Ezra Travel Archives - Ezra Ministry

Celebrating Christmas

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

In these last weeks of our stay in the USA, we have been exposed to the celebration of two festivals that are very important in the lives of people here, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The latter, of course, hasn’t come in its fullness yet – Christmas day is still ten days away as I write. Nevertheless, preparations have been underway for weeks, and it’s these preparations that I would like to reflect on in this the last of the Insights I will write from America. The month of November was dominated by the approach of the Thanksgiving event, a celebration dating […]

Christian Medical Care

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

While in America Nola and I have had occasion (need) for medical care. Both doctors we have seen – a general practitioner and a specialist – have been Christians, members of Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Consulting with these two men has been a special experience, and certainly, something we will remember from our time in America. For one thing, both men gave us the immediate impression that they were delighted to meet us as people, a brother and sister in Christ, and not simply as patients. It’s one thing for a health professional to try to put new patients at ease; […]

Keeping Christ Central

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Recently we had friends visit who, in the course of their time with us, shared about the church they had recently joined. It was a wonderful church, and they were thankful for its warm and loving welcome, its fine pulpit ministry, and its clear testimony to the community. But there were one or two things they felt uncomfortable about. They sensed that at times they were being pressed to do things that didn’t sit right with them. Then at other times, distinctive beliefs seemed to be over-emphasized. Our friends were eager to talk about these points that “rubbed”, and to […]

Apple-Core Stewardship

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Two weeks ago friends took us to their favourite Greek restaurant in a little town twenty-five miles south of Birmingham. On the way home, we passed a small church which had this quaint notice on its billboard: Next Sunday’s Sermon – “Apple-core Stewardship.” I continued to think on this as we journeyed home. Ever the preacher, I asked myself, “’Apple-core Stewardship’ – however, did the preacher come up with that topic?” Then it occurred to me. What’s an apple-core after all? It’s the part of an apple left over after we’ve eaten the fleshy bit – that is, if we […]

Keep it in the Story

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

One of the most stimulating discussions I had while at Covenant Seminary recently was with Dr Michael Williams. Dr Williams teaches theology at the Seminary and has written a helpful book called As Far As the Curse is Found. In the course of our conversation, Michael made the comment, “We have to keep our theology within the story.” At the time I knew vaguely what he meant – enough to agree intelligently. But it has only been since returning from St. Louis that I’ve seen the fuller significance of what he was talking about. It’s another book that’s helped me […]

Indicatives and Imperatives

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Indicatives and imperatives – who uses language like that? Theologians do. It’s what Covenant Theological Seminary president Bryan Chappel and I found ourselves talking about briefly when we met last month. The terms arose during a conversation about a recently published book. In the course of discussing it, Dr Chappel commented with a wry smile, “It is strong on imperatives but weak on indicatives.” What did he mean? Perhaps the simplest way to explain it is to say that in theological language, the terms refer to types of sentences or forms of expression. Indicatives are statements of fact, statements describing […]

The Life of Faith

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Earlier this afternoon I read the following description of faith: “[Faith is] the appropriation of unseen yet present realities that shape one’s life in this world and become more fully realised in the next.” It called back to mind a vivid experience I had in St Louis the morning we left to return to Birmingham. I had woken from a dream-disturbed sleep that morning and found myself haunted by its disturbing images. At first, I tried to rid myself of them by thinking about the book I had been reading earlier in the night. When that didn’t help, I turned […]

Transformation vs Information (5)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

There is a final key to transformational ministry that we need to consider, namely, the role of exhortation. Peter again provides a model in this respect in his Pentecost sermon. Luke tells us that after urging his listeners to repent and be baptised, and assuring them of the promised gift of the Spirit if they did, Peter continued to speak, warning people and pleading with them to respond. “And with many other words,” he writes, “he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation’” (Acts 2:40). In other words, Peter went beyond telling people […]

Transformation vs Information (4)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Transformational teachers don’t stop at highlighting areas of behaviour that need to change. Nor do they stop at skillfully applying Scripture in a way that arouses the conscience and convicts of sin. They also point people to the grace there is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is to say, transformational teaching is always specifically gospel teaching. That’s something that earnest Bible teachers often forget. In their concern to see people conform to biblical standards of behaviour, they identify a need, prescribe the change, and then urge people to do something about it. Inevitably people are left with the impression […]

Transformation vs Information (3)

By Andrew YoungDecember 31, 2007Ezra Travel

Sickness (bronchitis) has kept me from writing insights for nearly three weeks. A break of that time interrupts the flow of thought and makes it tempting to change tack and look at something new. However, this issue of transformational teaching that we have been considering is of such importance that I want to return to it. As I mentioned some weeks ago, appreciating the distinction between informational and transformational ministry is a major part of what God has been doing in my life while we have been here in America. It’s not that the idea is new to me; I’ve […]