There has been much written about holiness over the years. From the early church Fathers onwards, there has been a call for the church to be holy. So why is there are a need for yet another book on the subject?
Here's two reasons:
Kevin DeYoung sees the need for us as a 21st century people, living in the body of a Western 21st century church, to grab holiness by the scruff of the neck and shine it into our lives.... continue reading
Fantastic day at the Evangelists' Conference yesterday with John Woodhouse, Principal of Moore College Sydney. The day was trying to get to grips with how to preach Old Testament Narrative evangelistically. And it came at a great moment for me personally.
I've just started to prepare for a sermon in a couple of weeks' time, and I was given the story of Jephthah from Judges 10-11. This particular judge is raised up by God to beat back the Ammonites, but as he goes into battle he makes a vow to the Lord that If he gets victory, he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out to greet him from home. Victory comes. But his only daughter comes to greet him, and is duly sacrificed.... continue reading
Ed Drew, the children’s worker at Dundonald Church in south-west London, has written the following very helpful piece about how we can respond to Halloween.
Halloween is on the way, on 31st October. In all likelihood, all of us will either have children coming to our doors or have our own children invited to Halloween parties.
Firstly, let’s not overreact.
I would guess that very, very few of those we know think it’s much more than a bit of harmless fun. We can appreciate that most of those who dress up, go to parties or go knocking on doors, are children who don’t know better. We can be gentle in how we approach those who are celebrating Halloween.... continue reading
Paul writes: And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through him. (Colossians 3:15b-17 ESV)
I used to think that singing in church was all about me and God - the fact that other people were in the room was often fairly irrelevant, and actually sometimes quite annoying. I was there to have a moment with God, express myself to him, 'do worship'. And there is a sense in which the passage above encourages that, but when we look closer there is so much more going on.... continue reading
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28 v 16-20
Because of who Jesus is — the crucified, risen Lord, in charge of absolutely everything — He deserves all people to love Him and respect Him. If we understand who Jesus is, we’ll love and respect Him so much that we’ll tell others about Him. Because we’ll want Him to enjoy their love and respect, too. Jesus is Lord — THEREFORE we should tell others about Him. But doing this is hard!
That’s why the last sentence of Matthew’s Gospel is fantastic! Jesus doesn’t just send us out to tell people about Him — He goes with us as we do it. Awesome.
Happy world animal day! I do hope you're enjoying this special 24 hours. Personally, I'm reeling slightly from the disappointment that my place of work hasn't made today the suggested "bring your pet to work day". Instead I have had to leave my furry creatures at home and make do with Algenon the warehouse spider as my sole non-human companion. Such are life's challenges(!)
But leaving aside, for a moment, my personal traumas... It does occur to me that evangelical Christians rarely give much thought to the place of animals in the world. Which, considering the first job given to humans at creation was to "rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" (Genesis 1:26) is an omission that we could do with addressing...... continue reading
This week we've been blogging about Vaughan Robert's interview which came from his personal battle with same-sex attraction. Vaughan wrote the book Battles Christians Face many years ago about battles with sin that Christians can struggle with. It's a brilliant encouragement and challenge to be battling sin.
We're doing it for only £5 so if you haven't read it we would encourage you to get it now on this great offer.
You can find it here
Things have changed enormously since I was at school. Sex education for me, was an embarrassed biology teacher mumbling about plants and flowers, and what turned out to be rather speculative and misinformed rumours from the lads smoking behind the bike sheds.
Now we have a planned education system about families, relationships, sex and sexuality running from primary school onwards. On the one hand that's great: I've always thought it strange that we should be so coy and secretive about the realities of a subject so important and wonderful. On the other hand not so great: in that it is taught in a way that is "value free" - suggesting that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice like any other. Great in that it teaches not to persecute those who are different. Not so great in that it suggests that sex (properly protected) can be without consequences. ... continue reading
Archbishop of Canterbury succession talks 'deadlocked'
The church's wars over sexuality are coming to an end
Bourbon Street 'no preaching' law challenged
Trust amends Causeway centre 'Creationist' exhibit
Archbishop of Canterbury defends record in office
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