Category: bible

bible

The Christian Standard Bible – A Great Bible, But Do We Need It? My review

By Chris Green on

I recently received a beautifully bound Christian Standard Bible (CSB), church edition, Anglicised—a gift from the publishers. It’s a pleasure to read, but here’s the real question: why does it exist? With the NIV already dominating as a contemporary, readable translation, what does the CSB do differently? I’ve run the comparisons, and the results are intriguing. Is there a compelling reason to switch? If you’re considering new church Bibles, this review weighs the pros and cons—dive in and see if you agree!

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application bible preachers preaching

Petrol-heads and preachers: the point of a car is to go for a drive

By Chris Green on

I hear preachers talking about their sermons as if they’re concept cars, pretty and accurate, gorgeous – but never taken for a real drive, in the rush hour, to do the shopping, in the rain. With the kids acting up in the back.

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Gospel Transformation Study Bible – here’s why you should buy one today!

By Chris Green on

The Gospel Transformation Bible is an outstanding study Bible at a remarkable price. Here’s why you should buy one today.

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bible Jeremiah

A review of recent big books on the Bible, Part Five: Andrew Shead

By Chris Green on

Shead’s work on Jeremiah is more illuminating at the theological level than anyone else, but in addition he has also paid such attention to the details of the text that he actually cracked the structure and themes as well.

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bible Jeremiah preaching

Seven steps to preaching a long biblical book (Jeremiah)

By Chris Green on

Let me ask you the obvious question: have you ever actually read Jeremiah? I don’t mean, have you read the famous bits, and I don’t mean have you read it sequentially in your quiet times over a series of weeks. No, I mean, have you read it, all the way through, in a sitting.

Me neither.

So, by way of going back to basics, here’s how I approached a whole book – by some estimates, the longest book in the Bible.

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Nine tips to keep your bible reading fresh

By Chris Green on

If our bible reading is getting stale, the problem is never with the bible: the always fresh, living, Word of Life. No, the problem is with our sleepy eyes and sluggish heart. Here are nine lessons I’ve learned as I have tried to avoid the dangers:

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application bible Cutting to the Heart leadership

The well-led, well-fed church

By Chris Green on

One weakness in much preaching today is that it is quite individually applied, and in a way that can be transplanted from one church to another without too much difficulty. It is not focussed enough on a particular congregation, and therefore lacks the force to move that church to better obedience.

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Leading and feeding the church – how are they related?

By Chris Green on

Churches, like any human organisation, cannot operate long-term as shapeless, improvised groupings. And even though an occasional New Testament scholar will suggest that the first few decades of the church had an exciting, free-form style, which only much later hardened into a hierarchy, when we turn to the New Testament, we can see that the experience of the very first Christians was much more complex.

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What happens before, and what happens after, a sermon

By Chris Green on

Every so often I go away on a conference to sharpen my preaching skills – in fact, I’m on one at the moment. Something like this has popped up in my diary every year since – well, since a long time ago, and it is one of the top two things that help me improve. 

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bible Cutting to the Heart preaching

When the passage is just too hard: ten tips for preaching the really tough stuff

By Chris Green on

This week has given me the preacher’s headache: a really, really difficult passage.  One of those ones where the commentaries delight in saying, ‘This is one of the most problematic texts in the canon’.  One where you start to wonder if you will have anything useful to say come Sunday, or if anyone will notice

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‘Just’ teach the Bible? Pause first

By Chris Green on

‘I just teach the Bible.’, he said, glaring at me.  In a tone that was slightly defiant, slightly challenging, and – if I’m honest, slightly intimidating.  Slightly arrogant, too. I still bristle, years later, as I remember the direct gaze, implying that he spent all his days either with his nose in books, or preaching

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application bible cancer

“Don’t (mis)quote that Bible at me” #leadingwithcancer

By Chris Green on

I’ve had it with the Bible being quoted at me.  Or, to be more accurate, I’ve had it when I have the Bible misquoted at me. It’s not just tactless, it’s spiritually damaging, because it makes God seem to promise something which he doesn’t – and then we get angry with him for not delivering

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