I am sure that there are times when each and every one of us forgets that the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing! There are times when work, family, relationships or health issues seem to conspire against us and rob us of our joy in...
This weekend we are away as a family, celebrating the dedication of our friend’s three children. Having been given the privilege of speaking on Sunday morning, I have been reflecting on exactly what this act of ‘dedication’ means. Although as a parent I appreciate wanting to publically thank God for...
Earlier in the week I had to travel to Bedford for a morning meeting. In order to miss the traffic, I set off first thing hoping to find somewhere to grab a coffee, get out my laptop and do some work before the schedule started. Knowing one of the things...
It was thrilling last week, along with St Mary’s Cholsey and Wallingford Baptist Church, to be part of the celebration to mark the launch of CAP Wallingford. It was also interesting to note that it was the beginning of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Just before his crucifixion,...
It appears that we have barely had time to remove the Christmas decorations, before finding ourselves again in the midst of chaos. This week the papers are again full of terrorist atrocities, sexual abuse and politicians scoring points against one another in the run up to the general election. But,...
It always strikes me as somewhat odd that at the start of the New Year, Christians up and down the year focus upon their New Year resolutions. Two thousand years ago Paul wrote to his friends in Galatia and asked them a simple but profound question. Had they, ‘received the...
I am often struck post-Christmas with how little we know about so much of Jesus life. Apart from glimpsing Jesus aged 12 in Jerusalem, we know of no specific event between him as a toddler on the run as a refugee and him proclaiming himself as Messiah aged around 30....
At the end of November after paying a cheque into the bank, the girl behind the counter asked me, ‘are you already for Christmas yet?’ That’s right. The end of November! As I walked down the high street, I started thinking about the things that needed to be done and...
On Monday, I chaired a meeting at which the Life in the Spirit Team considered what subject to tackle at our conference in 2016. Although there are numerous subjects we would love to address, we unanimously agreed on ‘Not Ashamed’. In his letter to the Romans the Apostle Paul says...
I am convinced that if we can grasp the glorious truths revealed in Paul’s letter to the Romans, then we will have grasped the glory of the Gospel of God. So what does that mean in practice? That we can simply quote chapter and verse? That we can debate the...
