The latest NIV Study bible is a clear competitor to the ESV Study bible. Which to buy?
Category: bible
I’m delighted to to announce that my next book will be out in the summer. IVP will be publishing it, under the title: ‘Cutting to the Heart: Applying the Bible in Preaching and Teaching.’ The basic argument is that God uses his Word to change us to be like Jesus, and when we preach we should
Imagine the crowd at the back of the church, after a clear, simple, evangelistic talk. There’s all the difference in the world between a person who says, ‘I understand that Jesus died for sinners,’ and the one who says, ‘I understand that Jesus died for me.’ What do you want people to say as the
Last week was one of those weeks. A blur of days, coming off the back of a hectic church weekend away, and in which I had planned to squeeze a couple of conferences (a two-day and a three-day), an hour-long lecture on something I hadn’t thought much about, and various meetings and evening events. By
This is a Saturday blog post: on a Saturday if I’m preaching, I’m too preoccupied with tomorrow to write a lot, and every preacher is too preoccupied to read a lot. So, it’s just two words. The two words that swirl round my head as I stare at the material I’m preaching on tomorrow. Two
The preacher was accomplished and confident; he held the concentration of the crowd, and he certainly had my attention. Although not for the reasons he would have wanted. He had taken one of the stories about Jesus, and explained it from the perspectives of the different characters involved, which is not necessarily a bad tool
My normal practice is to preach through a book of the Bible. The speed we’ll take it at will depend on various factors, but handling a text this way means I’m not in the driving seat. God is. My agendas are put aside, and stuff comes up as people are exposed to God’s logic and
Yesterday I had the same experience, twice, in different settings. With a bible open in front of me, I looked at a passage I thought I knew really well, and realised that there was a sequence of words (that is, a verse) that I had hardly registered but now hit me between the eyes. I
Moving house recently meant that there was huge encouragement to de-clutter. And I did the brave thing of not only de-cluttering the house but de-cluttering my study. I. Chucked. Books. Out. There, I said it. But I don’t think I threw away any bibles, and that wasn’t for either superstitious or nostalgic reasons. I think
Each Sunday I’m giving out handouts for the sermon, rather than just leaving an empty box (‘For your sermon notes’) on the church notice sheet. Why go to all the extra cost and effort? Here are my ten reasons: As a preacher: 1. It forces me to a point of clarity all the way through
I’d had more than enough of being an itinerant preacher. For the past dozen years or so I’ve been free of Sunday pastoral responsibilities (I’ve had family responsibilities, of course), and so I’ve tracked round the place helping out friends who were on their own and needed a visitor to say the same things in
The easy way to plan your sermon series is to open your Bible, mark up your main section divisions, and go with those. But that’s letting someone else plan your series for you. So here’s what you can do instead. First, get to know the book well enough that you get a feel for its
We had a really encouraging and enthusiastic afternoon with Matt Chandler. Here are my top takeaways:- Parents – We need to keep articulating the gospel, otherwise our kids will believe that either legalism or licence is the way to go. The gospel must NOT be assumed Otherwise we, and they, will continually want to get
Two new Bibles have just thumped onto my desk. They are both handsome specimens of their kind, and I thought it would be worth reviewing them side by side. The Proclamation Bible (PB) is produced with the aim of equipping preachers. It is based on the 2011 NIV, and a magnificent range of practising preachers
I don’t mean the oddities of the people who turn up, or lack of prayer – but the clue’s in the title. When we come to a group Bible Study, what should we be expecting? 1. Bible It should be obvious that this is the centre – but my experience is that all too easily
I think the shortest time I ever had to prepare a talk, was around five minutes. It was all down to a blissfully simple misunderstanding. A friend was arranging an evening on world mission, with a variety of speakers from around the country, key folk from local churches, and a number of mission agencies. Quite
Life as a leader will be tough, and will demand self-discipline. But while it’s realistic to admit that it’s tough, it’s downright stupid to make it impossible. How do we do that? By taking on a role we were never intended to play. For instance, I frequently meet Christian leaders who think that their role
You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, it’s said. (Actually, I’ve failed to teach our dog any tricks, but that’s a different story) I was mulling this over while preparing a talk once for our Ladies Fellowship, a delightful group of saints, most of whom were in their seventies and many in their eighties.
I got it wrong again this week. In public, which was a touch embarrassing. .. I was speaking to a group of pastors in training, looking at the priorities of ministry from Acts 6. You know the story – the needy widows were being overlooked in the food pantry, so the apostles arrange for a
There are several prayers that I regularly pray as a preacher. 1. Lord, show them what you have shown me. Paul told Timothy to ‘Reflect on what I am saying and the Lord will give you insight’ (2 Tim. 2:7) A sermon is always the product of hard reflection, thinking and study, but there’s the
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