Emotions not welcome

22Oct09

British people don’t like to show their emotions. Stiff upper lip and all that. It’s still around in my generation – it seems the only time people feel free to show their true emotions in public is when completely drunk, because then at least they have an excuse. Unfortunately, this ’stiff upper lip’ culture is [...]

Filed under: Cultural Strongholds, World & Culture, church   |  4 Comments
Tags: authentic, Bible, charismatic, church, culture, emotion, ezra, happy clappy, John, passion, service, stiff upper lip, worship

Committed to Christ and Culture

25Sep09

We can not abandon our culture.
We can not embrace our culture.
What do we do?
http://www.vimeo.com/1455355
I haven’t read this book yet, but when I have I’ll do a review.

Filed under: World & Culture   |  4 Comments
Tags: christ, conformist, culture, seperatist, world

Battles of the mind

25Sep09

As Christians, especially those of us living in a Western culture, the majority of our  battles take place in our minds. Our culture feeds us a multitude of lies, twists good and evil on its head and condemns those who think differently. It is our ‘developed’, materialistic culture that has resulted in a mass of [...]

Filed under: Bible, Cultural Strongholds, Living for Jesus, World & Culture   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: battle, Bible, culture, individualistic, Jesus, John Piper, lies, materialism, media, memorizing scripture, selfish, spiritual warfare, temptation, truth, values, western culture

Put your money where your mouth is

04May09

Half the world lives on $2 or less a day.
At least 80% of the world lives on less than $10 a day.
The remaining 20% (that’s us) earn a VAST amount more – we earn more in a week than most people in the world will earn in a year.
The poorest 40 percent of the world’s [...]

Filed under: Bible, Living for Jesus, World & Culture   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: comfort, consumerism, culture, excess, God, God's heart for the poor, injustice, Jesus, luxury, materialism, money, poor, poverty, society, waste, wealth

If only I could go back and make things right…

24Mar09

I went to the cinema yesterday. After 15 minutes of adverts enforcing the ‘importance’ of exterior beauty came the film trailers. Two of these trailers involved the characters being magically transported back in time to re-live part of their lives. I was struck by how similar the two films were, in terms of their [...]

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Tags: 17 again, adverts, cinema, culture, films, ghosts of girlfriends past, Jesus, Life, meaning of life, movies, past, re-live, relationship, satisfaction, trailers

Overcoming Cultural Strongholds – Part 1: Consumerism

25Sep08

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms – Ephesians 6:2
I am going to post a series on the spiritual battle we face everyday in our minds, focusing on Western [...]

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Tags: advertising, comfort, consumerism, cultural strongholds, culture, media, money, safety, satisfaction, security, shopping, society, ungodly thinking, worldliness, worship

God’s wake up call to the world

22Jun08

Reading: Amos 4:6 – 5:17
Background: This is a prophesy from about 2,800 years ago but is still relevant for our society today. To put it in context – the Israelites have strayed from God and only have time for him one day a week. Amos sees hypocrites, false teachings, corruption and materialism in Israel. The [...]

Filed under: Sermons   |  2 Comments
Tags: Amos, complacency, culture, current events, God, Israel, Jesus, Life, society, suffering, World & Culture