You may feel that “dear friends” is a somewhat lame greeting. After all, we are used to addressing letters to “Dear So-and-so”, when that person may not be particularly dear to us, or may be hostile towards us, or may not even be known to us personally at all. “Dear Friends” is, however, a thoroughly
Read morePart of living in a fallen world, where we are all sinful, is that we suffer from the sins of other people (and they suffer from ours). What should we do when that happens? What should we do with other people’s sins? Here are three common responses: This is where we confess their sins to
Read moreLiving the Christian life can be summed up in the words of an old chorus: ‘trust and obey’. That becomes clearer when we hear what Paul Tripp says about Responsibility and Concern. Responsibility refers to those things that God has called me to do that I cannot pass on to anyone else (for example, my
Read moreHave we lost the idea that people without Christ are lost? Authors Win and Charles Arn think so: “The biblical concept of ‘lostness’ has disappeared from the conscience of most churches and most Christians … Little remains of the first-century Christian’s burning conviction that without Christ, every person is forever lost.” That idea of...
Read moreIn 1924, the Olympic Games were held in Paris. One race in particular has been immortalised for us by the film Chariots of Fire. It is the 400m, in which Eric Lidell beat the favourites and set a new world record in the process. You can watch the Pathe newsreel of the event on YouTube
Read moreYesterday morning the UK celebrated “I am Team GB”, a spectacular occasion advertised as ‘the nation’s biggest sports day’. It was an opportunity to feel part of the Olympic glory of the successful British athletes from Rio. From the comfort of our armchairs or even the playing fields of Birmingham, we could never hope...
Read moreAugustus Toplady wrote a great hymn called the Rock of Ages. In it we sing that Christ, the Rock of Ages, is “the double cure”, cleansing us from sin’s guilt and power. We thought about applying the first of those last week: Christ takes away our guilt. How marvellous! But we all still struggle with
Read moreHow often do you feel guilty because of something you have thought, said or done? One of the Holy Spirit’s jobs is to makes us sensitive to sin in our lives, which means we will as Christians often feel guilty as we confront sin in our hearts. But what do we do with that guilty
Read moreJohn Newton is famous for writing the wonderful hymn “Amazing Grace”. Before he started following Jesus he was a slave trader, indeed, the captain of a ship transporting slaves from Africa to America. He became a Christian on March 21st 1748, during a long, stormy voyage back to Britain. He went on to become a
Read moreIn the morning services we are beginning our summer series of sermons on Acceptable Sins. What are “acceptable” sins, you ask? The idea comes from a book by Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins. Bridges explains: “We who are believers tend to evaluate our character and conduct relative to the moral culture in which we live. Since we usually...
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