10 Reasons God Needs You to Show Courage in the Pulpit - Ministry Today

The Lord is for me; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6. See also Heb. 13:5-6)

I read that scripture-–especially the Hebrews 13:5-6 incarnation-–and smile.  Asking "what can man do to me?" is kind of like asking for it, isn't it? Daring them to "bring it on."

The answer of course is that man can do a great deal to you. But the bottom line—and the point of the scripture—is that ultimately, with God being "for me," it does not matter.

Nothing matters so much as our being one with the heavenly Father.

Can we talk about courage? This is as rare as plutonium these days, particularly among the very people who should demonstrate it most readily, followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Only two people in the church need courage: the one in the pulpit and the one in the pew.

The messenger of God in the pulpit needs courage for a thousand reasons. Here are 10:

1. To preach the whole counsel of God no matter who may disapprove—and to sweeten that preaching when his flesh is involved and wants to "lower the boom" on certain people. Graciousness takes courage also.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Church Leadership, The Load Bearing Walls of the Church

Some thoughts on Christian Leadership/Church Leadership

Blackpool Rocks, What I learned on a trip to Blackpool, a perspective on Pastoral Ministry

Elders & Deacons in the Church

Tom Holland on our island story: what England and Scotland share politically and morally, New Statesman

Magna Carta and the Declaration of Arbroath, Boswell and Johnson, Walter Scott and Disraeli, Robert Owen and Keir Hardie – Scotland and England have long mirrored each other in many ways, says Tom Holland.

The Tarbat Peninsula, a spit of land sticking out from the northernmost Scottish Highlands, seems an unlikely spot for a revolution. At its tip stands a lighthouse, built by Robert Louis Stevenson’s uncle back in 1830 after a deadly storm in the adjacent Moray Firth; a few miles south lies the tiny fishing village of Portmahomack. Most visitors there today are tourists, attracted by its picturesque harbour and sandy beach; but back in the mid-6th century it was the scene of a momentous experiment.

A band of ascetics, wandering enthusiasts for an exotic new religion named Christianity, arrived at the court of a local king. Simultaneously intrigued and suspicious, he granted them some unwanted land on which to found a community. “The Haven of Saint Colmóc” – “Port Mo Chalmaig” – was the first ever monastery on the coast of Easter Ross. For 250 years, until it was destroyed by a terrible fire at the beginning of the 9th century, Portmahomack was one of the most celebrated places in Britain.

That it is impossible to be certain who either the king or “Saint Colmóc” was reminds us just how dark the Dark Ages can be. Various shocking details were reported of the people among whom Portmahomack was founded. It was said that they had come from Scythia; that they fought naked; that they were ruled by women who kept whole troupes of husbands. Most notoriously of all, they were reported to tattoo themselves: a barbarous habit that had led them to being nicknamed “Picti”, or “painted people”. A people more hostile to the norms of southern lands it would have been hard to imagine. Even the Romans had given up trying to tame them. Yet where the legions had failed, a hardy band of monks had succeeded. An outpost of Mediterranean culture had been successfully planted in the farthest north.

The coming of Christianity to Pictland was part of a much broader process that ultimately united the whole of Great Britain in a common religious culture. Pagan rulers, when they submitted to baptism, were rarely signing up to the poverty and pacifism preached by monks. What appealed instead was the awesome potency of the Christian God. Membership of the Church attracted those with broad horizons and a taste for self-enrichment.

Yet conversion to Christianity was never a one-way street. At Portmahomack, the missionaries were influenced by native customs, as well as vice versa. The tradition of holy men possessed of a privileged relationship to the supernatural was not unknown to the Picts. Even the tonsure worn by the monks derived from the Druids. The very stonework of the monastery was incised with patterns already ancient when the Romans had first arrived in Britain. The decision to become Christian did not, for the peoples of Pictland, imply surrender to an alien power. Rather, it reflected a creative engagement with the world beyond their various kingdoms.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

Give us your Plan B, Alex': After TV debate humiliation, Salmond urged to come clean about his alternative to keeping the pound.

Successful partnerships or unions depend on give and take. Political unions provide for this. Money raised from taxpayers can then be transferred to wherever in the union needs it: in bad times and good, and over time. Our Union, as the UK including Scotland, has worked like that pretty well over the past 300 years.

Mr Salmond and his colleagues in the SNP are using the people not only of Scotland but the people of  the rest of the United Kingdom to serve their grandiose egos., 

“The best way to keep the pound would be through a currency union like today,” said Sir Martin Jacomb, former chairman of Prudential, and Sir Andrew Large, former deputy governor of the Bank of England. This is not compatible with Scotland being politically independent, and is therefore not on offer,”

Eric Pickles's appointment as Faith Minister is bad news for secularists, The New Statesman, The appointment of Eric Pickles to Faith Minister causes a right pickle for atheists

The Communities Secretary is a fierce defender of religious privilege. 

Earlier today, as Westminster reacted to Boris Johnson's announcement that he will stand for parliament in 2015, David Cameron carried out the mini-reshuffle necessitated by Baroness Warsi's resignation. Baroness Anelay, previously Lords Chief Whip, has replaced the Tory peer as Minister of State at the Foreign Office (attending cabinet), and Lord Taylor has taken Anelay's old post. Lord Bates has replaced Taylor as Under Secretary of State at the Home Office.

But the most eye-catching change is the transfer of Warsi's faith brief (which she hung onto after her demotion in 2012) to Eric Pickles. The Communities Secretary has regularly used his platform to attack secularists, declaring earlier this year that Britain is a "Christian nation" and that "militant atheists" should "get over it". That outburst was prompted by a legal bid by the National Secular Society to prevent local councils including prayers as part of their official agenda. He said:

I’ve stopped an attempt by militant atheists to ban councils having prayers at the start of meetings if they wish. Heaven forbid. We’re a Christian nation. We have an established church. Get over it. And don’t impose your politically correct intolerance on others.

Read more here:

New faith minister worries secularists

New faith minister worries secularists







Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has been handed the responsibilities of Faith Minister in a move criticised by a secularist campaigner.

David Cameron announced the change following the departure of Baroness Warsi earlier this week.

In April this year, Pickles sparked debate by saying that militant atheists should “get over” Britain being a “Christian nation.”

Controversial

He has previously taken a strong stance on matters involving religious liberty.

While addressing the Conservative Spring Forum, the Government minister called on atheists to stop imposing their “politically correct intolerance on others”.

And in a speech last year, he warned that traditional religious freedoms were being threatened by secularists.

'State funeral' for King Richard III who will be reburied at Leicester Cathedral, Daily Express

The  body of King Richard III will be reburied at Leicester Cathedral next March.

A reinterment service will take place at the cathedral on March 26 following a week of events in Leicestershire to honour the monarch.

The remains will be transferred into a lead-lined coffin at Leicester University on March 22 and will travel by hearse to Bosworth for a day of events marking the king's final movements.

The journey will see the hearse travel through villages that were significant to the monarch's final days ahead of a service in Bosworth.

The king, who reigned from 1483, was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485.

The coffin will then return to Leicester Cathedral in the early evening where a service of reception will be attended by guests invited by David Monteith, the Dean of Leicester.

The monarch's remains will then lie in repose, his coffin covered with a commissioned pall, for three days to allow for members of the public to pay their respects

Read more here:

Further Reading here:

My kingdom for the Force! Richard III model blasted for looking like a STORMTROOPER,

Heir Ambulance: Prince William to take job as 999 helicopter pilot on £40,000-a-year and will give it all to charity Daily Mail

Prince William will start new job in East Anglia next year after six months of training

·        He is the first senior royal to sign a job contract and pay income tax and NI

·        William will work shifts starting at 7am and 4.30pm in 999 call out team

·        He will be responding to major car crashes and medical emergencies         Cambridges will be spending more time at Anmer Hall in Sandringham .   New job means he will not be a 'frontline' royal until at least the age of 35

Prince William will next month begin training for a new job as an air ambulance pilot, Kensington Palace formally confirmed today.

The future king will fly emergency helicopters for the East Anglian Air Ambulance for at least two years from next spring following a six month conversion course.

In doing so he will be the first direct heir to the throne to become an ordinary PAYE company employee, it can be revealed.

A spokesman for William – who quit his previous role as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot last September - described his new role as a ‘one of the finest forms of public service’.

‘He is hugely motivated by the idea of being able to help people in difficult and challenging situations. The air ambulance service does truly outstanding work and the Duke of Cambridge wants to make his own contribution to it,’ he said.

But William’s decision to once again put off full-time public duties in favour of a new role – one to which he has committed for more than two and a half years - means that he will not become a frontline royal until at least the age of 35.

With the Queen and Prince Philip aged 88 and 93 respectively, some royal-watchers believe there is a pressing need for William and Kate to step up to the plate and shoulder their fair share of royal engagements.

Read more here:

Further Reading:

An extraordinary person' Prince William takes to skies again as air ambulance pilot

'Give us your Plan B, Alex': After TV debate humiliation, Salmond urged to come clean about his alternative to keeping the pound. Daily Mail, Updated.

 Alex Salmond is facing an unprecedented challenge to produce a 'plan B' for an independent Scotland's currency in the wake of his disastrous TV debate with Alistair Darling.

The First Minister is being urged to finally come clean by business chiefs, top lawyers, economists, academics and senior members of his pro-independence campaign.

But a stubborn Mr Salmond refused to veer from his proposal to keep the British pound, resorting once again to a reckless threat to default on Scotland's share of the national debt if he cannot get his way.

The SNP leader was in bullish mood yesterday despite his performance in Tuesday night's TV showdown, which a snap poll found that former Chancellor Mr Darling had won by 56 per cent to 44 per cent.

Mr Salmond claimed: 'I think everybody knows now that we are in a real position of possible victory. We are the underdogs - I relish that position.' However, the First Minister arrived more than an hour late at a conference yesterday amid rumours that he had been holding a post-mortem with his advisers.

He also made an unusual appearance at the SNP's weekly group meeting in Holyrood in an apparent bid to shore up support, while Nationalists in the parliament were privately admitting they were disappointed by his performance. Now SNP strategists are desperate for more debates in the hope of a recovery, and a BBC showdown is now set to go ahead on Monday, August 25.

He has refused to draw up a 'plan B', such as a separate Scottish currency pegged to the pound, joining the euro, or using the pound unilaterally in the way that East Timor and Panama use the US dollar - socalled 'dollarisation'.

Last night, lawyers including Donald Findlay QC and politicians such as Jim Sillars joined a growing chorus of demands for an alternative to a currency union.

Owen Kelly, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise - whose members include Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Aviva and Standard Life - said: 'All of the currency options would have serious implications for the financial services industry and no analysis from any industry source suggests a currency union is likely. It would therefore be prudent for businesses to plan on the likelihood of a new currency or dollarisation.'

Read more here:

Further reading here:

No pound, no euro: With a vote on Scottish independence imminent, why Scotland needs a plan C

 

'You are really scrabbling around now!' Alistair Darling takes the fight to Alex Salmond in first live TV debate on Scottish independence

 

Tom Peterkin: Salmond causes frustration for SNP

SNP in crisis talks over Alex Salmond’s TV debate defeat

Scottish Independence 'Makes No Economic Sense', Warn Experts

Scottish independence: Salmond says 'we're keeping the pound' BBC News