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The taming of the tongue

The old proverb “Sticks and stones might break my bones but words will never hurt me” is challenged by James. Words do matter. Our speech has consequences. A look at the text (Read James 3:3-8) James illustrates the power of the tongue by comparing it first with the bit of a bridle. It’s placed into… Continue reading The taming of the tongue

The aloneness of Adam revisited

In Genesis 2:18, God says: “It’s not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Often “alone” gets read as “lonely.” The two words though related are not the same and the result is that we can have a distorted understanding of what the issue was. I’ve been… Continue reading The aloneness of Adam revisited

Remembrance or protest?

I want to deal here with the issue of protest marches taking place this weekend concerning what is happening in Gaza. Since October 7th, it seems that each weekend there have been mass demonstrations on the streets of London and other cities reacting to Israel’s response to the atrocities that happened that day. It’s important… Continue reading Remembrance or protest?

Pacing yourself

Something struck me as our life group were meeting the other day. We were talking bout the life of Abraham and how he has to wait so many years before the promised son, Isaac comes. He lives 100 years, waiting, trusting making mistakes, learning, growing in his faith, preparing before his prayer is answered. This… Continue reading Pacing yourself

Creation and evolution: Is God playing tricks with us?

One of the objections to Young Earth Creationism is that the world has the appearance of age. There are two examples of this. First, for us to be able to see light from stars, millions of light years away, then surely that light will have needed millions of years to reach here. Secondly, it seems… Continue reading Creation and evolution: Is God playing tricks with us?

What kind of church? A contented church (1 Corinthians 7)

How do we live in a messy, chaotic, uncertain world? A Question we rightly keep coming back to. Questions from Corinth In this chapter, the question is about marriage and celibacy. Verse 1 may even be a Corinthian quote where they are suggesting that it is better not to touch or have sexual relations with… Continue reading What kind of church? A contented church (1 Corinthians 7)

Reaping what you sow

This next section reinforces the point that we’ve seen developed through chapter 5-6, we cannot fix our lives and our relationship to God by making external adjustments to our behaviour through rule keeping and rituals. Instead, our lives will bear fruit in accordance with the roots. A look at the text (Read Galatians 6:7-10) An… Continue reading Reaping what you sow

Knocking on doors or kicking down walls? Irresistable Grace

You may have heard the saying that “The Holy Spirit is a gentleman who won’t come in uninvited”. Not so, says the Five Points of Calvinism. If we are dead in our sin, not just weakened by it, then if the Holy Spirit waits for our invitation to come in to our lives, then he… Continue reading Knocking on doors or kicking down walls? Irresistable Grace

Seeing what we want to see

Well, what a few days it was for weekend soldiers and armchair generals. I suggested when Yevgeny Prigozhin started his mutiny that he may find himself like the revolutionaries in Les Miserables, isolated with no one else rallying to his banner and so things turned out. I warned that he might end up like the… Continue reading Seeing what we want to see

Gospel Confrontation

The Prime Minister stood, proudly clutching a piece of paper. It offered good news he announced, confrontation and war had been adverted, we could look forward to peace in our time. The Prime Minister was Neville Chamberlain and he incorrectly believed that he had managed to appease Adolph Hitler. He was brutely proved wrong. We… Continue reading Gospel Confrontation