Last week I wrote about Sundays and gathered worship. I argued that the whole of life is worship and that means that yes, Sundays are part of our worship, not because the church gathers to worship in a way cut off from our daily lives but exactly because the whole of life is worship and… Continue reading What should (and shouldn’t) the gathered church be like?
Category: Bible Study
Patient obedience
Waiting is hard, even when we are waiting for God’s word to be fulfilled. Perhaps you are waiting for the fulfilment of a personal promise or to commence a ministry calling. You can’t wait to get on with it but wonder whether it will ever happen. We are all waiting for Christ’s return and the… Continue reading Patient obedience
Obedient hope
There used to be a saying that someone was too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. I’m increasingly sure that the assessment is the wrong way round. It is as we become more aware of the hope of heaven that we become more useful here. It’s because we are looking forward to that… Continue reading Obedient hope
In a world where no-one is allowed to say no, this is an uncomfortable parable
You know the parable about the wedding feast don’t you? That’s right, it’s the one where the people are invited come up with lots of excuses for why they cannot attend on the day. Do you know how it ends? You might assume that it ends with all the people brought in from the highways… Continue reading In a world where no-one is allowed to say no, this is an uncomfortable parable
Grievous
Read Genesis 6:5-8 God had mandated humanity to fill and to subdue the earth. Here we see a partial fulfilment of this. Yes, humans are spreading out, multiplying and filling the earth but because of sin, instead of the earth being filled with worshippers and worship, it is now full of evil. Where God had… Continue reading Grievous
Are all age services any use?
The All Age Family service is sometimes treated with a bit of suspicion, tolerated at best. I’ve heard two objections to them. The first is that All Age worship excludes single people and those without children. The second is that they prevent you engaging deeply with God’s Word. Now, both of those things can be… Continue reading Are all age services any use?
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints
Today we lay to rest my mother’s body. It’s part of the process of saying goodbye. We as a family had the opportunity to say our goodbyes to mum in those last few days and hours. Mum is already present with Jesus, which means in the words of Scripture that she is “absent from the… Continue reading Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints
A giant of a problem?
The opening verses of Genesis 6 throw up one of the most intriguing Bible passages and one that has led to much debate. As it is difficult from our position to come to certain conclusions about the details, it is tempting to skip over this and get onto the Flood narrative proper. However, if “all… Continue reading A giant of a problem?
Walking with God
Genesis 5 opens with the second occurrence of the statement “These are the generations…” We are now opening up a new section, act 2 if you like, in Genesis. We begin to trace “what became of Adam and his family?” Notice that, Cain’s line has been dealt with separately in the previous chapter. So, Adam’s… Continue reading Walking with God
Grace
Despite the judgement on Cain, once again, God is not done with mankind. Cain and his wife have children and they in turn have children. Read Genesis 4:17-26 Common Grace First, we see through Cain’s line how God blesses humanity as promised, enabling and equipping them to carry out the work of filling and subduing. … Continue reading Grace
