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EVANGELIST

Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up… (Ephesians 4:11-12)

The word evangelist comes direct to English from the Greek, being εὐαγγελιστής euaggelistés (Strongs 2099) from the verb euaggelizó, eu ‘good’ and angello ‘announce’, hence to announce something good:‘to bear good news’ – the good news being the Gospel of Christ. If it is such good news, how is it then so difficult to talk about this to people without an eternal hope in Christ? Why do most Christians think evangelism is not for them?  If we were asked to inform a person they had won the lottery, we would have no difficulty – yet the Gospel, with its eternal hope that trumps any lottery infinitely, we eschew.

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SUBMISSION (within marriage)

The Bible is always counter cultural, because culture is humankind’s creation.  Currently, there is no better example of this than the perception of marriage and within that, the role of men and women.  In this post, I examine Scripture to seek how God views partnership in marriage.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  (Ephesians 5:22-24)

Women today are in revolt and who can blame them?  Men have let them down is so many ways in the workplace, within wider society and especially within personal relationship. Feminism is the world’s pushback to men vacating the moral stage, where women seek to redress the tyranny of men in which most often women are their victims.  And nowhere is this abdication better seen than within the home, where men are both absent and/or controlling, leaving women to raise children largely unsupported.

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PRIDE

 

Can any Christian take pride in their actions.  Paul suggests you can.  In this blog post, I examine what the Bible tells us about pride and its flip side, humility and how both qualities reveal on what, and in whom, men and women find their security.

Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else… (Galatians 6:4)

Greek word translated is καύχημα; kauchéma (Strong’s 2745) and means ‘boast’; properly, it is the grounds for boasting; in other words pride, self-glorification or exultation.

Pride is almost always a negative quality in Scripture but in his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul, within a narrow definition, says a person can take some credit for their actions.  This is an important point, because the follower of Christ is not a puppet, God continues to grant license to make poor decisions along with wise ones, and do evil along with good.

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DOUBT (of John the Baptist)

If faith is commitment before knowledge, then doubt is inevitable.  The most famous of doubters is Thomas the twin, one of Jesus’s disciples, but John the Baptist also came to doubt Jesus as the Christ.  How given his own anointing could he doubt?  In this post, I examine, doubt, where it arises and how it is part of faith.

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ANGELS

Many people believe in angels but have difficulty in believing in God.  Some are sure they have been rescued or guided from peril by them.  Throughout the history many people of different faiths and cultures speak of divine messengers, but what does the Bible tell us angels?  In this post, I examine Scripture on the subject of angels.

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HELL

Hell is not a subject for polite conversation.  Surely, in these modern times, free of superstition, the concept of eternal damnation is not only offensive but ludicrous?  Of course, for any that are atheist, Hell has no meaning.  But for the Christian, on what do they base this assessment of irrelevance?  If the Bible is wrong on Hell, then how is ‘right’ on Heaven or Paradise?  Some Christians avoid speaking about Hell, while others deny Jesus’ teaching on the subject.  In this post, I examine what the Bible has to say about Hell.

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BOASTING

It is in the nature of men and women to ‘boast’ of their achievements, to take pride in their homes, possessions, even their family; their success in business or for their intellectual recognition; the internet and social media is full of people who are ‘self-made’ and who relish the independence they have gained.  Men and women measure their status by how influential they are, or delight in executive positions as the heads of powerful corporations and governments.  And Scripture does not proscribe boasting entirely.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.(Galatians 6:14)

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JUDGING

 

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.  Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.  So, when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?  (Romans 2:1-3)

Paul’s epistles were not originally arranged in chapters, and ‘therefore’ links to the text in chapter 1.  Verses 18 onwards to the chapter end (v32) Paul describes the godless and lawless in the most explicit terms – and yet, he tells the reader to not sit in judgment.

This echoes Jesus’ own words from the ‘Sermon on the Mount’:

‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you…’(Matthew 7:1-2)

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