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…
Tag: jesus
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…
The Banished are Beloved: A Holy Week reflection on David’s Sons
This week I’ve found myself reading through a rather unpleasant stretch of 2 Samuel – the story of David’s sons, Amnon and Absalom. These chapters are full of violence, abuse, manipulation and heartbreak. They’re not enjoyable to read at any time of year. Reading them on Holy Week, however, adds an extra layer of poignancy,…
The Lent Encounter
Each day through Lent, Bible Society is producing a series of reflections – written and audio – journeying with the people of God through the wilderness, and looking ahead to the events of Easter. And I’ve had the privilege of writing this week’s contributions. This week we will work through Exodus 25–29, looking at the…
A Priest like Melchizedek (Hebrews 7)
On Sunday I continued our series at Oxford Community Church, looking at the identity of Jesus in the letter to the Hebrews. After a few weeks of tantalising hints, we finally spoke about the enigmatic figure of Melchizedek – a priest and king, who receives a fleeting mention in Genesis 14, and then fades into…
Strike the Ground (2 Kings 13)
Last weekend the Salt and Light Advance family of churches held our annual Leaders’ Conference, Thrive. It was a great event, at which we enjoyed powerful times of worship, teaching and ministry, and set fresh vision for our life together. On the Friday night, I spoke on the story of Joash and Elisha from 2…
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…
Liam Thatcher 