What do you preach during a pandemic? I’m conscious that is probably not one of the most pressing questions for many people at this time. But I have been struck by how important our online services have been for people. We have even by joined by those who don’t normally attend church. As a result […]
Once a year we consider the story of a well known Christian as part of our Sunday evening service. This is largely a chance for me to be self-indulgent and pretend that I am still studying history. The more serious aim is to be encouraged by the Lord’s work in years past and also allow […]
Let me tell you a secret. Most preachers find certain types of biblical material easier to preach than others. I suspect most of us in this country find New Testament letters the simplest. Personally, I have never found Old Testament narrative easy and, perhaps curiously, have always found it difficult to open up miracles for […]
I was speaking on 2 Corinthians 3 earlier this week about the glory of the new covenant. I was struck again by the importance of application. Without application I would simply have given a lecture on the difference between the old and the new covenants in Paul’s thinking. But it is application that makes a […]
For the last few years I have been teaching the Bible Handling modules on the PfS course. One of the lectures I most enjoyed giving was on the theme of application in sermons, Bible Studies and so on. I think there are various ways in which application can go wrong for preachers. There can be […]
So it was slightly mad- and at various points I felt like I was mad. 16 sessions on Romans for the Oak Hall Alpine Bible School in Northern Italy followed by speaking at Caleb and Jana’s wedding on the next day before Psalm 62 at Woody Road and four talks on 2 Corinthians at a […]
I am back at work now and looking forward to meeting people again at our prayer meeting tomorrow evening and church services on Sunday. I am very thankful to those who have been praying for me- I am coming back well rested and refreshed. We’ll see how long that lasts! One of the joys of […]
At some point in the next few weeks, the elders will be discussing sermon series at the church for the next year or so. I thought this might be a useful point at which to outline some of my thinking and convictions on how to go about this. 1. The value of consecutive exposition We […]