Forget the Channel: lionelwindsor.net
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Welcoming children
One of the quirks of being a Christian minister associated with an historic building like St Michael’s Wollongong is that I end up officiating at a lot of weddings. However I recently attended a wedding as a guest with no official capacity. It was full of joy and wonderful testimonies to the grace and love…
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The greater judgement
I’ve often been intrigued by James 3:1. Here is a rather literal translation of the verse from the New King James version: My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (Jas 3:1 NKJV) The question that intrigues me is this: who are the ‘we’ who shall…
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Countering nowism
It’s been interesting to follow the comments on Tony’s post about the ethics of everyday evangelism. Tony makes a helpful point: rather than getting caught up with the question of whether we must evangelize, it’s far more useful to ask how we can encourage, inspire and equip more Christians to talk about Jesus with their friends. In this…
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Word Works Conference – John’s Gospel
On July 11-12 I spoke at the second Malaysian Word Works conference. You can download the lectures, Q&A times and sample sermon here: What is John’s Gospel? Lecture 1 What is John’s Gospel For? Lecture 2 The Revelation of the Glory of the Father through the Son (and the Spirit) Lecture 3 Sample Sermon: Truly…
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Nowism
There is an insidious and dangerous teaching that I’ve noticed creeping into my church, threatening my Christian hope, and stifling my evangelistic effectiveness. Up to this point, it hasn’t had a catchy title.[1. The theologians have a boring name for it: ‘overrealized eschatology’.] But I want to correct that. I’m going to call this teaching ‘nowism’,…
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A Very Special Tent
I’ve just finished reading C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to my daughter. It’s a book full of wonderful parables and analogies to the gospel. At one point, when the children in the story are discussing Aslan (the lion character who represents Jesus Christ), the youngest child Lucy asks, “Then isn’t he safe?”…
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Mortification
The story of the Bible can be summarized in two words: death and resurrection. Ultimately, the story of the Bible is about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the core of the story we call the ‘gospel’. But this basic story also finds its expression in many different…
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On love and blogging
A wise man once said, “Before you criticize anyone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you’ll be a mile away, and you’ll have their shoes.” Corny joking aside, I’ve been having a bit of a think about our Policy for comments on this blog—especially number 3: the comments should…
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What makes you angry?
There was a surprising level of anger in our Bible study group the other night.
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Why we must be seeker sensitive
The phrase ‘seeker sensitive’ has dropped out of fashion recently. For those who haven’t heard the phrase, the idea of a ‘seeker sensitive service’ is a church gathering that focuses on the desires and needs of ‘spiritual seekers’—non-Christians with a thirst for knowing more about God. It aims to do everything possible to make it…
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Sola Scriptura
Life is full of decisions. Where do I go on holidays? What job should I choose? What should I have for dinner? Which side of the bed should I get out of? Should I get out of bed at all? Making decisions is a fundamental part of being human; we can’t avoid it, and we…
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Do you believe in the power of prayer?
During the past 25 years, numerous medical studies have been conducted to try to measure whether prayer has any beneficial effects on patient recovery. The experiments usually involve two randomly assigned groups of patients, and a group of ‘pray-ers’. The ‘pray-ers’ are asked to pray for the recovery of one group of patients, but not…
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Batman reveals his identity
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Being Ministers of God
A series of three reflections on how the “servant” concept in the book of Isaiah can inform and give shape to our ministry. Delivered to Moore Theological College students on 23-24 February, 2008. The Minister and the Ministers The Suffering and Joy of the Minister The Wisdom of the Minister Power point file with visual…
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The wisdom of the minister
Part 3 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.
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The Suffering and Joy of the Minister
Part 2 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.
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The Minister and the Ministers
Part 1 in the series “Being Ministers of God: Reflections on the Servant concept in Isaiah.” Moore College 2nd Year 2008 Houseparty, Wollongong Surf Leisure Resort, Fairy Meadow, 23-24 February 2008. Power point file with visual aids also available.
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Address at the Funeral of C. Lionel Windsor (28 Nov 1916 – 18 Feb 2008)
Address at the Funeral of C. Lionel Windsor 28 Nov 1916 – 18 Feb 2008 Based on Psalm 46 Lionel Windsor Jnr, 21 June 2008 St Stephen’s Anglican Church Kurrajong As far as I can tell, I am now the only remaining Lionel Windsor in Australia, and I am so proud to own the name…
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Addiction and Romans 6
In response to my sermon last night, I had a helpful comment that I thought it would be good to share. In my sermon, I said: When we talk about these things [i.e. alcohol, prostitutes, cravings to be beautiful, immoral fantasies, pornography, food binges], we often use the word ‘addiction’, don’t we? That word can…
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Christmas Letter 2007
The Windsor family Christmas letter 2007 is available as a PDF document with low resolution photos and high resolution photos.
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New Heavens and New Earth (Revelation 21:1)
What does ‘New heavens and New Earth’ mean? The “New Heavens and New Earth” is a way of saying a “whole new creation”. It’s not trying to draw a distinction between Heavens and Earth; rather it’s trying to say “a new everything”. The phrase “Heavens and earth” by itself are the Bible’s way of saying…
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Overpopulation
“With regard to ‘filling the earth and subduing it’, do you think that Christians also have a responsibility to the earth and its strained resources? I.e. is it possible for Christians to have ‘too many’ kids? (Is the earth overpopulated and strained; how much should we consider this?)” The answer to this question is ‘yes’…
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The fulfilment of Isaiah 6
Mike Cowie is leading a Bible study that’s working through the book of Isaiah. Having just studied Isaiah chapter 6, he had a question. He wrote: We discussed the purpose in Isaiah’s message. Why would God want to harden people to prevent them from repenting? – reminiscent of God’s work in Pharaoh prior to the…
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Philippians 3:12-4:1
Here are the answers to some questions from my recent sermon on Philippians 3:12-4:1. Question 1 It kind of seemed like you were implying that there are people here at church who are better than others – “Better Christians”. Who are these growing people? It’s important to remember that all Christians have equal status in…
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Malachi 2:10-16 and the ‘Offspring of God’
I think this is one example of where biblical theology is really important in understanding a Bible passage. Did you notice that in the passage, the idea of the ‘covenant’ crops up twice – once in verse 10 (the ‘covenant of our fathers’) and once in verse 14, referring to the marriage covenant between a…
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