Salvation is all of grace and all of God. Life must come from God before the sinner can arise from the grave.Joel R. Beeke, Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2008), 137.I doubt I will ever forget the moment when my whole view of salvation changed. I was in our lounge room. Reading. I think Allita was making dinner or something like t...  Read More

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.1 Thessalonians 5:11Last Wednesday we began a discussion about friendship. In this digital, global, high-paced and stressful age, true friendship has never felt harder to find or maintain. But what does the Bible say about friendship? And specifically for today, what does it say about who we should be friends wi...  Read More

25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.Matthew 11:25-26One of the realities of the modern world, social media and a global economy is a greater awareness of just how intelligent some other people are. Whe...  Read More

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing    by taking the very nature of a servant,    being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man,    he humbled himself    by becoming obedient to death— ...  Read More

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all tha...  Read More

34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.Matthew 10:34Have you ever heard this verse before? It’s not one of the more culturally popular statements of Jesus. We like Prince of Peace, we like blessed are the peacemakers. But hang on, how does that work? If Jesus is also those things, how can He say here, I did not come to bring peac...  Read More

3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.2 Thessalonians 1:3A week ago a bunch of us were able to spend a weekend together at Church Camp. It was a wonderful time of coming together to look at the Bible and what the Bible says about the Bible as well as a hel...  Read More

The centrality of Christ is the foundation of the Protestant faith. Luther said that Jesus Christ is the “center and circumference of the Bible”—meaning that who He is and what He did in His death and resurrection is the fundamental content of Scripture.Joel R. Beeke, Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism (Lake Mary, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2008), 140.It was Nicolas Copern...  Read More

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,          and the pleasantness of a friend          springs from their heartfelt advice. Proverbs 27:9Making and maintaining friendships must be one of the most important and yet hardest parts of life. Particularly as you get older and as responsibilities pile up. And our cultural situation hasn’t helped. As many have noted - we have lots of connections b...  Read More

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealo...  Read More

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothing    by taking the very nature of a servant,    being made in human likeness.Philippians 2:5-7We are memorising Philippians 2:5-11. It’s an incredibly important passage of Scr...  Read More

33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ 34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair w...  Read More