Category: Discipleship

Between Legalism and Licence: Wisdom and the Billy Graham Rule

Yesterday I wrote about why speculation is not necessary and not helpful in response to the speculation following Matt Chandler’s announcement. Some people have asked then whether we can or should say anything at all.  I think we can respond to things that are in the public domain. The story is unavoidably there, not just… Continue reading Between Legalism and Licence: Wisdom and the Billy Graham Rule

You are not just a number (a message for those getting GCSE results)

Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) is  one of the lead characters in the Netflix blockbuster series, Stranger Things.  Taken from her mum and used partly for experimentation and partly as an anti-Soviet weapon due to her psychokinetic powers, Eleven loses her birth name and becomes known by the number tattooed onto her. It enables the lab… Continue reading You are not just a number (a message for those getting GCSE results)

Press on with the Gospel – Regardless (Acts 21:1-25)

Here are my notes from a sermon preached at Bearwood Chapel, Smethwick. Introduction We recently spent an evening at the Commonwealth Games athletics. One standout moment was the 3k women’s Steeplechase. As the frontrunners competed for medal positions, one poor lonely athlete was well back from everyone else and struggling. I wonder what was going… Continue reading Press on with the Gospel – Regardless (Acts 21:1-25)

Did Paul disobey the Holy Spirit? (Lessons on guidance in Acts 21)

In Acts 21, we are told about Paul’s final journey to Jerusalem.  It’s an illuminating case study on interacting with God’s guidance through the Holy Spirit. Paul travels from Miletus where he has met with the Ephesian elders and given them the commission to provide for and to protect the flock. He has spoken there… Continue reading Did Paul disobey the Holy Spirit? (Lessons on guidance in Acts 21)

For those getting your A Level results today … this isn’t the one day that defines everything

It’s A Level results day.  These days, most A Level students will have already checked in online to confirm they’ve got into their Uni of choice, probably received an e-mail from their school with the results and unless they are wanted for the “jumping in the air” photoshoot probably gone back to bed.  We are… Continue reading For those getting your A Level results today … this isn’t the one day that defines everything

She finished the race

The Commonwealth Games are known as “The friendly games”. It is probably true already of athletics that you see things at such events that you wouldn’t at something like a football tournament (much as I love football). There is much less tribalism.  Imagine for example  English football fans standing politely for the national anthem of… Continue reading She finished the race

You have to choose what to keep hold of

One of the challenges of moving house is the realisation that you’ve accumulated so much stuff.  When we began to prepare for moving to Great Barr, we realised two things. First, that there were things we had put straight into cupboards back in 2010 when we moved into our old house and never unpacked or… Continue reading You have to choose what to keep hold of

All the single ladies?

I’ve written before about how men in the church should talk to and shouldn’t talk to and about women.  Sadly, there was a horrific example of how not to talk about women in an interview between Doug Wilson and Michael Foster posted recently online. The conversation is primarily about singleness but I want to pick… Continue reading All the single ladies?