In the Student Group (Rooted) this term, we have been reading and discussing a book called ‘Respectable Sins’ by Jerry Bridges. Of course, no sin is ‘respectable’, but the book focuses not on the obvious sins of our culture but on the subtle sins of believers. It is a good book, but it is also
Read moreIt is well known that the Lord Jesus taught his followers – in the Lord’s Prayer – to pray, “Deliver us from evil.” (It could also be translated, “Deliver us from the evil one”, but it comes to much the same thing since all evil finds its source in the evil one, the devil). We
Read morePerhaps you find it hard even to ask the question, thinking to yourself, “What am I not afraid of?” We are afraid of so many things. We can be afraid of what people will think of us, afraid that we won’t know what to say in a social situation, afraid that we’ll fail at something
Read moreIt was a delight to catch up with Rico Tice last week while he was in Birmingham speaking at the Spring Convention. I love his infectious enthusiasm for personal evangelism, for taking every opportunity to speak to people about Christ. I was won over (again) by his passionate concern for people – he really cares
Read moreHow has your week been? It doesn’t matter whether you are nearer the ‘control freak’ or the ‘chaos theory’ end of the organisational spectrum, the answer to that question will always be, “Not as planned … Not as I expected … Not as I wanted … Not as I hoped”, or something similar. The reality
Read moreI opened the latest edition of Barnabas Aid, the magazine of Barnabas Fund, to read these words from Thomas Jefferson, America’s third president: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of
Read moreWhat would the New Testament writers have made of Facebook? Now, they don’t mention it in their writings. And it’s not as if you can look it up in a concordance. But I think they would have regarded it as a mixed blessing. Great for keeping in touch, just as letters were in their day
Read morePerhaps I’m just not old enough, or my memory is already playing tricks with me, but I don’t remember the death of a former Prime Minister causing such a divided reaction as that of Margaret Thatcher did this week. One would think, on one side, that she was virtually the Messiah and, on the other,
Read moreOver the forty or more years I have been a Christian, I have been taught to pray in a wide variety of ways, usually summarised in a helpful acronym. You may well have come across one or more of the same ones – A.C.T.S. … S.T.O.P. … P.R.A.Y. … T.S.P. They were all helpful lessons
Read moreHave you ever found yourself asking that question? I will admit that there are times when I have. It seems that things have got so bad, and they have been going on like that for so long, that it is hard to imagine there being either a way back or a way through. At such
Read more