1 00:00:09,540 --> 00:00:15,210 Karen Beilharz: Welcome to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, 2 00:00:15,450 --> 00:00:21,705 that seeks to glorify God through biblically sound, thought-provoking and challenging talks and interviews. 3 00:00:23,190 --> 00:00:30,635 In this episode, from a chapel service held on Friday the 16th of May 2025, Mark Thompson, Principal 4 00:00:30,635 --> 00:00:38,315 of Moore Theological College, speaks on John 2:12-22, and Jesus' cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem. 5 00:00:39,305 --> 00:00:46,075 He reminds us that Jesus is not one-dimensional: the same Lord who turned water into wine also fashioned a whip of 6 00:00:46,125 --> 00:00:52,910 cords to drive out the merchants, and therefore, we can't pick and choose and construct a Jesus that suits us best. 7 00:00:53,660 --> 00:00:55,160 We hope you find the episode helpful. 8 00:01:01,045 --> 00:01:01,670 Mark Thompson: Good morning. 9 00:01:04,670 --> 00:01:13,310 Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. 10 00:01:13,695 --> 00:01:16,725 Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. 11 00:01:16,755 --> 00:01:26,264 Behold he is coming, says the Lord of hosts, but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears? 12 00:01:27,554 --> 00:01:28,335 Let's pray together. 13 00:01:31,905 --> 00:01:39,824 Heavenly Father, this morning as we return to John's Gospel, we pray that you might address us through your word. 14 00:01:40,860 --> 00:01:44,460 We pray, father, that you might give us those words we need to hear. 15 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:52,770 Would you comfort those who are anxious or tired or depressed or in some way beaten down? 16 00:01:54,060 --> 00:01:56,760 Would you challenge those of us who are complacent? 17 00:01:57,750 --> 00:02:01,350 Would you open our eyes to see Jesus as he really is? 18 00:02:02,250 --> 00:02:07,410 And would you enable us to live to His glory before we ask it in his name? 19 00:02:07,665 --> 00:02:07,815 Amen. 20 00:02:08,415 --> 00:02:08,925 Amen. 21 00:02:11,235 --> 00:02:15,525 The Jesus that John's gospel calls on us to trust with our lives. 22 00:02:15,525 --> 00:02:19,785 To believe and obey is more than just one dimensional. 23 00:02:20,775 --> 00:02:24,015 He cannot be flattened out to just one thing. 24 00:02:25,035 --> 00:02:33,615 His mercy and compassion are real, overwhelmingly real, but they are not all he is. 25 00:02:35,790 --> 00:02:40,650 He is the victor who triumphs and deals decisively with those who oppose him. 26 00:02:41,940 --> 00:02:43,890 Nothing escapes his judgment. 27 00:02:43,950 --> 00:02:50,640 Every knee must bow before him, and just the splendor of who he is shakes the earth. 28 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:53,475 But that too is not all he is. 29 00:02:55,535 --> 00:02:59,310 He is the one who gives generously, abundantly. 30 00:03:01,005 --> 00:03:04,665 And what he gives is not just more but better. 31 00:03:04,755 --> 00:03:16,695 We saw that last time at the wedding in Cana, but he is just as much the one who deliberately makes a whip of rope and levels the most terrifying 32 00:03:16,695 --> 00:03:28,275 accusation You make My father's house a marketplace you've turned worship into self-interest and ministry into a way to make sure you are comfortable. 33 00:03:28,275 --> 00:03:28,335 I. 34 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:40,049 Now, you and I and everyone else, for that matter, have to deal with Jesus, not just a one dimensional cutout figure. 35 00:03:40,620 --> 00:03:49,799 The real thing, the real Jesus and the whole of John's Gospel has one central purpose that runs from 36 00:03:49,890 --> 00:03:56,970 the beginning to the end of it, that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God. 37 00:03:57,660 --> 00:04:03,720 And that by believing you might have life in his name from beginning to end, this gospel is calling on you 38 00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:12,750 and me to open our eyes and to see Jesus as he really is, what he's really like, what he's really done. 39 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,840 You might remember, uh, that at the end of the report of the wedding at Cana that we 40 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:24,480 looked at a couple of weeks ago, in the first half of John chapter two we're told this. 41 00:04:24,870 --> 00:04:34,590 The first of the signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him. 42 00:04:35,970 --> 00:04:41,460 And as we're gonna see, the account of the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem ends with 43 00:04:41,460 --> 00:04:48,600 something very similar, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 44 00:04:50,340 --> 00:04:54,185 There's more going on at the end of this scene than at the end of the last one, but. 45 00:04:54,674 --> 00:04:56,655 In a very important sense. 46 00:04:57,044 --> 00:04:59,445 You need to hold them both together. 47 00:05:01,184 --> 00:05:03,195 So have a look with me at John chapter two. 48 00:05:03,765 --> 00:05:05,354 Starting at verse 13, 49 00:05:07,875 --> 00:05:11,864 the Passover of the Jews was near and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 50 00:05:13,034 --> 00:05:20,114 The found in the temple precincts, those selling oxen and sheep and doves and money changes sitting and. 51 00:05:20,775 --> 00:05:22,395 Making a whip of rope. 52 00:05:23,145 --> 00:05:30,915 He drove them all outta the temple, even the sheep and the bulls, and poured out the coins of the money changes and overturned their tables. 53 00:05:31,845 --> 00:05:34,335 And to those selling doves, he said, take these out of here. 54 00:05:35,085 --> 00:05:38,205 Do not make my father's house a marketplace. 55 00:05:39,495 --> 00:05:41,655 His disciples remembered that it stood written. 56 00:05:41,655 --> 00:05:44,445 Zeal for your house will consume me. 57 00:05:46,245 --> 00:05:51,585 The Jews therefore responded and said to him, what sign are you showing us that you do these things? 58 00:05:52,575 --> 00:05:58,755 Jesus answered them, destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days. 59 00:06:00,135 --> 00:06:11,234 The Jews then said, this temple took 46 years to build and you'll raise it in three days, but he spoke about the temple of his body. 60 00:06:12,855 --> 00:06:17,055 Therefore, when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he 61 00:06:17,055 --> 00:06:22,695 had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word, which Jesus spoke. 62 00:06:25,485 --> 00:06:32,325 The great thing that Jesus had done in Cana, that turning of the water into wine was done behind the scenes. 63 00:06:33,825 --> 00:06:39,345 He remained hidden as he gave them more than any of them could possibly have imagined. 64 00:06:39,975 --> 00:06:47,175 Uh, the best wine and so much of it, but only a few knew where it came from. 65 00:06:49,155 --> 00:06:59,235 During this Passover, at a time in the year when the population of Jerusalem usually tripled in size, what he does is done in the open. 66 00:07:00,330 --> 00:07:09,090 Publicly dramatically and unambiguously everybody there that day, and very soon, many 67 00:07:09,090 --> 00:07:14,400 others as well, knew who it was, who had driven these traitors out of the temple. 68 00:07:16,409 --> 00:07:26,909 It had been a kind and gentle thing Jesus had done in Cana, stepping in to help in an awkward situation, giving generously grace upon grace. 69 00:07:28,500 --> 00:07:38,460 It was a terrifying thing he did in Jerusalem, storming in without a word, to drive out those who had set up business in the temple and to reclaim 70 00:07:38,730 --> 00:07:50,430 his father's house as Malachi had prophesied, the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, but who can endure the day of his coming? 71 00:07:53,070 --> 00:07:56,040 But it was the same Jesus at work in both. 72 00:07:57,359 --> 00:08:02,909 It was the same Jesus making himself known in both, and it was the same. 73 00:08:02,909 --> 00:08:13,049 Jesus triggering faith in both, and his disciples believed in him and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. 74 00:08:14,310 --> 00:08:19,169 So it's clear that one thing John wants us to know from the start is you cannot have one without the other. 75 00:08:20,580 --> 00:08:23,880 You just can't have gentle Jesus, meek and mild. 76 00:08:24,900 --> 00:08:30,450 Without Jesus, the judge for Jesus can't be domesticated. 77 00:08:30,450 --> 00:08:31,560 He can't be tamed. 78 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:40,380 That's not even possible, but neither can he be weaponized, turned into something you'll use against others. 79 00:08:40,740 --> 00:08:47,820 The zeal that he showed that day was not the zeal of calling down fire from heaven to consume the unbelievers. 80 00:08:49,050 --> 00:08:51,240 It was zeal for his father's house. 81 00:08:52,435 --> 00:08:58,050 It turns out you can't have Jesus, the judge without gentle Jesus, meek and mild either. 82 00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:02,700 We need more than a one dimensional Jesus. 83 00:09:04,020 --> 00:09:07,290 What's more our salvation needs more than a one dimensional. 84 00:09:07,290 --> 00:09:07,980 Jesus, too. 85 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:19,140 We need the grace and compassion, the unexplained excess of mercy, and we need the judgment, the rescue, and the victory too. 86 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:29,880 We need to know Jesus is both the one who gives to us richly and generously, and the one who frees us from every counterfeit form of religion. 87 00:09:32,070 --> 00:09:39,150 So if you are uncomfortable with the Jesus who will manifest his glory by getting involved in what seems like the trivialities 88 00:09:39,150 --> 00:09:46,950 of everyday life, turning water into wine so that the bridal party is not embarrassed, seeing somehow beneath Jesus. 89 00:09:48,435 --> 00:09:55,755 Then you haven't really understood him at all, and that Jesus you want is not the real Jesus, but a construction of your own imagination. 90 00:09:57,285 --> 00:10:03,824 This was the sign he chose to manifest his glory and to show that what he brought 91 00:10:03,824 --> 00:10:10,125 what he is, is more than just more of the same, but something new and better. 92 00:10:12,405 --> 00:10:16,905 But the same is true if you're uncomfortable with the Jesus who plats a whip out a rope. 93 00:10:17,535 --> 00:10:20,895 That's a very deliberate, determined thing to do, isn't it? 94 00:10:22,094 --> 00:10:30,885 And then expels people from the temple overturns the tables and spills the coins everywhere, ordering those who are selling doves to get out. 95 00:10:31,844 --> 00:10:37,364 And the only explanation he gives them is, this is my father's house. 96 00:10:38,474 --> 00:10:49,635 How dare you turn my father's house into a bizarre, a marketplace, a center of commerce, a house of trade, a place where you can make a buck. 97 00:10:51,974 --> 00:10:57,495 On another occasion, much later in his ministry, Jesus would do pretty much the same thing again. 98 00:10:58,484 --> 00:11:04,005 But then he would quote Isaiah 56 and it would all be about the purpose of the house. 99 00:11:05,205 --> 00:11:07,875 It will be called a house of prayer. 100 00:11:09,435 --> 00:11:10,035 Here. 101 00:11:10,785 --> 00:11:13,065 It's about the ownership of the house. 102 00:11:13,845 --> 00:11:20,715 It is my father's house and the disciples recall Psalm 69. 103 00:11:21,105 --> 00:11:24,735 Zeal for your house will consume me. 104 00:11:26,925 --> 00:11:30,945 It clearly is more offensive than you or I can imagine. 105 00:11:31,500 --> 00:11:34,140 To do what those men were doing in the temple. 106 00:11:35,460 --> 00:11:42,060 It amounted to defying the owner of the house, my father's house. 107 00:11:42,960 --> 00:11:45,510 It's astonishing that Jesus could talk like that, isn't it? 108 00:11:45,870 --> 00:11:50,550 Not just our father's house, my father's house. 109 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,040 Those words say something about the house, but they say something about Jesus as well. 110 00:11:58,005 --> 00:12:04,665 Now, of course, uh, bulls and sheep and dubs or pigeons were needed for the sacrifices. 111 00:12:05,444 --> 00:12:11,925 It was just impractical for every family who came to Jerusalem to the feast, to to bring those along with them. 112 00:12:12,734 --> 00:12:19,020 So you needed to find someone from whom you could purchase them in Jerusalem, and then you could take them to the priest. 113 00:12:20,370 --> 00:12:25,410 And of course, money brought for the temple tax or a free rule offering needed to 114 00:12:25,410 --> 00:12:28,710 be different from the everyday currency, which the Romans had brought with them. 115 00:12:29,189 --> 00:12:34,500 With its idolatrous image of the emperor and its blasphemous inscription. 116 00:12:34,650 --> 00:12:37,710 Tiberius Caesar, son of the Divine, or Augustus. 117 00:12:39,030 --> 00:12:43,200 Jesus was not condemning the sacrificial system at this point. 118 00:12:44,189 --> 00:12:47,910 He was not even condemning them for corruption or distortion. 119 00:12:48,945 --> 00:12:55,845 Skimming their own little bit off every transaction, making sure the religion of the people paid, paid for them. 120 00:12:56,895 --> 00:13:00,705 I'm pretty sure that that was happening, but that's not the issue here. 121 00:13:01,905 --> 00:13:02,265 No. 122 00:13:02,265 --> 00:13:03,975 It was a deeper problem than that. 123 00:13:05,325 --> 00:13:17,085 It wasn't their house to do that in and doing it there, even if they had the goodwill of the priests showed contempt for the one whose house it was. 124 00:13:19,695 --> 00:13:23,895 Well, as you might imagine, uh, those in charge were not happy with what had happened. 125 00:13:24,255 --> 00:13:28,005 And so for the first time in this gospel, they demand a sign. 126 00:13:28,455 --> 00:13:33,945 They demand something that would legitimize him as the one having the right to do what he'd just done. 127 00:13:35,655 --> 00:13:39,915 And do you remember what Jesus said in reply there in verse 19? 128 00:13:41,055 --> 00:13:45,285 Destroy this temple and I will raise it in three days. 129 00:13:45,735 --> 00:13:46,725 How absurd. 130 00:13:47,714 --> 00:13:49,905 He just caused chaos in the temple. 131 00:13:50,204 --> 00:13:54,975 And what they heard him say was, well rip it all down and I'll raise it up again in three days. 132 00:13:56,265 --> 00:13:56,535 Okay? 133 00:13:56,535 --> 00:14:00,464 It might not be as grand as Solomon's temple, the king Herod the great, it 134 00:14:00,464 --> 00:14:04,995 certainly put some effort into restoring it, but it's not just a pop-up shop. 135 00:14:05,925 --> 00:14:09,915 It's not something that can be here today, gone tomorrow, back again the next day. 136 00:14:10,095 --> 00:14:11,685 And they make that very clear, don't they? 137 00:14:12,255 --> 00:14:14,564 This temple took 46 years to build. 138 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:17,010 You'll raise it up in three days. 139 00:14:17,550 --> 00:14:20,760 What on earth was he talking about first? 140 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:23,100 If there's anyone that's been threatening the temple, it's him. 141 00:14:23,610 --> 00:14:24,870 He's the one who's been destroying it. 142 00:14:24,870 --> 00:14:25,800 Look what he's just done. 143 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:30,900 Everything's been disrupted this day's a write off, and now he's talking about 144 00:14:30,900 --> 00:14:37,320 a complete knockdown rebuild, and in just three days, clearly out of his mind. 145 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:43,350 But then the writer of John's Gospel quietly whispers something that changes everything. 146 00:14:43,350 --> 00:14:44,490 For those of us who read this. 147 00:14:45,990 --> 00:14:49,890 And gives us an even richer understanding of what has just happened. 148 00:14:51,330 --> 00:14:54,600 But he spoke about the temple of his body. 149 00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:05,610 You see whatever else we might say about the dramatic events in the Jerusalem temple that day, they point beyond themselves to something far greater. 150 00:15:06,570 --> 00:15:09,510 It's a long history of the sanctuary of God. 151 00:15:10,395 --> 00:15:12,285 The place where God meets his people. 152 00:15:12,285 --> 00:15:18,675 The garden, the tabernacle, the temple was coming to its great climax in Jesus. 153 00:15:19,725 --> 00:15:22,575 He wasn't just going to be the builder of a new temple. 154 00:15:23,595 --> 00:15:24,435 He is the temple. 155 00:15:25,815 --> 00:15:30,345 Jesus himself is the presence of God in the midst of his creation. 156 00:15:32,100 --> 00:15:36,330 Of course, the temple of stone and curtains and all the rest were still standing too. 157 00:15:36,330 --> 00:15:41,910 It, it had not ceased to function as an important part of God's life with his people. 158 00:15:41,910 --> 00:15:42,600 Not yet. 159 00:15:43,410 --> 00:15:50,580 That won't come until that day when the curtain in the sanctuary is torn from top to bottom and the one on the cross cries. 160 00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:51,689 It is finished. 161 00:15:53,189 --> 00:15:54,510 No more sacrifices then. 162 00:15:55,530 --> 00:15:58,140 No more need of bulls and sheep and doves. 163 00:15:59,430 --> 00:16:08,520 On that day, it will very dramatically cease to be the meeting place of God and his people that will be a rock outside Jerusalem. 164 00:16:11,340 --> 00:16:14,520 Jesus, the temple, uh, would be abused. 165 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:20,190 His body would be abused just as his father's house had been abused that day. 166 00:16:21,330 --> 00:16:27,390 Those who conspired to get rid of him, handing him over to the nations, nailing him to a cross and watching him die. 167 00:16:28,230 --> 00:16:32,790 They showed contempt, not just for the son, but also for the father who sent him. 168 00:16:34,350 --> 00:16:40,110 But when they destroyed that temple, he will raise it up in three days. 169 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:46,920 Something astonishing was coming, and here's the very first glimpse of it. 170 00:16:47,970 --> 00:16:54,120 You might call this Jesus' very first prediction of his own death and resurrection right at the beginning of his ministry. 171 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:55,320 You see, it's always on view. 172 00:16:57,555 --> 00:17:01,035 Yet, not even the disciples were able to put it all together on the spot. 173 00:17:02,475 --> 00:17:08,325 In verse 17, we are told they remembered the scriptures spoke about the Messiah zeal for God's house. 174 00:17:08,775 --> 00:17:17,295 That's what they understood was being played out in front of them, but they didn't yet know that this was all about something more than that. 175 00:17:19,034 --> 00:17:23,474 They would only make that connection between the defiling of the temple and Jesus' 176 00:17:23,474 --> 00:17:28,935 death and the cleansing of the temple and Jesus' resurrection after the events. 177 00:17:31,185 --> 00:17:32,835 Ah, so that's what it was all about. 178 00:17:32,835 --> 00:17:32,865 I 179 00:17:35,205 --> 00:17:41,805 here is the light shining into the darkness and the darkness has not, cannot overcome it. 180 00:17:42,764 --> 00:17:50,445 The confrontation between the two between light and darkness builds from this point on, and some 181 00:17:50,445 --> 00:17:56,385 people who've been stumbling around in the darkness will begin to see as we'll discover next time. 182 00:17:58,064 --> 00:18:06,824 But this is who Jesus is, the giver of the best wine, but also the one who reclaims his father's house. 183 00:18:09,225 --> 00:18:10,034 So what about you? 184 00:18:11,535 --> 00:18:12,375 And what about me? 185 00:18:14,235 --> 00:18:23,085 The picture of Jesus that is, um, starting to emerge even here at the beginning of John's gospel is uncontainable in any single category. 186 00:18:24,555 --> 00:18:32,445 He is the word become flesh, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the provider of goodness 187 00:18:32,445 --> 00:18:39,375 and grace beyond limit, the one who will not allow defiance and contempt for his father to go unchecked. 188 00:18:40,995 --> 00:18:48,345 And we can't just pick and choose the aspect of Jesus, we find most comfortable, most 189 00:18:48,345 --> 00:18:52,725 congenial, and let the others slip into the background, perhaps disappear altogether. 190 00:18:54,285 --> 00:19:00,855 There are, I'm sure you are aware, uh, many who try to do just that, echoing the culture we live in. 191 00:19:00,855 --> 00:19:02,805 Some insist upon Jesus the includer. 192 00:19:04,139 --> 00:19:10,139 The one whose wide open arms receive anything and expects nothing either before or after you come to him. 193 00:19:11,459 --> 00:19:15,959 Inclusion's a a buzz word at the moment, but we need to see Jesus. 194 00:19:15,959 --> 00:19:21,990 We're told as the champion of inclusion, the kind of inclusion that makes no changes, but just lets you 195 00:19:21,990 --> 00:19:27,959 get on with life as you've been living it up to now without a word of challenge or right redirection. 196 00:19:29,445 --> 00:19:35,324 Or perhaps Jesus is subversive, the one who breaks down all the constraints of nature and relationship. 197 00:19:35,355 --> 00:19:42,584 Opening the door so we can make the world and ourselves in the way we want to, or perhaps in some 198 00:19:42,584 --> 00:19:48,375 measure and reaction to those pictures, and especially the uncertainty and anxiety they've caused. 199 00:19:48,794 --> 00:19:56,475 Jesus, the law giver, the one who demands and makes possible a new and better way of living, or Jesus the conqueror. 200 00:19:57,300 --> 00:20:04,080 Who finds against everything and everyone who opposes us or Jesus, the, the sufferer, who knows what we are going 201 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:10,650 through, who is able to identify and sympathize with even the most intense and desperate struggles that we face. 202 00:20:11,970 --> 00:20:18,330 And there is truth in every one of those pictures and more besides, but when isolated 203 00:20:18,330 --> 00:20:23,220 from each other and other things Jesus said and did, they can lead to distortion. 204 00:20:24,495 --> 00:20:30,105 Each aspect of Jesus' identity and mission informs and shapes the others. 205 00:20:30,945 --> 00:20:35,865 We can't pick and choose and construct the particular image of Jesus that suits us best. 206 00:20:36,525 --> 00:20:37,785 That's just make belief. 207 00:20:39,825 --> 00:20:45,045 Brothers and sisters, we mustn't settle for a one dimensional Jesus. 208 00:20:45,105 --> 00:20:51,465 He's much more than that, where given the celebration of the wedding at Cana. 209 00:20:51,915 --> 00:21:00,705 Alongside the cleansing of the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus, the giver of abundant blessing and Jesus, 210 00:21:00,705 --> 00:21:07,665 the one determined, fiercely determined to honor his father and reclaim what belongs to his father. 211 00:21:08,595 --> 00:21:17,865 And the strength of both those pictures, both those perspectives into who Jesus is informing each other as they do. 212 00:21:19,215 --> 00:21:26,294 Will keep us from a distorted single dimension as one preacher put it so eloquently. 213 00:21:27,435 --> 00:21:32,865 If you want the one who fills our tables, you need the one who can overturn them too. 214 00:21:35,534 --> 00:21:36,159 Shall we pray together? 215 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:42,360 Heavenly Father, we pray. 216 00:21:42,570 --> 00:21:44,595 Would you help us to see Jesus? 217 00:21:45,795 --> 00:21:52,455 Not as we imagine him to be and not as we would prefer him to be, but as he is. 218 00:21:53,745 --> 00:21:59,745 And we want to thank you for his great zeal for your house, for your honor. 219 00:22:01,245 --> 00:22:04,725 And we want to thank you for the mercy and grace that overflows to us. 220 00:22:04,725 --> 00:22:12,345 Would you help us not to settle for a one dimensional Jesus, but to live? 221 00:22:12,945 --> 00:22:18,315 As disciples of the full-blooded three-dimensional Lord, in whose name we pray. 222 00:22:19,389 --> 00:22:19,679 Amen. 223 00:22:27,585 --> 00:22:32,325 Karen Beilharz: Thank you for listening to Moore in the Word, a podcast of Moore Theological College. 224 00:22:32,850 --> 00:22:37,560 Our vision as a College is to see God glorified by men and women living for 225 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:42,210 and proclaiming Jesus Christ, growing healthy churches and reaching the lost. 226 00:22:42,660 --> 00:22:48,000 We invite you to attend any of our upcoming events, including this one in the Centre for Global Mission. 227 00:22:48,630 --> 00:22:54,750 Since New Testament times, some of those motivated with a passion for sharing the good news of Jesus have 228 00:22:54,750 --> 00:23:01,440 embraced ministry in very hard places, struggling with stony ground and with little or no obvious gospel fruit. 229 00:23:02,159 --> 00:23:08,879 For hundreds of years and in many places around the world, this has also been the experience of some cross-cultural mission workers. 230 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:10,710 But what does God think? 231 00:23:11,159 --> 00:23:18,000 Whether in a local church or in a missionary location, how does someone decide between struggling on faithfully, despite the lack of 232 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:25,440 visible gospel fruit, or moving to more fertile ground where God's Spirit is more obviously working, and where fruit is more available? 233 00:23:26,445 --> 00:23:33,254 To help us think through these types of questions, join us for our next Centre for Global Mission event, when Richard Chin, National 234 00:23:33,254 --> 00:23:40,395 Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students, will help us examine the Bible, and David Williams, Director of Training 235 00:23:40,395 --> 00:23:46,814 and Development at the Church Missionary Society Australia, will give us insights from the history and practice of global mission. 236 00:23:47,774 --> 00:23:50,594 Find out more and register on the Moore College website. 237 00:23:50,895 --> 00:23:54,804 That's moore.edu.au. 238 00:23:55,365 --> 00:23:57,725 That's moore.edu.au. 239 00:24:03,585 --> 00:24:10,095 You can find out more and register by going to the Moore College website: moore.edu.au. 240 00:24:10,415 --> 00:24:11,925 That's moore.edu.au. 241 00:24:12,525 --> 00:24:16,695 If you have not already done so, we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast 242 00:24:16,695 --> 00:24:20,595 through your favourite podcast platform so that you'll never miss an episode. 243 00:24:21,285 --> 00:24:26,265 For past episodes, further resources, and to make a tax deductible donation to support 244 00:24:26,265 --> 00:24:34,335 the work of the College and its mission, please visit our website at moore.edu.au. 245 00:24:35,405 --> 00:24:41,195 If you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend and leave a review on your platform of choice. 246 00:24:41,975 --> 00:24:50,245 We always benefit from feedback from our listeners, so if you'd like to get in touch, you can email us at comms@moore.edu.au. 247 00:24:51,545 --> 00:24:59,615 The Moore in the Word podcast was edited and produced by me, Karen Beilharz, and the Communications Team at Moore Theological College. 248 00:25:00,125 --> 00:25:04,074 The music for our podcast was provided by MarkJuly from PixaBay. 249 00:25:04,730 --> 00:25:05,630 Until next time.