Author: Paul
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on news, silence, and love…
If you’ve come here hoping to find someone eulogising Charlie Kirk, you’ve come to the wrong place. But equally, if you’ve come hoping to find him demonised instead, you’ll be disappointed. I never met to or spoke with Kirk, but I imagine if we had we would have found much on which to disagree. Our politics,…
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choose life
Biblical Texts: Deuteronomy 30v15-20; Psalm 1; Luke 14v25-33; Philemon 1-21 You may remember when the first Matrix film came out. At the time it was groundbreaking. A movie with an intriguing plot coupled with mind-bending special effects, the legacy of which we still see in films today. But aside from the effects, one part of…
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stepping out in faith…
Biblical Texts: Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 Can’t we all just get along? You’ve probably have heard others say this before…perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time you’ve surely thought it. And there’s certainly a Christian wisdom to this wish. At the start of the Sermon on the…
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persisting in prayer…
Biblical Texts: Genesis 18v20-32, Luke 11v1-13 Jesus prays. That might seem like an odd statement, but throughout Luke’s gospel, he tells us repeatedly that Jesus withdraws from everything that’s going on, and he prays. We don’t know how long it took, but after a while his disciples asked him to teach them to do the…
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not hearers only…
Biblical Text: Matthew 13v1-9, 18-23 A couple of years ago, while we were still living in Durham, I joined a thousand or so others, and ran a 5k through the city. If you’d been near the finish, you might have caught a glimpse of me, trying to stay upright as I careened down the hill…
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the visible image…
Biblical Texts: Colossians 1v15-20; Luke 10v38-end Some documents are foundational to who we are, so important that if we were lose them we’d really be in trouble. Recently my wife was applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK, and we spent a lot of time making copies of our birth certificates, marriage certificate,…
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go and do this…
Biblical Text: Luke 10v25-37 A man stands up and asks Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What does it say in the law?” Comes the reply. “Love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind…and your neighbour as yourself,” says the man. “Good…
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small parts of a bigger story
Biblical Texts: Psalm 85v7-11, Luke 1v57-66, 80. YouTube Link (from 15:45 onwards) If I had a display behind me as I preached today, I would put up a picture of a mosaic. If you haven’t seen one before, a mosaic is a picture made up of lots of small pieces of tile or stone. They…
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stepping into the light…
Bible Passage: John 3:16-21 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16 is perhaps the most well known Bible verse. And with good reason too. It’s a succinct summary of the gospel message. But…
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failure is not terminal
Biblical Text: Luke 41v13 I imagine we’ve all come into a room, or a gathering, maybe a few minutes later than everyone else, only to realise we have no idea what’s going on. There’s already an in-joke, and you are completely lost. Speaking of being lost, I had that experience while watching an episode of…