I have already told you how much I love books. Every book needs a Christian owner who will cherish it, care for it, place it lovingly on a bookshelf, and, ideally, even read it! But the truth is, with so many great books on the market today, most of us simply don’t have time to read every book from cover to cover. Of course, it’s good to sit with a book and just read it. But there are also times... Read more
I thought I might make a few suggestions about things that your Christian friend might want for Christmas. It is no surprise that I suggest books first of all. I love receiving new books. When the doorbell rings, I thunder downstairs, hoping that tell-tale flat-box will be in the postman’s hand, announcing another book has arrived! If you are looking for inspiration about what book to buy, I would obviously love you to go and scroll down through the rather... Read more
In the previous segment of this interview with Rob Rufus, we finished by talking a bit about the network of churches of which he is a part. We ended with Rob speaking about a team of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors/ teachers. Today we begin by asking Rob what he means by “apostles.” For more information about the concept of apostles today, see my post “apostles are meant for today,” the section of my interview with the leader of Newfrontiers... Read more
This morning I preached a sermon at Jubilee. The following are almost exactly the notes I used to preach from. In the meantime you can download the audio or listen to it right here. Imagine Jesus . . . Baby Jesus—weakness, stooping down, becoming one of us, close to us. OR, Jesus on the cross; suffering the wrath of God for us. Closest description of Jesus did NOT look like the cross, or a “gentle Galilean peasant,” or the baby... Read more
In the previous segment of this interview with Rob Rufus, we focused on Word and Spirit. Today I begin by asking Rob what steps readers who are intrigued by the charismatic experience should take. AdrianOne of the things I find is that quite a few of the readers of my blog out there—they love the Word, they are Reformed folk—but they are a little bit bemused to discover that there are a ton of us [charismatics] who love the Word... Read more
The UK EA has freely released some legal framework documents that may be of particular interest to you if your church is in Britain and is led by one of its employees and/or decisions are not taken by a vote of the full membership. Legal changes have led to the following announcement: “The Evangelical Alliance and the Charity Commission have announced the completion of three model governing documents that provide guidance for independent churches. These documents are the culmination of... Read more
As we drew to the close of part one of this interview with Rob Rufus we were emphasizing the need for charismatics to continue to value the Bible. Today we begin with a question my pastor, Tope Koleoso, asked. This is a lightly edited transcript of what was actually said. Tope I’ve got to say, I agree with you. Definitely for me in listening to all the sessions that you did, and for us as a church, having taken so... Read more
My buddy, Jesse, has recently completed a nine-part series of posts on Signs of the Spirit, in which Sam Storms interprets Jonathan Edwards’ classic work on experiential Christianity, The Religious Affections. Here are the links: 1. True spirituality is a hunger for God 2. Public gathering, prayer, preaching, and singing 3. You’re not a Christian just because you… 4. Sign 1) A new spiritual ‘sense’ 5. Sign 2) A love for the things of God 6. Experience, emotion, Edwards and... Read more
A few months ago it was my privilege to interview Rob Rufus. The audio version of that interview is available online, but thanks to two readers (Dan Bowden and a friend of Andrew Fountain) who both sent me transcripts of the MP3 lately, I am now able to publish the text version. It has only been lightly edited, so please do forgive us any grammatical errors that come from this being a conversation rather than careful writing. If you want... Read more
The Urban Reformation shares this great quote from the 20th century’s greatest English-speaking preacher. We need to listen to this as he explains what is wrong with so much of our preaching. It reminds me of some of my ten conclusions on preaching, and some of the posts in the series of which that post was the summary. Page 93 from the book “Preaching & Preachers” states— “. . . Modern sophisticated man may laugh at this, but it is... Read more
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