How are you?

How do you answer that question?  You’re going through the mill all week, sipping a cuppa after the service, and someone asks cheerily ‘How are you?’  What do you say? We’ve had experience of chronic illness for many years now.  I confess that when people ask about it we don’t really know what to say.  [...]

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Golden-Blogger does it again

They called the early church’s greatest preacher John ‘Chrysostom’ meaning ’John Golden Mouth’.  He reigned supreme in the style of preaching from that era which involved weaving together a rich tapestry of biblical images.  These preachers simply inhabited and spoke the language of the Scriptures, fitting together themes from all corners of the canon. Friends, Golden-Blogger [...]

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Gonna mess you up

There are two things that will really mess you up in life.  Getting married and becoming a Christian.  You can poodle along quite contentedly before either of these states.  But once you enter marriage, or once Christ enters you – life as you know it is over. I know a good number of people who [...]

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Ten words on the preached word

Just some fairly random thoughts on what I’d like to see more of in my own preaching and the preaching of others…   Thou shalt worship Christ from the pulpit.  The priestly task of declaring the gospel of God (Rom 15:16) entaileth a twofold direction to the sermon.  The preacher not only standeth before a [...]

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99 Balloons

I’m absolutely blown away by this. What gets me is the combination of sadness without any self-pity. It’s utterly tragic but not told as a tragedy.  Somehow the whole thing is a celebration shot through with praise, thanksgiving and gospel hope. Praise Jesus. .

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The fruit of the Spirit as works of the flesh

For years I prayed for the fruit of the Spirit every day.  (Galatians 5:22f)  Yet, looking back, I prayed for the fruit in an altogether fleshly way. How so?  Well basically my prayers were petitions for the moral character of ‘love, joy, peace…’ as abstract qualities. I would judge my own spiritual walk that week by how [...]

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Eat Dirt Man Eater!

Satan must eat dust all his days (Gen 3:14) Man is dust (Gen 3:19) Satan is a maneater (1 Pet 5:8) Yet Christ will join man to crush the maneater (Gen 3:15) He does this by being Man eaten (John 6:51) Only in this way does He swallow His enemies (1 Cor 15:54) Those who [...]

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Fake Purse Ninjas

Happy Friday .

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1 Corinthians 13 sermon

Sermon Audio Click Here How do you think of 1 Corinthians 13?  Is it a warm, relaxing bubble bath?  Does it make you forget your cares and give you the warm fuzzies? I’m here to tell you, this chapter is not a bubble bath.  It’s a scalding hot bath full of antiseptic! And we are [...]

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The context is key. The context is mission.

In preaching through 1 Corinthians recently I listened to a lot of sermons on chapters 9 and 10.   Two themes in particular were hammered home by preachers.  In chapter 9 there’s the olympic training regimes (v24-27).  In chapter 10 there’s ‘glorifying God’ in all circumstances (v31).  But so often the context of these verses is [...]

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All in the mind?

What’s wrong with solo sex? Here CCEF has an 11 minute podcast on masturbation.  While there are some good points (like husbands prefering solo-sex to talking to their wives about the bedroom), it takes that age-old evangelical line: the problem’s all in the mind. Have you ever heard the line, “If you can do it [...]

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Paul Blackham on the Sermon on the Mount

Having thought a bit about preaching this week, here is the preacher who has helped me see the nature of true preaching more than anyone.    Here Blackham is at his best unpacking the Sermon on the Mount at Tarleton Farm Fellowship.  (Also see the “Other Sermons” tab above for some brilliant All Souls sermons from him). [...]

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Chicklit is not porn for women

Chicklit and chick flicks are not pornography for women, pornography is pornography for women. Ros Clarke writes on the two-fold error of saying popular romance functions as porn for women.  A) One in three visitors to porn sites are women. B) Stop dissing romance – it’s at the very heart of the gospel! She says it [...]

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A theology of preaching – part 6 (final part)

Christ must be proclaimed biblically. Nothing has been said yet about the character of the preacher.  This has been deliberate.  It’s not the character of the preacher but the character of the word that is determinative.  It’s not ultimately the skills, gifts or even godliness of the preacher that will bring the word home to [...]

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I wish I never sinned

“I wish I never sinned” said the Israelite at the head of the queue. The others waiting to make their sacrifices nodded. The priest narrowed his gaze.  “Why do you wish you never sinned?” The Israelite was amazed that the priest would ask.  The answer was so obvious it hardly needed saying.  “So I don’t [...]

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A theology of preaching – part 5

Christ must be proclaimed biblically Hopefully it is not a new thought that Christ is the Word of God.  Perhaps, though, it is a new thought to consider preaching as the word of God.  Therefore some may wonder whether we have lost the vital importance of Scripture as the word of God. Absolutely not.  Without [...]

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Happy Friday

Telemarketers beware

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A theology of preaching – part 4

Go to theology network for the full paper on preaching.  I’ll post it here in chunks.  Be great to talk about it if you want to comment.   We’ve made the claim that preaching is God’s word when Christ is proclaimed biblically.  Now we will tease out some implications of this central conviction:   Christ [...]

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