Tag Archives: Jesus
What Happens When We Die, and Where are my Loved Ones?
The Afterlife: It’s probably not what you think. Jesus is something of an authority on death, and life. He’s that guy who said that he was going to die, and going to be resurrected, and then it all happened just as he said. For questions about death and life, he is an indispensable source. Unfortunately […]
Read MoreThe Veil Torn, the Earthquake, and the Resurrection of the Dead – Matthew 27:51-54
A dramatic account, but does it make sense? In Matthew 27, an orderly account of the process of Jesus’ arrest, interrogation, and crucifixion is proceeding along nicely, when all of a sudden there is a dramatic change. It is a change in style, and in content. No sooner does it begin, it is finished! But […]
Read MoreThe Fundamentals of Christianity, as encoded in the Writings of Moses
The core of the Christian/Jewish polemic: What was Moses trying to say? At the very core of the ministry of Jesus, and the teachings of his apostles, is a fundamental claim about what Moses was saying in the first five books of the Bible. Either he was saying that the Covenant struck at Mt Sinai […]
Read MoreAsking the right questions about what “Son of God” means
What does it mean when Jesus says he is “Son of God”? Jesus claimed to be God’s son. He claimed to be both equal and subservient to God. This mystifies theologians today, because they find it hard to reconcile these two things. It isn’t supposed to be that hard. Let us ask not how Jesus […]
Read MoreJohn 1:29 – What does “Lamb of God” actually mean?
What does it mean: “the Lamb of God”? Property#1 / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND John (the Baptist), in the Gospel according to John (the Evangelist), uses the expression “the Lamb of God” to introduce Jesus (John 1:29). Scholars debate the origin and intended meaning of this phrase.
Read MoreHow to pray, when life’s not ok
Praying the Laments The Lament Psalms are complaints, often bitter complaints, against God. I recently preached on Psalm 13 because I think we need to understand the power and the treasure of the Lament Psalms. This was a sermon but I have adapted it a little, into written form. This message is dedicated to the […]
Read MoreI have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. – Jn 16:12
But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. – Jn 16:13 What is Truth? An exasperated Pilate poses the question, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38). He did so because Jesus said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (Jn 18:37). So what is this “truth”? And why […]
Genesis 3: No Curse on Adam and Eve. “μη γενοιτο”!
Human kind was certainly not cursed by God at the Fall, nor would it be theologically possible It is said (widely, but for example at Bible.Org), that when Adam and Eve sinned, God cursed them. This is not true, and I plan to demonstrate not only the fact, but also the theological reason why, it […]
Read MoreA magnifying glass on the Galileans, the Blood, the Tower of Siloam, and the Vineyard of Luke 13:1-9
Luke 13:19 – Pilate, Tower, Siloam, Galileans, Blood, Sarcifices, Sin, Calamity, Vinyard, and Jesus. I recently wrote this piece about Luke 13:1-9. My findings surprised me in one way: I had always thought this passage was about “sin and calamity”, and as it turns out, most Bible scholars think that too, to various extents. What I […]
Read MoreBig Fella and the Promise
“This life is very real to me, God” How many of us can stand with Big Fella and testify: “The promise is calling out to me to be a witness”? That’s precisely what the promise does, if we are to understand it properly.
Big Fella is “Justified by Faith”
Neither Death nor Life In a track that cries out about the ongoing toughness of the spiritual journey, Big Fella takes comfort from the sure knowledge that he is “justified by faith”, and concludes that “neither death nor life can separate us”. This is precisely the point! We do indeed have that assurance. Praise God.
Big Fella is “Seeing the World Through God’s Eyes”
“No more jail cells. Bill’s been paid. No more ticket to hell” “I’m like a dealer on the street corner, pushing Christ to the junkies and the dope pushers: people I used to run with…” For Big Fella, it’s personal. He’s still got friends in the drug scene, and he wants to pluck them out, […]
The Naked Gospel
What is a ‘Christian Culture’? No matter how we define a Christian culture, it must begin with Christ himself, in who’s name it stands. By definition, everything that we find in “Christian culture” must be found in him, otherwise we are badly mistaken. That’s just common sense, right? So why is it that almost everything that […]
Read MoreTogether we stand, with Big Fella
The problem isn’t skin, it’s sin, and everything that lies within Another (fairly early) track by Big Fella, with plenty in it that we can all learn from. A notable subtext is that the racial divide is very much a reality for Indigenous Australians, certainly in Ipswich. There are parts of Australia where you could […]
Read MoreCan Christ “get a witness” in Big Fella?
Is your heart ready to deal with this? Here is a man who was so good at crime that his friends and family assumed he would be in it forever. Jesus took him out of that life, and now the call of Christ is: Are you built for this? Can you handle this? Is your […]
Trinity: Perhaps the JW’s believe it?
Trinity: Have the JW’s withdrawn their objection? I’ve given Roman Catholic theology a few critiques, so it’s only fair that I publish something different. I recently wrote this essay to refute the 1989 Jehovah’s Witness tract entitled, “Trinity: Should you believe it?” My overall answer is that the tract was badly misleading and inaccurate. It […]
Read MoreGenesis 2:2-3 – Why God rested
Why did God rest? We often ask our Biblical texts questions that they were not designed to answer. This can be ok sometimes, and it can yield information that is good and helpful. But at other times it can result in us reading the text in ways that were never intended, potentially obscuring or even […]
Big Fella lays it all down, “In these Rhymes”
In These Rhymes Here’s another one from Big Fella. Notice in the lyrics that producing this work is part of the way in which God is working on the man: “Just layn’ it at your feet in these rhymes”.
Luke 17:20-21 “Behold! The kingdom of God is in the midst of you”
What is the kingdom of God, and where is it? What does Luke 17:20-21 mean? Is it a spiritual message about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer? What does this ambiguous term mean, that “the kingdom of God is “ἐντὸς” (“within/inside” – Strongs Concordance)? This teaching is frequently pulled out of its […]
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Recent Posts
- Addiction: How to Help
- … and this just in: News from the Streets of Ipswich. Issue 23
- What Happens When We Die, and Where are my Loved Ones?
- Seeking the Kingdom
- If it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you – Matt 12:28
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Christian Assurance, Apart From the Law: A Defence Against the Judaisers
Judaisers A ‘Judaiser’ is someone who insists that a believer in Christ must join the Covenant of Moses, which was ratified at Mt Sinai around 1300BC. The Apostle Paul was routinely persecuted by Judaisers, who were scandalised that Paul’s non-Jewish (“Gentile”) converts were not being circumcised. The Judaisers are back. There is a whole movement […]
- June 21, 2013
- / Category Baptism, Circumcision, Commentary, Covenant, Election, Ephesians 2, Galatians 3, Judaiser, Righteousness, Romans 4, Romans 6, Romans 8
- / Posted By Kevin Bennett
- / No Comments.
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