I am really looking forward to the arrival of Will and Josh Loescher in December. I was present at the Life in the Spirit conference when Josh had his life changing encounter with God and I know you will find his story very powerful indeed. One of the things I like about Josh's story is that it has similarities to my own. Both us rebelled against Christianity and got caught up in alcoho...
"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." (1 Corinthians 2:4) "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus." (Acts 4:30) I had long felt that people should spend less time talking about signs and wonders ...
Introduction When you think of God looking at you I wonder how you imagine him. Is he liking what he sees? Do you see him smiling over you or frowning? Put another way: How loved do you really feel? ...
Who cares if we are lonely? Who cares if the loss we feel is crippling? Who cares if we struggle to get out of the house? In short: Who cares when we suffer either physically or mentally? This question lies behind our current initiative (in common with other churches) called "Who Cares?" And as we come towards Christmas it is worth reflecting on the fulness of what the child in the manger came ...
It seems an odd thing to say, but I have been struck by this more and more. There is a kind of grieving for sin that grieves God. There is a kind of sorrow over our sin that is itself sinful. And the flip side of this truth, I believe, is the good news of forgiveness. And I guess the place to start is with the finished work of Christ. Jesus, the eternal S...
We have not long finished a series in the book of Acts and what has stood out for me, amongst other things, is that there was a church (or later a group of churches) where the Spirit of God was so evident that people around were aware there was something different about Christians. Perhaps, though, the most stunning thing is that people fleeing from a violent persecution (the one that breaks ou...
That is a good question to ask isn’t it? How do we work hard on behalf of others? My guess is that most people will seek for what they see as practical answers. Things like; being there for them when they are down, helping them out if they are ill (perhaps by doing shopping and so on), staying with them when they are lonely and so on. All of these are good things to do. None of them are thing...
I confess that I have never been one to relish vegetables. When I was younger I would hastily eat them up so as to get them out of the way and get to enjoy the real bit of the meal – the meat. And though I now appreciate the value of vegetables more, as part of the full balanced diet, I still prefer to get to the meat. I say this to illustrate the fact that often I bypass parts of Scr...
There is, I believe, a sublime beauty in the fact that I did not choose God, but He chose me. According to Ephesians 1:4, God chose us in Christ “before the creation of the world”. There is nothing in me that caused that choice, not even my faith (foreseen or otherwise). If our being adopted by God were based on anything in us, even if only our faith, then God would not be cho...
I am a great fan of the West Wing, the fictional series set in the White House. The President, Jed Bartlett, is served by his chief of staff Leo Mc Garry. In one episode, McGarry is trying to convince a sceptical President to respond to a terrorist atrocity by using the full might of the US military. The President replies that if he does, he cannot see where it will end. He wants to see the out...
