Tag: Jesus

The Beautiful Gospel – Brad Jersak at Ivy – #Bgbg2 for @wtctheology

Brad hails from Canada and teaches Gospel Studies on the faculty of  Westminster Theological Centre (which I am delighted to be a trustee of and teach on). My notes from his talk last week. He talks fast so I got as much as I could!!  The beautiful gospel is of a God of unfailing love. It’s not a sales pitch I have to convince people of. A presentation that prisoners and the poor say ‘YES!’ to because it’s good news to them. The gospel in itself does not need upgrading. It’s a faith once delivered to the apostles from the Lord Jesus. But we need to be careful how we tweak our presentation of it, for every generation – so they hear it.  We can have approaches, but it’s not steps. He then showed us the gospel in chairs: with two chairs (one black and one white chair). How I heard the gospel first off: the version I came to Christ through – was the legal gospel. Composed by Calvin. Courtroom image. Sin is lawbreaking that must be punished. God can […]

Blah Blah Blah Preaching

You get no credit for looking in the mirror and knowing you’re a mess. What will you DO? You can memorise 12 great principles of successful marriage and still be instant messaging behind her back to that young girl in the office. It’s the same with money, parenting, or business. The blessing doesn’t come because I know. Or don’t.

WHAT MORE COULD HE HAVE DONE FOR US?

(This is from last Sunday night’s talk at the Ivy AGM – Awesome Gratitude Meeting) One of my favourite author/ speakers died last year – his name was Brennan Manning. If you have ever read ‘Ragamuffin Gospel’ you’ll never forget it. I have read lots of what he’s written and listened to many of his talks, but it was only this week I heard the amazing story about how he got the name “Brennan.” Because his real name was Richard Xavier Francis Manning – a good Irish catholic name, to be sure. While growing up, his best friend was Ray. The two of them did everything together: went to school together, bought a car together as teenagers, double-dated, and so forth. They even enlisted in the Army together, went to boot camp together and fought on the frontlines together in the Korean War. One night while sitting in a foxhole, Brennan was reminiscing about the old days in Brooklyn while Ray listened and ate a chocolate bar. Suddenly a live grenade came into the trench. Ray looked at Brennan, smiled, […]

Life’s 3 Options #bgbg2

One of the things I have often been challenged about by God, and it draws close to me every day in terms of what I worry about or get concerned about, is the issue of WHO IS MY PROVIDER going to be? Who do I see as responsible for providing for what I need? Your answer to that will have you living in one of three ways. You’ll be a BEGGAR, A DIGGER, OR A GIVER. Jesus told a parable, a story with meaning, in Luke 16:1-13. It’s a bit of a weird one about a man who suddenly finds himself in financial difficulty. The major point, which it’s always safest to go with in parables, is that he thought he’d always have enough, but now the future’s closing him down fast. And the internal dialogue the guy has with himself there leads me to these three ways to live. Have a read yourself. He says ‘I’m too proud to beg, and I’m not strong enough to dig,’ so he ends up getting very creative in the area of generosity […]

Why God Uses Shepherds – Nativity Lessons And More

Preparing for next Sunday’s talk, which we’re filming soon, I found a great deal of interesting detail from various sources.   SHEEP IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL Large Numbers of Sheep in Bible Times From the days of Abraham right through to modern times, sheep have been abundant in the Holy Land. Arab peoples of the region have depended heavily on sheep for their livelihood. The Jews in Bible times were first shepherds and then farmers, but they never completely left the shepherd life. The sheer number of sheep is seen in examples like: Job having 14,000 sheep (Job 42:12) Solomon sacrificing 120,000 sheep at the dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 8:63) Fat-Tailed Sheep The most common type is the fat-tailed sheep. The large, fatty tail acts as a reserve of energy, much like the hump of a camel. When the animal is butchered, the tail is valuable and may be bought separately to use for frying. This kind of sheep was already in use in Bible times: “Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat and the […]