We had a baptism at church this morning. ‘Nothing unusual about that! Christians have been baptising since the Lord Jesus gave the Great Commission in Matthew 28. All Christians (excluding the Quakers and the Salvation Army) believe in Holy Baptism as an essential sacrament of the Church. Ah, but the baptism this morning was of a baby, as Peter and Ina presented their son Hudson to receive the sign and seal of God’s grace. Suddenly we not only have the Quakers and the Salvation Army offside but also a whole host of other Christian Churches as well. Baptist churches, Churches of...

"Nailing our colurs to the mast" The saying above originated many centuries ago. Apparently during the 17th century when there were battles at sea, opponents would try to disable a ship by firing a cannon ball at a ship’s mast so as to disable it. If however, the ship’s Captain decided to continue with the battle, it would be marked by hoisting the colours on the remnants of the ships rigging, that is, by ‘nailing his colours to the mast.’ Ever since the vote in Ireland and subsequently in America to allow same-sex marriages, people have taken to social media (Facebook)...

One of the issues that replaced the devastating earthquake in Nepal off the front pages of the TV news and daily papers was the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the Bali-nine drug smugglers. I am all for being a little patriotic about one's country and her citizens, but I did find it rather 'selfish' to be focusing on two Australians being punished for a crime while ten thousand people have just lost their lives in an earthquake. So what do we say about these executions? I must admit, I really struggle with this for on the...

God wants his people to adress the injustices around them. Easy to say, but what do we do? Where do we start? The issue seems so huge, and we seem so powerless - what can we do? In this next chapter in the Time for Justice series we look at how doing this work might impact on our walk with Jesus. Find out here what we're starting to do.

It seems you don't have to talk about Christianity for too long before someone says, 'One of the issues I have with God is that there is so much evil in the world: Why isn't he doing something about it?' Does God have a plan to address injustice? If so, what is that plan? The answer the Bible gives may well challenge and surprise you. Read about it here.

Those who suffer injustice in our world are not beyond the bounds of our Lord's vision. He cares a great deal about them. The question we need to ask whether the things that matter to God matter to us... Read more here

We often see injustice as something that happens in other parts of the world, and to people very different to us. More often than not, we see these as contexts in which we do not have any real influence. Scripture presents another picture: all injustice is sin, and allowing it to exist impacts on how a watching world sees the character of God Read the first instalment of Time for Justice here Home Group Study questions for this sermon are avaiable here Coments may be left on the blog

MEDITATION: Gospel versus Culture One of the things that have become increasingly difficult in ministry is how to deal with sin in today's culture. It raises the question whether our culture drives how we present God's Word and the glorious gospel, or should God's Word and hence the gospel drive our culture. To answer this question, it is good to examine Scripture. In the Old Testament, the book of Ezekiel, God uses the metaphor of a watchman whose role it was to warn the people if there was a threat to the city from their enemies. If the watchman warned the...

Most of us have been aware of the terrorist attack in France last week by some radical, extremists of Islam.  It was a tragic event with 17 people losing their lives in total.  As a result we are now familiar with the slogan "Je suis Charlie" which is French for "I am Charlie" which was adopted by supporters of free speech and freedom of expression after the massacre of 12 people in the office of the satirical newspaper "Chalie Hebdo" in Paris.  News reports showed the sign of solidarity of a nation as millions marched in Paris and elsewhere, joined arm in arm by...

One of the questions that I have been asked this past week concerns my thoughts about the tragedy that occurred in Martin Place Sydney at the hands of one lone terrorist. It is obvious from all reports that this lone terrorist was an evil man and his action resulted in the loss of three lives, including his own.  We shouldn't be too surprised when these things happen. We know, particularly from things that are happening in northern Iraq and Syria as well as other troubled areas that there are certain elements within the Muslim religion that are bent on evil in...

"Church growth & Church Planting" As some of you know, the Synodical reports are coming through which means that Sessions and others who are interested will need to do a lot of reading in the next few months to prepare for Synod in May 2015.   So far the first six reports have a similar flavour as other Synodical years.    God is blessing the work of each Committee.  There are many positive things happening as well as one or two minor hick-ups, and last but not least, an increase or reinstatement of previously withdrawn funding is nearly always part of the recommendations...

"We must be born again" Today we have the privilege of witnessing the profession of faith of Sr Anna Barker.  As you know, in our Reformed / Presbyterian system of Church government, there is such a thing as baptised and communicant membership.   Baptised membership is for infants but are yet to do their profession of faith, and communicant (full) membership is for those who do their public profession of faith when they get a little older. So what is necessary for someone to become a member of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia?  It seems to me that over the years...

"God's objective truth -  His Word" One of the things my mentor encouraged me to do was to spend a lot of time on my knees in my study. He was trying to tell me is that a 'minister / preacher' needs to be given much wisdom from above to be able to do his work.  Looking back, this is perhaps the best advice any person thinking of ministry or who is already in ministry could receive.  For a minister, it's vital that all his worked be soaked in prayer and especially his sermon work. Having stated the 'expected' obvious, where...

One of the things that never cease to surprise me is the passion some people have for a certain cause.  There are some people who are passionate about animal welfare. There are others who are passionate about 'pro-life.'  There are other people who are passionate about Christian education.  There are people who are passionate about justice issues. There are some who are passionate about missions.  And dare I mention that there are others who are passionate about their sporting code or particular team. Now some of these things are good to be passionate about and even have good biblical foundation (Jonah...

"Something Old -  something new" As it happens, this coming Sunday I am looking at Isaiah 1:10-20, and it revolves around the question of what is acceptable worship.  In regards to this question, one of the things that we continually have to wrestle with is our music and the hymns and songs we sing.  Do we sing more traditional hymns or should we be more contemporary? One of the disadvantages of a data projector is that with new songs, often it is only the musicians have the music and hence it takes longer to learn a new melody.  Then again, perhaps...

Over the last several weeks I have had requests to pray for family members and others for up-coming operations. No doubt this is important and good to do for we acknowledge that our lives are under the sovereignty of God. However, once surgery has been completed and everything has gone well, these same people will write you expressing their thanks to "Jesus" or to "God" that all things have gone well, without mention of anyone else's involvement, and then they end by saying, "God is good." Now this gets me thinking. First, keeping in mind and understanding the sovereignty of God,...

"Fruit or Rot" One of the continual struggles for many Christians is to realise that their salvation is all of grace – completely undeserved (Eph 2:8-9). The struggle against this simple truth is seen when you ask Christians, "Why should God allow you into heaven and enjoy eternal life when you breathe your last breath on earth?" The 'simple' answer should go something like this, "God the Father, before the foundations of the earth were put in place (Eph 1:4ff), chose me to be saved through the saving work of His Son Jesus Christ, and by His Holy Spirit made me...

Someone asked me recently, "Why is it that so many people when they first do their profession of faith are 'full on' for the Lord, yet over a period of time seem to wane in their enthusiasm?" I think you would agree with me that this is a 'soul searching' question, not so much in the first place about others, but also about our selves. Well, I am not one for doing too much 'introspection' for there is a lot of 'stuff' that can so easily be found or dug up from my past that could so easily send me spiraling...

One of the things that Christians can find frustrating is when God seems absent. It happened on numerous occasions in the OT. For instance, when Moses initially went to Pharaoh to ask for the Lord's people to be released, Pharaoh not only refused the request, he made the slaves work even harder (Exo 5). In fact, the foremen complain to Moses and Aaron that the Israelites had become a stench to Pharaoh because of their demands to be released. Even when travelling through the wilderness, there were occasions when God's people wished they were back in Egypt because things were difficult...

One of the things that is needful for Christians is to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And fundamental to that grace is to grow in faith. Scripture calls on us to believe the promises of God more deeply and more firmly than we did last week or even yesterday. In fact, if you are not growing in your faith and trust of the Lord and His completed work at Calvary, then you would have every reason to be concerned. Paul writing to the Philippian church encourages them to work out their salvation with fear and...