During my blogging break I appeared on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable?. I joined in a conversation with a church leader about whether the physical resurrection of Jesus really matters. It was refreshing to meet someone who did not believe in Jesus bodily resurrection , who unlike many neoliberals today, was at least willing to call himself a liberal. I encourage you to Listen here and look at some of the other programs. Read more
Qn to ask often:- Am I more concerned with how well I am following Jesus or with how many Twitter followers I have & what they think of me? # Saw an amazing house here in Braintree that was built in 1620! Thatched roof and everything. # Read more
Longtime readers of my blog may remember the days before I banned comments. If you do, you will remember that I gathered a group of people who seemed to disagree with almost everything I said. I stopped comments because I didn’t have time to deal with everything they were saying, and because I found moderating very difficult. These days, that group largely finds expression through a blog written by someone who shares my surname, but despite rumors to the contrary... Read more
In today’s quote Spurgeon introduces the vital concept of “sealing” or assurance of our faith and relates it ultimately to the line from our hymn: Note also that this sealing does not necessarily come at once with faith. It grows out of faith, and comes “after that ye believed.” We are not in every case sealed at the moment when we first trust in Jesus. I am persuaded that many who believe in Jesus enter into peace directly, and perceive... Read more
Faith does not come from feelings, but feelings DO come from faith Spurgeon http://bit.ly/b5TzcH # It's almost the weekend and that can't come quick enough this week! Looking forward to Chinese tonight with some great friends. # Read more
Our third quote in this little series, makes the very important point that however precious our experiences of God might be, a warm glowing feeling inside us never actually produces faith. Some of my readers might be surprised to know that I wholeheartedly agree. Faith on the other hand, DOES produce feelings, as in the other two quotes, Spurgeon quotes our hymn: There are some who fancy that faith cometh by feeling. If they could feel emotions either of horror... Read more
Regular readers of this blog will know that I sit firmly in the tradition of Piper, Lloyd-Jones, Spurgeon, Edwards, and dare I say it Paul (!), who stresses the vital nature of the experiential side of Christianity. Now, as we begun yesterday, we are looking at the relationship between feelings and faith, initially by sharing some quotes from the very advocates of a pursuit of a real intimate relationship with God. Today Lloyd-Jones explains why we can’t trust the sweetest... Read more
As promised yesterday, we today begin a series exploring the implications of one line from an old hymn “I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholy lean on Jesus name.” It is my assertion that the writer of the hymn must have known something of the sweet “frames of mind” that Jesus gives us. He would not have written as he did if he did not. These sweet experiences of God are to be sought, and according to the... Read more
I want to remind you today of an old hymn and to highlight just one line from one of the verses. Have a think about what this line means to us today, and starting tomorrow I will begin a series in which I will first share some quotes from others, then write myself about why I feel this line is vital for us to rightly understand. My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare... Read more
If, like me, you are fascinated by the work that has gone into Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer’s latest book Transformational Church then the following video will give you a relaxed, longish presentation on just what they have been getting up to: Read more
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