What to wear is not the deepest or most pressing question that preachers need to keep in mind as they prepare to open God’s word with his people. The most important issue is being faithful to the Biblical text, followed by usefully applying that text to the specific congregation of people they are preaching to. …
The Pharisees were the serious religious people of their day. They took morality seriously, they had the utmost respect for the law, and they were part of God’s historic chosen people. In other words, they thought they were the good guys. And so did a lot of other people. Yet, in Matthew 12, after a …
In his longest quote from the Old Testament in his gospel, Matthew describes Jesus in Matthew 12 as one who is gentle. In poetic form, he quotes: 19 He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets; 20 a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick …
In Protestant churches, we are used to praying to God the Father. That’s how the Lord’s Prayer starts, and all the Biblical prayers are directed towards God. Prayer is a fundamental part of what it means to be one of God’s children. In the Roman Catholic Church, however, it is common to pray to all …
Some people love big words, and others hate them. Sometimes people use big words to disguise the fact that they don’t know what they are talking about, and often simple words can be used just as well to express an idea. With that in mind, today I want to explain a really important big word …
Our lives are messy and complicated. All of us are sinners in all kinds of ways, people who would rather run our own lives instead of doing what God wants. There are times when we feel this very strongly. Perhaps I am not good enough for God? Maybe God is interested in saving good people, …
Jesus is the King of the whole world. That is the essence of the gospel. When you look for the shortest expression of the gospel in the Bible, it is “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3, 2 Cor 4:5). Jesus is God’s chosen King, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the one with all …
I plan the sermon series to be preached at All Nations months in advance. In fact, the books to be preached on are chosen in the previous year, with the detail added a few months before the sermon series is preached. That means that we intentionally work through the whole counsel of God over time …
In the early church, most gatherings were in houses. Church buildings didn’t become common until after the conversion of Constantine in the 300s. This means that when Paul wrote to churches in Ephesians, for example, this probably meant the collection of churches in the city of Ephesus that met in a variety of homes. We …
Most churches run Bible study groups which usually start this time of year. There will be announcements in many churches urging people to read the Bible with others in groups weekly or fortnightly. If you usually take part, you’ll go along. If you have heard those announcements and ignored them, thinking you are too busy …