Ami Loizides is a 19 year old young woman who attends Church of Christ the King in Brighton. Her blog is nothing short of outstanding. She has an engaging style and is honest in reporting her musings. I would urge you to go and read it. Here are some extracts to whet your appetite: “How important it is to be able to take real joy from serving God in the unseen as well as in what is out in the... Read more
Terry Virgo blogged about how faith can lead to sudden healing, or sustain us in years of waiting: A lady in Oregon, with a . . . mixture of tears and laughter, told me that, having been prayed for the previous evening, she was able to put her own socks on that morning for the first time for 23 years. Intense spinal pain had prevented her from touching her toes for nearly a quarter of a century. Now the pain... Read more
If my series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which is now finished, has left you wanting to know more, then I encourage you to listen to three talks from my friend, Joel Virgo. Joel leads the Brighton Newfrontiers church, CCK. His first talk speaks about something I have blogged about previously, apostles today. The second goes through some of the gifts, and in the third he speaks about how the gifts can operate in meetings. Joel argues for... Read more
As we draw to the end of this series on the gifts of the Spirit, I want to conclude by thinking a bit more about what is the purpose of these gifts. The gifts are a foretaste of heaven, of our restored relationship with God. They are one way to draw us into the presence of God. Through the gifts we encounter the reality of a living Jesus who is active in his church today. They are not the only... Read more
In today’s post I continue to share an edited transcript of my sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The following is a list of questions to ask yourself as you test a prophecy: Is it upbuilding and encouraging? Does it leave you feeling positive? Even if there is an element of rebuke in it (sometimes that does happen), there should be a positive feel to it. Does it lift Jesus up? Is it honoring and glorifying... Read more
This post is a continuation of an edited transcript of my sermon on the gifts of the Spirit. There are many dangers of prophecy. One example of this is foolish prophecy, which is really nothing more than wishful thinking. It might surprise you to hear me say this, but sometimes it can be a bad idea for a small group of friends to gather and try to hear God for each other. Unfortunately, what often happens is what you wish... Read more
The last two April’s I have attended New Word Alive 09 and New Word Alive 08, I have enjoyed both weeks, and there is much you can read about on my blog from those times. The New Word Alive Media has now made the audio available online. Hugh Palmer’s interview of Don Carson is particularly worthy of a listen, but you can get a whole lot of other talks. Information is also available already about next year (bookings open later... Read more
Today, I continue my edited transcript of a sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are three key things that prophecy is not. You see examples of all of these in Acts 21, which makes that a crucial chapter for understanding New Testament prophecy. Prophecy is NOT infallible In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, “We know in part and we prophesy in part.” So by definition, prophecy is not without error. If you study Agabus’ prophecy in Acts... Read more
Leading Christian band, Phatfish, have just released In Jesus on CD and MP3 download. I am not very good at writing a review of CDs, but in my mind this an even better sound than their previous CDs. There is a great rocky feel to the whole CD and the songs are biblically robust, as well as being great to listen to. No wonder this is one of the most popular Christian bands in the UK. I urge you to... Read more
For the remainder of the sermon I preached on spiritual gifts, I focused on this gift of prophecy. We will be several days in sharing an edited version of a transcript of this section. How do I define prophecy? I believe that prophecy is an impression that God may have something to say specifically to specific people at a specific time. It can be a word for an individual. It can be a word to a group of people, for... Read more
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