“Oh we have x number of people coming to our church” boasted one of the group of people walking towards the convention tent. Then they turned to me “oh Dave, how many people are at your church now”. I wasn’t keen on the numbers feel to the conversation and I didn’t actually know the person… Continue reading Reputations, assumptions and missing the important questions
Author: faithrootsdw
Should I take questions after preaching?
Someone raised the question the other day about what would happen if we opened up the floor to questions when we had finished preaching. Now, as it happens, I’ve been in a fair few preaching contexts where we’ve done that. Sometimes, I’ve intentionally opened up to Q&A, at other times, it’s been the decision of… Continue reading Should I take questions after preaching?
Filled with the Spirit
Paul’s solution to the question of Christian obedience and holiness is not to impose laws and rituals (legalism), nor to say that grace means we can do what we please. Instead, he sees our true hope being the Holy Spirit. In Galatians 5:2-23, he says that the result or fruit of receiving the Holy Spirit… Continue reading Filled with the Spirit
Church on holiday
Tim Wilson writes here about attending church when away on holiday. It provoked a few thoughts in my mind which I’m going to share below. So, as always it’s important to emphasise that I’m not disagreeing with Tim. These were thoughts prompted, not disagreement prompted, although we may not agree on everything. I would encourage… Continue reading Church on holiday
Tempted
#FaithrootsPodcast 1 Chronicles 21:1 -22:1 Tempted 1 Chronicles 21:1-22:1 The census (v1-5) 2 Samuel 24 makes God the source of the provocation for a census. “Satan … ‘Adversary,’ without the article, than than God is the instigator of David’s census. Such a figure does not appear elsewhere in Chronicles(or Ezra-Nehemiah): indeed only in Job 1-2… Continue reading Tempted
Whose rights? A question of freedom
It looks like the Nigel Farage – Coutts saga is drawing to a close. It began with Nigel Farage claiming that his account with the bank had been closed because of his political views. The bank claimed that it was because he dd not meet their financial thresholds but leaked documents showed that in that… Continue reading Whose rights? A question of freedom
Misrepresentation
In Galatians 2, Paul talks about the circumcision party who had previously caused trouble in Antioch as those who “came from James.” The implication there may have been that James himself was endorsing their position. However, that isn’t necessarily the case. In 5:11, Paul is himself compelled, to deny and refute that he was a… Continue reading Misrepresentation
The pearl of great price -another perspective
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells two parables about valuable treasure. First he describes a man finding a a field with buried treasure in it. He sells everything in order to purchase the field and so own the treasure in it (13:44), then in the following verse he tells of a merchant who finds a pearl… Continue reading The pearl of great price -another perspective
How not to do Church Discipline
Geoff Chang has offered a “primer” on church discipline on the 9 Marks website. He defines “Church Discipline” as “the process by which members of a church guard one another from the deceitfulness of sin and uphold the truth of the gospel.” He then goes on to recommend the following process, based on Matthew 18… Continue reading How not to do Church Discipline
Unequally yoked … When the world gets it better than we do
The Farage-Coutts saga continues to intrigue me. The standard attack against Coutts is that they are discriminating against Farage based on his opinions. It is being presented as a denial of his freedom to be anti EU and pro border controls. I’m not sure there is evidence for that. I guess we would have to… Continue reading Unequally yoked … When the world gets it better than we do
Faithroots 