It is a year since I wrote three posts on the subject of homosexuality and preached on the subject at a Sunday evening service. In sermon and posts I reflected on two things- homosexual practice is displeasing to God and homosexual temptation is a personal experience for me. I have not spoken at Woody Road […]
Last week I wrote up some reflections on the couple of weeks I had speaking at the Oak Hall Alpine Bible School on Romans and a CU houseparty on 2 Corinthians. My chief reflection was simply the power to transform lives evident in the doctrine of the righteousness of God received by faith. However, there […]
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 […]
A couple of weeks ago I preached at Wheatley Community Church. For those who haven’t picked it up yet, this is a new church starting in Wheatley with a number of folk from Woody Road involved. As quite a number were away I was asked to write up the sermon. I thought I would post […]
There are certain sermons that you know are going to produce questions. I very much had a sense of that when I preached on Sunday from Romans 9. Essentially it covers the doctrine of election- that God in His sovereignty has called and chosen His people. There are various reasons why I think this is […]
Somewhat belatedly here is the last post considering Romans 8:18-27. So far we have seen that the Christian should expect suffering but that this is achieving a glory- one second of which will extinguish a lifetime of suffering. So, for the moment, everybody is groaning. Why? Because glory will be so good. Paul says that […]
So why be a Christian when to be one brings a guarantee of suffering? Here is how Paul goes on: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. It is easy to read a verse like that and assume Paul is playing down our […]
Apologies that the next three posts won’t have a Christmas feel. With three Christmas sermons to preach any inspiring (or mundane!) thoughts on Christmas are going to land in those! I’ve just finished preaching through Romans 5-8. However, the sermon on Romans 8:18-27 didn’t record properly. One or two people have asked me about it […]
Let’s be honest- that’s not the most gripping title in the world (those who have listened to me enough will know that titles are not my strong point…). However, I do think understanding the difference between these two things and how they work together is helpful in understanding and living the Christian life. I’ve been […]
Last Sunday we looked at the second half of Romans 7. I’m not intending to use this post to defend my position- suffice it to say that I’m not convinced Paul is describing the normal Christian life. Regardless of whether you agree or not it seems to me that our three conclusions are important: Sin […]