I read somewhere of a man who was working in the garden of his new home, when his lawnmower had broken down. He tried fruitlessly for two hours trying to get it going again. Suddenly, one of his neighbours appeared with a handful of tools. “Can I help?” he asked. In twenty minutes he had the mower working beautifully. “Thanks a lot,” the newcomer said. “And may I ask you, what do you make with such a fine set of tools?”…
‘Honesty’ covers a family of virtues of truthfulness. These include:-…
Following are my sermon notes on the doctrine of election. This was preached at Holy Trinity Church, Norwich, in April 2006. The text was Eph 1:3-14.
We have been considering a number of aspects of the doctrine of salvation:
‘To justify’ is a legal term meaning ‘to acquit’, ‘to declare righteous.’ It is the opposite of ‘to condemn’.
According to the Puritan Thomas Watson, ‘justification is the very hinge and pillar of Christianity. An error about justification is dangerous, like a defect in a foundation. Justification by Christ is a spring of the water of life. To have the poison of corrupt doctrine cast into this spring is damnable.’
J.I. Packer writes that ‘in Scripture, God is ‘the Judge of all the earth’, (Ge 18:25) and his dealings with men are constantly described in forensic terms.…
Just for a smile, here are some of my favourite epitaphs and tombstone inscriptions:-…
In a day when word-based ministries are often viewed with suspicion, it is right to be reminded of emphases of the New Testament. Peter Adam has suggested that ‘the broad range of “ministry of the Word” verbs in the New Testament may be categorised as follows:-…
The Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches see their clergy as priests, especially in relation to their role at the eucharist. The Council of Trent affirmed that the mass was a sacrifice offered to God, and the human priest who offered it represented Christ and his sacrifice of himself. The Second Vatican Council endorsed this view, stating that priests are given power to offer sacrifice.
The word hiereus’ (sacrificing priest) occurs many times in the NT, with reference to pagan priests, Acts 14:13, to the Jewish priesthood, and to Christ, our great High Priest, Heb 10:12. …
For some people, the charismatic way is the best way, the biblical way, God’s way for us today. They want all Christians to be charismatic Christians; they want all churches to be charismatic churches. This is the stance of John Leach, for example, in his delightful book entitled, The Spirit Comes (as part of the package), (Marshall Pickering, 2001). Some might think that such people have gone too far. Actually, I don’t think they go far enough, and here’s why.…
As Philip Sampson points out in his book Six Modern Myths Challenging Christian Faith, all societies have their stories and myths. The stories of ancient Greece, such as the story of Hercules, were myths or legends which were not intended to be taken literally. They paint pictures of heroes and villains, of good and evil, of creation and destruction, and all with the feel of a bygone age. The Bible has sometimes been read in this way.…
Many books have been written on the subject of revival. Most of these are historical and biographical studies. Few attempt to discuss the biblical and theological aspects. Some years ago, I attempted to distil from my reading and from my study of Scripture some account of the theology of revival. What follows is the first instalment.
1. Introduction
Among the many changes which we experience or observe, three different patterns may be discerned. There are, first, sporadic changes, during which events occur in an apparently random way. …
