Monthly Archives: August 2015

Repentance and Confession in our Worship

Posted on by
Reply

and asks God to forgive and cleanse, to renew and restore, to inflame our cold hearts and fill us with overflowing love.

Confession is one of the defining marks of a Christian because it is linked to repentance and faith. When we confess our sins to God, we are agreeing with God that our sin is something that needs to be forgiven. We are recognizing that our sin hurts us, hurts others, and most importantly, hurts the heart of God. Confession is the expression of repentance in which we name our sin for what it is, turn away from sin, and turn toward a merciful God. One of the differences between a Christian and a non-Christian is not that the non-Christian sins and the Christian does not, but that the Christian sins and repents, while the unbeliever hardens their heart toward God – either by refusing to admit the sin or by trying to deal with the sin in some other way. Continue reading →

True Story

Posted on by
Reply

PennylaneproperI once preached in Liverpool (around 21 miles from Chester, where I grew up in England). After the service a man approached me and we got talking. During the conversation, I asked him which part of the city he lived in.

He said, “I’ve lived on Penny Lane my entire life.”

I said, “Really? Penny Lane? You must be a huge Beatles fan.”

He said, “No, I actually went to school with Ringo. Didn’t like him then. Don’t like him now.”

To which I replied, “So you’ve witnessed an entire revolution literally right outside your front door.”

“Yep” he said, “and I’ve been against it the whole time.”

That’s a funny and true story… and I have to say, “I do understand him.”

However, there’s no doubting talent. Here’s Tommy Emmanuel with some amazing guitar playing:

I love the Valley of the Sun

Posted on by
Reply

I first visited the Phoenix area on a ministry trip back in October of 1987 and was very much drawn to the rugged and raw beauty all around. Moving out to Arizona (from England) back in September 1992, the Valley of the Sun has been my home since March, 1993. I love the place and the people.

High schooler, Michael Heiland put this outstanding time lapse video together as a six month school project.

The Valley from Michael Heiland on Vimeo.

As I watch the video, I am reminded of the Scripture in Acts 18. Verses 8-11 read, “And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

Commenting on this phrase “I have many in this city who are my people” (verse 10), C. H. Spurgeon writes, “They are Christ’s property, and yet perhaps (right now) they are lovers of selfish pleasures and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them, He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price that His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go to them with the quickening Word of God.”

What was true for the ancient city in Paul’s day is no doubt true of Greater Phoenix in our own. Surely, the Lord has many in this city who are His people. That is why I stay, pray, preach and teach, reaching out to the people here, knowing that God has ordained to use means to achieve His ends – the rounding up of His precious sheep. The cry of my heart is, “O Lord, help me play my part in seeing them brought safely home to You.”