faithrootsdw

Fruitful

So, if Christians are to be godly and to say no to sinful desires and temptation? How are we meant to go about that? Paul has been clear throughout that it isn’t by legalistic means or ritual that we pursue godliness.Is there a better way? A look at the text (Galatians 5:22-25) Paul contrasts “works… Continue reading Fruitful

What do I do with all that application?

I recently wrote about the dangers of over applying in a sermon. I said that I’d come back to the question of what we do with all the other helpful applications we want to make. So, here are a few thoughts about what to do when you’ve got more application to include than you’ve got… Continue reading What do I do with all that application?

Fleshly

Paul has set up a contrastbetween Flesh/human sinful nature and The Spirit/Life in the Spirit. He now spells out in detail what those types of life look like. A look at the text (Galatians 5:19-21) Paul says that “the works of the flesh/human sinful nature are obvious”. It doesn’t take too much to work out… Continue reading Fleshly

What am I paying for if I open a bank account with you?

The Nigel Farage and Coutts saga highlights something significant about our culture. My friend Steve Kneale also wrote about the saga here and he takes a much stronger line that Coutts were morally wrong to close Farage’s account and were discriminating against him. My position would be that, yes they were discriminating against him but… Continue reading What am I paying for if I open a bank account with you?

Freedom, Nigel Farage and the Coutts dilemma

I don’t know if you’ve been following this particular story or not. I’ve only really just picked up to it so am coming to the party quite late. The story is that Nigel Farage, former leader of UKIP and prominent Brexit campaigner had his account with Coutts banks shut down. The bank claimed that this… Continue reading Freedom, Nigel Farage and the Coutts dilemma

Free for what?

If a Christian is free from the law and legalism, does this mean that they can do what the please? A look at the text (Galatians 5:13-18) Christians have been rescued from slavery to freedom but we need to understand what this freedom is about and make sure that we do not abuse or exploit… Continue reading Free for what?

The danger with listening critically to sermons

The other day, I wrote some advice on giving feedback to preachers. I want to add one further piece of advice. Ration your feedback, give it sparingly. What I mean by this is that whilst everyone should be getting regular feedback, you don’t want to be giving it every time you listen to other preachers.… Continue reading The danger with listening critically to sermons

Keep on running

The 3000 metres race at the 1984 Olympics is famous for what happened to the two favourites, both of whom failed to win. Zola Budd and Mary Decker were out in front, when they ended up colliding and getting tangled up with each other. Decker was injured and failed to finish. Budd, limped on but… Continue reading Keep on running

You don’t have to look too hard for the application!

This is part two of a mini-series of articles on preaching application. In part one, I talked about the twin dangers of not applying a passage at all and over applying with a scatter gun approach, shooting off lots and lots of things for people to know, believer, repent of, start doing, stop doing etc. … Continue reading You don’t have to look too hard for the application!

True Freedom

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you are trying to escape from a scary place where you are trapped. You get through to the other side, only to realise your efforts were in vain, you are still captive. It’s a common theme, it invades our worst nightmares and is often picked up… Continue reading True Freedom