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Published on Leave a comment on Twitlets

 

 

 

Of course *Britain* needs to be re-evangelized, *I* need to be re-evangelized.

When it comes to the gospel we are supply-side economists

Before you try to act Christianly you need to think Christianly (Rom12:2). A new moral sense without renewed gospel categories won't work

Jesus doesn’t so much make safe passage for us back to heaven. But He has made treacherous passage for Himself down to us. #EnjoyYourDay

- Everything's Greekified these days.
- You mean 'Hellenized'?
- See?!

Radical new evangelism initiative: inviting people to church! http://seasonofinvitation.co.uk/ It's crazy but...

Men aren't inviting men 2 church. But maybe the answer isn't so much making church man-friendly. Maybe the answer is making men man-friendly

The pressure’s off: you don’t need to be right. In fact it’s pretty important that you’re wrong. Tell God and #EnjoyYourDay

 

“Christ has married us, redeemed us from every evil and adorned us with all His goodness.” #Luther #EnjoyYourDay

I'd have thought the last thing bananagrams wants to do is ban anagrams #bananagrams

Sorry, that's probably the whole point. Sorry. SORRY

Just entered a yodelling competition. I'm in with a shout

Subway have a new secret filling - they're keeping it under wraps

Our constant fear: if we're known we won't be loved. But John10:14-15, we are seen to the depths & loved to eternity #EnjoyYourDay

Some put their bios in the third person.
Mine's in the Second Person (Col. 3:3-4)

 

The Word became flesh and remains flesh. He has pledged His life, His future, His very being to us forevermore. #EnjoyYourDay.

Rev is a gentle death, a sugar-coated law w no gospel. Comedies can be law &still funny (Office, Curb, Fawlty) but they must die vigorously

Rev is basically Ross. With no one-liners. Losing Rachel forever. The End.

Twitter is good for 1) incisive cultural analysis and 2) toilet humour. Today I'm doing a number 2.

With a unitarian god there's only 'room for one'.

To enter the kingdom you must become like great warriors? Bible experts? Sinless saints? No - little children. Matt18:3 #EnjoyYourDay

I find "hypocrite" is one of the least understood terms in all evangelistic encounters.

Two recent examples of very different misunderstandings...

Someone told me "I won't try to befriend X cos I don't like em & I don't want to be a hypocrite." They'd rather be authentically unfriendly

Another friend said "I couldn't become a Christian with all the stuff I've done. I'd be a hypocrite." (Thankfully he changed his mind!)

With 'bottom-up' epistemology u still need an "up".
With 'top-down' epistemology u need it to be earthed.
We have the Word become flesh.

 

Published on Leave a comment on Happy Friday

John Wesley used to say he set himself on fire and people came to watch him burn. Passion is compelling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ee4bfu_t3c

 

For something more tranquil, try

 

And if this doesn't make you a more careful driver...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnp1e3tMTFo

Published on Leave a comment on Tweet-o-mania

I can live with almost Anyone's interpretation of 1 Cor 12-14 (gifts) if we can first agree to 1 Cor 1-2 (a theology of the cross)

In Christ ur members of God's flock, purchased by God's blood, fed by God's word & surrounded by God's grace. Acts20 #EnjoyYourDay

The best reply 2 Rob Bell's Love Wins wd've been The LAMB Wins: blood&wrath included. Stay tuned 4 more up2the-minute theological engagement

"The lot is cast into the lap [it's out of your hands],
but its every decision is from the LORD [it's in Good Hands]"
-- Prov 16:33

It'll be alright in the End. If it's not alright now, it's not the End. #EnjoyYourDay

Stoics want to correct my spelling. They have no affect.

#Exodus12: It's not the quality of your life 'in here' that counts. It's the quality of His death 'out there' that saves #EnjoyYourDay

"Wait, so, mocking's BAD??" - me, after every chapter of Proverbs.

** runs back to Job and 2 Corinthians for solace **

Happy Sunday everyone. Your week begins with rest. Before u've lifted a finger u have a breath-taking Promotion & a stunning Raise

"The LORD’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in Him." (Psalm 32:10) #EnjoyYourDay

"Hosanna" they cry (Ps118:25). Two verses later: "Bind the festal sacrifice up to the horns of the altar" (v27) #PalmSunday

By the Spirit of the Son you have a new spiritual heart-beat: Abba, Father… Abba, Father… Abba, Father… (Gal 4:6) #EnjoyYourDay

- Your pedantry is mute.
- That makes no sense, it's moo...
- I said MUTE

"Supernatural" is a horrible term. We're the "extra" things. We're squatters, the triune God is the Landlord.

Christ crucified IS the proof for God. And it's proof we don't care about proof - we want rid of Him. #1Cor1

It's a shame but, since there are only 22 letters in Hebrew, alphabetizing the pauses in the Psalms will only get you so far. Selah V :(

He didn’t rescue u so He could delight in u. He delighted in u & so rescued u. Ps 18. U’ve been loved at your worst. #EnjoyYourDay

"I could never myself believe in God, if it were not for the cross." (John Stott) Amazing Full Quote

People *crave* Meaning, Freedom & Love. It's found in God's Threeness, the World's Twoness & Our Oneness: Discover @ http://three-two-one.org

At Christmas my feed's full of preachers insisting u gotta keep crib & cross together. Agreed. But it's Easter now & incarnation's forgotten..

...Is it because we're far more interested in the what of the cross than the Who?

Not just net gainers. Even our greatest suffering redeemed 2 greater glory: More than conquerors thru Him who loved us! #EnjoyYourDay

Resurrection: Not "Return of the Mack" but "Break on Through to the Other Side"

"I'll tell you what would be *really* hard to believe: Death holding down the Author of Life!" -- Peter preaching resurrection (Acts 2&3)

What kind of God is broken apart so the wicked can feast on Him? What kind of God is poured out so you can drink? Your God #EnjoyYourDay

Preparing for Sunday & loving Christ's resurrection appearances. The Firstfruits are tasty, the full harvest will be blooming marvellous!

Just did the "Which Good Friday character are you?" quiz. Thought I'd definitely be the crowd. Amazingly I got "Jesus Christ". --Gal 2:20

Even the head-strong have been heart-led.

Our God is none other than the God of the Cross - the God who has pledged His own being for us with every drop of His blood. #EnjoyYourDay

A bishop has called my poem "brap". Everyone's rhyming these days

#TGIGF

Memorialism: the 'hot cross bun' view of communion Good Friday: Proof that God gives not so much *things* as Himself

 

You are God’s possession. There Might be a hostile takeover. But only if they can outbid the blood of God- Acts 20:28 #EnjoyYourDay

Clouds to the left of me, joking to the right. #holySaturday

"Wd it be as believable 2 have a male Ariel sacrifice&leave home all 4the chance of love w a human princess?" FROM. Well...

Naturally *our* fairytales are somewhat princess-centric

At the 1st Easter they came to honour a dead Teacher but met a risen Lord. Praying that visitors to church tomorrow will experience the same

“But we had hoped…” (Luke 24:13-35) What have you hoped in? It will be transformed and more than restored by the risen Jesus #EnjoyYourDay

But Peter Pan gags DO get old. They DO

The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. Rom8:11 #EnjoyYourDay

Isaiah 60: Now that the Light of the world has risen for you, YOU shine with radiant glory. #passiton #EnjoyYourDay

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Published on 4 Comments on Good Friday

An hour of hymns and songs.

Rock of Ages

When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

My Song Is Love Unknown

And Can It Be That I Should Gain

Alas, And Did My Savior Bleed

There is A Fountain Filled With Blood

Man of Sorrows (What a Name)

Jesus Paid It All

The Power Of The Cross

How Deep The Father's Love For Us

Were you there when they crucified my lord?

All I Have is Christ Live

Cornerstone

.

 What would you add?

 

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Published on 2 Comments on Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

cross-as-tree-of-life-2

 

I tweeted this earlier...

It's deliberately provocative and, of course, open to the criticism: "Oooo, look who thinks he's Jesus!" But here's why I stand by it. At least a dozen times the bible encourages us to identify with Jesus at Calvary (see below). When the Negro Spiritual asks "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?", a biblical answer is: "Yes. I was at the very centre of it - dying on that middle cross."

That's not the first answer that springs to mind is it? Our instinctive response is to say "I was hammering in the nails." There's great truth to that. As the wonderful Townend song says, "It was my sin that held Him there." But that's not the only answer. And at least 12 times in Scripture we are cast in a different role in this Passion Play. We are placed on the cross with Jesus. For every verse that tells us Jesus died for us there's another telling us we died in Him. And it's vital to hold those two truths together. Let me explain...

What's the very first promise of the Bible?

Nope, earlier than that... Earlier still...  You know what the first promise was from the LORD God to man? "You will surely die" - Genesis 2:17.

Death is the judgement promised for sin.  No wonder that death would be part of the next big promise - Genesis 3:15. The Seed being struck to save us. Death was the judgement for sin. Death was also the way of salvation!  There is just no escaping death.  We live in the Lamb's world and we will surely die.  We either die apart from the LORD Jesus or we die in the LORD Jesus. But everyone dies.

I emphasize the point because sometimes we forget this when we speak of Christ's death for us.  We must never tire of proclaiming Christ's death for us - it is the blazing epicentre of the gospel! (e.g. 1 Cor 15:3). But we misconstrue this truth if we imagine that Christ dies over there so that I remain unaffected over here.  No, Christ hides me in Himself and includes me in His death. In other words, His death is not only substitutionary. It is substitutionary because it is inclusive.

See how Paul teaches this over and over in his letters:

All of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  (Romans 6:3-4)

Our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with.  (Romans 6:6)

In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin… (Romans 6:11)

You died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to Another.  (Romans 7:4)

Christ died for all and therefore all died. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

I was crucified with Christ and I no longer live.  (Galatians 2:20)

[I belong to Christ and thus] my flesh has been crucified.  (Galatians 5:24)

I am crucified to the world.  (Galatians 6:14)

 In Christ you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism.  (Colossians 2:11-12)

You died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world (Colossians 2:20)

You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)

Christ indeed died for us. He bore the wrathful brunt of the Father's condemnation.  But He did so in order to carry me with Him through that death sentence and out into His risen life.  Christ died for me but - just as important to say - I died in Him.

If we speak of Christ dying for us without being clear that we died in Him, we can get into trouble. Let me briefly outline two potential problems:

Firstly, the Romans 6 problem: We think of grace as licence.  If we just speak of Christ over there paying for my sins over here, it makes no sense for me over here to live in connection with Christ over there.  Basically we imagine that Jesus over there underwrites my sinful existence over here and therefore anyone calling me to live beyond sin, death and judgement sounds absurd.

But Paul's argument is that we died in Jesus. The old self is crucified and the new self is risen in Christ. The cross was not the underwriter for my sin, it was the undertaker!

Secondly, we might imagine that Christ's sufferings for us mean that we shouldn't suffer ourselves.  It's ironic, but the cross is sometimes used to prop up a theology of glory!

Here's how it usually happens... Someone prays for healing and invokes Isaiah 53: "By Christ's wounds Susan IS HEALED, we claim this healing paid for in full by the cross."  Well there's great Scriptural precedence for linking Isaiah 53 with healing (Matthew 8:17). I'm all for it.  And I'm all for praying earnestly for healing.  Jesus is kind and He may want to give us a picture of new creation glory even here in the midst of this old dying world.  BUT... Jesus did not die so that we won't. Jesus died so that we might die in Him.

The path to new creation restoration is through death.  The cross does not eliminate that pathway, it is the pathway to glory.  The cross proves once and for all that Jesus is not committed to prettying up this old world. He is committed to summing it up and plunging it into the fiery death it deserves. Only through that furnace will it be reborn.

Jesus has not promised to prolong this old world of Adam's. He has promised "You will surely die!"  But through that death comes a new heavens and a new earth.  That's where we must set our hopes.

Just imagine if Jesus kept on healing our old bodies.  At what point should He let us die? At 90? 100? 150?  When can He say 'enough is enough' and bring us through death into resurrection life?  That's His purpose.

The cross does not mean we will avoid suffering and death.  It means we will go through it - but hidden with Christ. And - yes indeed - by His wounds we are healed.  But that healing is not the prolonging of the old man - it's the resurrection of the new.

This Easter don't forget - Jesus did not just die for you, you died in Him. The Christian life makes no sense until you put yourself on the cross with Christ.

 

8

Published on 8 Comments on Help with quotes

I've nearly finished writing 321 - the evangelistic book. At the end I'm briefly addressing 10 common objections to Christianity. Can you help me with some quotes of people who have put these objections famously or powerfully?

Ok, but is it true?

Can we trust the Bible?

I'm not religious, why bother with God?

How can anyone join the church with all its hate and hypocrisy?

How does a Good God fit with evil and suffering?

Isn’t religion one of the world’s great problems?

Why not other faiths?

How does a loving God fit with judgement?

Why are Christians so weird about sex and sexuality?

Aren’t believers anti-science?

Published on Leave a comment on Podcast: Easter Edition

In this episode we talk about Easter. In particular we spotlight our latest spoken word video: "Bread of Heaven."

We also speak about Easter preaching.

 DOWNLOAD

SUBSCRIBE

In the podcast I mention 8 Easter sermons I've given in other settings.

And...
Easter songs and resources - especially for all-age services

 

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Published on 3 Comments on Steaming Piles of Tweet

Don't feel Jesus in your heart? First know that you are on His. (Ex 28:29; Heb 7:25) #EnjoyYourDay

Nothing a resurrection won’t fix. #EnjoyYourDay

He came to a poor teenager, a northern backwater, a ravaged people. He came to diseased, dying, damned sinners. He’s for you.#EnjoyYourDay

Fig-leaf coverings? The children of Adam have followed suit.

Isaiah’s vision of the future: “On THAT day… On THIS mountain.” (Everywhere, see eg Is 25) Our home is HERE but it’s not NOW.

The Word of God spoke with an accent #incarnation

My future inheritance = Grandpa’s stamp collection. Oh, and the universe. Oh, and GOD! Yes GOD! (Romans 8:17) #EnjoyYourDay

Tempted to correct a friend's spelling of "no affect" when I realised it would neither have effect nor affect.

New life is not a condition of the gospel it's the offer.

'Union with Christ' is not a way of escaping 'discipleship' - it means entering into it truly and deeply

Forget human elections, our Man is on the true seat of power. Just, Gentle, Wiser than Solomon, Beyond reproach & ONE OF US! #EnjoyYourDay.

Did the sun come up this morning? Then God’s not going to break His covenant with your Royal Priest (Jer 33:14-22) #EnjoyYourDay

The Spirit is a deposit, guaranteeing your full redemption. And God aint gonna lose His deposit. #EnjoyYourDay

You might prefer physics to metaphysics, but that's a metaphysical judgement.

God's being in sending => Our character in mission.

#1Sam16: Bad news- u’ve not been chosen as King. Good news- yr Brother has & He shares His royalty & victory with you #1Sam17 #EnjoyYourDay

Just spoke to a bus driver who much prefers driving teenagers. The elderly are far ruder. A reminder: growing old gracefully aint automatic

“You are my Beloved Child, I’m thrilled with you” – the Verdict we all want from the Father we all crave. It’s ours in Jesus #EnjoyYourDay

Only *sinners* love (Luke 7:36-50). Therefore every sin is an opportunity to know yr indebtedness and the forgiveness of Jesus #EnjoyYourDay

I bet the Spanish are constantly overwhelmed by their todo lists :-/

“My child, get up” He will say. And u will rise 2 feasting joy, complete astonishment & face-to-face with Jesus (Luke 8:40-56) #EnjoyYourDay

My hunch: 'Noah' Will get people talking about 'God', but unless ur wise it'll be a 'God' who makes talking about God *more* difficult

<< But, again, by all means see it, enjoy it, engage in conversations - just be aware is all

Easter video taking shape :) pic.twitter.com/sp7aBiGMqt

— Glen Scrivener (@glenscrivener) April 4, 2014

 

Who qualifies 4 Christ’s Kingdom? The powerless, the wicked, the little children: Lk18:1-17. Don’t reach up, receive where u r #EnjoyYourD..

Becoming a Christian doesn't mean throwing away your brain. It does mean crucifying your need to be brainy

In becoming a Christian, don't throw away your brain. You'll need it in order to become consistently and biblically foolish

Paul did not seek credibility from the wise, he sought to shame them - thru the foolishness of the gospel #1Corinthians

You know the tree of life in the garden of God? That’s not just for religious art. That’s for *you* to eat from (Rev 2:7) #EnjoyYourDay

Preaching John 6 this evening. Here's a good reminder of why we need the Bread of Heaven pic.twitter.com/xkklyEahfo

— Glen Scrivener (@glenscrivener) April 6, 2014

 

Your sorrows He carries, your infirmities He takes up, your sins He bears. (Is 53) Your weaknesses only draw Him closer #EnjoyYourDay

He’s the Judge of the world, the Revelation of God and a gentle, lowly Rest-Giver: Matt 11:20-30. #EnjoyYourDay

God is Joy – Ps 45:7; John 15:11; 1 Tim 1:11. #EnjoyYourDay

Illustrations can add colour&warmth to preaching but if they're in to add *interest* it's not illustrations u need but the *gospel*

Be as incarnational as u like but there was 1 unrepeatable incarnation.
Be as pentecostal as u like but there was 1 unrepeatable Pentecost.

Published on Leave a comment on “Bread of Heaven” Spoken Word Video

DOWNLOAD HERE - FREE

Feel free to Use in Church, RT, Share, etc...

.

WORDS

The Israelites in thirsty lands, trod burning sands with desperate craving,
no longer slaving for Egyptian masters, now by grace they’re free to face
this fresh disaster – starving in a barren place.

Until the Bread of Heaven fell like morning dew each day anew,
and to these folks complaining, every day the Bread sustaining,
to lead them all their journey through.

Fast forward 1500 years: a Man appears, stands tall among His peers,
And feeds the desert crowds without ado,
A supernatural déjà vu.

And having won the mob's attention then He makes His bold contention:
He IS the Bread of old, the One foretold to feed us and through our wilderness to lead us.
Could His claim be true?

It's Thursday Night, an upper room, a supper strewn with broken bread,
Then Jesus stands, a loaf in hand and says:
THIS IS MY BODY - and tears it like a lion tearing prey,
a raw dissection on display.
In pieces rent and ragged, edges jagged, now laid bare in disarray.
(You see) He'll feed His people in THIS way.

He the LORD for we the least, Him devoured so we can feast.

And so to Friday - by a highway
Rivals gloating, Soldiers joking, mobs provoking, Jesus choking,
torment spoken, HERE the Bread of Heaven BROKEN.

He the LORD for we the least, Him devoured so we can feast.

THEN... Come Sunday and, like Bread, He rises,
surprises all His friends, extends the dinner invitation:
"COME ALL FROM EVERY NATION: This is the meaning of salvation:

He the LORD for we the least, Him devoured so we can feast."

This God served up upon the cross,
His posture still arms-open willing ALL to come and eat
This Bread is sweet and free - served up anew.
Available like morning dew,
To lead you all your journey through,
My friend, this broken Bread’s for YOU.

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