Author Archive: Tom Barns
Seeing the Face of God
You know how it is when you wish you’d said something, but you think of it too late. Last summer I was doing open air preaching with a team in Bournemouth, on the south coast of England. I’d started to speak in the square, a young man had stopped to argue and before long a […]
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It’s nearly Christmas!
It’s this time of year again – if you live in the area look out for our new Christmas invitation coming through your door over the next few days! You may also see us out at the Oval on Saturdays – look out for our bookstall and do stop by for a chat. If you […]
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Transformers Holiday Bible Club
Many thanks to everyone who helped out in any way or took part in the Transformers Holiday Bible Club this week! Over 40 kids came along and enjoyed various craft activities, including making a giant robot and decorating cakes, as well as games and quizzes. During the week, the children heard about five people who had their […]
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Christmas is coming!
Planning for carol services and other Christmas events is well under way – look out for our annual invitation being delivered around the local Blackfen and Sidcup area in the next week or two. You may also see posters in local shops and particularly around the Oval, where our first carol service takes place on […]
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Parables: The Weeds in the Field
This blog post is part of a series of study notes on Parables written for the Sunday School Adult Bible Study group Read Matthew 13v24-30 & 36-43 How can we understand Jesus’ parables? Why does Jesus speak in parables? Remember what we’ve already seen in this chapter (Parables: The Sower) – Jesus tells the parables to make a […]
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Parables: The Sower
This blog post is part of a series of study notes on Parables written for the Sunday School Adult Bible Study group Read Matthew 13v1-23, focussing on the parable in verses 3-8 Parables were used by Jesus in some of his teaching. Here in Matthew 13 we have one of the first main parables, one of the […]
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Self-control – Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5v1-26 What is self-control like? Different from the others – it’s about ‘not doing’ more than doing. Think of examples (positive and negative): Joseph – Genesis 39 David – 2 Samuel 11 Cain – Genesis 4v7-8 But is this something we can (or want to) do naturally either? See Acts 24v25 – we’re not […]
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Gentleness – Fruit of the Spirit
Matthew 11v16-30 What does the world think about gentleness? It’s just weakness – if you want to get anywhere you need to be tough. Paul talks about being completely humble and gentle – this would have been a completely foreign concept in his day and is much the same in ours. Heart gentleness What is […]
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Faithfulness – Fruit of the Spirit
Psalm 89 This word is translated in a few different ways in the New Testament. Faith, assurance, faithfulness, fidelity. 244 times in total, and nearly all of them are actually translated as ‘faith’. A few are words that mean the same thing as faith. Titus 2v10 it is translated as fidelity. Romans 3v3 and Galatians […]
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Goodness – Fruit of the Spirit
Galatians 5v16-6v10 What is good? The word here is to do with practical goodness – ‘kind goodness’ – actions that go with standards. What does the world think is the standard for goodness? People often try to go for some kind of standard which involves what the majority thinks, which boils down to ‘what’s popular […]
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