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Faith and Love in the Mess (1 Thessalonians 3:1–13)
This sermon, preached in the middle of lockdown, emphasises the why and how of faith and love in the mess of the world – COVID or not.
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Isolation and Christian Love, with Dan Wu @ Moore College
I spoke with my colleague at Moore College, Dan Wu, thinking about how Christians might display love towards others in an age of necessary isolation.
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Isolation and Christian Love – with Dan Wu
I spoke with my colleague at Moore College, Dan Wu, thinking about how Christians might display love towards others in an age of necessary isolation.
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The gospel and marriage part 2: Husbands (Ephesians 5:25–33)
The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches husbands to take initiative to love and give themselves to their wives. This radical teaching involves both actions and attitudes.
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Imitators of God (Ephesians 5:1–2)
Christians are God’s dearly loved children, raised from death to life and secure with him, now and forever. This is what gives us the power to sacrifice.
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The truth in love: A key principle for church growth (Ephesians 4:14–15)
Paul’s principle for the growth of Christ’s body isn’t about presentation or organisation. It’s more fundamental: “speaking the truth in love”.
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This is huge (Ephesians 3:18–19)
God’s plans for his world, and his love for us in Christ, are vast and awe-inspiring. They change everything. That’s why need prayer to grasp them.
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This love (Ephesians 2:4–5)
“God loves you”: if I say just those three words, you may not hear what I want you to hear. This is because of a communication problem that arises whenever Christians try to talk about biblical concept of God’s “love”. When we say “love” we mean one thing—something wonderful and life-changing. But the word means quite different things to many English speakers. For example, the word “love” often means “strong desire”. So if I say “God loves you” then it might sound like I’m saying “God has strong feelings for you”. Another, increasingly common, understanding of “love” is the idea of “unconditional approval”. In this view, the way to “love” somebody is to affirm and approve of everything they do. So if I don’t approve of your actions and actively affirm everything you do, then by definition I’m not “loving” you (in fact, by definition I’m “hating” you). On this common definition of “love”, if I say “God loves you” then it might sound like I’m saying “God affirms everything about you and your actions”. But that’s not what the Bible means by God’s “love” either. Given this communication problem, how can I best explain the idea of God’s “love”? Well, it’s not actually that hard. The best way is to see how the word works when the Bible uses it. In Ephesians 2:4–5, Paul uses the word “love”. But he doesn’t just say “God loves you”. He explains and spells out what that love means. And he helps us to see what God’s love really means, and how amazing it is.
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Are you trying to redeem yourself? (Ephesians 1:6b–7)
When it comes to God, we can’t redeem ourselves. Redemption is something that God has to do—and has done—for us. This is why it’s such a wonderful thing.