When Jesus underlined the first and greatest commandment he added to it. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength’ (Mk.12:30). What was implicit throughout the Old Testament, that truth and words and wisdom are aspects of God’s character and therefore of
I’m doing the all-age part of the service on Sunday, which includes teaching a memory verse. That word ‘memory’ is important – how do I move from teaching a verse, to teaching people to remember? And how do I get it out of short-term memory into long term recall? Choose a verse that can
So, I’ve suggested thee angles to answering the question of what is beautiful. Angle 1: something is beautiful because it is truthful. The words or ideas it uses resonate with reality, and we recognise and enjoy that. Angle 2: something is beautiful because it affects or moves us, perhaps with delight, often with sadness, and
Some things just work, and because they work well they give pleasure. If you doubt that, think about what happens when something doesn’t work, and how you experience the opposite of pleasure. A fork is an elegantly simple solution to a problem, and it has hardly changed since its introduction. The robotic explorer on Mars
The summary of Willow Creek’s survey on spiritual maturity, summarised for church planters is available here You’ll need to open this post to activate the link.
A short video by Jim Packer on God’s holiness and our preaching. You’ll need to open this post to activate the link.
Yesterday was gorgeous. The sky was palest blue, dusted with pink and orange, there was enough snow to reflect the winter sunlight, and enough mist to make it soft at the edges. The God who made that is gorgeous. His wisdom and righteousness are breathtaking. Even the gorgeousness of creation, which he decided, using a
I can order a coffee fluently in a number of European languages, but beyond that the curse of Babel hits hard. I have a little schoolboy French, some tourist’s Italian and German but beyond that I’m stumped. Words matter. I had a tortuous few days in Belgium in an area where to get the language
The Culture section of my Sunday paper covers the same things every week: plays and music, opera and ballet, books, movies and the rest. And only very rarely is anything remotely Christian covered. Which a moment’s reflection would show, is very odd. Because, before the last half century, any artistic contribution only made sense with
Next year will see a second “Passion for Life”, as evangelical churches across the UK co-ordinate their evangelism for one intense week. If youd like to find out more, and perhaps get your church involved in the events, there’s a promotional vimeo clip here (requires Flash). And 10ofthose.com is already offering the training DVDs for small groups.
The gospel is all about growth. Jesus’ kingdom will be one over every tribe, nation and language. The earth will be filled with his glory as the oceans cover the sea. He told parables about growing plants, frothing yeast, bursting wineskins, full harvests – did he tell any about decline? That means the gospel grows
I was sure the speed limit was forty, but the police were equally sure it was thirty, and so I found myself on a Speed Awareness Course, finding out about the dangers of speeding, and tips for driving safely. One of which was to select the right gear by listening to the engine. Choose the
Thanks for stopping my my blog since August – I’ve enjoyed starting it up. The top three posts for the year were: Go away, said the welcome team What prayer and ministry of the Word can never do It’s not a sin Actually that’s a lie – the top post was the free e-book version
Round about now, even the cheeriest of people starts to have a twinge of sympathy for Scrooge. As the last turkey slices are eaten, the first Christmas presents are broken, and the credit card bill pops through mail, who doesn’t think, ‘Bah, humbug”? Well, Christians don’t. Or we shouldn’t – but it took an evening
I’ve been spending a bit of time recently with some local volunteers. Non-Christian volunteers, working for a secular organisation. And I’ve been rolling up my sleeves and being a volunteer too. A bit – not as much as them. The result is that I’ve been able to talk to them, as we’ve been doing stuff
Apparently we live in a VUCA time. VUCA was an acronym developed by the military to summarise contexts like Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Everywhere is in a state of permanent change, and always has been, but VUCA describes something particular: Volatile. Issues can flare up suddenly, with no warning signs. Change has
Well it can be – or, at least, every week if you get your creativity working. John Piper has a brilliant book out, called Fifty Reasons why Jesus Came to Die. It’s published in the normal ways, but as usual with Piper you can get it as a free pdf
As a preacher I often find myself quite constrained at this time of year. There are some brilliant preaching opportunities coming round the corner (Carols, Christingle, Crib service, Midnight, Christmas Day), but they have quite a predictable shape to them. Carols: fifteen minute, punchy and throught-provoking evangelism. Christmas Day: fifteen minutes if I can hold
A friend just described two churches to me, and I didn’t expect what he told me. One is a church planted about nine years ago, established and growing solidly – around 100 people on a Sunday. The other is enormous, one of London’s largest, with an international congregation and reputation, and a leader you’ve probably
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