A few weeks back, controversy erupted around The Gospel Coalition publishing an extract from Josh Butler’s up and coming book, Beautiful Union. Recently, Preston Sprinkle hosted Josh along with Sandy Richter, an OT scholar and Brenna Blain, an advocate for abuse victims on his podcast to discuss the book and the controversy. You can watch… Continue reading Why getting our theology around sex and marriage is important but difficult
Posts
Vindication
The “Day of the Lord” is both a day of “favour”, a jubilee of jubilees and a day of vengeance. God pronounces judgement on sin and evil. For believers in Jesus, there is the good news that their sin was judged on the Cross but for those who reject Jesus, there is still the judgement… Continue reading Vindication
Does the Father turn his back on the Son?
On the Cross, Jesus cried out these words My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46 It’s a quote from the first line of Psalm 22. Stuart Townend in his hymn, “How Deep the Father’s Love for us picks up on the quote with the poetic line “…The Father turns his face… Continue reading Does the Father turn his back on the Son?
How big should you grow and at what size should you plant?
A friend recently asked this question on Twitter. Now, these kinds of polls are great at getting a quick reaction but often the answers need some detail and nuance. Often, we find ourselves responding with “it depends”. So, they work best when they generate further conversation and discussion. This, to my mind is one such… Continue reading How big should you grow and at what size should you plant?
The New Jerusalem
Remember how back in chapter 22, judgement on Jerusalem was announced? Well, we’ve been told in chapter 40 that the prophet is to speak comfort to the city and now as we come to the close of the book, God himself sings over the city. Keen eyes will observe that the end of Isaiah is… Continue reading The New Jerusalem
The Lord’s favour
We now arrive at one of those big hitter chapters in Isaiah, one of the best-known parts of Scripture and the bit that Jesus takes and makes his manifesto at the outset of his ministry. Having seen how Isaiah has built up to focus on the Servant as the one who ushers in God’s reign,… Continue reading The Lord’s favour
The AI Generated Sermon
Recently someone made a confession: I strongly suspect it is a spoof/satirical comment, intended as satire but it could easily be genuine. After all, I’ve recently been writing about whether ro not we should borrow sermons andis illustrations from others. The person concerned would only be going one step further in making use of AI.… Continue reading The AI Generated Sermon
Training pastors in context
I am passionately convinced that for most potential pastors and church planters that the best place for them to train for Gospel ministry is in context. It is generally true that training is best when it happens as close to the actual situation you will use it in. This means with plenty of opportunity to… Continue reading Training pastors in context
New Dawn
A big theme in Isaiah is “light in the darkness.” The situation described earlier in the book is of darkness falling on the land causing people to become lost, stumbling about. It’s the darkness of night because night and sleep are associated with sadness, despair and death. So, here in the later chapters, we are… Continue reading New Dawn
The key difference between the volunteer and the staff worker
I saw this helpful thread from Tim Wilson, the other day about how to volunteer in church life without burning out. One useful observation he made was that church members shouldn’t compare what they are able to commit to with what a paid member of staff such as the pastor or youth worker can do. … Continue reading The key difference between the volunteer and the staff worker
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