Two Ways News Tony Payne & Phillip Jensen

Dear friends,
On holidays recently I watched a harrowing but uplifting film called The Sound of Freedom.
It’s about child sex trafficking in Latin America, and the extraordinary efforts of one particular American agent to free some of these children. At one point in the movie, there are some scenes of rescued children starting to behave like kids again—talking, singing, laughing, playing games. One of the characters says, ‘You hear that? That’s the sound of freedom.’
It was the sound of kids doing what kids are meant to do.
And I thought of that film again as we prepared to talk about our passage today, on Romans 6. It’s also about being set free from slavery and what our new freedom is really like. Strangely, it’s the glorious freedom to be slaves to a new master.
I hope you find it … liberating!
Your brother
Tony


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Dear friends,
Every week or two the pattern seems to repeat itself. Some terrible thing happens in our world. Outraged or grieving victims cry out that something must be done, that the system has failed, that there’s a need for change, that enough is enough, that the government must do something.
What the government is supposed to do exactly isn’t always clear, but because being seen not to care about the issue would be politically fatal, they usually do promise to be fully focused on the issue, to be committed to it, to set up an enquiry, to fund some new programs, and in general to be ready to undertake whatever is necessary to ensure that the appropriate resources are devoted … and so on and so forth.
And around we go until the next calamity-driven campaign swings into action.
The world is full of tragedy, evil and heartbreak, and it touches all of our lives. We want the evil to change. We want ourselves to change.
But how can change ever really happen?
That’s our subject in this week’s episode as we ponder the first half of Romans 6.
Your brother
Tony



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Dear friends,
This week, Marty Sweeney (from the US branch of Matthias Media) joins Tony as they discuss the challenges of evangelism in our churches today–both in Australia and the US–as well as suggesting some ways to overcome these challenges. They also discuss what is truly at the heart of evangelism, and how doing it as a body is more crucial than we might realize. 
We hope this conversation is edifying and encouraging for you to take into your own churches and communities. We would love to hear your thoughts, questions and comments, which you can share with us by emailing tonyjpayne@me.com or by hitting ‘reply’ to this email.
Blessings,
Jessica



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Dear friends,
In light of Anzac Day last week, Phillip and Tony converse about how our current lives are not as far removed from our forefathers and those who have gone before us as we might think.
Through the lens of Romans 5:12-21, we see how all the more true this is in our spiritual lives, and how much more powerful is the one whose sacrifice can change the entire course of our lives.
We hope this conversation is edifying and encouraging as we remember the sacrifices of the people who has made our modern life possible.
We would love to hear your thoughts, comments and questions, which you can email to tonyjpayne@me.com or by hitting reply to this email.
Blessings,
Jessica


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.twoways.news/subscribe

Dear friends,
It has been marvelous to keep receiving your emails and bumping into people who have been listening to the podcast and say thank you for the encouraging discussions that Tony and I have had.
However I do find there are also a lot of people who say to me they don’t know about the podcast yet. So if you like this podcast, please do get the word out as word of mouth is the most powerful way of spreading it.
And the second thing is, if you like this podcast, please consider supporting financially as it costs money to produce this podcast. You can do so through this link to subscribe and join the supporter’s club for a certain amount each month.
Yours
Phillip


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Dear friends
Tony is away on leave for the next few weeks, so I—Jessica Sutandar from the Two Ways News production team—will be introducing the episodes in his stead. The following weeks will feature some episodes that Tony and Phillip recorded before Tony went on leave.
Today, in this long-awaited letterbox episode, Tony has recorded his response to some of the questions that you have sent over the past few weeks, dear listeners.
Below is an edited transcript of select answers (in response to Paul Grimmond’s comment on theological application and to Sam’s question on how we interact with our homosexual friends.) If you would like to listen to the full episode, you can click the audio player above.
We hope this helps as you continue to consider the various aspects and challenges of living for the gospel.
Blessings,
Jessica


This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.twoways.news/subscribe