Articles

Introduction to “One New Man”

I gave this talk to a group of Indonesian and Finnish Christians during February 2010. It is based on Ephesians 3 and draws a parallel between the way God put Jews and Gentiles together in Paul’s day, and the way these days He is putting Christians from the traditionally Christian northern hemisphere and the new Christian lands of the southern hemisphere. The talk also deals with some of the cultural conflicts that may arise. This talk is closely related to my two “New Generation” talks, which were given the same month and were also based on Ephesians.

Introduction to “New Generation – Raising up”

This is the second of two talks I gave to Turku Free Church in February 2010. Based on Ephesians 4 it focuses on the “raising up” part of church vision to “raise up a new generation that will change our city”. It suggests some ways in practice that we can encourage each other to become part of the new generation to change our city. This talk is also related to the “One New Man” talk which was given at the same time and was also based in Ephesians.

Introduction to “New Generation - Vision”

This is the first of two talks I gave to Turku Free Church in February 2010. Based on Ephesians 1 it presents God’s purpose and shows how the church vision to “raise up a new generation that will change our city” fits naturally into this purpose. We do our part to prepare the coming of the kingdom and to prepare ourselves for participation in the coming kingdom. There are some interesting new ideas on what the start of the kingdom will be like! This talk is also related to the “One New Man” talk which was given at the same time and was also based in Ephesians.

Introduction to “God’s purpose for the Church and the Jews ”

This is a talk I prepared for a visit to a conference in St. Petersburg in spring 2009. I show that in fact there is not a separate purpose for Church and Jews but a single purpose for the descendants of Abraham, some biological and some not but all who share in the faith of Abraham.

Introduction to “Virgin birth”

This is a sermon I preached in Turku Free Church in December 2008. I look at the evidence for the virgin birth and its significance according to the Bible writers. It gives insight into some otherwise obscure passages of the Bible.