Persecuted for Righteousness?

Summer's finally here, so we've been told all this week. The thermometer's hit the roof, and pallid knees are being exposed across the nation. Summer's here so are we in shape for it?

It's been a tough week this week. Lots going on, and to top it off, preparing something to say this morning. And the more I read this verse and thought about it, and read about it, the less I could think about what to say.

I've been doing an extension studies theology course recently. It's very good, I'd recommend it, if you want details ask me later. One of things we've looked at is about how we can read the Bible and understand the teaching so that we can apply it to our lives. To do this, we've been using a 6 step process.

As I said, I've been really struggling thinking about what I was going to say this morning. This verse bought up for me a load of questions and issues and not many answers. It didn't seem to me that it fitted nicely into the pattern of the other beatitudes. So I thought that we would explore it together this morning, using the step by step approach and I'd encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to speak what He wants to this morning.

Continued here...

Shape Up For Summer

Shaping up for summer. Is it just me, or has the frequency of the Weight Watchers ads on the TV increased recently? It’s that time of year, isn’t? Christmas came and it was great and we tucked in to turkey and all the trimmings. New Year came and we made resolutions and took out Gym memberships, but then it was Easter and all those Easter Eggs. Now, it’s April, the summer is looming and we really do want to get into shape.

Which is great, but as Paul wrote to Timothy, “Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

I’ve been given the task of introducing what, as far as I can make out, is a 4 month sermon series, leading into the summer and giving us plenty of time to work on getting into a much more important shape, a Godly shape. I am, in effect, the text scrolling up the screen at the beginning of a Star Wars movie. I’m going to do the same job as that text. We’ll have a look at a bit of the background to the story, introduce ourselves to some of the language, and set ourselves up to make the most of the next 16 weeks.

Continued here ....