Restless Wonderer

One of the unusual things about preaching in various different churches is that I find myself having to preach under a title and on a passage I didn’t choose. Sometimes when I begin my preparation, I get a wobble of thinking there won’t be anything helpful for me to draw out of this obscure story or lesser-known psalm. I really must stop that, though, as invariably when I get started in earnest I find more in there than I can fit into a single sermon. That’s certainly the case with Psalm 111, which is my assigned passage for this coming Sunday in Belfast Chinese Christian Church. I still have the challenge of working out how to preach by translation into Mandarin (morning) and Cantonese (afternoon) but I’m not short of material and I’m feeling challenged by the passage myself, which is always the best place to preach from. Psalm 111 is an acrostic poem, meaning that each line begins with a sequential letter of the Hebrew alphabet (already a challenge to explain in a non-alphabetic la...

In this series of posts I will follow the theme of the Christian mind through the book of Romans.  In doing so, I will draw out seven principles for developing a Christian mind, which, I believe, is an essential goal for us. 1.      The Christian mind recognises its limitations and worships God “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!   How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?” (Romans 11:34) Wisdom, according to several Old Testament verses, begins with the fear of the Lord.   At the end of Romans 11, Paul writes a great hymn of praise to God, in which he speaks of God’s superior wisdom, knowledge and understanding.   The language is striking.  We cannot claim to fully comprehend the mind of God - His ways are beyond our ability to comprehend.  Whatever studies we may engage in and qualifications we may achie...