeing their unborn child’s ultrasound image.
Read the full article here
New Life Springs Up in Australian Desert at Will Graham Event
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New Life Springs Up in Australian Desert at Will Graham Event |
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Friday, June 3, 2016 |
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Erik Ogren (June 3, 2016)
“In Alice Springs we harvested fruit that we did not sow. Particularly among the indigenous people, Dr. Bell and other missionaries planted the seeds of faith in Jesus Christ decades ago, and we were able to see the result last weekend.”
Alice Springs is located in the approximate center of the continent, nearly equidistant between Darwin on the northern coast of Australia and Adelaide on the southern coast. In this remote town of 28,605, nearly 6,000 people attended the weekend event. “Some of you have a broken life and God doesn’t use band aids. God wants to completely change you,” said Graham from the podium. “Salvation is a Person and His name is Jesus. Jesus can change everything in life. He can change your life tonight!” At Graham’s invitation, a total of 549 people made a commitment to Jesus. An additional 297 responded for prayer and spiritual support.
Reflecting on Reality, Graham referred to another evangelist who traveled the same territory more than 45 years prior. Dr. Ralph Bell, a longtime ministry partner of Billy Graham’s, spent two months preaching in and around Alice Springs in 1969, and—Graham says—paved the way for the success of this event. “In Alice Springs we harvested fruit that we did not sow. Particularly among the indigenous people, Dr. Bell and other missionaries planted the seeds of faith in Jesus Christ decades ago, and we were able to see the result last weekend.” This was Graham’s fourth time preaching in Australia, dating back to 2010. He’s shared the Gospel in Gunnedah, Moree and Tamworth (2010); Orange, Lithgow and Bathurst (2012); and Broken Hill (2014). Will Graham’s grandfather, Billy Graham, preached extensively on the continent in 1959, 1968, 1969 and 1979. His 1959 tour, which covered Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Launceston, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, is widely viewed as a watershed moment in the early years of Billy Graham’s ministry. Will Graham’s father, Franklin Graham, preached at multi-city tours of Australia in 1996, 1998 and 2005. BillyGraham.org |
(Charlotte, NC) — [
Reality featured five different events over the course of the weekend, including evangelistic outreaches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, a KidzFest program for children on Saturday morning, and a combined church service for the city on Sunday morning. (Photo via Billy Graham Evangelistic Association)The City Gate
John Alley has just published another excellent book in his reflections on the continuing reformation of the church. He has long argued for a relational form of christianity with all of the ministry gifts of Ephesians 4:11 being recognised by congregations.
In this book, John tackles the difficult subject of city eldership. The New Testament description of the church is very different to what we see now. Rather than a dozen or more congregations each claiming to be “the church” in a town or region with each having very little contact with the others, the Bible talks about a single church in one place. That is not a single congregation, but a connection of congregations all seeing themselves as relating to each other and led by a number of elders who have authority over all congregations.
At the moment, most christians experience a hierarchy of connectedness which points away from the local context to a denominational office which may be in a distant city. Leaders are appointed or elected to offices regardless of the equipping of the Holy Spirit. A better way is to have true fellowship with christians across the denominational barriers with God-appointed elders offering guidance and direction to congregations.
This is a radical blueprint that calls the church back to its early roots. It will take time, perhaps several generations, to overcome our denominational history but this is the work of God, not mere men.
Black And White Bible, Black And Blue Wife
Ruth Tucker is one of all too many women who find that home is not a refuge but a place of violence. Married to a controlling husband who abused the Biblical doctrine of submission, she was regularly beaten before finally escaping with her son.
Ruth combines her testimony of her violent marriage with theological reflection about how misreading scripture can give rise to all kinds of evil behaviour that clearly contradicts scripture. She writes clearly and in a way that draws the reader into her story.
This is essential reading for all christians, especially pastors who hold a high value on the Bible and can therefore inadvertently blame the victim in counselling with couples.
HERE, NOW, US
“Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us. Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us! With our feet on the ground, and our head cool, but with our heart ablaze with the love of God, we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey. God wants to work through you!”
A. W. Tozer, The Counselor (Camp Hill, 1993), page 116.
An Apostolic Dream May 30th 2016
I dreamed that I was supervising the HSC examinations. It was the first day, English Paper 1.
I walked into the hall a little before the scheduled start time of 9:20. I was shocked to discover that instead of being set out in rows, the desks had been piled in a jumble in one corner.
There were a few students standing around, but neither they nor my staff seemed inclined to help set up the hall. I got them started on what seemed like a simple task and went off to find the rest of the students.
The students had dispersed through the school with some of them sitting in on classes even though their schooling was finished.
Finally I had everyone together, and the time was past 11:30, the scheduled finish time. But at least we were making progress- two rows of tables and chairs were completed to my right and the students were progressing rapidly on the third row.
Then I noticed that there was a row nearly completed all by itself to my left. That wasn’t where it should be. I was about to rebuke the students, but then I realised that they had in fact left exactly enough space to insert an additional row between it and the completed rows on my right.
At last we were nearly ready to get started.
When I described this dream to Margaret she said immediately “That’s about the apostolic order of the church!”
The Lord is restoring the church to an order that is different to what has been before. While all of our denominational structures seem good to human eyes, they are a jumbled mess to Him. Rather than bishops and priests, moderators and superintendents in denominational chaos, God’s order for the church is a united body (one church in a locality, which may worship in a variety of congregations) all overseen by apostles and city elders. (See “The City Gate” by John Alley for more information)
Much of the church is resistant to this although some see the vision of what is to come. Some will even try to go back to the old ways of what they have known.
It won’t happen according to human timetables or even in any kind of way that we might have expected.
The Lord is in this and He will bring it to pass, and we do not have to be anxious about making it happen.
New Life Narrabri 