Tag: Jesus

FAITH in God is reasonable. Faith in atheism is not. (John Lennox)

Notes from lecture at RZIM by John Lennox Reasonable Faith. When he started at Cambridge – someone said to him, ‘Oh you’re Irish, you all believe in God, and fight about him.’ He started to engage more with non believers. Has done so in unusual places. Eg communist atheism.  Russia. More recently debating eg. Hitchens and Dawkins. Comes from the conviction that Christian faith is not only helpful, but TRUE. And if we do not stand up, secularism or atheism will appear to win. 1 Peter 3.13 Can anyone really harm you for being eager to do good deeds? Even if you have to suffer for doing good things, God will bless you. So stop being afraid and don’t worry about what people might do. Honor Christ and let him be the Lord of your life. Always be ready to give an answer when someone asks you about your hope. Give a kind and respectful answer and keep your conscience clear. This way you will make people ashamed for saying bad things about your good conduct as a follower of […]

Daniel Fast : Consistency Counts

When you pray, when you worship – do you go for GOD?! Surely we want to encounter GOD!? We don’t just want answers – we want the One who is the Answer. We want His face not just his hand. We don’t just pray to meditate and think things through ourselves . Of course we want understanding and revelation and strength and wisdom and answered prayer– but not for their own sake!

Financial crisis – sinister global agenda?

Without doubt this economic crisis – and the chaos that follows – will present individuals and organizations opportunities that would never otherwise be pursued during times of normality. It’s hard to not to expect anything different. After all, the firemen who are now trying to douse the flames are the same people who started the fire.

God speaks through Dreams: Walking with the King

In the dream I was stationed on duty outside a great palace like Buckingham Palace, dressed like one of the soldiers in ceremonial dress with the Busby hat on – as an ex police officer I’ve done my fair share of standing still and ‘guarding!’ Suddenly I was aware that I had a new assignment.

Our fantastic last Sunday!

Still shaking my head over yesterday’s phenomenal outpouring of love here for my last Sunday! The church family and local community came together for an amazing time of gratitude to God, quite overwhelming at times. Apart from making me eat unmentionable things in ‘I’m a Northerner get me out of here!’, having to sing ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams, and being presented with a beautiful album of our time here and far too many hugs and kisses – we were also really privileged to baptise 25 people! What a day – I will never forget it. Thanks to everyone – and thanks be to God! There are too many photos to upload an it takes ages – but here’s a little sample – Thanks be to God!

The wisdom of crowds?

The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, was written by James Surowiecki to argue that decisions are often better made by a group than could have been made by any single member of the group (the whole group is smarter than even the smartest person in it). He does go on to say that it matters how the group is made up, that people in it should be allowed independence, diversity of opinion etc., rather than just advocating crowd psychology as the answer to everything. These democratic wiki days attribute a great deal of prestige to wisdom of the many, but I have to ask – is it at the expense of the individual? What if the crowd is wrong? What if there’s just a trend, or a panic, or pressure to conform? The Bible says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world.” I love that bit on Life of Brian when he shouts at the crowd, ‘You’re all individuals!’ Check out the […]