“Means of grace” are our cat’s-eyes into Christlikeness
When we speak of the difference between our goal and our destination we speak of the difference between having “Christ formed in us” and the new heaven and new earth. We distinguish between the past,...
View ArticleTransformed lives: More evidence for the truth of Christianity
The Bible shows us lives of disciples who have been remarkably transformed by the indwelling power of God’s Spirit. And throughout church history millions of Christians have claimed that the same...
View ArticleGrowing in Christ is the big issue
If you are a subscriber to Mars Hill Audio the below insights will not be new to you. But if you are an avid imbiber of the wisdom of those who can see what is happening to western culture it is an...
View ArticleStay focussed on the goal ahead
Western European culture has encouraged a call to be “true to yourself” and has subsequently spawned a vision of the individual that is “authentic, spontaneous and free”. In other words people who have...
View ArticleDrowning out that nasty little voice
It’s not uncommon to hear Christians talk of their own sense of imperfection and the subsequent shame caused by dark tendencies that seem to create pot-holes in the road of life. It’s not an uncommon...
View ArticleNo short-cuts on the journey into Christlikeness
It has always been the temptation of the church in every age to simply baptise the passions of the wider culture in order to reduce the tension. To imitate what is outside the church in order to make...
View ArticleA Christian approach to spiritual formation
Christian spiritual formation does what it says on the tin – it’s about being conformed to Christ. If we think about a similar process where a clay pot is being formed on a wheel we notice that it goes...
View ArticleGod is in the transformation business
For too many Christians the very idea or even the possibility of change, and subsequent growth in Christlikeness, seems too elusive or even too naïve to contemplate. We breathe in the cultural smog of...
View ArticleHaving won them can we keep them?
Evangelicalism has been used by God to draw millions of people from around the globe into the Kingdom and ultimately into God’s mission of transformation. However, our passion for conversion and...
View ArticleTravellers on a journey take one step at a time
The concept of “journey” is one that is very common to readers of the Bible. Abraham’s journey out of Ur of the Chaldees to a God-appointed new place that he did not know is only the start. The journey...
View ArticleMore paediatricians needed
Ruth Graham-Lotz, Billy Graham’s well-known daughter, told a packed audience that the difference between her ministry & her father’s is an issue of timing. “He is the midwife & I’m...
View ArticleChild-like but never childish
We’ve probably all met young people who have a surprisingly advanced level of maturity for their age as well as old people with surprisingly low levels. Watching an older person behaving as if they are...
View ArticleJohn Stott – evangelism depends on discipleship
In his final public address in 2007 John Stott made a fascinating connection between evangelism and discipleship; between our effectiveness in mission and the degree to which we have given ourselves to...
View ArticleKeeping in step with His Spirit
It is perhaps a well-polished truth but one well worth rubbing down again: “We were justified by faith alone through grace alone but we are not sanctified by faith alone”. The calls in the Bible for...
View ArticleGoing and staying is still an option
There is a healthy tension at the heart of the Christian journey into Christlikeness. It’s the push and pull of staying or getting up and going. And the Bible speaks of both as part of the normal...
View ArticleMore than just getting out of hell
For most evangelicals knowing what we are saved from seems easier to articulate than knowing what we are saved for. In typically modern language we talk about the rescue plan for the individual who...
View ArticleBeware: God has high expectations
Do some people in our churches not change simply because we don’t expect them to? They “came in from the cold”; they got their “get out of hell free card”; they were marked with that heavenly bar-code...
View ArticleLiving out the future now
In the movie “Master and Commander” there is a heart-wrenching bitter-sweet scene of loss and gain for which a high price must be paid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeERYS-0Tnw. The captain boldly...
View ArticleReshaping: Formed, conformed & transformed
When we speak of the difference between our goal and our destination we speak of the difference between having “Christ formed in us” and the new heaven and new earth. We distinguish between the past,...
View ArticleTransformation is part of the gospel
The Bible shows us lives of disciples who have been remarkably transformed by the indwelling power of God’s Spirit. And throughout church history millions of Christians have claimed that the same...
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