Category Archives: Christian Life

Hallowed be your name

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 6:9

Notes for a short group Bible study.  They were going through the Lord’s Prayer, one line per week, and I was asked to take this line with them.

Names

Share something about your name

Names in Scripture

Deborah (Bee); Jonah (Dove); Esau (hairy); Benoni (Son of my sorrow); Ichabod (The glory has departed)

Change of name – Abram/Abraham; Jacob/Israel; Simon/Peter; Saul/Paul

Names of God

Ex 3:13-15 (“What is his name?” … ” ’… The Lord, the God of your fathers…has sent me to you.’” …

The fear of God

Walking With Giants Posted on by

“Live in the fear of the Lord always”, says Prov 23:17.  “Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”, says our Lord, in Matt 10:28.  “In all things obey … fearing the Lord”, writes Paul in Col 3:22.

Clearly, the fear of the Lord is not optional.  But what effect does it have on people, when they truly perceive God in this way?

  1. When he saw God, Manoah expected instant death (Jud 13:22).
…

Hallowed be thy name

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Or, as the New Living Translation puts it: ‘May your name be honoured.’

This, the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, established the Number One priority for prayer.  Not me, and my shopping lists of aches and pains, interests and concerns.  But God, and his honour.  We have not even begun to understand who God is, if we have no interest in putting him first.  In reality, God is first: as Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the cosmos.  …

Same-sex attraction and the church

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Plausibility Problem: the Church and Same-Sex Attraction.  By Ed Shaw, IVP, 2015.

As others have pointed out, this is not just a book for those who experience same-sex attraction.  It is a book for all of us, calling everyone back to biblical faithfulness and radical discipleship.

The basis of Ed Shaw’s argument is that the orthodox Christian view on same-sex attraction (“Just say no”) is implausible.  Why on earth would we deny sexual intimacy to those who are attracted to members of their own sex?  …

Time for God?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It’s about time…

We make, time, spend time, save time, give time, waste time, call time, buy time, keep time, and kill time.

The one thing we cannot do is defy time.  All the time, time moves steadily forward.  Or is it that we move forward through time?  Either way, you can’t stop it.

Some people are good time-keepers.  Victor Borge once told a friend that he could tell the time by his piano.  He demonstrated this by pounding out a loud march.  …

Seventy times seven – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Matthew 18:21-35

I’ve never yet met a person who didn’t think that forgiveness was a good thing.  Peter certainly thought so.  He just wanted to check what its limits might be.  The rabbis said that one should forgive a person up to three times.  Peter was prepared to more than double the figure: “Up to seven times, Master?”  “Not seven, but seventy times seven,” says Jesus; meaning, of course, one should forgive his brother an unlimited number of times.…

Gifts

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Have you ever received a really unusual, unexpected, useless, or tasteless gift?

A woman was browsing in a second-hand bookshop when she saw a book that she thought would be just what her husband needed to read, so she bought it for him.  It was called How To Hug.  You can imagine how pleased she was when that evening she saw him leafing through it with obvious interest.  It was only then that she discovered her mistake.  …

The healthy Christian life

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In a healthy Christian life, a balance will be maintained between various extremes.  Such as:-

Dependency–Independency. Healthy religion fosters a harmonious balance between these two polarities in such a way that permits the development and maintenance of one’s individual identity yet encourages the experience of a sense of oneness with others.

Control–Freedom. Healthy religion will encourage a spontaneity, creativity, and self-direction that is tempered by inner discipline and a sense of responsibility toward oneself and others.

…

Psalm 92:12-15 – Still fruitful in old age – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The last in a series on work.  Various angles: –

Statistical.  In NT times the average life expectancy was 35-40.  This didn’t change much until about the year 1850.  By 1950 it had risen to 65.  Now it’s around 80.  Somewhere in the world a person has been born who will live to the age of 150.  Over half the people born today will live to the age of 100.

Economic.  Things will be very different when today’s young people reach retirement age. …

Mk 14:27-31 – Three words of warning – sermon notes

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Text: Mark 14:27-31.

Everyday life is full of warnings:- health, flood, gale.  Fire hazard, trip hazard, bio hazard, radiation hazard.  May contain nuts, may cause offence.  We will prosecute if you exceed the speed limit, park illegally, drink in a public place.  No photography, no mobile phones, no noise after 11 pm…

We come to church to get away from all that!  To be inspired, uplifted, encouraged, – not warned.

But ‘these things were written down as warnings for us…So, if you think you’re standing firm, be careful you don’t fall!’…