‘Do you understand what you’re reading?’, asked Philip of the Ethiopian. We can ask that, and other similar questions. Do you understand what you’re listening to? Do you understand what you’re looking at?
Tag: Evangelism
I asked ChatGPT for help – here’s what happened
I was ordained forty years ago today. Was it worth it?
Let me make a prediction: if you read this brief book, and rethink some of your preaching and evangelistic conversations in the light of it, you will do yourself, the gospel cause, and the people you’re speaking to a huge service.
Did I just stick Jesus onto a Christ-less sermon, to make myself feel better? Or did I actually preach Christ?
I’ve been reminded why we use more than one kind of evangelistic course, in a series, round and round. Just like a carousel on a fairground.
You might not be seeing much gospel growth, but lift up your eyes. The gospel is always growing and converting people, because it is God’s Plan A, and he doesn’t intend to have a Plan B.
There is a small but astonishing exhibition at the British Museum at the moment, Scythians: Warriors of ancient Serbia. The Scythians were a wide-ranging group of aggressive tribes, nomadic because of the inhospitably of their land, and superb with horses. They were also astonishingly artistic and superb at their craft: their abilities with gold and
Our culture is taking story-telling very seriously. For those of us in the West, a few square miles in California have dominated our imaginative skyline in, I think, an unprecendented way. And last night I was at an event where, rarely, the great John le Carré gave an address, and it reminded me of how,
Do you have a passion to see the lost found, and the found built up? Do you have a desire to see the gospel understood, churches planted, men and women converted, children growing in their faith, and for you to be playing a part in that for the rest of your life? Do you treasure your time in God’s Word, and love to see it opened among his people so they are dazzled by his wonder? Then you’ve identified what he means to aspire and desire this noble task.
When we open the doors this Sunday, will they come back? Why should they, when there are the options of visiting family, going for a bike ride, hitting the shops – or even just having a lazy day with the papers and some coffee? And what do we do if no-one comes…
At our recent new Members class, one of the issues that struck me with great force was how many of those present did not have English as their first language, although it was the language we all had in common. Apparently this is a global phenomenon: while English is not the most widely spoken language
“Cutting to the Heart’ now available in both paperback and ebook form. Publisher’s Description On the Day of Pentecost, when the apostle Peter addressed the crowd, the people were ‘cut to the heart’ and asked how they should respond to what they had just heard (Acts 2:37). According to the letter to the Hebrews, ‘the
This Sunday, we’re heading into a couple of big evangelistic opportunities and we intend to harvest. We are gently evangelistic all the time, of course, and there are plenty of opportunities to respond to the gospel. But once in a while it’s good to shake the tree. And this time we’ve put together a collection
here are book groups, writing groups, and Novel Writing Months – so I’ve been trying to relate all the greatest stories we tell to the even greater story of Jesus.
You cannot read my mind. You might misunderstand me, mishear me, hear what you prefer to hear, or hear what you’ve think I’ve said. So I must speak with unmistakable clarity. I cannot read your mind. I can guess, follow false trails, be preoccupied with my own ideas, or be thinking of what I’m going
Out of the best of motives, at the end of my evangelistic talk, I invited the young people who prayed the prayer of commitment, to raise their hands as they did so. I wanted them to make some definite movement to show that they had given their lives to Christ. Why? To encourage them. But
‘They’re watching’ Not in a creepy sense, I hope, but every Sunday, every meeting, every conversation, you are being watched. Why? Because you are supposed to be a model of being a mature Christian. People learn from you how they are supposed to be Christians. Paul told Titus, ‘Show yourself in all respects to be
So you come to the end of your evangelistic course, and you make it clear that there’s a decision to be make. Yes or no, life or death, Christ or an idol. It’s a clear choice. To the people who want to decide for Christ you have a warm welcome, some books to recommend, maybe
The Behaviour carriage must always follow Believing – if it comes first, we’ve made a train wreck of the gospel. But where does Belonging fit in the sequence?
