Search results for ""Author Graham Beynon""

When someone uses the word 'church', what comes into your mind - A building where a congregation meets - A room inside such a building - The main Sunday meeting - A denomination? Graham Beynon shows that when the Bible talks about 'church', it is always only referring to people, and a particular sort of people at that. From a range of key passages in the New Testament, he explains what church is, what it is for, how it is to work, how it is to be led, and what it means to belong to God's new community in Christ. Many Christians are hard-pushed to give good answers to these questions. This clear, simple, biblical and practical guide will deepen your understanding and enrich your experience of church. Few things could be more important for Christians than that.'

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Why think about the future? After all, 'what will happen will happen', it only leads to controversy and argument, and it's irrelevant to life now. However, Graham Beynon shows that the real danger is that we don't think about the future. God in his Word puts last things first - the whole gospel is shaped around what is to come. God has a plan for where he is taking this world, and his people are called to live in the light of that future. Christians are to be those who look back - to the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. All that happened then shapes our life now. However, they are also to look forward - at what God will do in finishing his plans for his creation through Jesus. The Bible teaches Christians to store up treasure in heaven; to wait faithfully for the return of their Master; to think of this world as temporary and passing; and to think of the world to come as their inheritance. Graham Beynon takes a fresh look at this teaching and shows how what is to come should shape practical Christian living now, with regard to godliness, handling of money, service of others, speaking about Jesus, faithfulness to him, response to hardship, and more.

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We love them. We hate them. But we certainly cannot ignore them. Emotions can be wonderful things we love or horrible things we hate - depending on how we're feeling at the time. Sometimes we feel at their mercy and think that God would have been so much wiser to have made us without them. But we can't get away from it: God made us to feel. Emotions thinks through the place of emotions, how we view them, handle them and glorify God with them. We see that the mature Christian life involves a fully-functioning emotional life and that emotions flow from the heart. We focus on how we can grow in good and godly emotions. We look at emotions and reading the Bible, emotions and singing praise to God, and the best way up when we are feeling down.

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For some Christians, God the Holy Spirit is something of a mystery, and they are not too sure what to say about him. Others speak with confidence and enthusiasm about him, challenging us to be 'filled with the Spirit', or to live a 'Spirit-filled life'. As a result, the work of the Spirit has sometimes been controversial. Graham Beynon looks at the main New Testament passages in which the Spirit s work is described. With freshness and clarity, he builds a picture of what the Holy Spirit does, and hence what experiencing him in our lives should look like.

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This book grew out of a slightly reluctant sermon series which, as it turned out, became 'one of the most talked about in our church', says the author. There was a sense of rediscovering the 10 commandments, 'and so coming to appreciate and value them afresh', he enthuses. We see the commandments as a summary of God's law for Israel. The rest of the law in the Old Testament is an unpacking of these commands. The New Testament then shows us a variety of repetition, enlargement and fulfilment of the different commands. The result is a hugely informative and helpful overview of Christian living and ethics. A side benefit comes in the form of worked examples of how to move from the Old Testament to the New Testament. This is a popular, clear and accessible volume, with pastoral application for today's believer. Tragically, it is often the absence of guidelines that is a cause of confusion and heartache in today's society.

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Our identity or self-image is a bit like looking in a mirror. We see our reflection and make judgments about ourselves. However, the 'mirror' we use tends to be the world around us: how do I compare with others and what do they think of me? But there is another mirror we can use - the mirror we should use. James 1:23 - 24 tells us that the Bible, God's word, is like a mirror. We look into it and see what we are really like. Here is a description, not from culture, but from God. The world tells us that we need a good self-image. The Bible says that we need a right self-image. With a pastor's heart, Graham Beynon, minister at Avenue Community Church in Leicester, helps us realign our thinking.

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What we know and what we do are crucial, but so too is who we are. God wants to shape our hearts. The gospel is God's means of transforming our hearts. It produces love, godly fear, joy, peace, humility, confidence, thankfulness, contentment and hope. With gospel surgery, we can 'cultivate life on the inside'. Yes, it's radical and often painful, but the author speaks with the heart of a pastor as well as the mind of a 'heart surgeon'. He speaks from a position of humility and personal experience. This is a liberating book that enables us to be all we are meant to be in Christ. Its teaching will change your life.

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