eikon
Eikōn? See Colossians 1:15 & 3:10. Eikōn is a place for those with a passion for Jesus, and a desire to be like Jesus.Archive for May, 2009
As St Francis of Assisi said… or did he?
I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard,or read that St Francis said "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words."
Of course the first problem is that it is necessary to use words, and if you don’t, well… its simply not the gospel.
But nor, it seems, is it something that St Francis actually said. Mark Galli, author of Francis of Assisi and his world writes for Christianity Today:
This saying is carted out whenever someone wants to suggest that Christians talk about the gospel too much, and live the gospel too little. Fair enough—that can be a problem. Much of the rhetorical power of the quotation comes from the assumption that Francis not only said it but lived it.
The problem is that he did not say it. Nor did he live it. And those two contra-facts tell us something about the spirit of our age.
His conclusion? Preach the gospel—use actions when necessary; use words always.
On learning to preach in China…
“Each student, by the end of the year, has to be ready to preach (without notes) a one-hour sermon on each of the 66 books of the Bible. This sermon is to include an outline of the content of the book, and contemporary application to the individual, the church and the nation of China. At the end of the year, 3 books would be selected at random, then the student has five seconds to launch into their message.”
Find out more here
H.T. Unashamed Workman
What is a Church meeting for?
Some thinking I’ve been doing on this question. Not a final answer, but part of the journey as they say!
“We are meeting together to conduct the affairs of the kingdom as the church grows and expands – there is scarecely anything more important we could be doing.”[1]
Newton: 26 Letters to a nobleman. Letter 3
“…we have cause to rejoice continually in Christ Jesus, who, as he is revealed unto us under the various names, character, relation, and offices, which he bears in the Scripture, holds out to our faith a balm for every wound, a cordial for every discouragement, and a sufficient answer to every objection which sin or Satan can suggest against our peace.”
Make sure you push on past the first paragraph in this letter! The last paragraph in particular contains encouragement for the discouraged soul
Here is the letter
Newton: 26 Letters to a nobleman. Letter 2
I’ve been reading through John Newton’s letters to a nobleman.
Published in 1781 in a volume entitled “Cardiphonia” or sounds of the heart, these letters explore different aspects of the Christian life. They may not be light reading – but there is some great wisdom to be found here for those who are prepared to dig!
This second letter explores the gap between “acquired and experimental knowledge” of the Christian life. I think today, we might speak of the difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.
In the second half of this letter, Newton addresses himself to an interesting question. Why is it that the Lord allows his children to continue to be burdened by sin? His answer is an interesting and perhaps challenging one to modern minds.
Here is the letter..
