Two Ways to Slave

There is a slavery on the near side of sonship.  (Galatians 4:7) And there is a slavery on the far side of sonship.  (Galatians 1:10) On the near side it’s death. On the far side it’s life. On the near side it’s flesh. On the far side it’s Spirit. On the near side it’s your [...]

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Models of Masculinity

I first posted this after attending the 2009 London Men’s Convention.  I’m genuinely looking forward to the 2011 London Men’s Convention (with Mark Driscoll!) and will be going with 25 guys from our church.  I’m sure I’ll learn loads and be encouraged.  But I’ll still be asking the same questions I did two years ago… [...]

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Christ in the Other Territories

CrossReference+ Episode 1 from HeadHeartHand Media on Vimeo. I can’t imagine these kinds of video being produced and then widely propagated in evangelical circles in Australia or England.  Not right now anyway.  But Scots and Americans (and the Welsh?) seem to be far more open to Christ in the Old Testament.  Why is that? Anyway, [...]

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The idolatry of christocentrism

About 10 years ago I wound up in the office of a Christian counsellor.  I couldn’t believe I was about to confess to depression.  Me, a church worker!  Me, conservative evangelicalisms next big thing! The cause?  Several very stressful things were happening in my life, but the tipping point into depression was a frustration with [...]

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Guess the source of these quotes…

“All prophets prophesied only for the days of the Messiah” “The world was created only for the Messiah.”   Answer: The Talmud. In particular: Sanhedrin 99a; 98b. Christ alone is the meaning of Scripture and the meaning of the world.  The Hebrew Scriptures themselves teach this! Source: here – a fascinating read!

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Your questions

Last month I asked people to submit questions they might have regarding faith in Christ in the OT.  Here’s 22 questions that have been generated.  If I’ve missed yours, please add it in the comments. I’m going to open out the answering of these questions to others.  (Otherwise, at my current rate of blogging here [...]

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Evangelistic sermon – Luke 5:27-32

I’ve posted up other versions of “The Calling of Levi”, but here’s one I preached last Sunday at St Wilfreds.

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Happy Friday

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Vicarious hope (repost)

Having thought last week about the vicarious worship of Jesus, I’ve been reflecting on examples of vicarious hope in our marriage. There have been a few times in our marriage where one of us has turned to the other and said something like this: – I really can’t imagine a way forward here. – Oh [...]

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1 John 5:13-21 sermon

Sermon Audio Do you ever worry that you’re not a proper Christian?  Do you fear you might not be a child of God after all? Do you ever struggle to pray? Do you worry about friends who are caught in certain sins? Do you wonder what to do about those who once said they were [...]

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Trinity Day – Mount Pleasant Baptist – 2 April 2011

Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Swansea is holding another Trinity Day. 10am-3pm, 2nd April 2011. This time the topic is Heaven and Hell. Paul Blackham will speak on heaven and hell in the former prophets. Richard Bewes will discuss the pastoral importance of the subject. And Martin Downes has prepared (as ever) a brilliantly incisive talk [...]

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Pearls of great price

There are thousands of great blogs out there which I haven’t come across, but for my money Dave Kirkman’s 48 Files is the second best blog in human history.  (Ok maybe third – it goes, A New Name, daylight, then The 48 Files.  But third is still pretty good.) Just check out these from the [...]

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Check out Swivel Chair Theology

David Matcham has a brilliant blog called Swivel Chair Theology I’ve particularly enjoyed his posts on The Three Repentances where he exposes the dysfunctionality of cycles of sin and abjection before God (we want to be abject!), and The Problem of Homosexuality in the Light of the Trinity. Enjoy.

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Happy Friday

 

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When I don’t desire the LORD… the King does [repost]

Following on from last Thursday’s post – Psalms are about Christ.   They tell of the interaction between the LORD, the King through Whom He rules, the righteous who hide in Him and the wicked who rebel. These interactions are pictured from many angles.  But one key perspective is for the King Himself to speak.  This [...]

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Onya Patto

…as we’d say if Patrick was Australian. Tim’s got some good links on what a great evangelist Patrick was: Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become [...]

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Where is the world headed? And how do we get there? A sermon on Luke 6:1-11

Sermon Audio Where is this world headed?  This weekend we’ve seen the power of the natural world.  Tectonic plates shift and millions are affected.  Earthquakes, Fires, Tsunamis, Explosions, threatened nuclear melt-down.  It all reminds us that planet earth is not a safe place to make your home. If the earthquake doesn’t get you, maybe the [...]

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How I relate to nagging…

Emma’s posted up 22 reasons she nags.  Twenty two!  She must suppress her urges a lot because that’s not how I experience things.  But given that she might not be alone in harbouring such urges, and given that men are responsible for birthing and exacerbating many of those urges I thought I’d post 7 thoughts [...]

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