The Afterword

Tag: bible

  • The Word I’d Ban (For Now)

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    Peter
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    If you could permanently ban a word from general usage,which one would it be? Why? It’s just a word, right? A throwaway word.A quick word.A word people use all the time and think nothing of. So why get worked up about one word? Because words are not nothing. Because words shape what we see.Because words…

  • Blessed in the Dust – Matthew 5:17-32

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    Jesus sits downand says to burdened people,Blessed. Blessed?Under Rome?Under law?Under shame?Under the endless need to prove ourselves? They know the weight of commandments,the crushing pressure of getting it right.And Jesus says:I have not come to abolish the Law,but to fulfil it.Not a dot will be lost. No wonder they slump in the dust. We know…

  • #Blessed – Matthew 5:7-12

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    Do you want to live a blessed life—not the sunset-caption kind,not the #blessed kind,but the steady goodnessof God’s kindnessfinding you in the ordinary? I didn’t have language for it.I knew God—Scripture, church, study—but enjoying God felt like a foreign country.And then Jesus sits on a hillsideand says Blessed—not as a reward you earn,but as a…

  • A Life I Inhabit – Matthew 5:1-6

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    Peter
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    I remember the mountain,not because I was there,but because its shapestill presses into the imagination: the climb,the gathered crowd,the teacher sitting down—not to perform,but to name realityand call a people into it. Not a checklist.Not a Sunday add-on. A kingdom announcement. After the gardenwe learned too much—love and hate,good and evil,kindness and crueltyall housed in…

  • Psalm 23 at Finkenwalde

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    Peter
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    In the 1930spower wanted more than politics.It wanted minds.It wanted Jesus remadein the Führer’s image. So the Confessing Church went underground.Bonhoeffer opened a seminary at Finkenwalde—a community of discipleshipwith prayer, meditation, shared life—and across the lakea Hitler Youth camp shaped leadersfor a different kingdom. What do you dowhen formation is the battleground?They prayed the Psalms.Morning:…

  • Petros

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    Peter
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    Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc. The name Peter comes from the Greek Πέτρος (Petros), meaning “rock” or “stone.” It’s one of those names with an instant personality attached to it: steady, solid, dependable. It also how the ancient city of Petra got its name — same Greek word, different purpose.…

  • The Parade of Opinions – Psalm 8

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    Peter
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    David didn’t Google.No TikTok prophets, no expert panels—only a sky that hadn’t learned to sell itself,only darkness doing honest workso the lights could speak. “A time is coming…”St Anthony’s warning drifts through my centurywhen madness becomes normaland the not-mad are called mad. Who am I?What is my place in the world? Before that, another questionlike…

  • Known – Psalm 139

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    Peter
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    This is many people’s favourite psalm—and of course it is:psalms are basically songs,and songs are what we dowhen the facts aren’t enough. As a musician I’m more melody than lyric,because lyrics are hard.So I listen to Psalm 139 like a song,it was born out of anxiety.David was fleeing for his life—and yet he starts with…

  • A Light Has Dawned – Isaiah 9:2-7

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    Peter
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    Long before Google,before WhatsApp, Messenger,before the soft tyranny of notifications—no ping, no buzz, no banner across a screen—a message came,not broadcast, not algorithmic,but carried quietly,wrapped in a name. Not everyone received it.Some were in the dark. Isaiah stood eight hundred yearsbefore the first Christmasand dared to say it:A light has dawned. Who were these people?A…

  • In Season and Out – 2 Timothy 4

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    Peter
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    Preach the Word of GodStand in the square like a town crier,with no message of your own.Not what you think is there,not what people want to hear,but what the Word already says. Charles Simeon knew this.Locked pews.Locked doors.Chairs dragged into aisles.Preaching outsideto people who wished he wouldn’t.Thirty years of resistanceand a sentence carved into wood:Let…

  • Finding My Voice

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    Peter
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    Have you ever performed on stage or given a speech? It’s been a funny journey for me. I’m quiet and reflective by nature, not the sort of person who stands up in public and speaks eloquently with minimal preparation. But somewhere along the way, I discovered that being quiet doesn’t mean having nothing to say.…

  • Stand Firm – 1 Peter 5:6–14

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    Peter
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    Stand firm.The words rise like an ancient tree in the mind—the kind that has seen centuries come and go,its roots sunk deep into the earth,holding fast while storms tear across the ridgeand whole generations pass like mist.It remains steadywhere everything else shifts. To stand firm is firstto rest under God’s mighty hand.Humility isn’t instinctive,especially when…

  • A Leadership Podcast – 1 Peter 5:1-5

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    When you look across history,you see the pattern—good leaders steady the ground beneath us.Workplaces flourish under good bosses,families grow under gentle parents,whole nations rise when wise handsguide the wheel. And the opposite is also true:harsh, domineering, or careless leadersscatter harm in every direction. The church knows this too.We bear scars from shepherdswho forgot the flock,who…

  • An Opportunity to Serve Him – 1 Peter 3:8–22

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    In some corners of the worldto follow You is to risk everything—a North Korean labour camp,a Somali beating,a Yemeni home where owning a Bibleis a dangerous act.One in seven of Your peopleknows this intimately. Even here,where streets are safeand speech is free,faith can still feel costly—misunderstood,dismissed,pushed to the edges.And when pressure rises,many of us bend,blend…

  • Strength Under Control – 1 Peter 2:18 – 3:7

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    Peter
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    We are called to live differently—not with defiance,but with the quiet courageof those who trust God’s handmore than their own defence. Do your friends see anything different about you?Not the words you say,but the way you live:how you work when no one praises you,how you love when it is not returned,how you stay gentle when…

  • A Conversation with Time

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    Peter
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    What will your life be like in three years? Peter: So, Time, they say the next three years could bring the biggest changes of my life. Time: They often do, if you’re paying attention. Peter: My current role finishes in two years. After that, retirement. A new rhythm. Maybe even a quieter purpose. Time: Retirement…

  • Who Wants To Be  A Trillionaire? – 1 Peter 1:13-25

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    Peter
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    Elon Musk has not yet become a trillionaire.Halfway there, they say —five hundred billion reasonsto keep going.More than the worth of a hundred and sixty nations,and still, he worksone hundred and twenty hours a week.What drives a manwho already owns the world? What motivates you?What keeps your mind awake at night,or sends you running before…

  • When I Think of Success

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    Peter
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    When you think of the word “successful,”who’s the first person that comes to mind and why? The first person who comes to mind is Paul Barnett, who served as the second Master of Robert Menzies College from 1980 to 1990 before becoming the Anglican Bishop of North Sydney. He recently turned ninety, and though his…

  • Exiles with a Living Hope – 1 Peter 1:1-12

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    Peter
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    All around the world,our brothers and sisters suffer—imprisoned, beaten, killed.Twelve churches attacked each day.Four thousand four hundred people killedthis year alonebecause they named the name of Jesus. We are strangers here,foreigners in our own land,and it feels strange because it is.We do not quite belong.Our neighbours say, Yeah, nah,and laugh,while we feel the tug of…

  • What Happens When I Die?  – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

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    One hundred questions,and a third were about death.Is heaven real?Is hell real?What happens when I die? Not many of us like to ask it.Google asks about our digital assets,I don’t care about my emails—I do care about my soul. Four theories walk beside me:You rot.You are recycled.You are weighed on the scales of justice.You wake…