Monthly Archives: August 2020

       The other day I read a comment from John Piper which is an insight into one of the ways that everyone, believers and unbelievers alike, lives their life.        We praise what we enjoy because the delight is incomplete until it is expressed in praise.        Just think about the ordinary activities of life. People attend (or, at the moment!) watch football games. The full expression of their delight is in cheering (praising) their team when it kicks a…..

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       Great is Thy Faithfulness is one of the best known Christian hymns. Yet it has a strange origin.        Lament has been the cry of people throughout history in times of disaster.        In the present coronavirus predicament there is plenty about which to express lament. It is a passionate expression of grief or regret. There are family or friends who have died or are sick, massive inconvenience to employment and daily living, the restrictions on freedom of movement,…..

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As Melbourne and Victoria entered six weeks of Stage 3 and 4 COVID lockdowns, six members of The Gospel Coalition in Australia, Victoria Committee were asked how they’re praying for their city and State – prayers for Victoria we might all like to take up over the coming weeks. ‘I’m praying for three things. First, that God will have mercy on us and bring relief to the many people who are stressed, anxious and suffering. Second, that God will use…..

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Notice, finally, that it was expedient for the fortifying of faith. This is immeasurably important. Jesus knew the terrible hazards His cause would have to meet. He foresaw the deadly menace of the ruthless principalities and powers. He knew that history, right on to the end of time, would fling the frightful challenge of the trumpeting success of fraud and force and arrogant wickedness full in the face of those who trusted in righteousness and truth and love. Is not…..

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Notice, in the third place, that it was expedient for the energising of evangelism. Take the magnificent metaphor in which Paul expressed the function and responsibility of the early Church: ‘Ye are the Body of Christ.’ Obviously, if their Master had not passed into the unseen, that challenging conception could never have arisen. Had He tarried in their midst, a visible presence, It could never have occurred to them to say that they were Christ’s eyes, to look out in…..

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Notice, in the second place, that it was expedient for the universalising of the Gospel. Consider how Christianity began. A Child is born to a peasant woman; a young Man toils at a bench; half a dozen fishermen suddenly leave their boats and nets; among a few out-of-the-way villages a fire of religious revival is kindled, flares up, and dies away; a table is spread for a family meal in an upper room; in the obscurity of a wooded glade…..

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J S Stewart was regarded as one of the greatest preachers (and scholars) of the twentieth century. His sermons have been preserved. I will provide this one in four parts. From time to time, I will include others in this blog. These sermons were written before or during World War II. ‘He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and…..

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       As most of us know, the ‘news’ on the commercial television stations is aimed at the intelligence of a 12 year-old. The ‘news’ on ABC and SBS television is so biased that it is virtually left-wing propaganda. The only ‘news’ having some sense of evenness and intellectual credibility occurs on ‘SkyNews’ via Foxtel. Because not everyone can (or wants to) afford Foxtel, they are deprived of sensible information about what is going on in our world.        Allen Mendelhall,…..

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