Year: 2010

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Grace overcomes bitterness

I’ve been fighting against the sin of bitterness. On my commute this morning, I wasn’t winning. Bitterness is sin and it’s ugly. I don’t want to be ugly, or have ugliness going on inside (even if no-one can see it). Ephesians 4:31 says to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” I had the verse ringing through my head all morning. But how do I get rid of bitterness?

The next verse answers that with a positive statement: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph 4:32). So I get rid of the crap stuff from v31 and then take hold of kindness, compassion and forgiveness from v32. The key? It’s the motivation in the final clause, “just as in Christ God forgave you.” The way in which I can get rid of bitterness is by reflecting on the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

Grace overcomes bitterness. Ephesians is a pretty sweet book to reflect on God’s grace. God’s grace is all about his incredible kindness shown to sinful people who don’t deserve it. God’s grace is all about Jesus dying in the place of sinners. God’s grace is all about being made alive with Christ.

Here’s how God’s grace helped me this morning to keep punching as bitterness reared its ugly face, I saw that:

  1. my sin is ugly before God (see Eph 2:1-3)
  2. God’s love expressed in Christ Jesus is beautiful and rich (see 2:4-5)
  3. the debt against me is far less than my incalculable debt against God
  4. grace now characterises my new life as one united with Christ (see ch 4-6)

(this post was written on monday, published on tuesday, then back-dated to monday!)

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3photos: Cafe Telegraph

On my way home from Tamworth, based on my brother’s strong endorsement, I stopped in at Cafe Telegraph. It’s at the north-western end of the small town Murrurundi. It’s a beautiful cafe, but the only time it’s open is for a limited window on Saturday and Sunday. My brother has been there once, but every time he drives through it’s closed! Not so for me. I haven’t tried them all, but I think it’s a safe bet that they make one of the best coffees along the New England highway. Likewise, their turnip falafel was all-time! Here are 3 photos I took there on my phone. Filtered with Format126 app.

Cafe Telegraph 1

see below for other two pics:

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Good times in Tamworth

On Friday night I MC’d the Re-generation youth event with Will Graham in Tamworth. Will preached a great sermon urging people to stop going the wrong way and start following Jesus. There were about 600-700 young punks there with 130 praying to become Christian!! So exciting. I had a really good time hanging out with Will and his buddy Jamey Wooten for lunch on Friday. Great guys and really encouraging hearing their stories and being encouraged by their faith in Jesus.

It was likewise good fun hanging out with the 3 bands: Jonnday; Chasing Bailey; and Compliments of Gus. They were all very good. Highly recommended!! (Keep an eye out for some of them in Free Music Friday)

Props to Dave Buster. He’s 18 and doing a gap year with St Peter’s Tamworth. He did an incredible job organising the night. He’s a young punk doing something.

See below the jump for tweets, pics and some video blogs from the trip:

Continue reading “Good times in Tamworth”

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The HSC Lockdown 2010

Youthworks, Crusaders and Scripture Union all run great study camps for year 12 students preparing for the HSC. They all include solid, disciplined blocks of study throughout the day, with a bit of time to reflect upon God and life after school. SU haven’t been running them for as long. Theirs are unique in that they are spread throughout Sydney and NSW and they are non-residential (which = way cheaper!).

Check out the website to find the nearest HSC Lockdown. If you’re a Christian student, this could be one of your last opportunities to invite your non-Christian friends along to something. And remember there’s more to life than the HSC!

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The most humbling, human-pride smashing message in the world

Josh Harris has posted an excerpt from his book Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters on Humble Orthodoxy (read my previous posts on this subject). In the post he speaks warmly of the way his friend Justin Taylor has embraced humble orthodoxy. If you haven’t heard of humble orthodoxy, it basically means – don’t be an arrogant Christian jerk. I need to hear this, maybe you do too…

Here’s a snippet:

Genuine orthodoxy–the heart of which is the death of God’s son for undeserving sinners–is the most humbling, human-pride smashing message in the world. And if we truly know the gospel of grace it will create in us a heart of humility and grace toward others. Francis Schaeffer, a Christian writer and thinker from the 20th century, modeled this kind of profound compassion. He genuinely loved people. And even as he analyzed and critiqued the culture he did so “with a tear in his eye.”

That is humble orthodoxy. It’s standing for truth with a tear in your eye. Telling your friend living in sexual sin that you love them even as you tell them their sexual preference is disobedient to God. It’s remembering that angry, unkind, opponents of the gospel are human beings created in the image of God who need the same mercy God has shown you.

Read the rest here