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Forgiven (Matthew 9:1-13)

It’s one of the most wonderful words you can hear isn’t it? You’ve well and truly messed up this time.  You’ve allowed something to catch fire in the microwave and whilst attending to that, you’ve allowed the sink upstairs to overflow so that water has rained through the ceiling into your front room. Then in… Continue reading Forgiven (Matthew 9:1-13)

Getting through the next six months – some practicalities

In an earlier article I talked about how we respond to the frustration and disappointment of having at least another six months of lockdown measures. I focused on the big picture from Scripture, our hope in the Gospel and in Christ’s return. Here, I want to talk through some more detailed and practical application for… Continue reading Getting through the next six months – some practicalities

Recreating the home group and restoring the prayer meeting

Discussing with a few people the demise of the prayer meeting the other day, I was struck by a thought.  The problem is with our home groups. One of the main reasons that you won’t seem many people at traditional prayer meetings is that they have been replaced by Home Groups. The problem is that… Continue reading Recreating the home group and restoring the prayer meeting

No, troops are not being deployed on the streets

A lot of media attention and Christian commentary too this week was on speculation about the Government putting troops on the streets to deal with people who don’t comply with COVID-19. I came across some of the speculation in reaction to a letter that some church leaders have written to the government urging them not… Continue reading No, troops are not being deployed on the streets

Demons

Last Sunday, I preached on Jesus casting out demons. I highlighted three points in reference to this. Demon possession is possible today though I suspect rarer than in Jesus’ day Christians cannot be demon possessed because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit The demon exorcisms in the Gospel help us to understand the wider… Continue reading Demons

No the church did not roll over during COVID

There’s an insinuation going around in some circles at the moment that because churches closed down buildings and started to meet online during the COVID-19 lockdowns and are currently conforming with face mask and social distancing rules that this makes us wet cowards. The narrative is that COVID regulations are some kind of authoritarian attack… Continue reading No the church did not roll over during COVID

What does it mean to “just focus on protecting the vulnerable”?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen a point of view gaining momentum in certain quarters which is that we should never have had a full national lockdown and that we should be lifting all restrictions now so that the young and healthy can be free to live their lives without interference.  Instead we should… Continue reading What does it mean to “just focus on protecting the vulnerable”?

How are we going to get through the next six months?

“Not another six months of this?” That was the reaction of most of us to this week’s latest COVID-19 announcements wasn’t it. Something that we hoped would be sorted in a matter of weeks or maybe months is likely to be the dominant issue at least for a whole year and probably longer. We had… Continue reading How are we going to get through the next six months?

Is it hubris to believe we can control a virus?

Glen Scrivener thinks it is.  So today I am going to do the risky thing and attempt to disagree with a brilliant mind!  First of all, we need to distinguish between “Can we potentially control a virus.” And “have we been able to control this one” or “will we definitely be able to control it.”… Continue reading Is it hubris to believe we can control a virus?