Category: pastoral-care

The Holy Spirit and two gods to worship

There is a brilliant little booklet called “Two Ways to live” that helpfully presents the Gospel in picture form. But there are not only two ways to live but also two gods to worship. There is the true and living God who made us, loves us and in Christ has redeemed us. Then there is… Continue reading The Holy Spirit and two gods to worship

Three Types of Depression

In our morning prayer, Psalm reflections, I recently commented that the Psalmists often express experiences that seem to give voice to the experience of those experiencing depression. This can include sadness leading to tears, deep heartache and longing and insomnia. I took  a little bit of time to describe the three types of depression that… Continue reading Three Types of Depression

The Holy Spirit guarantees the promises of God

In our second look at what it means to be “sealed with the Holy Spirit” we look at the wider context. To understand what a phrase means we need to see how it fits within a passage and a book. So have a read of Ephesians 1:1-14. God the Father is worthy of praise and… Continue reading The Holy Spirit guarantees the promises of God

Why talking about virtual church is unhelpful

My friend John was in the later stages of Motor neurons disease. Each Sunday he would come to church and each Friday to our home group. He’d had surgery on his throat and so was no longer able to speak. He relied on one of these voice synthesizers made famous by Stephen Hawking. Several of… Continue reading Why talking about virtual church is unhelpful

Sealed with the Holy Spirit

Sealed with the Spirit A few articles back I began an in depth look at the work of the Holy Spirit. This was prompted by a provocative article by Matthew Mason where he argued that Conservative Evangelicals suffer because they lack a functional doctrine of the Holy Spirt and a meaningful experience of him. I’ve… Continue reading Sealed with the Holy Spirit

If it feels like excommunication, you are probably doing it wrong

At the start of the Coronavirus lockdown when we began discussing what we should do as churches, one of the main areas of debate was about whether or not we could and should still share the Lord’s Supper (communion). All sorts of reasons were given on both sides of the debate. As you know, I… Continue reading If it feels like excommunication, you are probably doing it wrong

Learning the wrong lessons: virtual church and remote pastoring

What happens to church during lockdown?  There are essentially * answers to that question Option 1: Physical gathering never mattered much, the spiritual was always what mattered and therefore virtual online church is great. It is at least the equal if not better than physical gathering in buildings. Option 2: It is impossible to physically… Continue reading Learning the wrong lessons: virtual church and remote pastoring

Assurance and Security – Can I be sure I am saved and can I lose my salvation?

In today’s “Afternoon Tea” session we were talking about assurance. We had a couple of questions about salvation. “Can I know that I am genuinely saved?” and “Is it possible to lose your salvation.” When we are talking about these questions we tend to use two terms. Assurance is about knowing for certain that I… Continue reading Assurance and Security – Can I be sure I am saved and can I lose my salvation?

Rest: Sabbaths, cycles, recessions and plagues

I remember listening to a lecturer at University argue that you could track world economic activity against 50 year cycles. Each cycle would include a period of growth and a period of decline.  He argued that in fact there was little that government intervention could do to change the overall direction of things. In his… Continue reading Rest: Sabbaths, cycles, recessions and plagues