My dad used to be a pastor of a church
I have been through many church splits , three to be exact
I have done many things in the church from Sunday school to other things
What breaks my heart at the moment is the fact that in 5 years or so Muslims in the UK will outnumber Christians due to the fact of birth

I have done many theology courses , read many a Christian books and I have always wanted to know what God has wanted for my life , I have always wanted a good job and never got one despite being several years in education doing a computer degree and a fully qualified chef
I have always thought I would live in Israel as I have wanted to live there but it is virtually impossible

I have so wanted to see what a true revival is as I have seen so many false ones
It breaks my heart as so many churches in the UK have 10 to 20 people and without God doing something as I need change as much as anyone and the presence of God

I have always wanted to know whether God has wanted me to do theology as I would need a miracle

I have so wanted long prayer meeting in uni as we had massive long prayer meetings , it seems noone is interested in bible study or just gives lip service to the bible

I know after any true revival people have a love of the bible and god's word as that happened in the Scottish revivals, it broke my heart when the Christian bookshop shut down in my local town and then another one
I was so longing for good books

I have never known what to do it is like God has given you lots of skills and talents and you want to use 100 percent of them and feel like you are using like 0.001 percent of them

I have studied and gone through many theology courses online when ITunes u was a popular thing
I so want the presence of God

_________________
Dominic Shiells

Galatians 1:15-17

Good post, Deltadom!

I think the spirit of most of the people here, past and present, share an angst for the presence and manifestation of God. We want to do the works that Jesus did, we want to enjoy the intimacy with Jesus the disciples had- we want what is real.

At the same time, we are living in a culture going the other way, and are often finding ourselves in churches that can't seem to interpret the culture collapse with the spiritual intensity we know is needed.

As for Theology classes- be careful! Jesus did not train Theologians, He chose simple flawed men...and women... into whom He placed Himself. I have often wondered how Theology courses and books might look if they were first based on the words of Jesus in the gospels, rather than the teachings of Paul in the epistles.

The bible says we should learn line upon line, precept upon precept- an order of putting together the simple revelations into the more complex arguments of Theological theory. For me, Paul's lessons in Romans, Corinthians, Galatians and the others are different when first my heart is marinated in John's accounting of Jesus' words in 14 - 18.

Subtle nuances- like- don't even try to understand Paul until you understand just how much you need to love each other!!

Where Paul says "Christ in you, the hope of glory" we do well to have first read- "I am the vine, and you are the branches!" "Abide in Me, and I will abide in you!"


John Calvin leads out in his institutes with the total sinfulness of man, but God leads out with the precious image of Himself stamped upon every man...?

_________________
Tom Cameron

I often hear this verse quoted from people who want to give a bible reference about the work of a preacher or theologian.

And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little...

Most of them omit the latter part:

...that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken....

The Old Covenant that was meant to bring life by following lines of laws and precepts produced death and backsliding.

Christ saved us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse.

God, save us from those preachers who only teach precepts!
What use is it to me if I can explain the trinity, hypostatic union, and penal substition and say mere words that do not carry life-changing power!

How many hours have I sat under preaching that left me void and empty. How much eloquent preaching have I heard that was a display of witty eloquence, knowledge, stirring emotions and story telling that left my spirit totally untouched.

NO. Real Preaching makes the written word made alive.
It must move the inner man to surrender, it must produce Holy Spirit conviction, lift up our spirits, and cause us to burst out in praise.
And if he speaks calm and instructive words, then he should take us into Solomons beautiful gardens and unpack to us the awe-inspiring mysteries of His Word.

Not so that the hearer falls backwards, but so that he moves forward in godliness and Christ-likeness.

I want to hear a preacher that cannot preach unless divinely helped.
I want to hear a man who feels absolutely unfit and disqualified for this.
I want to hear a man with a burden that crushes him, who knows that he has a task too big for him.
I want to hear a man that has wept before the altar.
I want to hear a man who has been in the furnace of affliction.
I want to hear a man who has been persecuted and slandered by the religious scribes and pharisees of this day who has not hit back at them.

Where are you, preacher?