Monthly Archives: June 2007

June 25, 2007 · 7:26 am

Farewell Macquarie ::tears::

Well, its over. Its hard to believe, but our 5.5 years at Macquarie Anglican has come to an end. The good people of Macquarie gave us an extrememly generous send off, a very special time that we will never forget.

We have been privileged to share our lives and ministry with many people of different ages, and have found ourselves blessed in many different ways. We will never be the same, and for that, we thank our gracious God.

Many thanks to the Senior Minister, Roger, for all of his leadership, guidance, wisdom and grace over the years. Thanks too for graciously giving me the chance to speak at the weekend away, and also to speak on my final Sunday.

The audio of the final sermon can be downloaded by clicking on this link.

Our prayers will be with the people of Macquarie, and we know they will be praying for us as we rest and recharge, ready to starT at St Paul’s.

[edit – added the ‘T’ to star in the last line – thanks for pointing it out – it was a typo, not hubris!!!]

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Filed under change, leaving, sermons

June 21, 2007 · 7:59 am

Mortality

It’s been a sobering week or so.

Last week, I presided over the funeral of a man who died at age 98.5. He had outlived all of his friends. His funeral was attended by a handful of family, who heard the 1662 Anglican Prayer funeral service’s take on life:

Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one stay. In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins are justly displeased?

This week, I presided over the funeral of a baby who died at 28 weeks in the womb. We read from 1 Cor 15 which seemed so apt in that situation:

The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.

And yesterday, I celebrated a birthday. In the midst of everything else that is happening, I was reminded of Psalm 90:

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Praise be to the Lamb who was slain, who has conquered death in his glorious resurrection, and filled our hearts with hope and longing for the New Jerusalem and unending fellowship with each other and with God himself.

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Filed under death, hope, resurrection

June 20, 2007 · 4:22 am

A Bit Muddy?!

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June 19, 2007 · 11:33 pm

Revelation talks now online

Well, its over. The Macquarie Anglican Churches Weekend Away is over.

I had the privilege of opening the Word of God with the faithful people from MAC, from the book of Revelation.

Those talks are now available here for any interested in listening.

1. Wake Up to a Bigger Jesus (Rev 1)

2. Wake Up to the Church Jesus Wants (Rev 2-3)

3. Wake Up to the God in Control (Rev 4-5)

4. Wake Up to Our Glorious Future (Rev 21)

(At the moment, they are wav files, so they may take a while to download. I am working on converting them to mp3’s – stay tuned).

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Filed under Revelation, sermons

June 17, 2007 · 8:09 am

Useful kids talk links

As with all of these type of resources, discretion must be exercised, but I have found some useful ideas on all of the following:

Sermons for Kids

Kids Sunday School

Children’s Sermons

Christian Crafters

Talks to Children

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June 14, 2007 · 12:12 am

RSS in Plain English


Click To Play

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June 13, 2007 · 6:24 am

‘Calling my replacement!’

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Filed under ministry, moving

June 9, 2007 · 2:28 pm

Whiter than Snow

(click to enlarge the cartoon)

Revelation 7:13-14

13Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

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June 8, 2007 · 6:32 am

John Piper on the ‘prosperity gospel’

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Filed under links, preaching, videos

June 8, 2007 · 12:36 am

Making fun of Jesus?

Interesting piece of commentary from a non-Christian guy who’s normally all about pointing out stuff about men in society in a fun way. Linking to a YouTube clip of a person dressed as Jesus singing ‘I will survive’ (which, ironically, is the message of Jesus in Revelation: ‘I have overcome, I have survived, so you do the same’), he comments:

The following clip may offend if you’re a God-fearing Christian, so I’ll be interested to see if I receive any death threats from fundamentalist Catholics as a result of this post. My bold prediction? I’ll get absolutely none.
My point? Imagine if this bloke had dressed up like the prophet Mohammed instead of taking the piss out of Jesus? He’d be shivering in a cave somewhere in Montana while firemen picked through the charred remains of his torched Los Angeles apartment.
I know I’m going to hell anyway, but the fact I can even write the sentence “taking the piss out of Jesus” – let alone post this clip – without fearing for my life shows most Christians are pretty easy-going types.And I guess that’s where “the West” struggles to comes to terms with the “Islamic world”. Above all else, it just seems so rigid and stern.
I’m worried even pointing it out …

[source: http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/allmenareliars/archives/2007/06/sacrilege.html]

This guy’s on to something. Christians don’t react the same way. And its because of the fundamentally different nature of the ‘Lord’ that Christians follow.

Jesus overcomes, not by being afraid of being insulted, but by facing insults and persecutions and flogging and wrongful crucifixion head on, and defeating it 3 days later in his resurrection from the dead. He is now the powerful one who reigns over all, and who waits for the day when he will put all things to right.

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Filed under cross, Jesus