Do you get wiser as you get older? Is it fair to say that, in general, those who are older are wiser? Instinctively, most of us would like to think this is true. And it often is! As we grow older, as we have more experiences and make more mistakes, we should learn things. And …
As Christians, we have many rich blessings right now, yet we long for the ultimate form of those blessings in the future. There are things we have now, and some things we don’t yet have. This tension between the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet’ can be seen in quite a few passages, including 1 Peter …
I plan the sermon series to be preached at All Nations months in advance. In fact, the books to be preached on are chosen in the previous year, with the detail added a few months before the sermon series is preached. That means that we intentionally work through the whole counsel of God over time …
In a world that doesn’t make sense anymore, people want answers and hope. That gives the church a wonderful opportunity to tell people about the hope that we have. Like most of our lives right now, the way we go about evangelism now needs to be a little different to before. The principle is the …
It is Good Friday today. A time when church bells are usually ringing, when even those who usually sleep in make the effort to come to church. A time usually full of colour and excitement. This year is different. Maybe it doesn’t feel like a festival time to you. You can watch the online sermon …
‘Social distancing’ will probably be the phrase of the year in 2020. Most of us could not have defined that term last year; now we see it in every news article and as warnings in every building we enter. We are encouraged to spend more time away from other people. As some satirical articles have …
In the early church, most gatherings were in houses. Church buildings didn’t become common until after the conversion of Constantine in the 300s. This means that when Paul wrote to churches in Ephesians, for example, this probably meant the collection of churches in the city of Ephesus that met in a variety of homes. We …
The food shortage in Australia right now is bizarre. People are hoarding food and emptying shelves from the supermarket. In a rich and blessed country, many people are looking for food. Christians know that we need more than physical food to sustain us. We need the bread of life, the Word of God. This was …
The world is in the midst of a coronavirus panic. Many aspects of life we usually take for granted are being changed or removed. It is all that anyone is talking about. How do we respond to such a crisis? In this brief blog post, I want to mention two unhelpful responses to the crisis …
Our church is running an evangelistic event this Saturday night. This means that there will be people from our church praying for and inviting friends to come along. That can be a daunting prospect! All kinds of thoughts go through our minds before we have that kind of conversation. Maybe they will laugh at me. …