Looking at Christ

Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? (Mark 12:24) I've been coming across a lot of Both-Ands recently. Here's another great pairing.  The danger of knowing the power of God but not the Scriptures . There are branches of the Church which have a strong and living trust in the strong and living God. They truly believe that our God is the creator of the heavens and the earth, for whom nothing is impossible, who can raise the dead and heal eve ry disease and still any storm and part any sea. They know this God not simply from systematic theology but in personal relational knowing - in their experience. They pray with fervency and they see answers and they praise God. Make no mistake, that is a very good, God-honouring posture. The problem is when it is not combined with a knowing of the Scriptures then it is untethered and potentially very dangerous. It is the Scriptures which tell us the passions of God (

What does it mean to preach the Word faithfully? One way to express it simply is this: 1. Get it right 2. Get it across First we need to listen very carefully to the Bible text and chew on it and feel the force of it and see Christ in it and work out what is the main point of the passage. Then we need to think very carefully about how to communicate that to our hearers in a way that will keep it clear and cutting. Both theses stages are hard work. Dig Deeper is a great resource to help us with the first stage - getting the right message from the text. Here is a review by one of the iServe Africa ministry apprentices Sheena Murabula. In the Kenyan church context, at least as much as in other places, a very concerning phrase pops in bible study groups; "Well that’s your interpretation, but this is what I think." With this trend of individual opinions reigning, the Bible can say almost anything. Also, the Bible warns us against false teachers as in 2 Peter 2, 1 Jo