Romans 4:9-12

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If blessing is about forgiveness, then is this restricted to the circumcised, to the Jews? There is an argument for this. First, God had promised blessing to Abraham and then to his descendants.  So it could be argued that David is giving us more information about what that blessing is. It is to be forgiven… Continue reading Romans 4:9-12

A hungry and thirsty people

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Bitter-Sweet As the people move on from the Red Sea crossing, they search for water but find none in the desert for three days, until they come to a place they name Marah, the name is a play on the Hebrew for bitter.  There is something off about the water, it tastes bitter.  The people… Continue reading A hungry and thirsty people

More Faith: Luke 18-19, widows, tax collectors and blindmen

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After a little hiatus, I’ve got back to recording the video teaching series which accompanies the e-book “Introducing Jesus”. Here’s the latest installment. And here’s a link to the e-book You can catch up on the video series from the beginning here.

Stepping out in faith …. But with Christ with me

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Today I’m preaching at church and my task is to give an overview introduction to the book of Exodus. My big fear with such introductions is that they can risk becoming lectury … A little academic. However they can also give us the opportunity to preach the message or some of the messages from the… Continue reading Stepping out in faith …. But with Christ with me

The New Apostolic Reformation

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My aim is to give a summary introduction to a term and a movement. I suspect that it is something we will be less familiar with in the UK, both the term and the concept.  However, we will be familiar with some names because people such as C Peter Wagner who was a key figure… Continue reading The New Apostolic Reformation

These things alone

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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

Is your satnav set right? Why we need faith

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This is the text of a sermon I recently preached from Luke 17. Introduction A few years ago, we went on holiday with some friends to a place called West Bay which is down in Dorset and famous as the place where Broadchurch was filmed.  Our friends’ parents had a holiday home there but they… Continue reading Is your satnav set right? Why we need faith

Godly offspring, Malachi, paedobaptism and large families

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One of the popular arguments for paedobaptism is based on 1 Corinthians 7:14 which says: “4 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. Recently I’ve seen people attempt to… Continue reading Godly offspring, Malachi, paedobaptism and large families

Mustard

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The image of someone with only a small amount of faith, comparable to the size of a tiny seed  being able accomplish great things whether the casting of a tree as in Luke 17,  mountain (Mark 11:22) or both (Matthew 17:20),  is an evocative one.  It is central to Jesus’ teaching about faith in Luke… Continue reading Mustard

Only one person gets to impute their righteousness

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I’ve recently picked up again on discussions about paedobaptism.  One of the things that came through in responses that although I suspect still a minority, there are a significant number of people who believe that the baptised child does have faith, not merely might have faith.  It is worth noting that the two things are… Continue reading Only one person gets to impute their righteousness