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

Alan Hirsch at #Exponential on Discipleship

We can’t say when a person becomes a Christian. Not even at what point the apostles crossed the line. We are to make disciples He makes Christians What is discipleship? 1. Becoming more and more like Jesus 2. Letting more of Jesus abide in me It’s a response to Jesus being my Lord and Savioiur We believe in Jesus’ death, resurrection and return But what about the focus on incarnation – if we are to go as the Father sent the Son. What about his teachings? His life? That stuff is the LORD part It’s not just the Saviour piece -as sin management We are eternally destined to be confirmed to his image. Bonhoeffer – ‘Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.’ CS Lewis … the Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the […]

#RunAlpha – Nicky Gumbel at #Exponential

Invite A Generation: Run Alpha 166 different nations 110 languages 24 million people have done the course 20 to 50% express that they’ve fully come to faith.   A – for anyone L – learning and laughter P – Pasta/ food H – Helping each other A – Ask anything   This was a great session, where we were shown how to run an Alpha course by the man himself, Nicky Gumbel.   Went through some icebreakers;   1)  What’s your name, and a positive adjective? 2)  You’re stuck on a desert island – what two items would you take with you?   Then they get a little more pointed… 3)  How did you end up coming here to Alpha tonight? 4)  If it turned out there was a God after all and you could ask God any question, what would you ask him?   Write down the questions! You hope to answer them as the weeks progress.   NB. The leader is not the main conversationist here. The guests are there to pass it around each other.   This […]

What’s evangelism? #exponential

1) Billy Graham ~ Proclamation 2) Dawson Trotman – Disciple making 3) John M Perkins – Social justice ‘Momma will ask me, what did u do for people like me?’ 3Rs 4) John Wimber – Power! Many of these have been individualistic 5) Hybels. The local church is the hope of the world; church growth/ church planting Acts 2 recovered. But we can end up too focused on numbers that way so… 6) Shane Claiborne – Alternative counter cultural communities. Radical reimagining of the neighbourhood. And we can end up that way not focusing on the word- so, back to Billy! All these models are needed Which should you do? Do what you do best! Affirm all these models, they’ve all been used by God through history so the church grows through history, not transfer.

Can a nation be changed? Nicky Gumbel at #exponential #bgbg2

Luke 5: One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding round him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ […]

#GoodFriday Alan Taylor – how do we measure God’s love for us?

Ever fallen to your knees in prayer? What does it take to bring you to your knees? To pray on your knees. It has to be pretty serious to bring us to our knees. Eph 3:14-18 says that’s what Paul does when he prays that people would understand the love of God in Christ He prays that they’d get it. A lot of people don’t get Good Friday Why is it Good? Why does Jesus dying bring us peace? We need to learn – at the cross – that the love of God isn’t something you earn or deserve, just receive. Jn 17:26 Jesus measures out the love for us At the cross. At how high and wide and deep and long it is. We measure out our accomplishments & achievements to get our value The world says I will love you IF it’s always conditional We try and fail to get our love that way. God measures out his love for us and fits it to us Who would die for you Put themselves under a bus for you […]

That Jew Died For You (Video)

The link to this site was sent to me by a friend who’s involved with Jews For Jesus. Having been to Auschwitz twice, I found it compelling. Tomorrow is Good Friday. In the face of tragedy or pain people often ask the question or level the charge ‘Where was God when…’ When I speak at our service on ‘Measuring the love of God – how long and wide and high and deep,’ my focus throughout this Easter weekend is to remember, whatever we go through – our God is right there, the suffering servant and the risen Lord.

Matty Hawthorne at Ivy Sharston.

Dropping the F-Bomb Judgment is God’s jobBut sometimes we think he’s too soft maybe? And 17 years later his brothers still mistrust his love Joseph said ‘Who made me God?! I’m not God!’ You meant to hurt me but God turned your evil for good Holding onto resentment closes down your wide angle lens It could be enormous or trivial The fire of anger is burning – do I get over it, or get over it Drop the f-bomb Forgiveness Because without that- bitterness is your only option From now on I route all my thoughts about that person from God. What weighs me down? What am I carrying around? Guilt – IOU Anger – U owe me Greed – I owe me (I deserve to indulge this) Jealousy – God owes me Forgiveness is setting yourself free- Don’t live with a clenched fist Or a clenched heart Show an open palm, this Palm Sunday: When Jesus came to show us forgiveness, how much it costs – And how that beats Everything with love. We can give grace if we […]