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Haven't blogged in ages, so let me catch you up on some of what I've been doing...

Did you see our Christmas video?

 

And Easter?

 

Recently I was invited to the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership to talk about glorification.

I spoke of our past, present and future in God's glorious life.

THE PAST - THE SOURCE OF GLORY - LIFE OVERFLOWING - A FOUNTAIN

THE PRESENT - THE FLOW OF GLORY - LIFE POURED OUT - A SACRIFICE

THE FUTURE - THE GOAL OF GLORY - LIFE RAISED UP - A HARVEST

I also did a Q&A session about evangelism, preaching and other mini-rants.

See their page for other brilliant talks from Mike Reeves, Sam Allberry, Richard Coekin, Christopher Ash, Don Carson and many more.

 

Here are two Easter talks at St Stephen's Selly Park: Love Story (John 13:1-17) and Life Story (John 20:24-31).

 

Durham University Mission (STORY)

 

Real Lives with St Mary's Maidenhead.

Go here to get individual mp3s of the interviews and talks.

 

Revelation 1:9-20: Overwhelmed By The Son of Man

DOWNLOAD AUDIO

 

Work in Proverbs

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Galatians 6

Galatians 6 audio download

 

The Gospel and Mental Health

 

Four Evangelistic Talks from John's Gospel

God so loved the world (John 3:16)

Doubting Thomas (John 20)

Water into Wine (John 2)

Raising Lazarus (John 11)

 

Four Other Talks

Liberated: Can Christianity really offer freedom?

Repent and Believe the Good News (Mark 1:14-20)

Jesus Walks On Water (John 6:16-24)

Jesus Sat Down (Hebrews 10:1-18)

 

Godneverlies-Webbanner-01

Abraham is fearful in Genesis 15.

He's fearful when life has gone well.

He's fearful when life has gone badly.

He's fearful when he's unsure whether life will go well or badly.

At every turn the Word of the LORD meets him to overwhelm those fears with fresh promises of Himself.

Fear is when life overwhelms us

Faith is when Christ overwhelms us.

LISTEN to hear how Christ overwhelms our fears with more of Himself

 

 

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Palm Sunday - The Surprise of Love (John 12-13; Philippians 2)

 

Easter Sunday - The Sovereignty of Love (John 20:19-31)

 

Sunday After Easter - The Solace of Love (John 21)

 

Heaven's gates are as wide as the arms of Jesus or as narrow as the eye of a needle. It depends on how we approach Him: as little children or as promising applicants.

A sermon I preached at a thanksgiving for children.

(I had to re-record the ending at a later time.)

READ

LISTEN

The OICCU asked me to speak last week on this title: Perverse Justice - How Can God Forgive Paedophiles?

Really it's about how God's justice relates to His forgiveness.

(Don't worry, the sound rights itself after about 30 seconds)

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NOTES

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Notes for a Harvest Supper talk given recently

How many people grow their own food? (What do you grow? How much of what you eat is grown on your own land?)

By and large the way I get food is to buy it. I go to the supermarket, I pay a certain amount of money and I get what I pay for. My sustenance comes from commercial relationships. Tit for tat.

It is interesting that atheism is overwhelmingly found in urbanized, industrialized, technologized settings. We might think it’s the norm but of course atheism is shrinking globally. And the only places it clings on really are urbanized, industrialized, technologized cultures – places that are far removed from the harvest.

But as soon as you start thinking of harvest you are taken away from those kinds of thoughts. Because harvest is something near magical isn’t it? Scattering seed into soil – what on earth?! How is that going to do anything? And yet, a few months later, up it sprouts – this bountiful harvest – so much more than you ever invested just bursts out of the ground to feed us.  Atheism might be for city dwellers but those who live around harvests are much less atheistic.

Christians say that Harvest tells us about the nature of God. He’s an overflowing God of generosity. He's not a mercantile force of "tit-for-tat." He's a Niagara Falls of blessing.

1 John 4:8 God is love.

He doesn’t dole out blessings with a teaspoon but has always been overflowing.

Christians say “Grace” because they recognise that everything is undeserved mercy. Life is about gratitude.

We recognise this when it comes to children – for urbanised people the maternity wing of the hospital is about our only  contact with the bounty of creation. And it completely takes us off guard. But this is what reality is like according to the Bible. A near magical reality of new life bursting forth - seemingly from nowhere. And the whole thing speaks to us of God's nature. Think about it...

Kids come into the world needy and we shower them with blessings. And when they get to age 18, do we open up the books and demand repayment for two decades of food, shelter, clothing and taxi service? No. But hopefully they then stand on their own two feet and pass it on to the next generation. Grace flows downhill.

Here's how it works spiritually...

Verse 9-10:

 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus gives us His life and takes from us our death. This is what love does – it pays the cost to draw near. This is how God's love flows to us. And now...

Verse 11: Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

 We pass it on. Grace runs downhill. No wonder at harvest we seek to share our bounty with those less fortunate. The whole thing reflects the very character of God.

Harvest puts us in touch with a deep reality. God is a God of bounty, a God of love. He has overflowed to us in Jesus and life is about gratefully receiving Jesus and flowing out to the world, to bless those who are without.

This church is a great place to explore these truths more. Please join us...

 

 

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