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

Preaching: what and how.

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This is one of the additional chapters to “How do you know?” That I mentioned I was planning It is impossible to talk about the Doctrine of Revelation and how we know about God, Creation, Humanity and New Creation without talking about preaching. What is preaching?  It’s important though to be clear about what we… Continue reading Preaching: what and how.

Preach the whole word of God

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months working chapter by chapter through 1 Chronicles for the Faithroots Podcast, I’ll return to that in the Autumn.  I’m about to run a little series of articles taking us through the book of Esther. In the Autumn, our church are starting a teaching… Continue reading Preach the whole word of God

Services saturated with Scripture

My friend, Richard Baxter makes this important point.  I think there are a few reasons why church services can feel like they’ve been shorn of Scripture reading. Daniel Blanche raises one possibility here. I agree with Daniel but I want to add a couple of other reasons here in order to help us think practically… Continue reading Services saturated with Scripture

It’s okay to go off-piste when preaching … providing you signpost it clearly

There’s been a few occasions when I’ve been preaching where something has struck me and I’ve felt it particularly relevant and helpful but it hasn’t been something that the passage specifically addresses. Rather, it’s been a question arising perhaps out of something the passage leaves unaddressed.  There have been other occasions where I’ve drawn an… Continue reading It’s okay to go off-piste when preaching … providing you signpost it clearly

Do we take the Bible seriously enough?

The other day, Eddie Arthur shared a blog article titled “Issues with my tribe.”  He is there referring to evangelicalism and he highlights two particular concerns, namely that despite our protestations, we don’t take the Bible or our doctrine seriously enough. Clues towards those conclusions are found in our Sunday services. In terms of taking… Continue reading Do we take the Bible seriously enough?

“Crushed” (Expository Worship a worked example)

I mentioned in the last post about a song that we had started to sing at Bearwood Chapel a few years back. The song is called  “Jesus Thank you (The Mystery of the Cross).”  In the first verse, you have the line “You the perfect Holy One crushed your Son.”  Some people have expressed discomfort… Continue reading “Crushed” (Expository Worship a worked example)