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Eat the meat, spit out the bones

Silhouette of summer garden BBQ isolated against fireThe older I get the more I have realised that there is not much “pure” in life that we come across. There are mixed motives, hidden intentions, mixed messages and half truths at every turn. I used to take the approach of throwing out information that I was suspicious of very quickly. I used to call it discerning, especially when related to my faith. What I have come to realise is that maturity demands that we can hear any message or messenger and eat the meat, spit out the bones.

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Saints or Sinners?

saintsThis topic can cause a lot of controversy within the church and I make no apologies for a little theology. When we come to Jesus are we still sinners or are we saints? It might seem like a pointless argument but I believe the answer holds keys in how we impact our planet with the gospel. It is not simply an academic battle we should leave to bible scholars at seminary’s and bible colleges around the world. The answer to this questions impacts the way ordinary believers the world over behave and view God. Our perception of God will always be what we reproduce. We know we are to follow his lead in how we live our lives, the bigger question though is what does he look like. For me the question of whether believers are saints or sinners is more than mere semantics, it is fundamental. So what does the bible say on this topic?

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The Power Of Declarations

megaphoneIn the last couple of years I have encountered an aspect of faith that seemed really alien to me at first, declarations. Here at Bethel Church they are firm believers in the power of declaration and if I am honest it has taken me a while to get my head round it. What do I mean by declarations? Great question, I have come to understand declarations as speaking out truth over my life or speaking out loud what I want to see happen. My initial reservations were mainly due to a misunderstanding of what this looked like. I did not want to be the sort of person who just said positive things that felt empty or untrue. Something in the DNA of a Scot rejects strongly the idea of being a hypocrite! As I have learnt more and understood however my eyes have been opened to the weight that our words carry and the power of declarations.

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Negativity Fast

smileyMy wife and I are in the middle of a Negativity Fast for Lent! I don’t think I have ever taken part in Lent before. I guess I always thought that most people seem to miss the point. Showing you can give up chocolate for a month doesn’t normally prove much or achieve anything long term! While most of us are far removed from the original intentions of Lent, it was originally meant to be about self-denial in order to display sorrow for sins. This feels more like an old testament approach to living! Christ suffered so we don’t have to, he was poor so we can be rich, sin has already been paid for and anything we can do to earn anything is simply insulting what Jesus already did! All that said, I do think there is something really important in the process of self sacrifice and fasting can be really healthy with the right perspective. For many in the church Lent can be a time of prayer, reflection and focus on all that Jesus already accomplished. Anyway I feel I am getting distracted…

What is a Negativity fast?

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Supernatural culture

supernaturalculture

The idea of developing culture has fascinated me for the past couple of years. Not least because I am Scot living in the US at the moment. When living abroad for more than a couple of months the cultural differences begin to stand out more and more. You begin adapting to the culture you find yourself in to fit in. There are unique languages, social gestures and expectations for each sub culture. There is only so long you can take being misunderstood! We all take on the culture of where we were brought up or where we live to some degree and it often seems to happen by immersion. Culture is powerful and infectious! Long enough in an environment and people change.

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Guest Post: Favour (part two)

My wife Jo continues her thoughts on Favour.

purplecarpet

Freely received, freely given

In my first blog on favour, I shared what favour is and how we grow in it. Recently, I’ve been thinking about what we do with the favour we have, why we have it and how do we really steward it.

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Guest Post: Favour (part one)

My wife Jo shares some thoughts on Favour.

redcarpetFavour: What it is, why some people have more of it, and how can I get mine?

While God has no favourites (Romans 2 v 11, Colossians 3 v 25), He does seem to give more favour to some rather than others.

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Naturally Supernatural

northernlightsNaturally supernatural. An oxymoron? If the supernatural became natural would it still be supernatural?

Every Christian believes in miracles. The cross and all that it accomplished gave us the greatest miracle of all, salvation. That God and man might have relationship despite our failure to be pure like God. Believing in miracles is at the very heart of Christianity. The story of the bible reveals some of the different ways that God stepped into history and accomplished the impossible time and time again. It can be easy to believe that God once did incredible things, the real challenge comes when we realise He is the same today. I want to take it a step further and suggest he now calls us, his followers to demonstrate his desire to invade the impossible here and now. We can be naturally supernatural. Read More »

A Financial Education

coinNormally I wait to have more formulated thoughts for the blog but I felt like sharing some of what has been going on in me over the last few months. I have been learning a lot about money and what better time to share than at the tightest point in most peoples budget! Money is a strange topic perhaps for a student at a ministry school. What I am learning has really begun to challenge my thinking in several ways. It seems our school system does very little in helping us manage money. Perhaps this is part of the reason we have a society seemingly drowning in debt and struggling to pass on anything of value to the next generation. Recently it feels like I have been receiving a financial education. Only read on if you are prepared to have your thinking challenged!

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The world is getting better!

globe bobbleGood news! The world is getting better, 2012 was the best year yet! I can hear the counter-arguments already. As difficult as it might be to believe if you switched on the average news channel (or ever used the internet!), the world continues to improve. The truth however doesn’t sell papers, capture your attention or make you want to fight for a particular cause. Life on planet earth really has never been better. This is not to say we have arrived but to acknowledge we are heading in the right direction! Let us start the new year by celebrating all that we have achieved together. Here are some facts that might interest you.

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