Category: Jesus

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Jesus Hates Religion – SUEU Campus 2011

I’ll be joining Steve Chong and Andy Judd preaching at the Sydney University Evangelical Union over the next 3 weeks. I’ll be speaking on 3 consecutive Tuesdays about the topic: Jesus Hates Religion. Here’s a promo vid, yes, I’m smelling Sam’s teddy bear:

Here’s a blurby thing:

At EU Public Meetings in weeks 6, 7 and 8, we’re going to have guest speakers talking on the topic of ‘Jesus Hates Religion”. Come along and invite your friends!

Tuesday: Dave Miers @ New Law LT 1-2pm
Wednesday: Andy Judd @ Quad General LT 1-2pm
Thursday: Steve Chong @ Eastern Ave LT 1-2pm (upstairs)

I’m praying that peeps will start following Jesus. Amen! See you there.

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THINK by John Piper

John Piper writes books quicker than I can read them. But I still try! I thoroughly enjoyed one of his recent books: Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God. Here’s part of the official blurb from the publisher, Crossway: “We often pit thinking and feeling against each other, especially when it comes to the Christian experience. Glorifying God with our minds and hearts, however, is not either-or, but both-and. Focusing on the life of the mind will help you to know God better, love him more, and care for the world.”

Here’s a promo video for the book:

In Think Piper has two biblical texts that form the main point of the book. 2 Timothy 2:7 – “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything” (ESV) and Proverbs 2:3-6 – “…if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding…” (ESV)

Continue reading “THINK by John Piper”

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Do We Really Believe What We’re Saying?

I recently blogged on the controversy surrounding the release of Rob Bell’s new book Love Wins and the Harsh Reality of Hell. As yet, I haven’t read Bell’s book, but from reading other reviews and watching his interview and book launch, it seems that Bell has stepped away from an orthodox, historical understanding of hell. See all of Justin Taylor’s recent posts mentioning “hell” and also read Kevin DeYoung’s comprehensive review of the book.

No-one in the Reformed Evangelical camp is particularly rattled by Bell’s denial of historic Christianity. It has been argued that Bell has been on this theological trajectory for some time. That’s what makes the following video from David Platt so useful. In it he argues that while we may be opposed to “intellectual universalism”, in reality we often live as “functional universalists”. We say we believe in the reality of hell yet our lives look no different. See it below (or click here if you can’t see it).

What a challenge!

We don’t have time to play games with our lives
We don’t have time to play games in the church
We have a mission that demands radical urgency

Check out David Platt’s blog and his incredible book Radical.

Vid from this blog post.

Find out more about what Christians believe.

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Youth Ministry Papers: Small Groups Part 1

I’m planning on producing a youth ministry training paper most Wednesday’s throughout the year. These papers will be discussed at our Soulies weekly leaders meeting. Anyone is welcome to interact in the comments. Click here to access archive.

The Aim of Soulies Small Groups

Soulies comes in 3 handy sized packages: Large (Soulies United yr 7-12); Medium (Soulies Junior Crew yr 7-9 + Soulies Senior Crew yr10-12); and Small (Soulies Small Groups). How do we roll at Soulies? Whether we’re small, medium or large, we want to be a community who: Love Jesus; Love Jesus’ People; Love Jesus’ World. Small Groups are an amazing opportunity for young punks to grow in their 3 loves. The medium and large gatherings are great, but so much can be done in smaller intimate groups! Our small groups are: an opportunity to grow in our worship and discipleship of Jesus; a great chance to actively serve and love fellow brothers and sisters; and encourage each other to love Jesus’ world through evangelism and social justice.

Our Small Groups Aren’t “Bible Studies”

…but we do study the Bible! While spending time studying the Bible is at the heart of what we do together, it’s not all that we do. God’s Word is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17 NIV) – so we want to let God’s Spirit do His work as we study the Bible. But we also want to make sure that our small group time is not just an academic exercise. So there are 3 others things we want to be doing regularly: SHARING, SUPPLICATING, SOCIALISING.

Continue reading “Youth Ministry Papers: Small Groups Part 1”

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10 Family-Friendly Youth Ministry Ideas

Doug Fields has been a long time champion of creating family-friendly youth ministry. I’ve valued gleaning wisdom from his books. He has just completed a 3 part series with 10 ideas on how to keep your youth ministry friendly for families. Good stuff. Check it out:

  1. Give em dates
  2. End on time
  3. Get em talking
  4. Keep em home
  5. Talk em up
  6. Speak good words
  7. Teach em more
  8. Keep costs down
  9. Watch their calendar
  10. Invite em along

Check out the 3 posts for an explanation of each: one; two; three.

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Doubt will not have the last word

Andrew Errington has written a really useful post on “doubt”. He says that doubt is spoken about too little. I agree and know that many Christians have doubts at different times. Andrew’s post is helpful if you have doubts or as you minister to those who do.

  1. Doubt is not good.
  2. Yet doubt happens to Christians.
  3. Doubt is not denial
  4. Doubt is spiritual
  5. Doubt is not just spiritual
  6. Doubt is hard
  7. Doubts have a tendency to multiply
  8. Doubt saps our strength for service
  9. Doubt can be used for good
  10. Doubt will not have the last word

Check out his blog post for detail on each point.