To be a man after God's own heart. Then to lead, labour, inspire and encourage others to be the same
Three things that stood out to me from last week’s Bible Readings Deuteronomy 20 – talks a lot about whittling down the size of the army. It rings a similar tune to another Bible story. But these are God’s rules for battle. He dismisses the newly married, the new house owners, the new parents (all…
I got a notification from WordPress this morning letting me know someone else had ‘followed’ my blog, bringing the total to 199. I realised I was quickly running out of time to write this post! I am under no delusion, that many of the ‘followers’ don’t read my posts and may not even be involved…
There’s a bunch of sayings out there that propagate the myth that pain means effort, or effort means pain. And that without pain, we aren’t making an effort. We measure the amount the work someone puts in by how much they’ve had to suffer. And when someone doesn’t feel any pain and yet succeeds we…
I came across this phrase this week in one of the podcasts I listen to. A story is told of a boss who had a name plate on his desk, and on one side (the side facing visitors) was his name. On the other, (the side facing him) were the words: Have a sense of…
The Sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation, for trusting Him perfectly and for obeying Him perfectly. Throughout the Bible we see that the…
Read more Systematic Theology 8: The Four Characteristics of Scripture (4): Sufficiency
When China began copying alternative models for industrialisation in the 19th Century, they adopted a policy of ‘Ti-Yong’. Which means ’Essence’ and ’Form’. They intended to keep the Chinese Essence – their identity and character. But change their Form to match the approach to development used by the foreign countries. In the same way, I…
Overall a pretty great week, although I haven’t done any exercise or running, so I’m feeling a little out of shape. I’m telling myself it’s important to have a “rest week”. Getting my First Draft Back – This week I met with my friend who had agreed to read through my first draft (all 80,000…
And whilst this isn’t exactly the message of Genesis 3, it is related. What we learn about temptation in this chapter of Genesis, and what is later reinforced throughout scripture, is that temptation often occurs in the midst of isolation. When we are alone. There was a little disagreement in the commentaries about whether Adam…
Read more Genesis 3:1-24 Part 1: An Anatomy of Temptation – Isolation
Truly, the Bible is the gift that keeps on giving. I’ve done about 8-9 passes on these few verses and I keep getting to hear God’s voice! It’s just as well I’m not a time limit to finish this. I have a feeling a study like this is going to take a while. It’s probably…
