The Newy Hilton

No longer here....

2008-10-29T19:21:00.002+11:00

If you ever read this blog.... then stop and read this one instead... www.newcastlehilton.wordpress.com

Chandler on gospel motivations...

2008-10-28T10:52:00.003+11:00

Matt Chandler, pastor of the Village Church Dallas, comments on things that disturb him about church planters and the conversations that he is having.... a timely reminder to check our priorities... see the rest on his blog

The truth is I didn’t become the pastor of a church in the suburbs of Dallas because I had a grand vision for growing a dynamic, life-transforming, church-planting, Gospel-preaching, God-centered church. I took the position because after a great deal of conversations, prayers and fasting, my wife and I felt it was the direction God, through the Holy Spirit, was leading us. I came to The Village because I thought that by doing so I would get to see more of Him, experience more of Him, sense more of Him, see more of me die, more of my flesh perish, the old man in me lose more power…He is the great end that I am after. He is why. In 1 Timothy 4:10 Paul writes “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.“ I love that verse. We toil, yes. We strive, yes, but where is our hope? What, or rather, who is the goal? I love preaching the Gospel and I love planting churches but I do those things because in them there is this unbearable weight of His presence. This crushing majesty that makes me want to cry, sing and scream all at the same time.

Keller on church plants...

2008-10-20T14:03:00.001+11:00

The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else--not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes--will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.

Is he right?? What does he mean by church planting? I think in Australia when we say church planting we mean small struggling one man show? Is that necessary?

The Sola Panel | Don’t wait ‘til you say goodbye

2008-10-08T14:39:00.001+11:00

The Sola Panel | Don’t wait ‘til you say goodbye

Posted using ShareThis

Why can't you guys just agree and get on with helping the world?"

2008-07-11T15:49:00.003+10:00

Ray grew up as a Catholic and speaks openly and frankly about the differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church. Listen to the main body of the talk here.

Let it go through to the keeper....

2008-07-11T11:00:00.002+10:00

Been spending stacks of time with people lately. I love getting out of my office and spending more time with people. The question I am constantly faced with as i do that is: "How much do I let go through to the keeper?"

My tendency is to whack everything on the head that errs on the side of erroneous thought. However, experience has taught me this is not always the most loving approach or the most effective approach.

The present circumstance is that I spending time with some blokes who are:
(a) brand new Christians, one of whom has been converted in an environment that leans heavily on experience; or
(b) have recently joined us from completely different Christian stables.

Hence, the issues that come up again and again are issues of godliness (I don't think I've ever had the Bible open on the table in Cafe before with f-bombs flying from the same table); or theological issues to do with God's sovereignty, the work of the Holy Spirit, the place of exorcisms in a Christians life, understanding suffering, God's role in evangelism, the place of works and preaching in evangelsim and so on.

And I'm constantly finding myself asking the question of God: which ones should I be letting go through to the keeper? When do you tackle an issue head on, when do you let it go and pray that God will complete his work in people, when do you try and deal with the issue from another angle? When do you wait for it to come up in the preaching program or at Bible Study?

When I think about my own walk with God it encourages me that God will do his work in people in his own time. I often find myself longing for the same patience God had with me.

Puzzling verses in a masive chunk of Scripture...

2008-06-20T14:18:00.005+10:00

The gospel of Luke is a wonderfully rich narrative. I have chosen to preach next weekend on Luke 11:14-12:12. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and the hostility towards him is on the rise. In this chunk of Scripture Jesus doesn't hold back. He has super Jesus like insight into their hearts and proceeds to pulverize the Pharisees and the crowds with his truthful rhetoric.

Near the end of this section of Scripture are these words in Luke 12:8-12...

8"And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

Questions I have about these verses:

1. Is he speaking to the disciples or should we assume that his words now reaching the ears of the Pharisees?
2. What does it look like to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? Are the Pharisees guilty of this? Surely, they are already guilty of blasphemous words against the Son of Man (cf. Luke 11:14-28). What else do they need to do to blaspheme agaist the Holy Spirit?
3. Is this a danger for the disciples; and do we see an example of both blaspheming the Son of Man, and blaspheming the Holy Spirit in the testimonies of Peter and Judas??

Genesis 1 Wordle

2008-06-18T22:22:00.002+10:00

At the request of Justin...

The Wordle Game

2008-06-18T13:16:00.002+10:00

Justin is playing the Wordle game. The challenge was to Wordle your sermons @ Wordle.net

Here are my last 2 talks:

Luke 10:1-24

Luke 10:25-42

Indo Memories - Gili Meno

2008-06-10T18:52:00.002+10:00

Spotlight on Burma

2008-06-10T10:58:00.003+10:00

As the news regarding the situation in Burma drift from the front pages of our newspapers it is so easy to forget the harsh realities that many are still facing in Burma. Hope Myanmar Partnership, working for the sake of the gospel in Burma, is still receiving news from the front lines...

As we read this chapter in Psalms, we see the most beautiful character of our God: the powerful protector who cares for his people and comforts them despite the devastation around them. During this time of devastation in Myanmar, one thing is clear - God is present. God is comforting his people. “Be still, and know that I am God”, he says. Sometimes it takes such tragedy for people to be still. But those who take a moment to be still and seek God will surely be met by a God who is compassionate, gracious and abounding in love.

Let us pray for those in Myanmar that have been so shaken. Let us pray that they will call on the name of God; that they would come to learn that Jesus has made it possible for them. May this bring them real hope at a time when they feel so hopeless.

Borobodur

2008-05-14T20:08:00.004+10:00

Rode motorbikes (well one of those scooters anyway) to Borobodur today from Yogyakarta. We got up at 4.30am to be there for sunrise but took a wrong turn and missed it. Above is a picture of what we imagined it was like. Even though we missed sunrise it was still a fantastic place to visit. We spoke to Indonesian kids there all morning who were there as part of their english course talking to foreigners. We had too many photos taken of us. Us 'whiteys' are pretty intriguing to the locals outside the big tourist blocks.

Interesting that in a largely Muslim island two of the biggest tourist attractions are Buddhist and Hindu temples. As we have talked to people in our travels it is evident that pluralism, nominalism and synctretism are alive and well in Indonesia.

Borobodur is a ninth century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.^[1] A main dome is located at the center of the top platform, and is surrounded by seventy-two Buddha statues seated inside perforated stupa.

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base of the monument and follows a path circumambulating the monument while ascending to the top through the three levels of Buddhist cosmology, namely, Kamadhatu (the world of desire); Rupadhatu (the world of forms); and Arupadhatu (the world of formless). During the journey, the monument guides the pilgrims through a system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the wall and the balustrades.

from Wikipedia.com

SYDNEY to JAKARTA

2008-05-05T07:44:00.002+10:00

Selamat pagi (good morning)... for my 5 readers that is. We are currently at Sydney Airport about to fly off to Jakarta to catch up with some good friends from Bible College and to have a nice holiday (hopefully some surfing in Lombok also). We're all booked in and just waiting for departure... got me some sweet EXIT row seats due to my enormous stature and looking forward to stretching out and making the most of it. Sampai ketemu lagi!

Marriage Enrichment Weekend

2008-04-28T15:07:00.000+10:00

Just been on a marriage enrichment weekend... this was the view from the pool and spa area!

when is the norm directive?

2008-04-18T13:00:00.004+10:00

Perhaps you can help me with a question I have regarding church government. Over the past few months I have been think about elders and looking at what the Bible has to say about it. This is what I have concluded:

A plurality of male elders is the the norm for NT churches.

The question I have though is when does the norm become directive. Mark Dever in his 9 marks of a Biblical Church says: The only two biblical church offices are deacon and elder. And I agree that the norm for the NT churches was to have elders and deacons. But how do we know that this is then directive for churches today. There appears to be lots of other examples of things in the NT church that are normative that we reject as directive. eg. they met on Saturday...

There also seems to be a whole category of people in the NT who can be classified as Paul's fellow workers but who were not elders or deacons but may have done elder like things eg. Apollos in Corinth, Timothy (was he an elder?), Epaphroditus.

Is the NT norm of eldership directive for us today or is a means to an end. That is, would Paul be happy with some other structure or office that achieved the goals of shepherding, overseeing, keeping the wolves at bay and teaching the word of God?

Thoughts? How do the Anglicans argue for their church government?

Taking a stand...

2008-04-18T11:32:00.003+10:00

We have done a five week series on this at church.
- Scripture Alone
- Grace Alone
- Christ Alone
- Faith Alone
- To the glory of God alone

The last talk has been the hardest to prepare. After much erring I decided to tackle it by looking at God's glory in creation (Ps 19), Jesus (the incarnation) (Jn 1:14), salvation (John 17; Eph 1), judgment (Exodus 13:7-4:31).

It has been humbling to see God working for his glory even in our salvation.... an exert from my talk...

At the cross, what is on the mind of Jesus? His Father’s glory! His glory! We sing a song here at church occasionally called “Above all” This is how the chorus goes…

Crucified, laid behind the stone;
you lived to die, rejected and alone;
like a rose, trampled on the ground,
you took the fall,
and thought of me, above all.

That’s what we like to believe isn’t it. That the cross was primarily about me. But it’s not! Which goes against the grain of popular Christianity. There’s something kind of offensive about Jesus’ prayer (Jn 17) here isn’t there. Jesus’ prayer as he approaches the cross is God centred, and not real people centred.
Which we don’t like. We like to domesticate God. It’s kinda of scary to think of God who creates this world and this universe, and goes to the extent of sending his Son to the cross so that his name might be made known, so that he will be glorified and magnified as God – and has the right to that!

We like to think of a God who’s much more preoccupied with pleasing us. And we particularly like to think that about the cross. The one thing we thought would be about us is about Jesus. It’s about God. It was about God bringing glory to himself through his Son.
Not even our salvation is primarily about us… but it’s about God!

Live Crucifixion

2008-03-17T19:24:00.002+11:00

Mars Hill Church Seattle will be having a memorable Good Friday this year. Check out the youtube video about their Good Friday meetings.

What do you think was the most horrific aspect of the cross for Jesus? The pain of the cross? 1 Peter 3:18 says that Jesus suffered for our sins. Or the pain of separation from the Father? The garden of Gethsemene certainly suggests this was at least significant. I wonder whether we can over emphasise the pain of the event of crucifixion while underplaying the pain of being deserted by everyone including his Father

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"—which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

trusting in my own righteousness

2008-03-03T14:56:00.002+11:00

Just been out door knocking - which was a frustrating experience but worthwhile. It never ceases to amaze me how confident people are in their own righteousness before God. Every person we spoke to this afternoon were happy to believe that their good works would be enough for God to accept them on the last day. It didn't seem to matter how explicit we made the point that were entrenched in their theology of good works and did not want to believe they were not acceptable before God on their own. Arrgh!

This is how one conversation with a Catholic lady went something like this...

Us: The only way we can be sure that you are saved is to trust that Jesus death has done 100% of what needs to be done for you to be forgiven and receive eternal life.
Lady at the door: Yes, we need to believe in Jesus but also do good works to be saved.

It has made me more keen to get out into the community with the message of Jesus and encourage people to wholeheartedly trust in Jesus.

Any tips? How do you help people to see they are not good?

Bathurst - no records set this trip

2008-03-02T21:31:00.001+11:00

the fruit of youth ministry @ St. Matts

2008-02-24T21:57:00.003+11:00

Been speaking at St Matthews Anglican Church young adults camp this weekend (AKA 'Summer Exodus'). I became a Christian through the ministry of St. Matts and was involved in Youth Ministry there for a number of years (Steve 'Mad Dog' McKerney was the youth minister for most of this time) so it was great to see old friends pushing on in Christ and meet some new people as well. It was also encouraging to see the long term fruit of the youth ministry at St Matts. For a couple of reasons:

Most of the people on the camp were either people that I co-led with, people that I used to lead or both (which is always a scary reminder of your age). Seeing these people make up the core group of people on the camp it reaffirmed the value of a thriving youth ministry.
There's a whole bunch of friends from St. Matts who are now at bible college this year. For many of these the place where they were challenged to consider giving up work to preach the gospel was within the youth leadership team at St. Matts.

Who's at college this year?

Andrew & Lauren, Nick & Penelope, Helen, Neil & Lou, CJ & Claire, Adam & Edwina

For the prayers:

Thank God for his work in the lives of young people at St. Matts
Ask God to sustain and grow those who are at college this year
Thank God for the reliable men and women who handled the word of truth with great care and seriousness and passed this legacy on to people now studying the word at Moore College & SMBC.

Digger 21

2008-02-16T00:29:00.003+11:00

Played a good game of Digger 21 tonight (AKA "Aussie Bocce"). Worth a game some time. All you need is a Bocce set, a large expanse of sand, and some friends. The tricky thing about this particularly Australian variety of Bocce is that once someone is close to the jack (or "Robbo") it is near impossible to knock them out of the way... you need to rely on pure accuracy. I seemed to have none of this. All of my friends smashed me tonight.

Score: Prue - 21; Dave - 20; Row -20; Me - 8

Pretty humiliating defeat. However, I did sustain a forearm injury earlier today (I rode into a tree on the side of the road) which I think adequately explains my poor form.

Sorry - the indingenous issue

2008-02-01T23:25:00.000+11:00

Stumbled across a link to this article on Andrew Erringtons Blog. I have found it difficult to navigate my way through the issue of saying 'sorry' - mainly because the mass media (as per usual) has no thoughtful approach to tackling the issue and the debate is so charged with emotion. I found this article refreshing.

Here is a snapshot...

Is there any sense in which today’s Australians can or should identify with those of another generation? Of course, we already do so. We imaginatively empathise with what Australian soldiers did in two world wars. We are appreciative of their deeds and glad of the benefits they won for us. In relation to the future, we frequently think of ourselves in some kind of solidarity with future generations, who will directly praise or blame us for our decisions and practices in relation to the environment, infrastructure, or economics.

This participation with others is summarised in the name of our country, which is a ‘Commonwealth’—the traditional term of description for a group of people who share with each other in the present, and who pass on what is good from a past to a future, to create ‘common weal’, or common good.

It is neither silly nor fanciful, then, to do something similar with bad decisions and wrong practices from the past. In the wider indigenous debate, the goods our Commonwealth currently enjoys descend in part from the murders, thefts and injustices committed in the past.

Photo taken in Worrabinda in 2006...

WAVE

2008-01-15T14:04:00.000+11:00

WAVE is a mission our church runs every January. Kinda like the Summerfest of CCEC but on a smaller scale. However, God has been tops this year and we're growing!

I have been speaking each morning at the Sideline Cafe (Adults Tent). Today there were over 40 adults there listening to the gospel... if you pray please pray that I would keep speaking the gospel to these parents in a clear and culturally relevant way.

Today we had a workshop on photography (Josh did this and it was awesome!) and then I spoke on 'Portraits of humanity'.

Portrait 1: The beauty of humanity (Genesis 1:26-28)
Portrait 2: The depravity of humanity
The way back to portrait number 1 is through Jesus.

new church website

2008-01-02T13:43:00.000+11:00

our new website for the new church planting venture is up and running

The WEBSITE

Have a look if you want!

Paddle Against Poverty

2007-12-28T11:18:00.000+11:00

Sparrow is paddling against poverty: Support him!

The Historical Jesus

2007-12-28T09:06:00.000+11:00

Christmas is a great time for the gospel to hit the mainstream media. As I have perused the papers over the past week it has been encouraging to see Peter Jensen speak with clarity about the Lord Jesus when most of the others waffle on about peace, love and hope without ever really understanding what it is all about. Here is a short article he wrote for the ABC called a A Fun Year for Atheists. and makes some bold but true statements about the historicity of Jesus and the futility of the atheists quest to discredit Jesus without demonstrating that Jesus was not a real person. Here is a snippet:

The atheists have had a fun year, with five or six high-profile books attacking religion indiscriminately. We used to be told that all religions are equal because they all lead you to God. We are now hearing that no religions will lead you anywhere - least of all to God. Either way, of course, we are saved the trouble of discriminating between one religion and another....

...Certainly, Christianity could be discredited by a discovery that its basic historical claims are untrue. I am not a Christian because it feels good, or because it suits my personality or my life-style. I am a Christian because I have been persuaded that the Christian gospel is the truth.

Pray for Peter as he continues to speak to truth to the world through the media.

Day off..

2007-12-27T23:16:00.000+11:00

I love having a day off. We went to Erina Fair on the way home from Sydney today. It was pretty crazy. People go mad at sale time. Lucky we had some time to destress at Campos at Terrigal. Why the coast? We thought we better familiarise oursleves with the region since my sister-inlaw will be living there next year when she gets married. Plus I had a $100 gift voucher to spend at HMV and there's no HMV in Newcastle.

Photoshop free alternatives

2007-12-12T11:25:00.001+11:00

A New Location for Church

2007-12-11T16:03:00.000+11:00

Hunter Bible Church 5pm is moving to the Junction Primary School. Officially we move on the 27th January but we are having Cafe Church there on the 20th January. Later on in the year we plan to start a morning congregation at the Junction. Richard Sweatman will pastor that congregation.

So Hunter Bible Church will consist of:

1. Unichurch
2. 10am Lambton
3. 10am The Junction
4. 5pm The Junction

Pray that the move goes well and that we reach more people for Christ as we move.
There will be a new website soon... stay tuned!

Videology and the gospel

2007-11-02T12:09:00.000+11:00

Haven't watched all of this... infact only about 10mins... but this is a question I have had about the way Mars Hill Church works. I am not against video useage but my question is: Why do video satellited sermons instead of installing preachers in those centres?? I am interested to see what Mark has to say from the Bible about this...

What do you think?

Not around

2007-10-20T19:14:00.000+10:00

I'm back. Been all over the place in the last 3 weeks. Prue and I were the ministry team representatives that went to central Australia on an AIM (Australian Indigenous Ministries) Mission Awareness tour... more on that later. Then we had a wedding in Sydney to attend. After that we had a week in Shoal Bay. I was supposed to be doing a 'little' bit of work which amounted to reading a book (on evangelism, so it was kinda work) and getting a sermon outline done. Today I have been in Sydney - engagement party tonight - while Prue is at the AFES staff wives conference (some of the women she is spending time with have been involved in ministry 10 years longer than she's been alive). But as of tomorrow I am back on deck at church and I will try and post some stuff about our trip to central oz.

Strange talents..

2007-09-21T10:11:00.000+10:00

Have you ever wanted to be able to master a unique party trick or strange talent that will amaze your friends... check this guy out!

Or Star Wars
Or Sweet Child o Mine

How good is 1 to 1??!!

2007-09-06T10:23:00.000+10:00

One of the key commitments of the ministry in Newcastle is 1 to 1 ministry - that is, meeting up week after week and reading the Bible with people. I meet up with a whole stack of guys each week and encourage them to be doing the same with other blokes... it is time consuming but effective ministry.

Why read the Bible?

1. Avoids the coffee and chat scenario... sometimes this is a good thing but week after week just talking about stuff will never lead people to obedience to the gospel.

2. 2 Tim 3:16-17

3. It teaches people dependence on God not dependence on me... once I am gone they are then equipped to read the Bible for themselves and with others.

4. The word changes people long term and my wisdom (the little that I have) never will.

One of the highlights of my week is meeting up with a baby Christian and an immature Christian.

Things we've grappled with over the last couple of weeks:

Baby Christian: God giving people over to their sin (Romans 1)

Immature Christian: Why is it important that Jesus is one of David's descendants?

To my astonishment this young bloke has been going to a church for most of his life and had no clue why this was significant. Romans 1:

1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David...

Pray for these young men as they learn the book of Romans. Pray they will be struck by the power of the gospel and will not be ashamed of it.

Do you meet up with people 1 to1? Are you reading the Bible with them?

My brother in law

2007-08-24T21:46:00.001+10:00

This is not Frodo! This is actually my brother in law. He started a blog.... he is much smarter than me (currently acing his HSC) and much funnier than me. But his blog is floating in cyberspace with no visitors. Visit his blog... enjoy his quirky sense of humour... and make a comment so he will be encouraged to keep blogging.

Click HERE

The ESV and Packer

2007-08-13T09:01:00.000+10:00

J.I. Packer on the ESV. From the ESV blog.

I was privileged to act as General Editor of the English Standard Version, and now that I look back on what we did in producing that version, I find myself suspecting very strongly that this was the most important thing that I have ever done for the Kingdom, and that the product of our labors is perhaps the biggest milestone in Bible translation in certainly this last 50 years, and perhaps more. Perhaps I ought to be saying 100 years—I think I should, actually—because it was almost 100 years ago that the paraphrase renderings of the Bible began to present themselves, as they did, as the version that you ought to read if you want to understand the Word of God. I think that, while in the short term it was not false entirely, did set the world of Bible translation and distribution off on what long-term was going to prove a false trail.

Am I missing something? We don't use the ESV. I think it is a good translation but I am still very happy reading my NIV.

REAL

2007-08-10T18:48:00.000+10:00

An email from our NCS president...

Dear NCSers...

REAL is almost upon us!! Week 5 is 3 sleeps away, 3 sleeps until the week of the semester!!! (Obviously Wintercon or National Training Event is the week of the year).

3 sleeps till Monday and 6 sleeps till Thursday night – REAL: the authentic Jesus!!

Well, how can I best use my sleeps? I hear you ask.

Here are my 3 top tips:

1. Pray
Jesus said in Luke 11: 9-13
9"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. 11"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

Prayer is the number one best thing we can do as we prepare for mission week and as we embark on mission week! Trust God to keep his promise, that as our generous heavenly father he will graciously give us good gifts, giving people the Spirit so that they can know and trust in Jesus! So whip out your prayer book mark and start praying!

2. Talk
In Romans 10: 14-15 Paul poses the question,
14“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

People need to HEAR the gospel to be saved so let’s plan to be the ones who tell them and invite them to hear it explained! Hear are 4 great opportunities to do so:

- Walk-up: Monday 1pm-2:30pm and 4pm-5:30pm meeting at Auchmuty library steps
- All Day BBQ: Tuesday 8am-4pm Outside Maths Building
- Chai Café: Wednesday 9am-4pm Hunter hallway outside HB15
- NUSA BBQ: 11:30am-2:30pm NUSA building

3. Invite
The climax of week 5 is Thursday night. This is the main event focused on proclaiming the REAL Jesus.

Paul says somewhere “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (around line 40? – Wintercon joke, if you didn’t get it, go next year and it will all become hilariously familiar… well maybe not hilarious…)

Anywho, this is the big shebang! Thursday night 7pm Nursing theatre the great gospel of Jesus will be proclaimed! Invite your friends, organize to have them over for dinner then go together. Plan to pick them up beforehand and sit with them. Create opportunities for inviting them because “the gospel is the power of salvation for everyone who believes!”

3 sleeps and counting…

Yours in Christ

President Guy!

If you are the praying type please pray for REAL!

Supporters life made easy...

2007-08-09T15:46:00.000+10:00

The new AFES website is fantastic. Life is easier for me. Life is easier for the supporter. How much easier is it to send out mass emails online with this new website. I don't know yet but if you sign up I will give it ago. How much easier is it to give money online than send it via snail mail! MUCH!

Hope you like IT!?

best coffee ever

2007-08-09T10:51:00.000+10:00

"Suspension" coffee is the best coffee ever! Another local product of Newcastle that will remain distinctly Novacastrian... Sydney can have their Glebe gunk...

willing Son of God...

2007-08-08T15:41:00.000+10:00

Luke 9:51 says...

he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

This is a remarkable statement. This is the turning point of the book of Luke. It is here that Jesus’ ministry changes it course. From this point onwards Jesus is very intentionally walking towards the cross.

This statement prevents us from setting God and Jesus against one another as though they were in conflict. Jesus was not an unwillingly recipient of the punishment that we incurred. He was not some kind of reluctant whipping boy. Rather, he willing marches to the cross to atone for the sin of mankind. What a saviour!

Of course we must be equally as cautious not to suggest that God the Father is a 'a pitiless ogre whose wrath has to be assuaged, whose disinclination to act has to be overcome, by the loving self-sacrifice of Christ.' (The Cross of Christ, John Stott)

Leaders: we want you!

2007-07-26T10:05:00.000+10:00

It strikes me that our world wants to typecast the personality of a leader. This also seems to be happening in the Christian world. Men are expected be a certain personality type in order to be a great Christian leader. We need to be more masculine, more assertive, more confident, more successful, more eloquent, smarter, faster, better looking. More like guys like Mark Driscoll (who no doubt is a very gifted leader). Whilst it is great to hold up great Christan leaders as role models it may be cripple blokes in their leadership if we keep holding up the alpha male as the ultimate leader. Is it even biblical?

Last night we had a men's night with church and looked at the qualities of a leader from 1 Tim 3.

1Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. 2Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. 5(If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) 6He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
8Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

I made three points:

1. Leaders are godly - God doesn't typecast our personality but he certainly tells us what our character is to be like.

2. Leaders lead at home - your family life will give you the most accurate picture of how you’re going as a leader.

3. Leaders are mature - however long we’ve been Christians we need to be men who are committed to Christian maturity.

What is beautiful?

2007-07-26T10:00:00.000+10:00

Saw this video on Justin Moffat's blog. John Piper speaks, only as Piper does, about the prosperity gospel. Warning: pretty confronting and not easy to swallow plus a very sad story about half way through the video.

What do you think about Pipers take on prosperity?

Caricatures of discipleship

2007-07-22T20:47:00.000+10:00

Caricature: a representation of a person that is exaggerated for comic effect.

When people draw a caricature of someone they generally take a standout feature about them – good or bad – and accentuate it until even if it was a good feature it’s no longer a good feature because you can’t think about it in anyway other than the caricature now.

Got me thinking about what the world sees in us. What do you reckon the world would draw if they wanted to draw a caricature of a Christian?

Tonight I preached on Luke 6:17-49. I reckon if an unbeliever knows any bit of the Bible, Luke 6 is the bit they know. They know that a Christian is to love their enemies. They know that Christians are called by Jesus not to judge people. But my guess is if asked to draw a caricature of a Christian they wouldn’t draw someone who is loving and non-judgmental but they’d draw the exact opposite - an unloving, judgmental, narrow minded, goody two shoes who looks down their noses on people, and who don’t really take the words of Jesus seriously.

How would they draw you? How would the person you share an office with, or a work site with, or a house with draw you? How would people draw your church? What would be the most obvious stand out feature about us they would want to accentuate. Good or bad!??

Have a read of Luke 6:17-49 and be challenged by Jesus demands for the kingdom person.

No points for guessing who this is. 100 points for guessing who drew it.

Facebook

2007-07-06T11:06:00.000+10:00



Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.


What do you think of Facebook? Is it useful or just a time waster?

New Technology brings us "New Days"

2007-07-01T19:32:00.001+10:00

Isn't technology tops. Because of You Tube we can very quickly and simply see what our brothers and sisters are up to on the other side of the world... say hi to Jason, Paula and the boys who i went to college with.

Infectious mononucleosis

2007-07-01T19:15:00.000+10:00

On Friday night Prue was diagnosed with Infectious mononucleosis, AKA Glandular Fever or the "kissing disease". So she has been hanging out on the couch pretty much all day everyday for the past 4 days. I agreed 'in sickness and in health' and this is my first real dose of 'in sickness'. Apparently it can take 3-4 weeks to get over in most cases and in a small percentage of cases it can linger on longer. If you are the praying type please pray for Prue's health, that she would have a speedy recovery to full health.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit. James 5

Hunter Men's Convention

2007-06-28T10:23:00.000+10:00

This year Hunter Gospel Ministries is beginning a new venture "Hunter Men's Convention" on the 18th August. Jim Ramsay will be speaking and a variety of workshops will be on also. Please pray that men from many churches around the area would come along and be encouraged and equipped to be godly Christian men. If you want to sign up click here and you can download the PDF registration form.

Living through the flood of '07

2007-06-13T17:30:00.000+10:00

The recent weekend was outrageous. Probably the first time I've ever lived through an event that you would normally marvel at on the news. Some of the highlights:

- watching one of the ships struggle to get away from the coast
- walking down the side of our house in shin deep water (that's my shins too)
- going on rescue missions in the Subaru to pick up friends stranded at hospitals and shopping centres
- being woken at 1.30am by our neighbour whose roof was lifting off in gale forced winds
- seeing cars floating and abandoned on main roads in Newcastle City
- the Ship... it's real big up close!

Here are some photos from the day!

This sign has been at Fern Bay on the road from Nelson Bay to the Hunter for a long time. Has this sign been a long standing prophecy that has now been fulfilled. Whatever the case I think the signwriter spoke better than he/she knew!

But all this made me think seriously about what sorts of things to be talking about when we speak to people about the disaster.

God is King. In these times we can be embarrassed to speak about God's involvement in such a disaster. However to shy away from speaking about God as the one who brings calamity we diminish the sovereignty of God. People will want to calim that Mother NAture is responsible or even Satan but God is the King of creation and not even a sparrow will fall to the ground unless God wills it.

28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10
Humanity's frailty. Our life could be taken from us at any moment and the response we must have in the face of disasters is to repent and believe.

1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Luke 13

On local radio and the news reporters and others have spent a lot of time giving glory to the people in Newcastle because of their efforts to help one another out - they celebrate the achievements of humanity. In a way, that is right response. People have pulled together achieved a great deal. But what is forgotten, or not mentioned, or ignored is the fact that disasters are a real reminder to us of our frailty. Christians need to keep this on the agenda if we're going to ask people to repent and believe.

Hope to see you in Newcastle sometime soon... come and check out our brand new oil slick!

God on Tap

2007-05-21T08:56:00.001+10:00

Check out the article in the Southern Cross about God on Tap. Kurt has done an awesome job of running this event in his local area. Check out the website they have established alongside this event!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

1 year old and hockey

2007-05-13T20:46:00.000+10:00

Some of our good friends in Newcastle had a little boy only a couple of weeks after we got married. It was his first birthday party on Saturday. I will always know how old he is (that is as long as I remember how long we've been married). He's "uber" cute and loves to read the Bible!

What else did we do this weekend? Watched a live game of Ice Hockey (take your jacket! it's cold). Definitely worth the experience!

A pastoral issue...

2007-05-02T14:02:00.000+10:00

People in our world is moving further and further away from marriage (that is, marriage by the state) and choosing to live in defacto relationships. But there seems to be a wide variety in the level of commitment that a defacto relationship carries. That is, defacto can mean "we are just trying each other on", or it could be that the couple have a very clear mutual understanding that this is a life-long union. They have just chosen not to formalize that union in the state's eyes.

This raises the question: is it possible to be married in God's eyes, but not the states? And vice versa, is it possible to be married by the state, but not in God's eyes?

I think the second is already true. Some divorcees may be remarried in the state's eyes but because of the nature of the divorce god would suggest they are in fact in an adulterous relationship. Many countries (not Australia yet) allow gay marriage which is marriage in the state's definition but not God's (that is, not according to Genesis 1 and 2 where marriage is clearly heterosexual).

Is it possible to married in God's eyes and not the state's??? What do you think? I think this will be an increasingly common question that we need to deal with as we evangelise people living in defacto relationships and see them made alive Christ by the grace and mercy of God.

1 year down... 60 to go!

2007-05-02T13:53:00.000+10:00

My grandpa dropped in to Newy last week with Mum and Dad. Wishing us a Happy Anniversary he reminded us that there are many years ahead. He and Nan were married 61 years before she went home to her Father in heaven. That's a long time! So on the anniversary of the happiest year of marriage so far we want to say keep praying for us!

Here are some photos from our 1 year getaway to Boomerang Beach.

Jailhouse blues...

2007-03-15T18:13:00.000+11:00

Been at the courthouse today. Got me thinking about the legal system. Apparently, here in Australia we are presumed innocent -

Presumption of innocence is a legal right that the accused in criminal trials has in many modern nations. It states that no person shall be considered guilty until finally convicted by a court. The burden of proof is thus on the prosecution, which has to convince the court that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. In principle, the defense does not have to 'prove' anything. However, the defense may present evidence tending to show that there is a doubt as to the guilt of the accused.

Yet I think I can often presume people guilty until they're proven innocent. This is not what our legal system prescribes. Be careful in your assessment of people. Co-incidentally (or more correctly according to God's good purposes and will) I also read Romans 2 today with a guy from church which also warns us not to judge people quickly.

1You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

Quick and hasty judgments of people, without a real assessment of yourself, will be met with a measured and just judgment by the God of this universe who knows the truth. We will not escape God's judgment!

Cheesy, Ezy, Ian...

2007-02-04T22:15:00.000+11:00

Hey there... just a recommendation to read the blog of 'Cheesy', 'Ezy', 'Ian'. Take your pick what you want to call him. He is a very funny man, sometimes very strange (I have actually witnessed this man dance to the noise a washing machine makes and trying to impersonate that action of this washing machine) and sometimes (when he's not dancing to washing machines and craving Madonna songs) very insightful. He is in Japan and his blog is very much worth reading. Have a look...

P.S. I have no idea who that girl is (it's not his girlfriend though), or the guy with the fish... but I really like the photo of the fish guy.

Free Running or 'Parkour'

2007-01-31T17:42:00.001+11:00

I met a guy at a wedding who does this stuff. Crazy! I thought this only happened in James Bond or Jackie Chan movies... for more videos just type 'Parkour' into the search engine at youtube.com

Meet Ben...

2007-01-29T08:38:00.001+11:00

Where did you grow up?
I was born in Newcastle and I've grown up around Newcastle and Maitland.

When did you become a Christian?
The second semester of 2006

How did that happen?
I was invited to Hunter Bible Church during mission week (through walk-up evangelism). Over the course of a few weeks I read through Mark's gospel with Tim Cocks and went along to Sam and Elle's bible study.

How has being a Christian changed you?
The most immediate change was being free of a mighty dose of depression, but long term I now have a good understanding of purpose and what is valuable in the world. God has really shown me how important it is to talk to people about Jesus and what He's done for them. He has also given me a lot of non-christians who are willing to discuss their beliefs, and opportunities to show them inconsistencies in their philosophies and the reliability of the bible.

You've been going to NCS and Hunter Bible Church since you became a Christian, how have they helped you to grow?
NCS & HBC has been great. As a new Christian I have a lot of different questions to other Christians, and HBC is a church that allows me to ask the questions which are relevant to my understanding, which makes it a lot easier to apply the bible in my own life. At the start of the summer break I went to National Training Event, where I was encouraged through my struggles and challenged to suffer for Christ. That was a great experience and I learned some useful skills for understanding God's word.

How do you hope to get involved in NCS and Hunter Bible Church this year?
How? By jumping right in. NCS and HBC offer so many ways to get to know God's word and how to live it. I'll be doing whatever I can get my hands on.

This year Ben and I have started meeting up to read the Bible with one another. I t has been a great encouragement to see his hunger and enthusiasm to know God better through his Son Jesus Christ, and to see his enthusiasm for evangelism. Just by asking questions and talking to people about his experience and what he knows of the Bible he is constantly engaging people in lengthy discussions about the Bible wherever he is. Pray that Ben would continue to grow as a Christian and that I will be able to help him sort through the massive amounts of question that are floating around inside his head.

If You Want to be Understood...Listen?

2007-01-22T22:42:00.000+11:00

Went to see the movie Babel the other night with my wonderful wife (we've been married nine months today. Perhaps i should by her flowers or something). Any way it is a great movie! Bit bewildering but very powerful. One of the highlights was seeing Brad Pitt do a Morgan Powell impersonation in the movie. Morgan has always been talking about how good looking he is, and now his claims have been validated.

But apart from that... it was one of those movies that grips you from beginning to end and you're not really sure why. Someone far more eloquent than I had this to say about the movie:

Although there is a lot to keep track of in 'Babel' owing to its many story lines, there is such a fluent and seamless intercutting of these segments that it is impossible not to be entranced in the entirety of the film. There is a wealth of juxtapositions of culture to be found and much fun and visual stimulation to be had because of it. From the dramatic barren landscapes of Morocco to the fast-paced teen world of Tokyo, Babel treats contrast with remarkable sensitivity and skill of the subject matter. In other words, it gives a nonsentimental yet compassionate insight into the lives of different people whose stories orbit around the kaleidoscope that is 'Babel', sewn together by unsparing and uninhibited performances. Better yet, you get so caught up in each story that when it cuts to make room for the next you feel almost a little offended – and that is good film-making. Babel, given its content, is everything Crash was not. Finally, it offers a satisfying and humble conclusion to an otherwise epic film.

And mostly they are right. However, I thought the Bible's conclusion to the Babel dilemma is much more satisfying. Each of the stories had some sort of resolution within them that fit the stories and were not forced in any way. But the overall answer to the Babel story was: If You Want to be Understood...Listen. Whilst the movie seems to recognise the purpose of the Babel event in Genesis 11 it has failed to recognise the solution to Babel. Babel was not just some arbitrary decision by God to make our lives difficult but it was a global judgment from God for their rebellion against him. But God has made it possible for Babel to be undone. In Acts 2:1-4 we see another Babel event.

Acts 2:1-11
1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues^[a] as the Spirit enabled them.
5Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. 6When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. 7Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? 8Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? 9Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome 11(both Jews and converts to Judaism Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" 12Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?"

In an event just like Babel, God turns Babel on its head. The people are united. But this time they're united in Christ and they’re united by the Spirit. And instead of making their own name great (incurring judgment on themselves as they did in Gen 11) they proclaim the wonders of God. And as they speak the message of the gospel God gathers the nations back to himself. Surely this is a far more satisfying solution to the problem of confusion that Babel presents??

Anyone else seen the movie?? Worth watching just to see the uncanny resemblance of Morgan Powell to Brad Pitt.

BEYOND GREED

2006-12-18T19:35:00.000+11:00

Been reading a great book called Beyond Greed (available at www.matthiasmedia.com.au). It tackles all sorts of issues that materialism, wealth and greed present for the world and for Christians today. One of his main points is that greed is actually a form of idolatry that many of us fail to recognise in ourselves. It’s one of those diseases that everyone else has except for me. Brian Rosner points out that such thinking is absolute folly and self-delusional. He notes that even pagan journalists are happy to point out to us that money is an idol for our society.

Bereft of employment security and increasingly detached from traditional faith in religion, people appear to have elevated material objects... Virtually to objects of faith. (Alexander Frean, Times Magazine).

Christmas is a time when this idolatry is preyed upon by marketing directors, retail stores, Westfield and our society revels in it. We rush to the god of Christmas, Westfield, and under the guise of “Christmas is a time for generosity” we buy gratuitous gifts for one another, hoping we receive at least as good as we give.

The Briefing recently accused Santa of promoting greed.

...since he provides Christmas gifts, he removes any need for people o focus on what they will give to others. Thus, people’s focus becomes completely centred upon what they wish to receive. Mr. Claus has turned a time that was once known as a time of generosity and selflessness into a time of selfishness and greed.

All very pessimistic isn’t it. But a wonderful corrective for us, and especially at Christmas time and as the new year approaches. What has been your attitude to money this year? Are you serving money or is your money serving you and God’s kingdom? What steps are you taking to be generous and wise with your money next year?

Jesus’ words are stinging: No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

I think in 1 Tim 6:17-19 Paul suggests three things that will help us to make sure money is our servant and not the other way round.

17Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
1. Recognise all your stuff comes from God. Even what we think we have earned for yourself has been given to us by God.

2. Realise that money gives us false hope. True hope is found in the true and living God, so put your hope and trust in him.

3. Give your money away. Paul says to be generous and willing to share. Get a Compassion kid, support our MTS trainees, give money to missionaries. Let God be the master of your wallet!

Have a tops Christmas!

Sam and Prue

Holidays and NTE

2006-12-11T22:31:00.000+11:00

Just got back from holidays and NTE (National Training Event) mission in Orange. Late now and will blog more about it in the days to come. We have been hanging out with Lyndal (AKA Sister in law of Sam and sister of Prue) tonight and the comment for mission was "great, but too many sausages." With mass production lunches and dinners almost everyday we were in Orange Lyndal has managed to score a BBQ meal 5 days out of 5 days. That's too many sausages!!!

Blog, blogging, bloggers...

2006-11-25T15:53:00.001+11:00

Did you know that in the world of blogging that it's kocher to blog about someone else's blog. So if yoou don't have anything to say for the day you just write about someone else's blog and leave a link to it! (I'm still getting the hang of this blogging thing!)

The way i found this out is that someone else has been blogging aboout my blog. You can check out their blog about my blog and then blog about the two of us blogging about each other...

This is my favourite part of her blog about me...

I think he has some pretty interesting things to say, he has a great sense of humour and great pics.

All of this got me thinnking what does 'blog' mean?

This is what I came up with...

Blog is short for weblog. A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site.

But Wikipedia notes that 'blog' can also be a verb (as per the sentence above)...

"Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning: to maintain or add content to a blog.

I wonder if it will ever become an 'adjective'??? For example, I had a blogging good time! I'm blogged! (as a result of too much time blogging)

Identity in Christ

2006-11-25T15:51:00.000+11:00

Been thinking lately how easy it is for us to find our identity in anything or anyone other than Christ. The other day, sitting at a coffee shop, I was struck by people’s eagerness to show off their identity outside of Christ. As you can imagine at Goldberg’s these are the type of things that people project as part of their identity: the way people dressed, talked about stuff, the sunglasses we wear, even being a young single mum seems to be part of creating an identity for yourself these days. We see it most starkly at the moment in little subcultures such as the EMO crew (if you don’t know what EMO is then you are definitely getting old – check out this website for EMO info People are always creating an identity for themselves outside of Christ – which makes sense if you’re not a Christian.

But as a Christian we don’t have this luxury. Our identity is found “in Christ” and is far better than any identity we can create for ourselves. Gal 3:25-29 reminds us of this truth...

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave* nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

The problem is that sin is essentially declaring ourselves to be independent of God and his Son Jesus and so we keep trying to create an identity for ourselves outside of Christ, through work, through marriage, the house we buy or don’t buy, through parenthood, through the clothes we wear, our leisure time, the people we hang out with. We even create an identity for ourselves through things that have happened to us in the past or things that are happening to us in the present – abuse, depression, unemployment etc. But the Bible keeps reminding us though we’re different we’re all one in Christ Jesus.

Where are you tempted to build your identity?

Getting the most of your weekend...

2006-11-12T22:00:00.000+11:00

What makes a good weekend? I reckon generally speaking a good weekend is spent with my wife in Newcastle around the beach and coffee shops... doesn't get much better actually. The weekend just gone was very different but fantastic.

Stage 1.

A mammoth drive from Newy to Sydney to see U2 with Ray, Ray, James and Nick. Memorable experience. One of the best concerts I've ever been to for sure. The Edge is definately uber-cool!

Book review: read Bono on Bono. Interesting read and was probably the book that re-ignited my love for U2.

Disappointment: Bono was preaching all night at the concert, which I am normally a fan of, but his big point was COEXIST. He told us that Muslims, Christians and Jews were all sons of Abraham, which just doesn't fit with what the Bible says. The Bible is all for peace and equalityand people loving eavh other but it's very clear that those who are in Christ are Abraham's real sons. Gal 3:29If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Stage 2

Breaky at the beach for Nick's birthday. Mmmm... it's always tops going out for brunch with Mum and Dad becasue you eat like kings and they foot the bill. Thanks Mum and Dad.

Stage 3

DJ Souter (often found preaching and teaching the Bible at the Gathering) and Lou got married. It was such a fantastic day. Souter and Lou are defintatley two of the most wonderful people in the world. Can you think of a better bloke than Souter? Let me know if you can, I'd like to meet him! Also a great time for catching up with friends.

Stage 4

Preaching all day long at Hunter Bible Church.

Stage 5

Blog and off to bed.

It was good to see you on the weekend if we did!!! Catch you soon.

Sam and Prue

Ted Haggard

2006-11-07T14:17:00.000+11:00

It is a great sadness to hear Ted Haggard's confessions. This emphasises the importance of Paul's exhortation to Timothy... 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Ted Haggard

What do you do when there is serious sexual sin in the church of God?

- pray for God's people at New Life Church in Colorado.
- pray for Ted, his family and his children. Obviously this will seriously affect his realtiosnhip with his wife, his children and God. Pray that he will be able to give up the lifestyle of homosexuality. Remember Paul's words to the Corinthians...
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.
- pray for your pastor! Pray that he will be sexually pure!
- Listen to God's word and take the warnings seriously. Don't mess with sin. 12So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! 13No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13

It is worth reading Ted's statement and a letter from his wife to the women at New life Church. Obviously the media has sensationalised this event and we can easily forget that this couple are real Christian people wrestling with sin in their life.

Outback Adventure....

2006-10-30T08:21:00.000+11:00

8000km is a long way! On the 29th September 2006 I jumped in a bus in Newcastle with 18 other people and returned 2 weeks later having travelled 8000km. So obviously I can't tell you everything that happened and I won't expect you to be so interested in my life that I will tell you what I had for breakfast each morning but I will let you know some of the highlights...

The People

The time we spent on the bus was one of the highlights of the trip. People look at me strangely when I say that but it is true. Spending hours and hours with people on the bus was what made the trip for me. It was an absolute privilege getting to know the team and watching them grow as Christians in the 2 weeks we spent together. Close quarters, intense environment, being exposed to situations and community issues you've never seen before, being confronted with your own sin as you learn to love people you are sharing every moment of the day with, considering the prospect of mission work I think are some of the things that made the bus time such good time. Whilst there was lots of frivolity and fun to be had on the bus there was also stacks of time spent talking about all of the above. At the end of each day I was exhausted just from talking...

The kids of Woorabinda

How to do ministry in Woorabinda?
1. Play footy on the road and wait for kids to appear. Usually you'll get between 30-40 kids in the space of 20 minutes. The seem to appear from cracks in the walls...
2. Invite them to come to church that night.
3. Sing a few songs (they love singing) and then tell them all about Jesus.

This is pretty much what we did. We had an absolute blast during the day with the kids and then one evening a whole stack of them came to church and we had the opportunity to sing with them and so a short talk about Jesus calming the storm. It wasn't terribly planned or organised but as a team we talked to kids about Jesus all night! Wow! Pray for the kids of Woorabinda as the social issues in that place are pretty full on.

The Elders @ Tennant Creek

Tennant Creek was so very different to Woorabinda. The church was bigger, they had a solid eldership team, the missionary was not the pastor of the church but rather worked behind the scenes to train the elders. The elders (Cedric, Tasman, Richard) and a guy called Unanimous told us their testimonies one afternoon. The striking thing about their testimony was that all of these guys once spent their days drinking in the local park in Tennant Creek and now they go to that same park to speak to people about Jesus. It was remarkable to see the work of God in the lives of these men who were all committed to preaching the Word in Tennant Creek.

Richard's story was particularly amazing. Richard became blind after becoming a Christian and he didn't know how he would be able to serve God as a blind man. Amazingly, God has given him a remarkable memory and he preaches once a month at the church in Tennant Creek. The way he prepares his sermons is by listening to the Bible on cassette. Listening to talks on the passage by other people. Speaking to his friends about the passage and then memorises his talk in his head and preaches. Most of us would use blindness as a way out of serving God. Richard works hard at knowing God better and preaches the Word in the most difficult circumstances.

Sightseeing

Sightseeing was tops! I went to the centre of Australia in 1988. It was great to go back and remember all the places we went to as kids. I'll just put some photos up for this bit!

The challenge from Jono

Jono was the missionary in Camooweal (about 400 km east of the NT/QLD border). We had a very brief chat at one point about his decision to move to Camooweal and one thing he said as part of this conversation was very challenging. I commented on the difficulty of getting people to move from their comfortable places to do ministry and his reply was... "For people whose home in not here but in heaven we sink our roots down really deep in this world". It was challenging to see him and his wife Grace ignore the social norms in Christian circles and live the biblical truth that we are exiles in a foreign land waiting to go home.

1Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. 2Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, 3because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. 4For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. 2 Corinthians 5:1-5

a new decade

2006-09-17T14:12:00.000+10:00

Well, I made it! I got to the big 30. And for all of you reading this on the other side of the fence wondering if the grass is greener or all dried up... ask me again in 5 years time but so far it's been okay. I have been thinking I should go get a full medical to make sure my heart isn't failing or anything like that? What do you reckon?

Birthday celebrations this year were pretty low-key (that's so lame hey!). Mum and Dad came up and took us out for breakfast on Tuesday morning which was great, Prue organised a few Newcastle friends to come over on Thursday afternoon, a few weeks ago the Suttons came to Newcastle to celebrate my birthday, Lyndal's birthday and Rosie's birthday.

Things I'm looking forward to:
- getting my head into the next part of Genesis... beginning this week.
- the AIM mission trip around Australia... stay tuned for more details
- the Swans Preliminary Final on Friday Night... Yes, that's right the HIlton family is having a family outing to the Swans final...

Jowling at Take 5...

2006-09-10T21:25:00.003+10:00

Australian Idol rocks. This is the first Sunday night Prue and I have had at home in ages (since I work Sunday night). We're at home becasue 5pm church wasn't on because we had Take 5 - our annual 5pm camp (see the previous blog) - and we're watching Idol.

Highlights of TAKE 5??

- Well it was great to get away with people and spend time with them looking at the Word together and hanging out getting to know them better. In our busy lives a weekedn doing this is invaluable.
- Seeing Morgan Powell... dead set legend.
- The food... breakfast in particular!
- The Swans winning by 1 point over the Westcoast Eagles in Subiaco
- Jowling

What's Jowling? We came across Jowling in the Spectrum in the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday morning. According to the website jowlers.com this is how it is done:
1. Loosen all the muscles in your face.
2. Try to keep your mouths and eyes open
3. Shake your head from side to side as quickly as possible
4. Take a photo

Try it! It's absolutley hilarious to do as a big group (especially if it's late at night and people are suffering from severe exhaustion). Stay tuned for more Jowling photos.

P.S. Thanks for praying for the camp. Talks went well and people were encouraged and challenged as we thought about mission together.

Take 5

2006-09-05T16:41:00.002+10:00

Well... it's a few days out from the annual 5pm camp. It's been very encouraging to see stacks of people throwing themseleves into ministry this year to get the camp up and going. I am speaking which will be great fun. It looks like there will probably 55-60 people at the camp this year which is encouraging. Pray that those who are slow to sign up would be convicted to come along and sign up in the next couple of days.

I am doing three talks on mission from John's gospel. Talk 1 - The Uniqueness of Jesus, Talk 2 - The Unique Mission of Jesus, Talk 3 - The Unique Sending of Jesus. If you pray, pray the talks would go well and that people would be convinced that the person and work of Jesus is worth proclaiming to the world around us.

Also, another tops thing is that Morgan and Anna (from St Matts, West Pennant Hills), will be coming up to share their vast wisdom with those who are considering going to Bible College or overseas on mission.

Oh yeah... one final thing. If anyone has any ideas on how to convince people on camp that a great Saturday Night activity would be to watch the Swans Vs. West Coast final on the Big Screen let me know??!!

sermon constipation

2006-09-01T17:41:00.000+10:00

Well it's Friday afternoon and I am looking like having to spend a few more hours in the office tonight due to a severe case of sermon constipation all afternoon. (I am resting my mind by doing this brainless and unintersting blog)... Hopefully my condition will relieve itself when I return to the word document.

Anyway... it's now September which means it's FINALS SEASON! Brings back fond memories of last years grand final effort by the mighty Swans. I think we're looking at back to back titles. Adelaide has just lost theirs captain in Mark Richuto due some vague illness (hope you get well soon after the finals Mark) and the Swans are on song. Carlton should be an easy beat and hopefully we'll nab a top 4 position.

But it's looking like I will be in central Australia or on a bus going to central Australia and for the second year in a row will miss the grand final...

I promise my next blog will be much more meaningful and positive.

I pray you may be active in sharing your faith...

2006-08-15T09:16:00.000+10:00

The book of Philemon is a wonderful letter. I've been reading it lately with one of the students at church and we have both been suprised and encouraged by Paul's letter to Philemon. Amongst other things, Paul prays this for Philemon:

I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Philemon 6)

This is a remarkable statement - evangelism causes you to grow as a Christian. Is this true in your experience? In what ways do we grow? Here are some possibilities:

- Evangelism sharpens your mind. As we evangelise to our friends and family often we are confronted with questions that we have not thought through and considered. A commitment to these relationships and the desire to see people come to know Christ causes us to seek out answers and become clearer in thought and speech about gospel truths

- Evangelism softens your heart. As we tell people the great news of Jesus the reality of hell for our friends and family is very confronting. This softens our hearts and causes us to long for people to be resuced from an eternity without God to be able to join us in fellowship with Jesus in the new creation.

- Evangelism puts calluses on our faith. As you evangelise your faith becomes more and more robust. To begin with when you speak the gospel to people and they shut you down its a real let down. You can start to question your faith. Why won't people believe? But as we continue to reflect on the scriptures we realise that to some we are the stench of death (2 Cor 2:14-16) and we ought to expect the world to reject us, our faith becomes more resilient - God is teaching us to endure persecution.

- Evangelism helps you to be thankful. As we teach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to people we can see how fortunate we are that God has chosen us. What a humbling thought that is! While we could easily be people who are under the wrath of God, we are justified, sanctified, made right with the almighty creator of the universe through the blood of the Lamb, the servant King, Jesus. Don't forget to be thankful to God for this amazing gift of life.

- Evangelism causes us to depend on God. At the moment I'm reading the gospel of Mark with an unbeliever. He wants to find out about Jesus and comes each week with an eagerness to learn about Christ. Each week we talk though the passage, he can see and understand what it means, but he is not able to put his trust in Jesus yet. Each time I walk away from the coffee shop praying that God will change his heart because in the act of evangelism I realise that it is only God who can change people's hearts.

Anyway... ramblings that i hope you find encouraging... I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

Sam and Prue

6 in the house...

2006-08-05T18:26:00.000+10:00

Well... it's Saturday night and we're watching a brainless episode of the Simpsons before settling down to watch the Swans trounce the Dons on TV. But before we do I thought we'd drop a blog about the last 24 hours. We had the privilege of spending 24 hours with the McPhail family - Jason, Paula, Ethan and Ezekiel. So last night 6 of us spent the night in our very small unit. It was pretty tight but very luxurious - after all it is the Newy Hilton.

Unfortunately, it was probably the only day in the year that the weather wasn't perfect in Newcastle but we still had the chance to get out and see the sights... that is in the very small window of time you have between the kids sleeps. It is actually quite amazing how much kids sleep. It's such a good life! Sleep, eat, play and then do it all again!
It's a constant challenge seeing friends give up everything materialistic, and not only the materialistic but remove themselves from relationships and family, in order to go overseas to speak about Jesus. Jason and Paula are a great example of people taking up their cross to follow their Lord and Saviour - filled with joy!
This shouldn't be the abnormal Christian experience but the norm. Jesus' mission was to do the work that his Father set him to do. That is, the work of salvation. As disciples of Jesus, sent by the Son, we ought to be people who are testifying to the work of Jesus, offering forgiveness to people we mix with.

John 20:21-23 - Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

News from the past...

2006-07-26T21:47:00.000+10:00

Hey there all...

This is our brand new blog site... Hopefully you will be able to keep up to date with all the stuff we're doing by dropping into this site every now and then. Pretty weird idea hey! We no longer communicate with people we just post our blogs and hope someone somewhere is reading them.

Well... the past year has been a big one. Prue and I got married on April the 29th. It was a fantastic day... we really enjoyed seeing all of our friends and family together at one time. Because there was so many people there we didn't get to speak to people for long and so our past 3 months have been exceedlingly busy trying to catch up with people. We still haven't written thankyou cards or chosen the photos for our album.

What have we been enjoying about marriage? There's lot of good things about marriage. This past week i have been sick so I have been enjoying having someone to look after me again. This is Prue's first real test of the marriage vows... "in sickness and in health". We love lots of things about marriage. Breakfast together each day, praying and reading the Word together, hanging out on our day off (Swells coffee shop at Merewether Beach has become a favourite haunt of ours).

What's been happening in ministry?

Ministry has been great of late... 2 main reasons:
1. Preaching: I have really enjoyed preaching through the first 11 chapters of Genesis. I finished this on Sunday night and will return to it again later in the year. I found these chapters of the Bible pushed me theologically. Many of our foundational doctrines of the faith are set forth and explored in great detail in these chapters - Creation, Sin, Judgment, Relationships, Work. It was a great delight to be able to work through these doctrines and see how each one of them is resolved or fulfilled in Christ.
2. People: The second reason ministry has been great lately is people. I say this with some reluctance because people can be draining and tiring but it is a great joy to be involved in people's lives. I love watching people grow and mature in Christ, I love helping people come to grips with difficult parts of the Bible, I love it when people trust Prue and I enough to ask for help... it is a great joy and privlidge working with people.

Well that'll probably do from me for this evening...