It takes much to live in your own skin. Getting on with people in a different culture is always going to be difficult. What makes it easier is finding common ground. Even this, however, is designed to make matters easier to engage with the more unfamiliar territory. The effort is such that it is no […]
Read More Beyond Our KindThe Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” (Genesis 11:6, 7) Some might think that God comes off as a […]
Read More Genesis: 11 – Communication Breakdown It’s All About The MotiveFor the first 25 years of my life I was looking for the model. My Dad, my first church elder, my first mentor all were men I expected to be the role model. Where possible I saw how they lived and was keen to see how the living was done. To an extent I noticed […]
Read More Be The ExampleThis following Jesus thing is quite the journey. What is very challenging about it is just how seismic the transformation is from who you are before following Him to who you are working towards being when you start following Him. I became very much aware of the culture I was in, the culture I was […]
Read More Time To RepentWhether it’s teaching together or sharing meals together, there’s something powerful about life together. Seeing the Holy Spirit in operation in the book of Acts it’s just so remarkable how He knits hearts and minds together to do mission together, to spread the Word together, to live the Word together. It is not a story […]
Read More In It TogetherThen Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:25, 26) The gospel spreads and Jerusalem catches up […]
Read More Acts Actually: 11 – Partnership Teaching; Community SharingThe cross cultural appeal of the gospel is something I find hugely endearing. I find now that there are people like me in and among people very much unlike me that I would not have been able to recognise if it wasn’t for the Spirit of God that brought us together. By being like me […]
Read More Culture MergeYou are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. (Acts 10:28) What makes Acts such a great narrative is how it shows people getting the hint and going with the […]
Read More Acts Actually: 10 – Gospel Expansion – Breaking Down The BarriersThis morning I was reading Acts 8 and noticing what came out of the followers of Christ when the pressure bore down. It’s always apt when the things you study in scripture have a bearing on what you will subsequently experience. The test is always there to determine what is in each of us. When […]
Read More What Comes OutNow, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. (Acts 4:29, 30, […]
Read More Acts Actually: 4 – Responding to Resistance
Life With CD 