If I am one with the One ‘through whom all things were made’ – all the things he made must matter to me too. Reconciliation, climate change.
Tag: Theology
A Consuming Fire – Matt Lynch of @wtctheology
We were privileged to host Dr Matt Lynch at Ivy last night where he gave great teaching on the subject of how we encounter our God who is ‘a consuming fire.’ My (unedited) notes are as follows – Exodus 24:17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. What does the Bible mean when it says our God is a consuming fire? It occurs a number of times in the Bible and the OT occurrences seem pretty scary! Eg Isaiah 30 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire. 28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray. God comes and settles his presence on a mountain but then warns the people not to come anywhere […]
GROWING – How different people change us into different people. Brad Jersak at Ivy Church Didsbury @bradjersak #Bgbg2
What if you don’t make particular people your target group for your church- but make the Trinity your target group, then God will come, and bring His friends.
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.
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 […]
What’s so special about Jesus?
…except that a few good friends of mine this week committed themselves, on their knees, to follow him? More than 2000 years on, Jesus is still the Son of God – still changing lives! But would Jesus agree that he really was all that – and more? Would be be rolling in his grave to think that a religion based on him even existed? Wasn’t he just a teacher? A good man? Could he actually be God? Well what kind of God would you want God to be, to be called God? Theologians talk about various ATTRIBUTES of God, for God to really be called God, he’d have to fit the bill. God would have to be immutable (unchanging). The Bible says, Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. You would think God – to be worthy of the epithet – would be eternal: he’d have no beginning and no end. Read the beginning of John’s gospel – Jesus fits that bill! Surely you’d want him omniscient – all knowing? Jesus certainly ‘grew in wisdom and stature,’ but […]