The title of this blog is not about bricks and mortar, but about men and women, girls and boys! And then, more specifically, about Christian brothers and sisters! I taught young people for nearly 40 years. I must have marked thousands of maths tests, English essays and other tests over the years, and taught around 2000 kids in my career. I had been fortunate enough to study at one of Britains top universities, and after completing further study in Norway,…
THE PRESENCE AND REALITY OF EVIL I should begin by explaining the title of this blog. It is inspired by something C.S. Lewis wrote in his book Mere Christianity, that when Christ was born in Bethlehem, it was God landing behind enemy lines. Indeed Lewis´s Chronicles of Narnia portrays in fiction the spiritual realities that the Bible teaches about, and which is the subject of this blog. My source is as ever the Bible. That this world is in rebellion…
Having looked very briefly at the Holy Spirit in the Bible, let us now turn specifically to Jesus’ teaching on the Paraclete in John ch. 14-16. The passages in question are 14,16-17; 14,26; 15,26; 16,7-15. Some important points follow below: ANOTHER COUNSELLOR – ANOTHER HELPER “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth”. (John 14,16) Up until this time Jesus has been there to answer…
THE THIRD PERSON OF THE TRINITY Ask any Christian about Jesus Christ, and you will get a full answer. Likewise, if you ask about God the Father! However, ask about the Holy Spirit, and many will be hard pressed to explain much; let alone witness to any experience of his presence in their lives – though he is most certainly there! This should not be! A careful reading of the Acts of the Apostles and the letters, reveals what a…
NOW FOLLOWING ON! In my last blog I sought to show how Jesus’ life of humility, obedience and dependency on the Father could be seen as a paradigm, an example for how we should seek to live our own lives of faith. I want to pick up on one of the points I made there, and elaborate on it somewhat. That point is that in Jesus, like Jesus, we should make the Father our source for all things! MANY GODS…
WHAT IS A PARADIGM? Anyone who has studied a language, has been taught to conjugate verbs, set out for us in columns to be learnt by heart – paradigms, these tables are called. The word comes from two Greek words παρά/para meaning beside, and δεικνυμι/deiknymi, to show, A paradigm is the setting forth of examples side by side – a pattern if you like, to follow! WE LEARN BY EXAMPLE The idea of an example, is a powerful one. Many…
THE BEGINNING I became a Christian on December 2nd, 1974. I was a first year student at Durham University in the UK. The experience of coming to faith – the realisation that God was real, completely overwhelmed me. I simply had to tell everyone I met what had happened to me. This included of course my family, but also student friends and lecturers at the University. I was probably not the easiest to have a normal conversation with at that…
One of the reasons I love John´s Gospel is for its imagery. Spiritual truth is conveyed through familiar everyday images that are close to us all. Images that denote life, growth, family etc. “Unless your are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God”, says Jesus to Nicodemus (3,3). Well, we all know what it is to be born. “The wind blows where it wills, you hear the sound of it. You do not know where it comes from,…
The Scripture tells us to: Cast all our cares upon him! (1 Peter 5,7) To be in a state of worry is to walk around acknowledging the circumstance causing your worry to be greater than him we worship as Lord! That is a form of idolatry. Most of us do worry – and worry too much! That there is a clear command to us in Scripture not to worry (e.g. Mt. 6,25-34, Phil. 4,6) needs to encourage us to believe…
6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.10 For whoever…
If you need uplifting, listen to these great worship songs from Don Moen. Just published on YouTube!😀 Karl😀
A RECAP This is the last blog in a series of 3, focussing on healing and the work of the Messiah. I have been looking at Isaiah 61,1-3, Luke 4,18, and finish off today with Acts 10,38. I wrote a blog in December 2019 entitled “The Good Works of Acts 10,38”, which you can access here https://bibleandfaith.com/the-good-works-of-acts-1038/. This will be a continuation of that blog. The idea I wanted to communicate in my last text “What is the Gospel?”, is…