Over the years I’ve listened to sermons, read books and articles and had conversations with people about Matthew 5:13-16 and its meaning. The big emphasis seems to have been about living lives that are distinctive from the world around us, which of course is the very essence of saltiness but that then moves into an… Continue reading Being Salty – share the Gospel
Tag: Jesus
Happy People – The Peacemakers
What is a peacemaker? We actually have an award for people whom we recognise as peacemakers, the Noble Peace prize. I am not sure however that the prize fully functions effectively. How do we decide who is a peacemaker? For example, should President Trump be considered a peacemaker? After all he went to meet the… Continue reading Happy People – The Peacemakers
Happy people The pure in heart
One of the good things about lockdown easing has been that we can start to see people face to face again. Facebook and Zoom calls have helped us stay in touch but even they are not the same as actually getting to see and spend time with people and in some cases we have not… Continue reading Happy people The pure in heart
Happy People – The merciful
There’s a man and he is well and truly in debt, not just a few thousand pounds, not even a couple of hundred thousand on a mortgage. Rather, he is in the red to the tune of billions. We’re talking the sort of deficit that governments ran up in the Credit Crunch and are doing… Continue reading Happy People – The merciful
Happy people – the poor
Have you experienced abject poverty? Perhaps if you have not experienced it personally you have witnessed people living with nothing or very little. I’ve seen people in Cairo living among the garbage. I’ve also known people here in the West Midlands who have got themselves into such a mess that they are left homeless, on… Continue reading Happy people – the poor
God’s happy people living under his rule
We are going to link up with the Bearwood Chapel Sunday teaching over the next couple of weeks and go into some more detail looking at the Sermon on the Mount together. Some people will tell you that they are not much into religion and don’t care for worshipping Jesus as God but they do… Continue reading God’s happy people living under his rule
Happy People (Matthew 5:1-12)
“I’m not happy…” the words that you dread at the start of a conversation because you know that it is highly likely that you are the cause of the unhappiness and that they are expecting you to do something that will turn things around and help them to be happy again. Sometimes it is straight… Continue reading Happy People (Matthew 5:1-12)
Following to be part of something (Matthew 4:18-25)
She was beautiful, smiley and when I started to talk to her I was more attracted still as her winsome personality shone through too. I was smitten. I would willingly have gone anywhere with her. If that meant moving away to live, work and go to church some place else then I would happily have… Continue reading Following to be part of something (Matthew 4:18-25)
Wedding Day (Revelation 22)
Power has won another roundFreedom’s shaking, gagged and boundBut we’re not so far awayAnd all these mighty little menProclaiming dollars, sterling, yenBut we’re saving for the day These are days of selfish dreamsTroubled Kings and beauty QueensSo far awayFrom all those decomposing townsWhere starving hands claw the groundStraining for the day I hear the ocean… Continue reading Wedding Day (Revelation 22)
Tomorrow’s World (Revelation 20:1-22:6)
We’ve been thinking about how we can live faithfully now in a world full of evil, suffering and temptation. How can we continue to trust God through trials and troubles? How can we resist temptation? How can we keep going? Revelation 19-20 points us forward to the great victory there will be at the end… Continue reading Tomorrow’s World (Revelation 20:1-22:6)