I do not write because I think I have anything special to contribute, but just because what is outlined below just seems like the most sensible approach to me for the good of the country. Read more
I do not write because I think I have anything special to contribute, but just because what is outlined below just seems like the most sensible approach to me for the good of the country. Read more
My nation was shaken but not too stirred by the horrendous events of the terror attack on Saturday night. And this week there have been worse atrocities in other countries we often don’t pay so much attention to. The London Bridge attack came in the context of two other recent UK atrocities. To the bemusement of many from outside this island, but not to the surprise of most inside it, one leader called on people not to be too alarmed, stating that... Read more
“…delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). I first got arrested by Romans 4:25 when writing my book Raised With Christ (also available in Logos Bible Format). To me, this verse is the pivot on which the whole of the epistle to the Romans turns. Everything so far in the letter has been building to this point, and these words summarise what has gone before. What is more everything Paul writes after this flows from the word THEREFORE which immediately follows them... Read more
Easter Sunday is coming soon. And for many churches it is the biggest Sunday of the year. It is our day more than Christmas. It is the one day of the year when Christians loudly celebrate the risen Saviour. It is the resurrection of Jesus that saves us. And yet, some pastors reading this will be hiding a guilty secret. They are dreading to preach this Sunday. I remember several years ago now when I was asked to preach on... Read more
Do you want to know God? You may have been a Christian for years, but you may feel that you don’t experience or KNOW God. Do you feel distant from God sometimes? I definitely do. In fact I am currently gradually finding my way back from a period where God felt a million miles away. This is not how God intends us to live as Christians. If you seek him, it IS possible to find God and experience him. There is a... Read more
Would your church cope with hearing preaching like Jesus? Has it ever struck you how very different the preaching of Jesus is to the preaching in the average church today? So much so, that if a young man came to your church to “preach with a view” like Jesus preached, I suspect he would be more likely to be politely thanked rather than asked to become your pastor. In this post I will simply highlight some of the differences between... Read more
Evangelists are the lifeblood of the church. We neglect and alienate them at our peril. Could it be that the fact that so many of them are wounded, and not fully functioning in our churches is one of the main reasons the Western Church is heamorraging members, not growing from strength to strength? Who are your great heroes of the faith in years gone by? Chances are many of them were evangelists. Perhaps you are thinking about Wesley and Whitefield... Read more
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) This is not a political post. But in an age when ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ rule, it is time to remind ourselves: truth matters. It really worries me that the very concept of truth is under attack, not just by Trump, but also by the media he so hates, and the fake news we see every day online. Just one example recently was Mark Hamil... Read more
Its official. Recent research has shown that the divisions in the USA are so great it has led to some people becoming delusional. The Washington Post reports the most staggering thing I have read so far in this whole saga. A full 41% of Trump voters when shown the photos of Obama’s and Trump’s inauguration crowds claimed that the photograph with more people was Trump’s. That is just plain not true. No repeating a mantra of ‘alternative facts’ changes red... Read more
Many of us have forgotten what it is like to walk without a sat nav guiding us. Even when I go nordic walking in the forest I tend to rely on my phone’s map app to direct me. We miss therefore some of the sense of the metaphor ‘walking with God’ that the Bible intends. Walking with God doesn’t mean we never take a wrong turn and even get lost. It doesn’t preclude stumbling and falling. God promises to be... Read more
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