Category: message of the Bible
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changing the way I read the Bible
This coming Sunday morning I am preaching as part of our series looking at God through the eyes of Elijah and Elisha (in 1 and 2 Kings in the Bible). We are looking at Naaman (2 Kings 5), a Syrian general who had an incurable skin disease and found healing from God not only for…
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Middle-Eastenders
Do you know about the book of Esther in the Bible? It’s peculiar because God is not mentioned by name, but like a toddler who has got hold of a tub of chocolate spread his fingerprints are everywhere. And the book is controversial because it is a narrative about slavery, racism and power in which…
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the neverending story
I love the Christmas season. Beyond being the season of sparkle, tinsel, presents and ho, ho, ho it’s the season that is full of joy, hope, intimacy with God and the miraculous wonder of Immanuel. There’s so much in the few verses and chapters that we read at this time of year each year. Given…
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how do you read the Bible?
How do you read the Bible? That question has a range of answers from the simple: “You open the book and read the words on the pages” to the complex: “You need to understand the culture surrounding the events and you need to understand the form of literature that you are reading.” Actually both are…
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whispering
When I left my last church in order to take up this post a friend gave me a book. It’s The President’s Devotional by Joshua Dubois, and is a year’s devotional reflections that he wrote for President Obama and sent him in a daily email for him to read first thing every day. The thought…
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Fed up with sermons
Yes, really. I am fed up with sermons. That’s probably not what a Regional Minister ought to have as the title for one of his bloggages. But I am honestly fed up with sermons. Not, I hasten to add, in the usual sense of that phrase! (Put the stones down…) I am fed up with…
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corny joke
I hope that you had a good Christmas. I hope that you found what you were hoping for – not just in a stocking, pillow case or under a tree, but in the friendships, family relationships and your relationship with God. A man went on a camping trip with his wife. He had been left…
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becoming unhinged?
On Tuesday this week I spent the day with my good friend and incredibly talented joiner, David. We were working together to create a prop for the Magic Show I have been mentioning rather a lot in my bloggages. The prop is my design of a classic of magic (you’ll have to come along to…
nukelearfishing 