Tag: wisdom

Doug Addison on Prophetic Evangelism

What a great night at Ivy Manchester! As promised – here are my notes from Doug’s teaching tonight. The talk will be up on the church website for download in a couple of days. People say ‘I’m spiritual, not religious’ The world has changed, evangelism hasn’t caught up. This is an addition to the toolkit: Prophetic Evangelism. 2 scary words! He’s been PRACTISING this for years. If we have a good product, with eternal benefits – but people don’t want it, we need a marketing meeting! We have had good intentions – but that’s not enough. We have to become missionaries to the UK. What do missionaries do? Figure out what people already believe. Study the language and the culture – fit the message into where people are. Not changing the message, just changing the way you share it. Most people are open to Jesus, and to the power of God. We have to come up with ways to connect with people. Today, if people are spiritual, that’s half way home – cos God is spiritual – and he’s in […]

A way in the desert

There are a lot of desert experiences, in life and in the Bible. Jesus himself went through it. In fact Mark’s gospel says the Holy Spirit ‘threw’ him there! It’s natural for us to complain about being in the desert. It’s a bit of a Christian catchphrase – when you want to moan about God, but sound holy about doing it. “I’m going through a bit of a desert experience at the moment.” What do you do in the desert? There’s no map (you could try a piece of sandpaper I suppose). You don’t know where you’re going, how you got there or when you’re getting out. Can I make a couple of suggestions? 1) Listen to God. You’re in that season for a reason. It’s a test – but you’ll be blessed! God wants to teach you something – are you learning the lesson? The desert is where he breaks us of self sufficiency, or the need for self promotion. The desert is the place he teaches discipline and dependence on him. But our God makes a way in […]

Daniel Fast day one: Entering the King’s service!

We’re going through a series on Bible heroes at the moment on Sundays. Yesterday’s focus was on Daniel. If we were going to look for longevity in consistent wisdom in the Bible, I’d probably want to make a case for Daniel. Lots of other guys started out well and finished badly. Or they had a very chequered past and came through at the end. But Daniel had the kind of testimony sometimes people underplay – they feel they have to leave the church maybe and get into drugs or something so they come back having made good, then they’ll really have a testimony. I often counsel teens in church – YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT! You can have a story that says, “God has been faithful to me all my life, and he’s helped me live faithfully too.” That is a powerful story! He was just a human being like us, but Daniel’s exemplary character leave him as one of very few people in the Bible who gets 5 stars all the way through his life, one of a […]

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.