Archive for September, 2009

Keller on Preaching and Idols

by Hugh on September 30, 2009 in Books, Faith with 1 Comment

At Cornhill we’re doing some stuff about the theory of preaching. Much of the latter stuff on application comes from Tim Keller’s stuff on ‘Preaching to the heart‘ from his lectures at Oak Hill last year.

The good news is that this teaching is also going to be made available in book form as the guys at Cornhill get going on some editing for it. I’ll let you know if and when this book comes to be published, should be a good resource.

Also, there’s another Tim Keller book coming out now called ‘Counterfeit Gods’ all about the false promises of idols. It’s available from Amazon, hardback for less than £9 – pretty good deal me thinks.

A word on the awards

by Hugh on September 29, 2009 in Life, Random with 4 Comments

Web Awards 2009 It’s been 10 days since the prestigious Christian Web & New Media Awards (see the winners here) – the ceremony was held at the beautiful church in the city of London, St. Stephen’s Walbrook, put on by Premier Christian Radio, the awards were introduced by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, and hosted by the ever lovely Maria Toth.

The good, and for me surprising news was that I won the award for best young blog, also my good friend Xander Coomber came runner up in the newcomer award. In other news I met the Church Mouse, less hairy than expected, also saw Adrian Warnock, surely next year due a ‘life-time achievement’ award.

Now… a little bit of contraversy… why not eh…? I was presented my award this year by a Bishop from Coptic Orthodox Church – what do you do with that? I just shook his hand, seemed appropriate… seemed like a nice guy.

Well… I understand that Premier needs to cover a wide range of Christian traditions, but looking at the beliefs of the Coptic Orthodox church I fear this may be a step too far as some of their beliefs seem profoundly un-christian… see what you think about these:

We believe in the intercession of the Virgin St. Mary, the Angels, and the Saints.
That Tradition is a source of our teaching.
We believe that in the Eucharist we receive the Holy Body and the Holy Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Baptismal Regeneration

Well… there you go… good awards, I enjoyed the food… the mix of Christians there was particularly eclectic… and as ever a little bit of controversy from me… why not… it’s not about winning awards, it’s about being honest… and a little bit inappropriate sometimes

We all want Rest

by Hugh on September 17, 2009 in Faith, Talks with 2 Comments

So having preached on Leviticus 25 recently, I was thinking about what I should have said, which I didn’t… How does this stuff apply to non-Christians? How do you teach it evangelistically? Primarily this stuff is for God’s people, and I think that’s how it should be applied first. But even in the passage it’s said that this Sabbath stuff should be applied to “the temporary residents living among you” – ie. people who don’t belong to God…

So how does the Sabbath and the Jubilee apply to non-Christians?

I think that Rest is something that we all crave… we all at some point find our work frustrating, we all get tired, we all love (at least in theory) holidays and days off… and I know that a lot of my non-Christian friends “live for the weekend” - either because they can play/watch sport, or because they can go to town and get drunk.

I think evangelistically this is a great place to start… agreeing that we all have a longing for Rest.

First… Where don’t you find Rest?… playing sport is great fun, it’s a great rest from work, but it leaves you tired still and you can’t play forever… going out is good fun, it gives you a buzz, getting drunk is great escapism… but you wake up feeling far from rested! Living for the weekend gives a pretty depressed outlook for the rest of the week… can’t we find a way to enjoy the rest of the weekend, but also find rest throughout the week?

Second… Jesus offers Rest! He offers rest from the burden of sin and from the burden of religion. He offers rest in eternity, but rest that starts now in relationship with God.

Christian Blog Award Finalists

by Hugh on September 15, 2009 in Random with No comments

Web Awards 2009

Hoorah! On Friday I shall be going to London to @ChristianAwards – the Christian Blog Awards to defend my dubious title of “Young Christian Blogger of the Year”. I’m also a finalist in the Best Small Church website category, representing St. Mary’s Hailsham (my dad’s church).

There’s a full list of finalists on The Church Mouse Blog… my good friend Xander Coomber will be there, as will the likes of Adrian Warnock, Marcus Honeysett and representatives from some large churches and Christian organisations.

On the subject of Christian blogs, there’s an interesting list of the top 100 church blogs that’s been compiled at ChurchRelevance.com – unsurprisingly my blog doesn’t appear on the list… DesiringGod is top!

Year of Jubilee

by Hugh on September 14, 2009 in Faith, Talks with No comments

On Sunday night I preached at church on Leviticus 25. Felt pretty unprepared, but it came together on Sunday afternoon! Here are my three main points:

Sabbath Year – looking at the theme of Rest

Jubilee Year – looking at the theme of Redemption

Grace – looking at how we respond to God’s grace…

You can listen to the sermon here - download MP3

You can see my notes here - download PDF

You can see my Powerpoint here - download PPT

3 Big Blockers

by Hugh on September 14, 2009 in Faith with 2 Comments

Went to Cornhill today, first day of term, pretty excited. Sat next to a guy who’s just done 8 years of prison ministry at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town, as seen on Ross Kemp on gangs… pretty cool! The guy on the other side was from Bedford where I grew up… small world!

Anyway… I got home early, so popped to a barbers near Brighton station – hair was a serious mess! Having hair cut, by a girl, mid-twenties probably… and we got talking about the gospel… people always ask about work, so working for a church is a great conversation starter (also a conversation killer!). We only had about 5 mins to talk… but three big blockers (as Tim Keller calls them) came up…

I work for a church… oh I’m not religious
Do you believe in God?… oh no, I believe we’re here because of evolution
I believe Jesus says and does what only God can do (and proves it)… ok, but how do I know he’s the right God, there’s so many out there

It was clear that there was unfounded prejudice about Christian beliefs, a narrow-mindedness to look into the evidence, but I think deep down a desire to know the truth. Good chat. Same issues always come up don’t they, nothing new under the sun…

Some thoughts on Ali al-Megrahi

by Hugh on September 3, 2009 in Current Affairs, Faith, Politics with 1 Comment

Well it looks as though the fuss over the Lockerbie bomber, Ali al-Megrahi is slowly dying down. But while it’s still in the news I wanted to pen a few thoughts that have been brewing over the last few weeks, that perhaps show some inconsistency and hyperbole in what’s going on:

I wasn’t on the jury that convicted al-Megrahi (surprisingly), but the evidence presently looks somewhat tenuous…
If al-Megrahi was indeed guilty, then it seems likely that he was sponsored or in some way directly or indirectly supported by the Libyan regime. With that in mind is it fair to make al-Megrahi a scapegoat while we make friends with Colnell Gadaffi…?
Ronnie Biggs (a Great Train Robber) was also released from a prison sentence earlier this year on compassionate grounds… sure he didn’t kill 270 people, but he was English and didn’t upset any Americans, which also helps his case. But no-one that I heard claimed it was wrong to release Biggs.
There’s talk of Brown making concessions to Libya for oil and trade deals… David Cameron came out stronly against this, saying he wouldn’t have released al-Megrahi. The reality is that if this was the case, Cameron would have, and he would have been right to if it was in the interests of the UK.
Why should mercy be contradictory to justice?

“This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.” – Zechariah 7:9

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face – Psalm 89:14

The Mercy and Justice of God is most wonderfully displayed at Calvary… Jesus is crucified, he dies, taking the punishment for your sin and my sin – justice is served, but it’s also merciful, God pours his just anger at sin on himself, letting you go free into new life! Amen