I recently wrote about “sola Scriptura” or “faith alone”. The point is that Christians don’t only have Scripture on its own in isolation. They do have things like experience, their ability to reason things out and prophecy. The point is that Scripture alone and uniquely is our sole authority for knowing and serving God. So,… Continue reading These things alone
Tag: Christ
Big Signs
The three synoptic gospels follow up closely Jesus’ kingdom parables by pairing two significant signs, or miraculous events together, the calming of a storm and the casting out of demons. Luke will include a further significant sign, the raising of Jairus’ daughter. 13.1 Read Luke 8:22-25 One day, Jesus and his disciples cross Galilee by… Continue reading Big Signs
Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians
What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Spiritual Warfare”? You perhaps think first of all about demon possession and exorcism, perhaps too about witchcraft and sorcery. Perhaps you will have in mind some famous secular films like the Exorcist or popular level Christian literature. Well you would not be wrong to think about… Continue reading Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians
Strengthened in love (A sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21 for Pentecost)
What is love? Famously, a set of cartoons back in the 1980s offered the answer “love is…” with lots of examples. Perhaps, given he was not too sure himself at the time and what was to follow, they were unwise in one suggestion “Love is Charlie and Di” We might suggest that love is our… Continue reading Strengthened in love (A sermon on Ephesians 3:14-21 for Pentecost)
At just the right time
What was going on in Susa, the capital of Persia? Why had a drunken king taken a step too far with his wife? What had caused her to snap and defy him? More importantly, why had a poor young Jewish girl got caught up in the godless and ungodly response, putting her life and well-being… Continue reading At just the right time
Avoiding wrong turnings
How do we apply the book of Isaiah to our lives and context today? * Well, first of all, it’s important that we don’t attempt to pick it up and synthesise a set of principles straight from 700BC to 21st century life. Instead, whenever we pick up an Old Testament book, we apply it first to… Continue reading Avoiding wrong turnings
The promised king and the promised Spirit
How would God’s people know that the promises were coming true and that they no longer needed to fear judgement. Isaiah makes it clear that there were two crucial people who would come to confirm that hope had arrived. There was the promised king and the promised Holy Spirit. Read Isaiah 32 God promises that… Continue reading The promised king and the promised Spirit
Death and resurrection – applying Jonah through Jesus
We want to apply the Old Testament to our lives today but how do we best do that. There’s a risk that if we just use an Old Testament character as an example that we end up with legalism. The message of Jonah gives us a helpful case study. Jonah runs away from God and… Continue reading Death and resurrection – applying Jonah through Jesus
Noah’s type
One of the ways in which we see those echoes reverberating through Scripture is through something called Typology. This is about seeing how people, places, objects and events point forwards from themselves to people, places, objects and events in the future. We use the term particularly to speak about Old Testament things that point forward… Continue reading Noah’s type
Abandoned? How do we square the difficult bits of Song of Songs?
I keep coming back to the question that Mike Ovey frequently asked his students at Oak Hill, “Will you let God disagree with you through his word?” The point he would make was that we can tell the difference between an imaginary friend and a real friend by whether or not the friend disagreed with… Continue reading Abandoned? How do we square the difficult bits of Song of Songs?
Faithroots 