What is the reformed church all about? People often ask me that question. One answer is that reformed churches are churches that want to “connect the dots” of Scripture. I expect at some point as a child you played Dot-to-dot. It’s a puzzle, which is solved by drawing lines between dots, as you follow a …
If you’ve been with us for a while, you’re probably aware that we baptise the children of believers at church. That can often surprise, confuse, or even upset many Christians. How can a child be baptised when they aren’t able to understand the gospel? Isn’t the order in the New Testament “Repent” first and only then “be baptised” (Acts …
Lots of evangelicals are questioning the ascendance of “white, European theology”, especially its export to other parts of the world. “Stop ramming white theology down the throats of people from other cultures”. Instead, we’re told, we need to encourage “indigenous theology”; this theology will be attuned to the sensibilities of Asian and African communities, rather …
If you play with perfection, you spoil it. Let’s say you’re entrusted with the Mona Lisa for a day. Do you think you could make some additions to Leonardo da Vinci’s work that will improve it? Or imagine, you’ve been given the perfect recipe. It was developed by a top chef in a French kitchen, and won …
“Guard the deposit, entrusted to you” (1 Tim 6:20; 2 Tim 1:14). What would you think of a bank that had no security? They didn’t have a safe. They had no safety screens at the counter. They didn’t lock the building at night. They had no way to hold their employees accountable. All the cash …
… I want you to think: “covenant!”. That was the take home lesson of the first session of our “crash-course on the covenants” last week. Believe it or not, you won’t find the phrase “relationship with God” anywhere in your Bible! But what you do find is talk of a covenant between you and God. King David …
Whenever you hear the phrase “relationship with God”… Read More »
If we want people to come to our church, “traditional” is one of the last words any of us would use to describe us. Nowadays, the word “traditional” is only positive if it’s used to sell Cornish pasties, advertise country pubs, or describe a recipe. Otherwise, it’s off-putting. Advertisers will run a mile from the …
If you read Christian theology, you’ll come across something called the sin of curiosity. For example, the Westminster Larger Catechism lists “curious searching into God’s secrets” as a breach of the first commandment (Q.105). At first, the sin of curiosity sounds odd to 21stcentury ears. After all, we encourage curiosity in our children, don’t we? Isn’t curiosity …
We saw on Sunday that Barnabas was “full of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 11:24) and I said that every Christian needs to be “full of the Holy Spirit”. Someone, helpfully, asked me afterwards what that means. In Pentecostal churches, the sign of being filled with the Spirit is speaking in tongues and having a dramatic …
In the Bible, God talks in the following ways: Elijah heard a still small voice (1 K 19:12). Samuel heard a voice calling him (1 Sam 3:4, 6-8, 10). Ezekiel received dramatic visions (Eze 1:4-28; 10:1-22). Balaam heard a donkey talk (Num 22:28). Belshazzar saw a hand write on a wall (Dan 5:5-6, 25-28). Ezekiel’s …
