The worst thing is to settle for having no adventures in the Christian life. That is the definition of faithless spiritual mediocrity. Do we somehow think that travelling with God to see new vistas, new things he is doing, new fields to reach for Jesus won't be wonderful? If our watchwords are "caution", "safety", "risk-free", "comfort" we will have a really boring spiritual life. At the end of our lives the tragedy will be that we realise that there were escarpments to climb that we never climbed, rivers to ford that we never crossed, panoramas to marvel at that we never glimpsed, adventures with God that we politely declined.
Read moreEncourage the Good Wherever You Find It
John Piper is SO right to say that the Shorter Westminster Catechism should read "the chief end of Man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever."
Read moreDivergence and Unity; Acts 18:18-28
Stupid division over who likes whom often indicates a church fast on the way to spiritual impotency.
Read moreCutting Remarks
How many churches are comfort zones for people, that justify and validate us not living as Jesus lived, rather than discomfort zones that challenge and equip us to live as Jesus lived? I am not sure I am even comfortable asking the question. I suspect very many in the UK, including mine sometimes. When this is true it doesn't matter if we take a different form to the Bath institution, we have still substituted powerless and godless religion for the real deal. Let's call false-religion- posing-as-Christianity for the godlessness it is whenever we see it. Starting with and always including ourselves.
Read moreWrestling Over Scripture; Acts 18:1-17
God was sovereignly in control when Paul wasn't. God provided a team, God protected in distressing circumstances. God showed in the vision that he overrules proconsuls, and committed himself to doing so before the event, showing he was in control fo the event when it happened. God is the one who energises and keeps going and gives visions at the crucial moments his servants need them.
I think I have to settle for this big application: this is a passage of God protecting His gospel and God saying he will save people that we don't know anything about yet.
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