NTC - Nazarene Theological College: Australia and New Zealand

16/09/2026

Save the date! We would love to see you there 🎓🎉

16/09/2026

Dear Friends,

We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev Dr Linda Stargel for writing this.

You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!

MATTHEW 20: 1-16
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
The Parable of the Vineyard Owner (20:1-16) has two main parts: the hiring of the workers (vv.1-7) and the paying of the workers in reverse order (8-16). In the end, all receive the same wages. But the message is not about God’s unfairness, as some would think, but about his generosity. The surrounding context of this parable is very important for understanding it. Just before it, there are three other teachings about entrance into the Kingdom:

1. The Rich Young Man Seeking Eternal Life(19:16-22)
2. The Difficulty of the Rich Entering the Kingdom of Heaven (19:23-26)
3. The Reward for Those Who Have Left Possessions to Follow Jesus (19:27-30)

This parable continues with the same theme of entrance into the Kingdom. God welcomes those who come to faith in the last hour, on their deathbed. They receive the full reward of a place in God’s kingdom, just as those who have journeyed a lifetime with God. But maybe final destiny should not be considered of primary importance. How much better is it to come to faith earlier in life, to have the extra blessings of being made Christlike, of serving, of being productive, and of enjoying God’s presence on the journey. Grant Osborne comments on this passage: “Life in the already/not yet is less about what we get when‘yet’ arrives and more about the blessing of living toward the ‘yet’ in the‘already.’” (Exegetical Commentary on the NT: Matthew, 202).

PRAYER:
Merciful and generous God, we are truly grateful for all who find eternal life in Christ. Thank you for never giving up on us. May we, who journey with you now, be encouraged by your peace, your presence, and your work in us and through us.
May we be faithful in this journey so that others are drawn to you. AMEN.

14/09/2026

You are invited to join us for our community chapel service tomorrow, 1-2pm AEST, followed by afternoon tea. We hope to see you there.

12/09/2026

Our penultimate chapel service of this academic year is this coming Tuesday. Rev. Dr Linda Stargel will be our speaker. We would love to see you there either in-person or online.

10/09/2026

We would love to see you either in-person or online for our penultimate chapel service of this academic year. Rev. Dr Linda Stargel will be our speaker.

07/09/2026

The most recent newsletter is ready, you can read it here:

https://ntc.edu.au/news/august-newsletter-2026

Enjoy!

Asia-Pacific Regional Meetings in Manila Interview with an Audit Student

07/09/2026

Dear Friends,

We hope this will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Dr Joseph Wood for writing this devotional.

You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!

PSALM 114 (Message)
After Israel left Egypt,
the clan of Jacob left those barbarians behind;
Judah became holy land for him,
Israel the place of holy rule.
Sea took one look and ran the other way;
River Jordan turned around and ran off.
The mountains turned playful and skipped like rams,
the hills frolicked like spring lambs.
What’s wrong with you, Sea, that you ran away?
and you, River Jordan, that you turned and ran off?
And mountains, why did you skip like rams?
and you, hills, frolic like spring lambs?
Tremble, Earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!
in the presence of Jacob’s God.
He turned the rock into a pool of cool water,
turned flint into fresh spring water.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:
This weekend was a special one for Brisbane. Every year the city hosts an event called “Riverfire”. This event is marked by two things: an impressive fireworks show, which is preceded by a display of Australia’s aviation power. Last year was the first time I braved the crowds to witness the river light up at night. Although the fireworks were the culmination of the evening, I will never forget the feeling I had when the aeroplanes and helicopters made low passes over the C*D.

If you have never experienced a military airshow, it is difficult to describe what it is like. Attack helicopters hovering about 200 metres above the crowds, the massive but agile C-17 Globemaster dancing over the river, and the thunderous F/A18 Hornet fighter jets screaming past the skyscrapers: it is a sight to behold. The best word I could come up with when trying to explain what I felt last year when I saw the fighter jets was“tremble”. As the Hornets passed by, my whole body shook, inside and out. It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. I trembled at the power I was witnessing.

The word “tremble” is used in our psalm for the week. Psalm 114 is a song of reflection on the day God’s people were liberated from bo***ge in Egypt. We read about this in Exodus 14, when Moses stretched out his hand and the Red Sea parted, allowing God’s people to pass through on dry ground. The Psalmist alludes to this event by saying the sea ran away. Other allusions are about the Jordan River that “ran off”, and the mountains and hills skipped and frolicked away like rams and lambs. What is the Psalmist trying to say here?

An explanation is given: “Tremble, oh earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence!”
In other words, when God is present, the earth trembles. It shakes; it moves; it creates space for God. In the story of Israel, God’s presence creates a pathway for God’s people. As the Psalmist reflects on past events, a vision of the future is unfolding. Several hundred years after this was written, another event takes place where, “the earth shook/trembled”. The reaction was clear, “Surely this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27). Tremble, oh earth! You’re in the Lord’s presence! As I read the psalm and reflect on what it feels like to tremble, I envision the awesome power that was displayed in the person of Jesus. When Jesus gave his life, the whole earth trembled, and a pathway out of bo***ge was created.

PRAYER:
Holy God, the earth trembles at your presence.
We give you thanks today for the ways in which you have been faithful to your covenant promise. You rescued your people from bo***ge in Egypt, and you provided the pathway of salvation through the power of your love displayed in the sacrifice made by your son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Through Him, we receive the gift of freedom from sin and death. And in Him, we experience life to the full.
May the powerful presence of your Spirit continue to transform our lives into the image of your Son, this day and always. Amen.

01/09/2026

Dear Friends,

We hope this week's devotional will encourage you in your spiritual walk. We give thanks to Rev. Dr. Richard Giesken for writing this devotional.

You are welcome to share this and include it in your church newsletters if you wish; we just ask that you please give credit to NTC and the author. Thank you!

Psalm 149
1 Praise the Lord.
Sing to the Lord a new song,
his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.
2 Let Israel rejoice in their Maker;
let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing
and make music to him with timbrel and harp.
4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
hecrowns the humble with victory.
5 Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor
and sing for joy on their beds.
6 May the praise of God be in their mouths
and a double-edged sword in their hands,
7 to inflict vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters,
their nobles with shackles of iron,
9 to carry out the sentence written against them—
this is the glory of all his faithful people.
Praise the Lord.

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT
We are a singing people! Singing is one of the most recognisable practices of the Christian faith, and Wesleyans particularly love to sing. Hymns, choruses, contemporary worship, you name it, we’ll sing it!

Psalm 149 encourages us: “Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people.” But a new song is more than simply a song we haven't sung before. In Scripture, new songs arise because God is still at work. New mercies demand new praise. Psalm 149 is full of this celebration. Sing! Rejoice! Dance! Make music! But then it takes a surprising turn: “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands.”Wait, what? I am used to having a song in my mouth. I am considerably less comfortable carrying a double-edged sword in my hand, especially during worship!

Perhaps the image should jar us. Human history contains far too many examples of religious people praising God while taking up weapons against those they believed to be God's enemies. But look at where the Psalm takes us. Kings and powers that oppose God's justice are brought down, while the humble are lifted up. This is about the world being put right, about God's righteousness and justice being established.

When we sing that Christ is Lord, we declare that injustice is not. When we sing of God's kingdom, we declare that the powers of this world will not have the final word. And as followers of Jesus, we read even the sword through the cross. Jesus does not build his kingdom by destroying his enemies, but by loving them, even laying down his life for them.

So keep singing, but let our songs become more than a song. Let our worship become justice, our praise become mercy, and our hymns become lives of holiness. Praise becomes powerful when the song in our mouths is matched with the life of Christ in our hands.

May that be our new song until his kingdom reigns forever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, put a new song in our mouths and your love in our hands. May our worship become justice, our praise become mercy, and our lives make your kingdom visible. Amen.

23/08/2026

We give thanks to Rev. Pam Reed for writing this week's devotional and hope it encourages you in your spiritual walk.

22/08/2026