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To Know Christ

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness that of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” (Phil 3:7-11, ESV)  What was Paul’s ultimate aim, in his life and death? It wasn’t to look good; that is why he counted his impeccable Israelite heritage and his academic achievements as loss rather than gain. It wasn’t to be a suffering martyr. It wasn’t to convert as many people as he could. It wasn’t to preach the gospel to the ends of t...
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Recent posts

The creator of Sherlock Holmes promoted divorce?

  When I was at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory a few years ago, I came across this newspaper clipping - a piece by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle promoting “reform” of the divorce laws that existed at the time (ca. 1914). This was actually a shock to me, as I only knew Doyle through the Sherlock Holmes series - and although single, Sherlock stays within the social norms of a classic English gentleman.  Although I couldn't find the exact date, this newspaper piece wasn't a one-off case for Doyle; he was president of the Divorce Law Reform Union. He called the Separation Act of 1895 “the most ingenious Bill for producing immorality that could ever have been devised” and said that police magistrates that the lower classes were rotten through and through owing to this law. Doyle claimed that divorce was a deplorable cure for a deplorable state of things. Chaining a woman to a lunatic, drunkard or criminal for life was not conducive to human flourishing. His proposed ...
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Gospel of Mark Quotes & Scripture Graphics (Chapters 1-9)

This first 9 chapters of Mark focus on Jesus' ministry around the countryside of Judea, before he began to head toward Jerusalem for the final fateful Passover. These initial chapters highlight Jesus' character, power and message.  Please feel free to share, download and reproduce these Bible verse graphics/wallpapers. No attribution is required - all are freely given for the sake of the gospel.  “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” — a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”  Mark 1:2b-3 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  Mark 1:11 “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17b Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom ...
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Jeremiah: The Weeping Prophet

According to church tradition, the prophet Jeremiah was stoned to death   ““For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” I’m sure plenty of you are familiar with this verse - in fact, Jeremiah 29:11 is the best-known verse in the entire book of Jeremiah. Yet it seems at odds with the rest of the book, which is largely doom and gloom.  If you don’t know much about the prophet Jeremiah, he is often referred to as the “weeping prophet.” Do you think he felt like Jer 29:11 was true? This picture of a “weeping prophet” - someone with so much investment in God’s message and empathy for his fellow Israelites - is indeed a powerful picture of a sacrificial servant from the Old Testament. Today, we are going to take a look at Jeremiah and what we can learn about God’s call to each one of us to step up to the plate and become sacrificial servants.  What does sacrificial service look like? 1...
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Mary: A special call to surprise service

Today I would like to turn our minds to a unique example we have in the Scriptures of servanthood. It may not be among the first examples which come to mind when you are thinking of examples of God’s servants. But it certainly is a prime example - perhaps among the most important examples we have been given in the Bible.  I am talking about Mary - the mother of Jesus - and her special call to surprise service. Background We are not given a great deal of information about Mary. The first time we encounter her in the gospels, we learn that she was from Nazareth (Lk 1:26) and was betrothed to Joseph (Lk 1:27).  I think we all know that Nazareth was a small country village, but what surprised me when I first found out was how small it actually was. Archaeological excavations have shown that during the 1st century AD, Nazareth comprised of around 50 houses, with an estimated total population of 200 to 400 people.(1) It’s the kind of village where everyone would have known everyone ...
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How to add automatic Bible verse hyperlinks to Blogger

This is just a quick post outlining how I added automatic Bible verse hyperlinks to my Blogger website. The idea behind this is that it will automatically pick up any text which appears as a reference to a passage of Scripture (e.g. Eph 1:5) and will show a pop-up box displaying the full verse text.  There are a number of free plugins which are specifically designed for this. A few that I found when I went looking were BibleLink , BLB ScriptTagger by Blue Letter Bible, and Bible Gateway's Ref Tag Tool .  In the end, I went with the Blue Letter Bible plugin because it looked the simplest to add to my website and it was the first one that I tried that worked. I also like how the Blue Letter Bible site incorporates a bunch of other features (e.g. lexicons) which makes it very convenient for the reader if they want to dive deep into specific words in the verse.  If you also want to add automatic Bible verse hyperlinks to your Blogger website, here are the steps to follow:...
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King Josiah: The young servant leader

King Josiah stamping out idolatry by burning the bones of the false priests Today I’d like to take you back to the year 640 BC, to the city of Jerusalem - the royal city of King David. But by this time David had been dead for 330 years, and things had changed dramatically. A lot can happen in three centuries. If you want to compare it to Australia’s history, consider that the First Fleet arrived here in 1788, only 237 years ago. Think of how much has changed since then - both for good and for bad.  So it has been three centuries since the heyday of the combined kingdom under David and then under Solomon. The northern kingdom of Israel has been scattered and in captivity since the Assyrians invaded there 80 years prior. The largely desolate land to the north - where the nation of Israel used to be - stands as a stark reminder of God’s judgement. And yet the people living in Judah haven’t paid attention to this message; in fact, by this time they were living even more wicked lives th...
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