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The story of Jesus – arrival

I’m gradually recording a retelling of Luke’s Gospel in everyday English. This is part of our Jesus and the Gospels teaching series and the ides is that these short podcasts can be listened to by anyone regardless of age or level of background knowledge about Christianity, the Bible and Jesus. The audio files are now… Continue reading The story of Jesus – arrival

Predestination in Ephesians

One of the most controversial statements in the New Testament is found in Ephesians 1:5 where it says: “ he[b] predestined us” It’s controversial because if God has determined from eternity what will happen to us, then where does that leave free will. It seems that everything has already been decided. If, God “chose us …before the foundation… Continue reading Predestination in Ephesians

The Sexual Reformation (Book Review)

I was a bit late getting round to it but I’ve finally sat down to read Aimee Byrd’s “The Sexual Reformation all the way through. The premise of the book is that we’ve got our understanding of sex, gender and sexuality all messed up and certain elements of conservative evangelicalism -specifically the Campaign for Biblical… Continue reading The Sexual Reformation (Book Review)

Precursors

Mark and John both launch straight into the adult ministry of Jesus whereas Matthew and Luke both commence with birth narratives, although picking up on different aspects of the nativity. There has been a tendency by some to over make much out of this difference between the Gospels with the implication being that because the… Continue reading Precursors

Orderly and verified accounts

Luke was a companion of the apostle Paul. He is the recognised author of both Luke and Acts and so at the point when he joins Paul on his missionary journeys, we can see a switch from the third person (he/they) to the first person, plural (we) as Luke describes the acts of the apostles.… Continue reading Orderly and verified accounts

So if not TGC UK, what is it that the UK church needs?

I recently wrote in response to Affinity UK’s announcement that they were heading up an initiative to launch a UK version of The Gospel Coalition. My initial response was to ask some questions because I genuinely wanted to understand what was behind the proposal, what it was that the proponents were trying to achieve. I… Continue reading So if not TGC UK, what is it that the UK church needs?

Introducing Jesus

There are four Gospels or accounts focusing on the life of Jesus. John stands distinct from the other three with Matthew, Mark and Luke being referred to as The Synoptic Gosels meaning that they can be read together. This is due to the fact that there appears to be a significant overlap of source material… Continue reading Introducing Jesus

The Spirit in Ephesians

A central theme in Ephesians is the work of the Holy Spirit. If this is a letter about God’s purpose for his church, about how to be united in love as his alternative society and about standing firm in spiritual warfare, then the Holy Spirit is crucial to all of that. But before Ephesians is… Continue reading The Spirit in Ephesians

Before you cite Philippians 1:18 it might be a good idea to read it!

From time to time you see it or hear it. Someone makes a proposal and others come back with questions and challenges. Some disagree and think that the idea shouldn’t go ahead. Then the response comes “Even if this is not for you, perhaps you could take a Philippians 1:18 approach.” What does that mean. … Continue reading Before you cite Philippians 1:18 it might be a good idea to read it!

Telling the story of Jesus -part 1: How it begins

As mentioned in recent articles and on the Faithroots Podcast, one of the things I’m trying to do is to encourage us to think about how we share the good news about Jesus with those who have no or very limited foundational knowledge about him. So, the focus of our podcasts over the next few… Continue reading Telling the story of Jesus -part 1: How it begins