While preparing a talk on Acts 8, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Official, I was struck by something I’d never noticed before. It wasn’t strictly relevant to the talk, so it didn’t make the cut (despite how much I wanted to keep it in. Gotta keep killing those darlings!) But here it is……
Tag: christianity
God’s Book: An Honest Look at the Bible’s 7 Toughest Topics
By now you will have heard the stats, I’m sure. The Quiet Revival report from Bible Society indicates that church attendance in the UK has risen by over 50% in the past 6 years, with the most dramatic growth coming from 18–24 year olds. And with that has come an enormous increase in people turning…
A God-given Name
There’s a moment I love in the story of David, when he and Bathsheba have a child, who would go on to become Israel’s wisest king and build the Temple for God’s presence. His parents named him Solomon, which is a solid name. It’s related to the Hebrew word shalom, so it means in essence:…
Venom and Antivenom: A Gospel Metaphor
Tim Friede has been bitten by snakes more than 200 times and received 700 injections of venom. Now his blood could save hundreds of thousands of people. It’s an imperfect gospel metaphor to be sure, but it’s not bad. The Seed and the Serpent From its opening pages to the closing ones, Scripture uses…
The Death of David’s Innocent Son (2 Samuel 12)
There are stories in Scripture which, honestly, I struggle with. One of them comes in 2 Samuel 12, when the Lord took the life of David’s innocent son. The context for this is the sin of David against Bathsheba and Uriah. The King summoned Bathsheba to his courts while her husband was away and, presumably…
Questioning Keller’s 200 Terrible Sermons
“For the first 200 sermons, no matter what you do, your first 200 sermons are going to be terrible.” I’ve encountered this quote from Tim Keller a good many times, and have found it to be a mixed blessing. On the one hand, it’s hugely releasing to know that you’re not going to be perfect…
We Love God’s Spirit (Conference recordings)
Helen and I recently had the joy of speaking at King’s Church Eastbourne for their weekend conference, We Love God’s Spirit. I’m a big fan of this church! We have many friends there and have visited countless times for theology and leadership training, albeit about 15 years ago! So it felt precious to be able…
Pictures of Mission: Keys and Nets
Whenever I teach on mission or evangelism, I tend to leave people two simple pictures: keys and nets. Together these pictures help us see how to share our faith in a way that’s authentic to who we are, but also sensitive to the needs of our friends. Keys Like most of us, I carry a…
Jesus and the Wasgij
‘In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son’ (Hebrews 1.1–2) Last week I delivered a sermon on Hebrews 1, looking at how Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God – the one who fully reveals His…
My favourite ‘celeb’ preacher: why I guarantee you can’t name him
If I asked you to name your favourite preacher, I wonder who you might choose? I would probably struggle to limit it to one. I could possibly give you a top five. There are various men and women from whom I’ve learned enormous amounts, and who have influenced different aspects of my own preaching. Some…
Liam Thatcher 