At our church weekend away we pondered, amongst other things, the joy of Christ. Matt Searles pointed us to something I had never noticed before- the disciples were unsurprised when Jesus talked about “My joy” in John 15. He evidently had a reputation for being full of joy. We noticed a foretaste of that in […]
I mentioned last week that my tendency in the opening week of a sabbatical is to focus on my own relationship with the Lord. This week I wanted to reflect a little bit more on the life of the church whilst reading and walking in various beautiful places. On previous occasions, these have been times […]
It doesn’t have to be this way- but I am aware that it is very easy for your Christianity to get out of shape even as you spend your life talking about being a Christian. It is largely that the pressure of responding to concerns, needing to produce a sermon, working through a TO DO […]
How do you pray when your soul is overwhelmed with sorrow? Or in the furnace of temptation? We need to know because all of us will experience those things. Recently we concluded a series on prayer in our homegroups. We started with the Lord’s Prayer as Jesus answers his disciples’ request to teach them to […]
Now I am conscious that there appears to be no end to the number of people wanting to comment about Israel Folau and Billy Vunipola. For those who have managed to miss it, Australian rugby star Israel Folau published on social media a group of people including atheists and homosexuals and announced “Hell awaits you.” […]
We are approaching Good Friday. As we consider the cross of the Lord Jesus we know beyond question that He loves us. “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Gal 2:20). “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16) Rightly […]
A few weeks ago I wrote on why the church here belongs to a fellowship of independent evangelical churches- essentially because we believe the Bible’s pattern for the local church is to be evangelical, independent and in fellowship with other churches that proclaim the Gospel. I made the point that each church should be free […]
A couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with a friend on Brexit. We were on opposite sides of the debate and I was aware, from my end, that my emotions were running higher than I would have wanted. That was understandable and I suspect I am not alone in that at the moment. […]
How should churches be structured and governed? I am aware that is probably not the most immediate question anybody asks when they rise in the morning- but churches do have to make decisions. So I wanted to write a couple of pieces to explain why I believe Woody Road’s approach is biblical- and not simply […]
The material for Numbers 9 and 10 can be found here