If we were charged with helping a new Christian to develop spiritual disciplines for their growth in the faith, what would we most emphasise? If we were trying to encourage a fellow believer who is flagging in their commitment to God, what steps would we urge them to take? These questions are not the basis … Continue reading Why God’s people need their elders to teach them
The whole Brexit debacle is like living inside someone else’s bad dream, or being caught up in a friend’s domestic dispute with no power to influence the outcome or offer any mediation. Twitter is pulsating tonight with ire and fire, panic and platitudes, MPs grabbing the parliamentary mace and some momentary fame, with vitriol and … Continue reading A bigger issue than Brexit
During the past week the animal rights group PETA shared a chart on their Twitter feed which urged the adjustment of English idiom to express greater sensitivity towards other mammals, and to exclude anything barbaric in our turn of phrase. Under their guidance we should supplant 'bring home the bacon' with 'bring home the bagels', … Continue reading Dispatches from the Newspeak Gulag
We lay great emphasis on the soundness of preachers we listen to, and authors whom we read. For many of us an individual's fidelity or infidelity to the truth of Scripture will govern the time and weight we lend to what they have to say. We speak longingly, lovingly, or nostalgically of sound preachers and … Continue reading Why I am not theologically sound
In the second week of March 1941, Martyn Lloyd-Jones delivered a series of lectures in the Assembly Hall of the Free Church College, Edinburgh. His area of focus was Romans 1, with particular reference to diagnosing the spiritual condition of mankind, and the definitive remedy offered by the gospel. Recorded in print, with the addition … Continue reading Preaching hard texts in hard times
In a world which invites us to constantly publicise ourselves, self-description heavily outweighs self-knowledge. Social media and celebrity culture invite us to write our own label and then live up to it, whether or not we have thought through how psychologically accurate or even morally appropriate that description might be. Twitter asks us to compose … Continue reading Death Positive
Recently I've been thinking through some of the mistakes and hindrances which have attended my preparation for preaching over the past 18 years, as well as some of the things which have been of real benefit to me as time has gone on. The post below, and those which will follow it, are written from … Continue reading Preaching Prep #1: Read
