Fish Must Fish
Jesus makes disciples who make disciples (Matthew 4:18–22). Cruise liner or battleship? Rest home or fort? Resort or gymnasium? What is the Christian Church supposed to be? Though our forebears […]
Book Review: ‘Sing!’
Review: The Sing! Hymnal Keith & Kristyn Getty, Creators and Chief Editors. Crossway: Wheaton IL, 2025. 1,020 pages. $42.99. When I started pastoring my new church in 2023 the congregation […]
A Most Spectacular Misidentification
She thought he was the gardener (John 20:11-18). John’s history of Jesus’ Resurrection, Easter 2026. Jesus’ crucifixion was unjust, violent, shameful. Having obtained Pilate’s permission, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus […]
What Lies at the Heart of the Bondi Massacre
Australian flags fly at half mast and we grieve. Yesterday a father and son took hunting rifles and shotguns, stood on a raised bridge, and opened fire upon Jewish families […]
The Law of Lamech and Larry David
The Law of Lamech and Larry David “Forget God’s will, let’s do what we like, but cross me at your peril.” Larry David was co-creator and head writer for the […]
Who is the Archangel Michael?
The mysterious angel Michael is mentioned five times in the Bible. So as much as I would like to ignore him because I don’t quite know what to do with […]
How to Present Your Sermon Really Well
How to Present Your Sermon Really Well The basics of good and bad sermon delivery Like every skill worth doing, good preaching requires sustained study, effort, practice, self-evaluation, and a […]
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, part 4
Max Leenhaardt (1853–1941), Assemblée du Désert In 1685 Louis XIV banned Protestant life and worship in France. His Revocation of the Edict of Nantes ordered that Protestant temples – church buildings – be “incessamment […]
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, part 3
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, Part 3 Sit and gaze at the work of Christ Jesus is coming for dinner. Yes, the LORD! Sweep and scrub, set out cups and plates, […]
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, Part 2
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, Part 2 God the Father and the Person of God the Son I was fifteen when I first saw those creepy life-size models of famous people, […]
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, 1
Celebrating the Nicene Creed, Part 1 Christians confess their faith in God as He Is This year (2025) marks seventeen centuries since the writing of the Nicene Creed which is, with the […]
Book Review: How Christians Can Succeed Today
Review of Greg Sheridan, How Christians Can Succeed Today: Reclaiming the Genius of the Early Church, Allen & Unwin, 2025. In the Lord of the Rings the elves give Frodo […]
Review of ‘For a New Reformation’
Review of Derek Thomas and John Tweeddale (eds), John Calvin: For a New Reformation, Crossway, 2019, 567 pages. “It’s always better to read Calvin than about Calvin.” My old pastor […]
Blood & Water: What the Heart of Jesus teaches us about Sanctification
The Apostle John stood on Golgotha and watched Jesus die in agony. He heard him say “It is finished” and watched his head drop at the moment of his death. He saw […]
An Anzac Meditation
The Australian war correspondent Charles Bean (below, 1879–1968) landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, within hours of the first wave. There he was shot in the leg and mentioned […]
Book review: ‘The Long Road Home’
Review of Sarah Walton, The Long Road Home, illustrated by Christina Yang, Wheaton: Crossway, 2024. Of the seven elders in my last pastorate, three were engineers and one was a […]