This month's most popular posts

  • Sheep and Shepherds Preparing for next Sunday's Video talk, which we're filming later today, I found a great deal of interesting detail from this source, reproduced at www.baptistbiblebelievers.com Manner And Customs of Bible Lands by Fred H. Wight Copyright @ 1953 CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - Shepherd ... posted on December 10, 2013
  • Why Paul told Timothy he was so FOR women leading, and I want to be too! Why would Paul name two men getting it wrong then apparently write ‘so the answer is don’t let women teach?’ Writing something which for 2000 years since has been used - by men - to clobber women into submission at ... posted on March 19, 2021
  • Curses and Blessings, Balaam & Barak It's not just the strange tale of a talking donkey. Numbers 22 has a lot to tell us about blessings and curses and how words work God's way. posted on February 11, 2023

Jesus is my best friend, because he’s the friend of sinners

We don’t tend to focus on ‘friendship’ as an outcome of Jesus’ life and death, resurrection and friendship because, well, it’s not so much of a big deal is it? Not lined up alongside all those theological words like redemption and atonement. But what if really is the deal. That God wants to be with us, even though we have acted as his enemies, he wants us to be friends forever. What if those things in which we rightly glory are just the way into a room, the corridors, the hallway. But friendship, is the destination. Do we just hang out in the hall, or step into the room and sit at the table?

Why Paul told Timothy he was so FOR women leading, and I want to be too!

Why would Paul name two men getting it wrong then apparently write ‘so the answer is don’t let women teach?’ Writing something which for 2000 years since has been used – by men – to clobber women into submission at worst, or relegate them to help in Sunday school at best?Could it be because we’ve read the rest of scripture through the lens of these two verses, rather than the other way round?

GOD IS CHANGING THE GAME – SO WE WIN!

.  On the news yesterday I heard that the surprise most popular game for Christmas in a time of Covid is likely to be chess, following the success of the Netflix mini-series The Queen’s Gambit. More and more people are learning and playing, especially girls.  I was never very good at chess growing up because my older brother was really good at it, so in my head it was the game I always lose, so I didn’t learn or practice enough to get better.  Earlier this year in conversation with my friend Alan Hirsch (you can hear more on this in my podcast where I picked him up on it) he said that he’d learned something from the world of chess that might be applicable for the situation the Church has found herself in this year. He said, ‘If you want to get better, remove your Queen.’ I’ve thought about that a lot since.  The idea is you take away your strongest piece, the one you rely on most, and that will help you learn what to do with all […]

REFRAME! HOW TO MOVE FROM FEAR TO FAITH FOR THE FUTURE.

I could not be more excited about the future as we head toward LAUNCH 2020:REFRAME on 17th and 18th November. Five years ago we started LAUNCH based on the premise that it’s not the direction of the wind but the set of your sail that determines your direction and destination. That message and mentality matters more this year than ever – which is why joining us for those two days could change everything for you and your team now and for 2021.  We live in uncertain times. The uncertainty invites fear – showing up as stress and suffering, and leading to scarcity thinking. Even something as benign as checking the news or scrolling through social media raises the heart beat when we’re constantly assailed by everything that is (or could be) wrong with the world.  But God has not given us a Spirit of fear. And you can’t be fruitful and fearful at the same time.  That’s why it’s vital, before this year is out – that you REFRAME.  When you step back and consider the nature of fear, you’re looking […]