A message for elders, wannabe elders and those who are led by them (Acts 20:28-32)

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Peter closes his first letter with an exhortation to elders to take their responsibility to provide godly leadership seriously (1 Peter 5:1-4) and for the church family to submit to the elders (1 Peter 5:5). Elsewhere, the Bible tells us to make it a joy and not a burden for our elders to lead and… Continue reading A message for elders, wannabe elders and those who are led by them (Acts 20:28-32)

Staying true to your true love

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Our daughters, heavily influenced by Disney films are currently fascinated by the idea of knowing your true love.  Sometimes they will ask me who my first girlfriend was. Then they will nod wisely and say “but mummy is your true love.”  And they are right. 2 Corinthians 11:1-15 is all about discovering and staying faithful… Continue reading Staying true to your true love

Until he comes (The last days and the last supper)

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Sometimes accidental admin errors can be our best help in seeing what God might have to say to us.  Through a bit of an admin error on my part in terms of planning out teaching I managed to give myself two whole chapters of Luke that I wouldn’t have naturally put together.   Yet here we… Continue reading Until he comes (The last days and the last supper)

Home for Christmas Dinner

You can’t talk about “Home for Christmas” without talking about food can you?  I associated Christmas growing up with home baking.  Mum always protested that shop bought mince pies tasted too sweet whereas she could control the amount of filling that went into the ones she made.  So home made mince pies were a tradition,… Continue reading Home for Christmas Dinner

Why that Christmas talk may have been more expository than you think

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The other day I talked about breaking the Conservative Evangelical rule that every sermon has to be expository. Here is the paradox, you may have ended up being at least as if not more expository by relaxing the rule.  I say potentially more expository first,  because what happens when we try to force fit an… Continue reading Why that Christmas talk may have been more expository than you think

The forgotten objective of preaching and why it matters

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I recently shared some notes setting out what I’m looking for from a preacher.. I suggested that we are looking for, in terms of content: I would suggest that in recent years, the emphasis has tended to be more and more on the first of these with a nod to the second.  That to some… Continue reading The forgotten objective of preaching and why it matters

Preparing to preach at Christmas? … First break all the rules

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Or at least two of them… One of my favourite books is by Marcus Buckingham and it’s called First Break All the Rules. It’s about how leaders are taught a whole load of conventions or rules but truly successful ones break those rules. In effect Buckingham is seeking to discover a better set of leadership… Continue reading Preparing to preach at Christmas? … First break all the rules