Latest Ideas

• John McClean
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• 22 February 2016

In the ancient world, when a great king made a covenant with his people, the document included an account of history (scholars call it the historical prologue). The king underlined what he had done for his subjects, how he protected them, and so reminded them why they owed him loyalty.

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• Stephen Liggins
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• 19 February 2016

I have a theory—admittedly it’s a little controversial, but I still think it holds good. It concerns jokes. In my opinion, jokes have a life-cycle of three stages. Stage 1 covers the first few times you tell it; it’s extremely funny, and you’re the life of the party. Stage 2 covers those situations where you continue to tell that same joke, and it all starts to get a bit boring.

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• Sandy Grant
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• 17 February 2016

Sandy Grant's links of the weeks include discussion on anti-bullying schemes in schools, quiet time with God on loud days, the passing of a Christian Aboriginal, death and the prosperity gospel, Jesus and women, and praying for Richard Dawkins.

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• Jess Sheely
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• 16 February 2016

A fantastic result of doing a ministry apprenticeship has been the time spent reading the Bible with interested non-Christians. This has been a humbling experience, as I’ve faced the seemingly obvious fact that I am unable to change someone’s heart and their opinion about Jesus. However, we serve a powerful God who loves to save and has given us his Word, which is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:15).

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• Stephen George
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• 15 February 2016

Last week I saw the pre-release of the movie Risen, and as I walked out of the cinema I thought to myself, “I can’t believe we are about to let a massive evangelistic opportunity pass us by unnoticed”.

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• Sandy Grant
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• 12 February 2016

Not long ago an older retired ministry colleague of mine apologized for not responding sooner to a letter I'd sent him many months prior. He explained that he'd had major physical and mental health issues, and recently a bit of improvement, just a bit.

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• Sandy Grant
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• 10 February 2016

Sandy Grant's links on busyness, sermon preparation, witnessing to Muslims, the "liar, Lord or lunatic" argument, evangelism, and evangelicalism.

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• Hannah Ploegstra
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• 9 February 2016

It’s too bad Genesis 1-2 has become a battleground for the creation/evolution debate. Christians use this section of Scripture as ammunition against unbelievers who claim the world was not created or that there is no God. We’ve turned it into a textbook, teasing out words and phrases that provide a ‘biblical science’ for our side of the debate.

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• David Phillips
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• 8 February 2016

In Luke 4:16, Jesus comes to Nazareth, to the synagogue in the town where he’d been brought up. He stands up to read, someone gives him a scroll, he unrolls it and finds a particular verse, gives the scroll back to the attendant, and sits back down.

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• Tim Grant
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• 4 February 2016

A number of my friends were recently ‘priested’. They took part in a sacred ceremony while wearing strange garments and, standing before the bishop of the land, were consecrated as priests in the church of God.

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