word | spirit | world | church
How do we know we’re in? How do we know that God loves us and will preserve us to the end? It's got nothing to do with Bourbon, before you get too excited. There are three ways that we know that we know him. I’m talking about what we commonly call assurance, the certainty that… Continue reading Maker’s Mark
What is discipleship? This is one of those perennial questions that get’s thrown around by those in some sort of ministry. We’re all in favour, and we’re very happy to call a lot of things ‘discipleship’, but what is it? Maybe it’s easier to start with what it isn’t. It’s not going and having a… Continue reading On Discipleship
How does someone know that you love them? My wife knows that I love her. She can remember that I swore vows to do so, she can remember all the times that I’ve said so before, she can watch my behaviour both past and present and see that it must be true. She knows that… Continue reading From Knowing to Knowing
Have you noticed that we don’t seem to be able to wait? Perhaps you’ve stood in a queue at a shop or waited at a bus stop recently. I stand on the platform waiting for the train to get to work a few days every week. If you have done the same recently, I’d forgive… Continue reading Children of Choice
There are times in your life when someone asks you a question, the world narrows and the answer changes everything: Why should I give you this job? What do you want to do with your life? Will you marry me? In Acts 19 we read about Paul travelling to Ephesus and encountering a strange little… Continue reading The Ephesian Question
A couple of weeks ago we were at a wedding. We were invited to the evening but not the reception, so we’d brought a few sausage rolls and a pack of crisps for lunch and went looking for somewhere to eat it before we went on to the afternoon activities we’d planned—exploring the Cotswolds in… Continue reading Burial is Hopeful
Jesus had left the disciples. They’d seen him ascend into heaven. He’d given them a mission, his mission. He’d told them to wait. So, that’s what they did. They waited. For ten whole days. It must have been absolutely excruciating. Most of us find it hard enough to wait for a bus, let alone anything… Continue reading Fire at Harvest Time
What’s the story of the church? How do we fit into God’s grand plan? It runs something like this: God created the world with the aim of making his name great by demonstrating the worth, glory and character of God the Son. It was his good pleasure to do so by making lesser beings and… Continue reading The Church’s Story
After his resurrection Jesus gathered his disciples to give them his parting instructions and pass on his mission. Each of the gospel writers summarise his words a little differently but they all include what Luke calls “the promise of the Father” (Luke 24). Matthew records it as a promise that Jesus would be with them… Continue reading The Promise of the Spirit
An inflammatory title! That’s bound to get the punters in. A friend of mine said this line to me a few weeks back. It was a few days before her wedding, and I wouldn’t want to speak to her emotional state but, well, she told me that Instagram was the devil. Except I think we… Continue reading Instagram is the devil
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