Together ...
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Together
In last week’s blog I put forward the biblical view that our identity is formed by our relationships, in the first place in relationship with our Creator and essentially in our relationship with Christ.
Our primary identity is as children of God because we are in Christ and have been given the Spirit of the Son so that we call God our Father.
Does this mean that our other identity markers have been abolished? That male and female distinctions no longer apply? Does it mean that the Bible was way ahead of the progressives and we didn’t know it? Read more
Finding myself. Narrowing down or relating out? ...
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Finding myself. Narrowing down or relating out?
A recent report told of the removal of gender categories in Australia's major music awards “in order to make the competition more inclusive...”
“There will be no Best Male Artist or Best Female Artist categories at the ARIAs this November, organisers said. Instead, an award for Best Artist will replace the two...”
This change is in line with a significant movement in the western world to do with gender identity. Part of the change has been in the way people are taught to understand themselves. A major part of this change has been a move away from material and biological ways of identifying oneself, towards an inner psychological understandng of the self. Read more.
Free with the Truth ...
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Free with the Truth
Living in the Last Days involves a lot of contact with lies and deception. Sometimes in the church itself and a lot of the time outside it. Jesus encouraged his hearers to obey what he taught. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8.31-32)
Tricking Christians is often done by other Christians. Nowadays there are many media that share deceptions about the Christian faith. The preventative, according to Paul, was the truth of the gospel shared among the believers. Read more ....
Heart Problems Psalm 51
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{podcast id=691}
Heart Problems Psalm 51
Sermon preached by Dale Appleby for All Saints Jakarta Sunday September 5, 2021
Bible Readings: Psalm 51
YouTube video of this sermon can be seen here
A written text of the sermon can be found here.
Confident Hope: Terrifying Fear ...
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Confident Hope: Terrifying Fear...
The prophet Habakkuk saw a time when what looked like a disaster would come. It is easy to identify with his feelings of fear and uncertainty. It is possible also to identify with his confidence. Confidence that God was still in control of everything. Listen to Habakkuk:
16 I heard and my heart pounded,
my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
and my legs trembled.
Whose Truth?
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Whose Truth?
"What is truth?"
"You can't handle the truth!"
"The truth shall set you free."
How many truth quotes do you know? And is the statement of Epimenides the Cretan true, "Cretans are always liars."? (Titus 1.12).
Truth is increasingly cancelled out these days in favour of the views of whichever dominant voices shout the loudest. Does this matter? Can ideas become accepted by the old fashioned method of warfare. Whoever is loudest and strongest wins? It does seem so.
It is part of the idealogical battle being fought in western countries at the moment. A battle that unsettles many because, just like a civil war, one always has to be on one's toes to see how the battle is going and which side to side with. This is made worse by the continuing changes in the issues that the battles seem to be about.
For the battle is not just about any one issue. It seems to be a battle about unsettling all claims to truth, and even personal opinion, in favour of a culture dominated by an unstable Mind. Or a destabilising Mind.
The battle takes away the foundations of reason and truth in favour of a free-floating opinion world. It hijacks important social questions and cancels out any rational or civil discussion of them. It uses loud shouting that makes people feel guilty without the opportunity to a fair hearing. It is a slave society.
Christians on the other hand know true truth from Jesus. We know his gospel as freedom that sets people really free. How do such claims to truth survive in a culture that rejects truth? They survive and have power because of the Creator.
The world we live in has been made by the Creator with a purpose. It has been made for humans to live in and enjoy. We have been made to be friends with the Creator.
So we expect that when things go the way the Creator intended, life will be better and happier. And when the Creator’s purposes and ways of living are rejected then life will be unhappy and messed up.
When the truth shines into the messed up place, it makes sense because it fits the world God created. The undermining of rationality doesn’t change the real world. The truth of Jesus fits the world in a way that the unstable culture doesn’t.
So we don’t need to be afraid, or uncertain, about the gospel. It makes sense because it brings people to know the one whom God has made the ruler of this world. It is an exact fit for people who live in the real world.
Becoming disciples of Jesus is the start of true life.
Dale
Face to Face Psalm 27
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{podcast id=690}
Face to Face Psalm 27
Sermon preached by Dale Appleby for All Saints Jakarta Sunday August 22, 2021
Bible Readings: Psalm 27
YouTube video of this sermon can be seen here