God loves heretics. The last generations heretics can become this generations heroes. Acts 10 is about a heresy. It’s about boxes & doors. We have been brought up with ideas in boxes, & things outside the box disturb us. Eg box of appearance. How 6long should a skirt be? Is a tattoo ok? There are also doors. Acts 10 is about a vision & a visit. Peter falls in a trance. God says up, kill & eat. But Peter had a box that was ok food & other stuff was outside the box. But God says ‘Don’t call what I say is clean unclean.’ Gods rule is more important than keeping the rules. We all have our boxes. And so do our churches, and our culture. Maybe God is more concerned that we listen to his voice? Jesus broke the sabbath box by healing on it many times. Freedom & healing & compassion matter more. Jesus rule of life? ‘I only do what I see the father doing.’ Wycilf was called a heretic. Wilberforce was called a heretic. Wimber was […]
Matt Wilson. Half a gospel?
Notes from Matts introductory remarks in Impact venue today. We live in a polarised, us & them world. Pride & prejudice. The fabric of community spirit is thinner. But through the cross, God has enabled a way of reconnection in a new kingdom. Jesus reconciled ‘us’ to God. That’s only half the gospel. What about ‘ them.’ Are we reconciled to others? Or are our other relationships to others still fractured? How does the full gospel work itself out in our communities?
David Parker at New Wine North
Value at the core of his church – welcome everyone. Acts 17. God wants us to reach, & he’s not far! Idea:,after worship,,before talk: get people to go to loo or get a drink or say hello to those round them. Rom 8:28ff If you read the Bible a lot you get to hear the voices:,here he voices that God works in all things for our good- That’s love! When Paul proclaims that – then he soars! Tells us God has a destination of salvation for us. That love changes everything. Nothing can separate us from that kind of love. The reason we don’t embrace the unstoppable love of God is 1. We define it wrongly We are used to a more incomplete & immature definition of love. We think it’s ‘You do what I want so I love you.’ you give me that so I love you. Gods love is bigger & more challenging. Not self focused. Gods love is self sacrificing. A higher standard 2. We don’t understand the cost of love. That when we love deeply it’s […]
Diamond Geezers: Finances – It Pays To Think About Your Money.
…if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
Diamond Geezers: FRIENDS
Maybe it’s the memory or possibility of being let down or of letting others down that makes us put a crust around our hearts so nobody gets too close again? Do you agree most men are not good a CLOSE friendships?
Letter to my MP to say NO to local CasiNO
I have deep concerns in times of economic uncertainty and hardship for many people, (which the recent budget will do little to help alleviate and much to exacerbate) from a pastoral and social point of view.
Surprised by Joy
“..the hardest boiled of all the atheists I ever knew sat in my room on the other side of the fire and remarked that the evidence for the historicity of the Gospels was really surprisingly good. “Rum thing,” he went on. “All that stuff ….. about the Dying God. Rum thing. It almost looks as if it had really happened once.”
J. John reflects on Cumbria ‘Rampage’
One of the great errors of the modern West has been to deny, despite abundant evidence, the fact that all human beings are flawed in the area of morality. We are all ‘sinners’ and only grace keeps evil in check.
VIDEO – the year of multiplication
Last Sunday was another history maker for our church, as we met five times, in three venues!
‘IMPRESS THE LADS WITH YOUR WORLD CUP KNOWLEDGE.’
I can’t retain football information, or (this is hard to say, I feel less than a man now) any sporting trivia. But I’m pretty good on capital cities and films.