Planted by Water

I mentioned yesterday that I was reading a book by Andrew Murray called Power For Your Life, all about experiencing the Holy Spirit. One potential problem with him and other ‘deeper life’ authors is that they can sometimes leave the impression that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is something you graduate on to after a period of really faithful obedience, rather than being the foundational and initiation experience of the Christian life that it is. One implication of this  foundational understanding is that you can have people who have …

I’ve said that I’ll use this blog to explore some of the ways in which, as Christians, I believe that we can and should help change the world according to God’s purpose of restoration. However, some people have asked me whether this is even a valid enterprise for Christians to be involved with. They would say that our purpose as Christains is simply to preach the gospel and to save people from this corrupt generation which is …

Having made my point about the general way in which the Kingdom influences society, I have been challenged about what happens when it comes to the ethcial values that determine social policy and legislation in a society. Particularly, Doug rightly points out that it is not a question of whether morality will be imposed, but whose morality will be imposed. If I argue that the Church will ultimately be the biggest influence in the world, won’t that mean that Christian laws will be adopted …

Both on my blog and others in recent months, there has been some debate about the role of the Law, Reconstruction and how the Old Testament Law may apply, or not, to society. I think that this is a really crucial issue as it affects how we should (and shouldn’t) go about seeking to affect society - something that, as citizens and ambassadors of the Kingdom, we are certainly called to do. I chose not to …

We had the first session of our new Alpha course last night. We had 9 visitors with us and I had a great time talking about Jesus and who he claimed to be. The discussion after that ranged fairly widely! I am aware that some people who visit this blog from time to time are not Christians and have some genuine questions about the Christian faith. So I want to do an occasional posting for such, under the category heading ‘For the Honest Sceptic’ and encourage you to keep dropping …

For those who were following the mild debate on Law here just a couple of weeks ago, it may interest you to know that I have begun doing some fresh study on this subject - the results of which I hope to post before too long! But I thought any who objected to my use of the word ‘inadequate’ for the Law, may be interested in something I read from Fee and Stuart (in How to Read the Bible for All its Worth - a useful little book that I would …