You Don't Need Wings Or Red Bull To Fly

Last night at our Home Group BBQ, it just so happened that down the end of the table where I happened to be sitting there was a vigorous discussion happening about alternate realities. This, at times fiery, discussion debated whether the Bourne Trilogy (Bourne Identity, Bourne Ultimatum, Bourne Supremacy) was a docu-drama based on reality (my contention) or just sheer fantasy based on an alternate reality (everyone else’s contention). Things got particularly heated when we began discussing whether Narniareally existed or was, again, an alternate reality. I can only wonder what sparks would have flown if we had gone into the centuries long debate which has pitted philosopher against philosopher whether Clark Kent (A.K.A. Kal-El) belonged to this reality or some alternate reality. If there’s anything we learn from the story of Kal-El, it’s that you don’t need wings or Red Bull to fly – as long as you continually renew your strength.

And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
 I would fly away and be at rest;
Psalm 55:6

When Lois Lane was asked what she knew about Superman (Kal-El) she stated that he was from the planet Krypton, that he could fly, and he renewed his strength from the Sun. In the docu-drama, Superman Returns, we see Kal-El taking time out from saving people and averting disasters by flying out of earth’s atmosphere and basking in sunlight to renew his strength.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

We each have different categories of strengths. Each of these strengths need renewing. For example, our physical strength needs hydrating, nourishing, and rest. Our mental strength needs stimulating, instructing, and musing. Our spiritual strength needs to worship, to pray, to meditate on God and His Word. 

¶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
Second Corinthians 4:16

After discovering that my spine was severely degenerated, I learned that spines need renewing. Sports scientists now teach elite sports people how to care for and renew their spines through proper hydration, active warm-ups, warm-downs, proper stretching, and use of a back roll. I’ve just spent 4 days on my back, largely unable to move, because I have spent too many years ignoring these elements of renewal. 

There is of course a more valuable spiritual application in all this talk about alternate realities and back care. Our souls need to be continually renewed. As Kim reminded us all last Sunday, this requires maintenance. But spiritual maintenance, Kim said, was different to regular maintenance – for each time we do spiritual maintenance we grow.

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.
Colossians 3:10

ONE OF THOSE BEAUTIFUL THINGS

One of the beautiful things about what Christ does in a believer is allowing us to see the world the way it actually is (Eph. 1:18). The Scriptures declare that those outside of Christ are blind (2Cor. 4:4). They cannot see the real world – they are virtually living in an alternate reality. While our Home Group BBQ discussed alternate realities last night, we also reflected on the reality that life is short and death is certain, yet so few people prepare for it. While we can get our finances in order, our health care plan in order, too few people take the time to get their souls in order by the daily renewing of their hearts and minds in Christ.

¶ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1-2

Even Superman has to take regular time out and renew his strength in the glory of the Sun. Even the True Superman took time out from the demands of a needy world to renew His strength by coming aside to be with His Father (Matthew 14:23). How much more then do we need renewing? While Kal-El renewed his strength from the radiance of the Sun, we renew ours from the radiance of the Son. Like the dripping wet and weary Peter meeting the resurrected Christ for an impromptu fish breakfast on the shores of the Galilee having just unsuccessfully fished all night, his strength was supernaturally renewed by the presence, words, and radiance of Christ. When the ten other disciples struggled to haul their spontaneous catch of fish to shore, it was Peter who then got up renewed from having been with Jesus and at the word of Christ he single-handedly dragged the net of 153 large fish onto the shore.  

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn.
John 21:10-11

The journey of following Christ is a journey of continual renewal and growth. This is why our goal is not just simply to get people savedbut to help people to grow in Christlikeness. In reflecting on these things this week, I read something yesterday that challenged me. “There has never been an easier time to get people saved and yet there has never been a more difficult time to disciple people into committed growing followers of Christ.” This Sunday we will meet together to be renewed. It could be the day when some people realise for the first time that they have been blind and living in a delusion as Christ opens their eyes. And, it should be the day when for those of us whose eyes have already been opened we will see the world a little more clearly because we will, like those seekers from Bethsaida, see Christ a little more clearly.

So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
John 12:21

Pastor Andrew

THREE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT GOD (AND YOU NEED TO)

THREE THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT GOD

(AND YOU NEED TO)

One day I’m going to publish a book called “5 Proofs For The Existence Of God“. As with each of my other books, I generally publish them online first as a webpage, and get readers’ feedback before publishing. My article, which bears the name of my proposed book title, has recently had a flurry of comments from some who object to someone like me claiming that God’s existence can be ‘proved’. One of the frustrating things about some of these commentators is that they are denying the existence of a god that I too would deny! But because they do not know God, they imagine Him to be something other – an ugly, horrible, mean, other. There’s three simple things I wish these people would know about God.

CAN GOD REALLY BE KNOWN?

How do we know anything? You might say that we know things by observation. While this can be true, two things are worth noting about observation. I can illustrate the first one by confessing my fascination with good magicians. Ruby and I will regularly watch YouTube clips of very talented magicians. Ruby’s constant question to me is, “How did they do that?” (I won’t admit my usual answer – but you can probably guess it). The reason she asks this question is because what she just observed doesn’t make sense. (Like what Steven Brundage can do with a Rubiks Cube!) That is, what Ruby and I thought we observed was not what actually happened. Observation can be a reliable source of knowledge – but not always! 

Thus, observation is generally reliable, but not always. Even when Jesus of Nazareth performed some of the most outstanding miracles – which was directly observed by His opponents – such as when He raised back to life a man who had been dead and entombed for 4 days, they still denied the reality of what they had observed.

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
John 11:41-44

The other drawback with relying only on observation to gain knowledge or certainty is that there are many things which observation alone cannot tell us. We can not observe events in the ancient past for example, yet we can be certain of historical events for different reasons such as reliable witness accounts.

HOW GOD BE KNOWN

There are other ways of knowing things. Humans have the capacity for knowing through-

• Argumentation
• Intuition 
• Experiences
• Instruction
• Enquiry 

By these, thinkers such as Socrates concluded that the ancient Greek concept of godswas false and that logic demanded that there was only One God. (Socrates was then found guilty of ‘heresy’ and ordered to be put to death by poisoning for displeasing the ‘gods’.) 

It is, then, true that everything teaches man his condition, but he must understand this well. For it is not true that all reveals God, and it is not true that all conceals God. But it is at the same time true that He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He reveals Himself to those who seek Him, because men are both unworthy and capable of God; unworthy by their corruption, capable by their original nature.
Blaise Pascal, Pensees, 557

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT GOD

One of the most common objections to thee being a God is referred to as the problem of evil. If God is all-loving and all-powerful, then why is there evil in the world? Surely if He was all-loving He would not want people to experience evil – but maybe He can’t prevent it after all because He is not actually all-powerful? Therefore, because there is evil in this world, God does not exist, it is claimed.

#1. GOD IS BENEFICENT  

I wish more people knew that God is beneficent. If they did, they would not see evil as an argument against the existence of God. This problem of evil can only be a problem for the existence of God because we intuitively know that God is beneficent – “very good” – yet there is evil. But, we can only consider something to be ‘evil’ because we have an absolute standard of good. God is the only One qualified to meet this standard of absolute goodness.

¶ Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Psalm 34:8

In this instance, our intuitions are right. God is not only good, He’s very good. Could it be that since we intuitively know that God is good, He always has good reasons for allowing what we perceive to be evil? I have experienced pain, loss, and disappointment. Rather than becoming disillusioned with God in these times, I have found Him to be my source of comfort and strength. In fact, in some of my most painful experiences, I have received my greatest blessings. I have come to know that God is not ‘good’ like Santa Claus, but is pure goodness.

I wish people knew how good God was.

#2. GOD IS BIG, REALLY BIG  

I wish more people knew how big God is. I think some people think that God is just a bit bigger than them. Let’s think for a moment about how big God must be.

Firstly, God must be the ‘Uncaused First-Cause’. 

The Universe consisting of space, time, energy, and matter, could not have caused itself. It must have been caused by an uncausedfirst-cause. To begin to appreciate just how big/powerful/intelligent this this uncaused first-cause must be, we need to consider its effect. We know that no effect can be greater than its cause. Now consider how phenomenally big the universe is. Our earth appears as a “pale blue dot” from outer space. It is part of a seemingly insignificant solar system, which is part of a modest sized galaxy known as the Milky Way, which is part of a cluster of smaller galaxies known as The Local Group, which belongs to a super-cluster of other galaxy clusters known as The Local Supercluster. Our Universe is at least 13.7 billion light years in width. Now consider how big God must be! 

¶ The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Psalm 19:1

The word ‘big’ seems so inadequate to describe God. The ancients who realised just how big God must be in power, intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, kindness, grace, compassion, chose to use a word to capture the bigness of God which in English is: majestic.

¶ “Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods?
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
Exodus 15:11

#3. GOD IS BEAUTIFUL  

Your righteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
O God, who is like you?
Psalm 71:19

I wish more people knew that God is the epitome of beauty. I’m married to a very beautiful woman. When I look at her, I admire her beauty. Her beauty is not dependent on her choice of fashion or make-up, because her beauty is natural. Then imagine the most naturally beautiful being in the universe – God. It’s not just that God is beautiful, it’s that He radiates a beauty. This is known as glory. His beauty is deeper than appearance because it intrinsically involves who He is. Everything He does is beautiful. Everything He says is beautiful. All that He decrees is beautiful.  

¶ There is none like you, O LORD;
You are great, and Your name is great in might.
Jeremiah 10:6

We all crave beauty because we were made by a beautiful God to appreciate beauty.  

¶ One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
Psalm 27:4

 I wish more people realised that God is beautiful. 

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT KNOWING GOD

One of the things that makes human beings unique is our need to worship. We long for a connection with our Maker which drives us to worship. We are created to worship God, the Uncaused First-Cause, the Supremely Beneficent, Majestic, Glorious One. Little wonder then that when people have encountered this God they have been overwhelmed with their own inadequacy to be in His presence. Their only option is to surrender. This is why people lift their hands up in worship of God as a display of heart-felt surrender. To know God more intimately involves-

1. Surrendering to Him in worship
2. Learning about Him, His ways, and His will, through being instructed in His Word
3. Submission to a fellowship of other believers whereby the grace of God is imparted to you.

remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
Ephesians 1:16-19

Pastor Andrew.

MY GREATEST INFLUENCERS (Part 2)

Around my twentieth anniversary as the pastor of Legana Christian Church, I reflected on my three biggest paradigm shifts. Looking back, I can see that with every stage of growth in my soul there has been a corresponding change in perspective. When I was an Assemblies of God minister I enjoyed tremendous fraternity with my fellow pastors. There are many advantages to being a part of a larger denomination. The AOG in Australia, now known as The Australian Christian Churches (ACC), has some wonderful strengths – excellently run conferences, a highly professional head office with diligent administration, a drive to reach the unchurched, a passion for excellence, a striving for relevance. I can honestly say that I have never met an ACC minister who did not love God and have a commitment to serve Christ. But as I was undergoing my paradigm shifts, I was gaining a different perspective on church and pastoral ministry that put me out of sync with the ACC.

And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:11-12

A pastor’s main responsibility is to shepherd the sheep entrusted to him by the Great Shepherd. This is done by presenting Christ as clearly and attractively as possible through their example of devotion to Christ, how they raise their family, how they treat others, and, how diligently they study, preach, and teach, God’s Word. All of these aspects are informed by how the Word of God is understood. This is why I mention the influence of two significant people at this point which shaped the way I understood God’s Word. Just after I had developed my understanding of eschatology I was having a discussion about creation theology when Pastor Ron Wilson recommended that I read a book called, A Matter Of Days by Dr. Hugh Ross. I have now read nearly all of Dr. Ross’s books and have benefited greatly from them. I have also had the privilege of becoming acquainted with Dr. Ross and have enjoyed getting to know him over meals and even bushwalks. I will ever be grateful to Pastor Ron Wilson for introducing me to the works of Hugh Ross and helping me to see that “taking the Bible literally” doesn’t mean that we take it in a wooden literal way, but rather, we take it as it was intended to be taken. By doing this we soon see that words in the Bible are used in different ways throughout the Bible. This particularly applies to the word “day”. It has 4 literal meanings in Scripture – (i) an unspecified period of time (Gen. 2:4), (ii) daylight hours (John 11:9), (iii) twenty-four hours (Acts 10:9), (iv) an era (particularly, a lifetime, note Matt. 2:1; 7:22, eg. ‘Back in my Grandfather’s day’).

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men,
Philippians 2:29

Trevor Chandler preaching at Legana

Before I conclude with a tribute to my greatest influencer, I should mention that around this time I was introduced to John Piper with the gift of a book from my pastoral predecessor, Philip Morgan, called, The Godward Life. Dr. Piper contributed to the formation of my hermeneutic by helping me to accept God’s sovereignty, deepening my understanding of His grace, and seeing the ultimate purpose of God (and therefore all that He has created) as His glory. I also became reacquainted with Trevor Chandler at this time. He became an annual visitor to our church and a regular phone-caller in-between. Trevor became one of the most encouraging men in life. He flattered me by describing my explanation of the Book of Revelation, The Most Embarrassing Book In The Bible, as “One of the best explanations of the Book of Revelation that I have ever read!”

As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,
Ezekiel 34:8

THE HUMANITY OF MY INFLUENCERS

Each of the people I have referred to have had flaws. I think of David Cartledge. Many people couldn’t handle David’s ‘alpha-male’ personality. But I really appreciated David. He once said something privately to me which was one of the most encouraging things anyone has ever said to me. Some of my influencers were great pastors, yet not great parents. I still learned from them. Trevor Chandler was a gruff man who offended people. I could see why. But I loved the man. He had a heart of gold coloured marshmallow beneath a veneer of toughness. Other influencers have had problems which only became evident as I got to know them. I had learned to overlook these and receive the grace of God into my life that God had placed on them. Even my greatest influencer had strengths and flaws. I have learned that God’s teaching moments can come from positive and negative examples even when they occur in the same person! And before I introduce and conclude with a tribute to my greatest influencer, it should go without saying that the bigger the leader the bigger the criticism. Of all my influencers, my greatest influencer was easily the most criticised. The way he handled that criticism has been one of the most extraordinary lessons I have ever received.  

MY GREATEST INFLUENCER

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Polonius to Hamlet, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3

There is an ancient Oriental saying – When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I was ready. I had reached a point where I had a clear vision of what I wasn’t. I had a clearer vision of what I needed to become. I had grown disinterested in being the C.E.O. type of pastor I was being encouraged to be. I knew that the Biblical model of a pastor was one who equipped believers to do the work of the ministry rather than one who promoted the divide between ‘clergy’ and ‘laity’ where the pastor did it all. I was convinced from the Scriptures that God expected shepherds to gather and not scatter and this involved reaching people well outside the walls of the ‘sheep-fold’. 

And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Acts 18:9-11

Judith Brain, the daughter of a veteran Methodist Minister, introduced me to my most influential influencer when she invited me around to have some of her late father’s library. Among those precious books I came away with that day was, I Forgot To Say. That book sat on my office shelves for months until one day I picked it up and my world changed from that moment. This was the day I met Frank William Boreham. Reading that book was like sitting on a verandah with the grandfather I didn’t know I had and having him give me the benefit of six decades of successful pastoral experience. The opening chapter of this book, called “Wet Paint”, was exactly what I needed to hear at that time in my life. The day that I met F.W. Boreham was the day I met a man called to be a pastor but engaged in a deep struggle to fulfil that call effectively. His first pastorate was a small church outside of Dunedin, New Zealand, where he arrived in 1895. Having sat under the ministry of Charles Spurgeon and having been the beneficiary of Spurgeon’s generosity which enabled him to attend Spurgeon’s Pastors College, Boreham was ready to preach. 

But he soon realised that pastoring involved far more than giving nice sermons. Twenty-four years of age, half-way around the world, and bearing the legacy of a painful disability he kept a secret from all, Boreham felt bankrupt after arriving in Mosgiel and realising his total inadequacy for the task he was now responsible for. The old Scottish immigrants of Mosgiel, whom he described as having faces like granite, soon scolded him over his cold preaching style. The women of Mosgiel tore shreds off him for not being able to make small-talk whenever he visited. FWB knew he had to learn how to pastor people. 

He knew that the pulpit had to be his greatest strength. He would travel to Dunedin and sit in the law courts and learn from criminal barristers who attempted to persuade a jury of their client’s innocence. 

Boreham would go on to discover that there is a great romance to be enjoyed between a pastor and his congregation. In 1906 he moved to Hobart, Tasmania, where he would emerge as one of the world’s finest preachers and Christian essayists. By 1924 he was being described as “the most influential preacher in the world”. Yet all the while he considered himself to be just a local church pastor. 

"One day he tossed over to me a tart letter from a woman commanding him to preach the Gospel. She was apparently misled by one of his intriguing titles. All who heard Frank Boreham knew full well that, however far away on the circumference he began, he always came to the very heart of the Gospel. The letter hurt him and I advised him to consign it to the waste-paper basket and forget it. ‘I have, already answered it,’ he said. ‘I wrote and told her that I appreciated her concern for the preaching of Christ’s Gospel and asked her to pray for me that I may be a faithful minister of the Word.’" - Sir Clarence Irving Benson 

(Dr. C. Irving Benson was a friend of Frank Boreham, a leading church leader in Melbourne and pastor of the Wesley Church, Melbourne.) 

There’s a lot more I could say about how F.W. Boreham has influenced me as a pastor to see every person as precious, and the local church as the hope of the world. And if you’re really interested to know what that is then you can check out the documentary I made about it by clicking here.
  

Pastor Andrew 

MY GREATEST INFLUENCERS, Part 1

MY GREATEST INFLUENCERS (Episode 1)

But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.
Luke 22:26

When I converted to Christianity in my teen years, I soon began to tell as many people as I could about the amazing offer of forgiveness and eternal life that God was offering. I was hungry to learn as much as I could about the God of the Bible who had just rescued me. Someone at Life Centre Geelong introduced me to Christian teaching on audio cassettes from a private lending library in Sydney. I listened to hundreds and hundreds of Christian teaching cassettes in my teen years. Among the most influential teachers I regularly listened to was Winkie Pratney. It is difficult for me to overstate how influential Winkie was in my formative spiritual years. He helped to develop my love for Christ, my hatred of sin, and my pursuit of the Spirit of Holiness. But over the last 40 or so years since then, God has used several other key influencers who have been used to shape me. Through this time of shaping I have learned some valuable lessons about how to get the most out of an influential person. Let me share some of those things.

Winkie Pratney with Andrew Corbett

THE MELBOURNE YEARS

Dr. Richard Winter preaching at Legana

¶ Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Hebrews 13:7

It was Richard Winter, who now lives and pastors in Huntington Beach, California, who introduced me to the formal study of theology, through ICI University, when I lived in Geelong. He also introduced me to the art and science of hermeneutics. By the way, just up the road from Geelong in Richmond (Melbourne) there was a pastor seeing his church grow with explosive growth with dozens of people each month coming to know Christ. This pastor had sent out over hundred young men to plant more churches across Melbourne. The pastor was Philip Hills, and before we went to Williamstown to pioneer a church, we sat under Pastor Hills ministry for a season. 

Around the time I met Kim I had already moved to Melbourne where I was serving in a church where Bob Smith, one of the most diligent pastors I have ever met, was appointed as the Senior Pastor (after the previous pastor had been removed for sexual indiscretions). Bob was tremendously influential in shaping me as a preacher. He showed me how to anchor a sermon in a text and draw out its context, meaning and application. He also helped me to preach with appropriate pace by explaining that pastoral preaching was necessarily expository (systematically explaining the Scriptures rather than using the Scriptures) and that this was best done in a sequential series of messages, rather than one-off messages. Bob’s input into my life was incalculably beneficial and all too brief.

¶ Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.
Philippians 3:17

THE TASMANIAN ERA 

After handing the pastorate of our newly planted Williamstown church to my friend Mark Barnard, we moved to Tasmania in 1995 with a word from God. Unknown, unannounced, and uninvited, within two weeks I was appointed as the pastor of Legana where there were 17 members, and where we have now been for these nearly 23 years.

Legana Christian Church, Sunday December 10, 2017

Tasmania is, without doubt, Australia’s most beautiful state. The people are laid-back and easy-going. They enjoy an unprecedented level of prosperity and lifestyle. While many people would rightly regard these things as blessings, they can also be an obstacle for people to recognise their greatest need which is fundamentally spiritual rather than material or financial. Obstacles such as these can be extremely frustrating for any preacher on a mission to open the eyes of the spiritually blinded. I was no exception. As I was commencing my doctorate in pastoral ministry and feeling terribly frustrated at my inability as a preacher I was introduced to my next major influencer by a visiting Englishman. What has made this next influencer so different from the others that I have already mentioned is that I have never heard him speak or teach. I have barely read anything he has written. He was not a pastor (although he often wondered if he should have been). But the most outstanding difference about this man, from each of the other men who have greatly influenced me, is that he has been dead for nearly two hundred years! When I was introduced to him, to his impact on my life was both immediate and enormous! He gave me a vision for pastoring and preaching far bigger and beyond anything I had ever dared dreamed of. Despite Legana Christian Church being in a small semi-rural bush-setting tucked away on the Apple Isle, I began to see how a grand vision of Christ’s Lordship was deserving of far more than our trifling Sunday to Sunday statistics or any of our other pathetic measures of what we delude ourselves by calling success. William Wilberforce showed me that a grand vision of Christ’s Lordship and beauty extended not just to the bounds of the church’s walls on a Sunday – but to every sphere of life on any day ending in ‘y’!

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20

As significant as William Wilberforce was for me, in my next instalment I will of those whom God used to influence me even to greater extents than he did. I also want to share with you what I have learned from each of my influencers (and it may surprise you).

[To be continued]

Pastor Andrew