'Niddrie Pastor' Tagged Posts (Page 39)
I pay my taxes!
I remember preaching in a church once on Micah 6v8: ‘He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ (NIV) Amongst other things I was talking about the connection between a life of love for God and acts of mercy toward the poor. Straight after the service a…
The Valley of Vision
This is a beautiful little book of edited Puritan prayers and devotions. Consider this: ‘Destroy in me every lofty thought, Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds, Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness Implant in me true lowliness of spirit, Abase in me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence, Open in me a fount of penitential tears, Break me,…
What is a Healthy Church Member?
This little book is fresh out of the 9 Marks school and is a useful little book that I have been taking my church members through every month. Chapters include: being an expositional listener, a biblical theologian, gospel saturated, genuinely converted, a biblical evangelist, a committed member, a seeker of discipline, a growing disciple, a humble follower and a prayer…
Complete Surrender
How healthy are our spiritual lives really? And what immediately comes to mind when I ask that question? What is the measuring rod we use to divine our spiritual health? We have read the Bible this morning? Check. We have prayed to God for friends and family? Check. Maybe we have listened to some Christian music? Check. So, we feel all spiritual today. It is a good day.…
Soul Sadness
I have just read an interesting quote. ‘A Pharisee who does nothing but focus on avoiding sin is still concentrating on sin, which makes him or her just as obsessed with sin as the person who voraciously lives in it. Both are consumed by sin – one to avoid it, the other to live in it. Both lack the joy, peace and freedom of life in Christ.’ (p88.…
Worship Leader v Biblical Preacher
An informative and biblical essay by Bob Kauflin on this topic can be found here. He quotes Gordon MacDonald, “For many young people choosing a church, worship leaders have become a more important factor than preachers. Mediocre preaching may be tolerated, but an inept worship leader can sink things fast.” Don Carson disputes the whole notion of a ‘worship…
Thirsting For God (2)
Some time ago I posted on a book I have been reading by Gary L Thomas called: ‘Thirsting For God’. This is the second part of a review of my findings thus far. Consider this long, but interesting quote. ‘Replacing a vice with a virtue can be used to change our social environments. I once worked in a grocery store….and the backbiting and slander…
Handling Criticism
A handy little article that deserves careful thought. http://headhearthand.posterous.com/4-ways-to-benefit-from-criticism
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (8)
Living Community I find the whole concept of ‘community’ fascinating. It’s suddenly become very fashionable in ‘forward thinking churches’ (as they very ‘forwardly’ like to call themselves) to throw this whole concept around like a big beach ball. The problem being that people like to bat the thing about but nobody wants to keep it hold of it very long because it is a bit…
10 Marks of Effective Church Plants (7)
Connecting With technology ‘Technology is so much a part of our cultural experience that it’s not optional for a church reaching emerging generation’. (P141) Stetzer refers to a couple of churches that, in his mind, use technology to good effect in their services. One is www.cornerstone-sf.org who, apparently, like to project stained glass images on to surfaces where…