Tag: preaching

Why you should do long preaching series in the Old Testament

I am planning to do some teaching through 1 and 2 Chronicles soon. It will be appearing on the Faithroots Podcast and there may also be a few accompanying articles.  My main aim is to provide an additional training resource for those using Faithroots to help equip them for urban mission and planting.  However, I… Continue reading Why you should do long preaching series in the Old Testament

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

Food from around the worldwide web

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What are theologians for? The case of Karl Barth’s adultery. An illuminating and challenging read. Though it raises questions about what we do with the sins of other big names in church history. What do we do for example with those who kept slaves? 5 signs a pastor is over committed: learn to accept your… Continue reading Food from around the worldwide web

Preaching at the carol service

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So, it’s Sunday evening in the week before Christmas and the church building is packed.  This is probably the largest gathering you are likely to see all year, even if you pastor a large congregation.  There are lots of visitors. You recognise some friends and family of church members who have come with them.  Then,… Continue reading Preaching at the carol service

Preaching on difficult passages

When I wrote about the preacher’s job not being to “explain the Bible passage”, I commented that although we can trust Scripture to be clear, this doesn’t mean that all Bible passages are uniformly easy. So, what should the you do when asked to preach on what looks like a difficult Bible passage? Here are… Continue reading Preaching on difficult passages

What is the preacher meant to do … and how should we introduce them?

The other day, I wrote about one of my bugbears which is the way in which sometimes preachers are introduced as being about to explain God’s Word.  You can read here why I don’t like that phrase. This prompted the legitimate question “then how should the service leader introduce the speaker?” My answer would be… Continue reading What is the preacher meant to do … and how should we introduce them?

Crucified (Mark 15)

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Jesus is handed over to Pilate because the Jewish leaders don’t have the authority to order his execution. Given their hesitancy around a public showdown with Jesus themselves, it also neatly hands the problem over to the Romans.  Note the cowardice of a night trial and then passing the issue so that they don’t get… Continue reading Crucified (Mark 15)

What do you do with difficult Bible passages?

Our church have been working through Mark’s Gospel both in our Sunday morning services and at our midweek life group.  Most of Mark feels like plain sailing (well, there is the occasional storm). However, there are a couple of more challenging texts. I suspect that the ones that stand out are Mark 10 which raises… Continue reading What do you do with difficult Bible passages?

The tone and application of the passage is not always what the congregation need to hear

Here’s a confession. I really struggled with Chapel services at Theological College. It wasn’t the Anglican liturgy I struggled with. Although I’m a free church guy and wouldn’t use Common Worship in my church context, I’ve actually appreciated the prayer book for time to time. We even used it for a daily Facebook slot during… Continue reading The tone and application of the passage is not always what the congregation need to hear