Into the Pray

In this week's teaching episode of Into the Pray, Nick takes a slight detour into the pages of Ephesians 5 before digging into our next chapter (7) next week.

How poor is the professing church's understanding of marriage? How poor is the teaching?

As Nick explains in this episode, referring back to experiences in a mega church in the UK, the general lay of the land is exceedingly poor and it wouldn't be right to dive straight into chapter 7 of 1 Corinthians without first setting out our stall on this signature part of our callings, as those who are heralding the preparation of the Bride for the coming Bridegroom King.

What is the role of the media in normalising that which is anti-God?... that which is anti-Jesus?

What is the theological answer?

Have you softened on some of this stuff when actually what God is calling you to be is sharpened and prophetically so?

We would do well to ponder these realities before going through the door of 1 Corinthians 7.

You can find Piper's book, This Momentary Marriage, here.

You can read Nick's primary blog post on marriage from 2013 here.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love

N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

This episode of Into the Pray with Dave Brennan from CBRUK follows on from last week's session about whether or not we should be having the COVID-19 vaccines. If you've not listened to that one please do go back and listen to that first.

It was during last week's recording that we became aware of the potentially huge pastoral issue unfolding here for those (principally over 70 years of age) who have been "fast-tracked" into having the COVID-19 vaccine.

The oldest members in our society are not only most vulnerable physically (hence their being vaccinated first) but also potentially on the emotional and spiritual levels level of life. (We're not saying that spiritual health is always analogous with physical health!).

However, it is true that it is the oldest members of our society who have been "offered" the vaccine first and, therefore, in the context of having had least time to think and pray and seek counsel about the issue, especially from the place of community "group think".

Therefore, we see a potentially large number of people who may come to a place of regret having had the vaccine and hence this episode to hopefully cater for them.

In this episode, Nick and Dave prayerfully navigate (as sensitively as possible) through this difficult situation, offering not just commentary on the big, media-pedalled narratives that are pressing the decision to be made, and highlighting implications either way, but also some scripturally-based words for profound pastoral comfort, especially for those who feel conflicted having had the vaccine already.

You can watch this podcast via YouTube here if you prefer.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one as we produce there podcasts every week. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love

N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

Welcome to the fifteenth episode of our slow, meditative, meandering study through the book of 1 Corinthians.

This episode this week contains what I believe is the critical verse for this entire book as we finish chapter 6, by going through vv 12-20, and begin to touch on pivotal principles for marriage and all our living next week in chapter 7.

The glory of God and our bodies were not irrelevant, mutually exclusive realities as the antinomian Corinthians thought. Quite the opposite. Let us be glorifying God with our bodies...the temples of the Holy Spirit. 

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love

N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

This week on Into the Pray, we talk again with Dave Brennan of CBRUK to hear his thoughts on the important and pressing question, "Should I have the COVID vaccine?".

As you will hear, this question can't really be considered without referencing the wider COVID-19 context and, at the very least, being prepared to question the narratives that are being spewed out by the likes of the BBC.

- What role is propaganda playing in this?
- What ethical questions should you consider when thinking about the vaccine?
- What facts should we have firmly in mind as Christians?
- How do the vaccines relate to abortion and fertility issues?
- Will the vaccine become mandatory?

Of great concern to myself and Mairi, as those who have not yet been offered the vaccine and haven't had sufficient time to think about it, are those who have already received the vaccine but who also feel like they were pressured into making a decision.

Mairi, Nick and Dave will be discussing/praying about this in next week's episode - i.e. the potentially huge pastoral issue that there is unfolding for the most vulnerable in our society (the eldest among us) who have had the least amount of time to research/think/pray about the vaccines.

The older generations are not only most vulnerable in physical terms (hence the first to be offered the vaccine) but potentially also in other ways such as in spiritual terms. What if you've taken the vaccine but subsequently wished you hadn't?

We will be hosting a podcast every week to cater for these kinds of question.

You can watch a video version of this conversation here.

Related reading to this episode:

At least for consideration, our friend Steve Buckley's podcast re the general COVID situation here:

For critical reading see Malcolm Duncan on the conscience issue of the vaccine here:

Further reading on this issue can be found on Dave Brennan's website here.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love

N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

This week on Into the Pray,  we wanted to give some time to an area of conversation that we think will be becoming more and more common as the lockdown of the COVID pandemic slowly lifts.

As we pray and as we seek to be faithfully surrendered to Him in all of life (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), The Holy Spirit has covenanted to orchestrate the closing of the gaps in our personal/corporate lives, between the confessions of our mouths and the way that we actually choose to live.

In short, God doesn't just want the professions of faith of our lives to be merely professions; He wants them to be the very ways that we choose to live in every practical sense.

We think that the issue of where we live and with whom we are living has never been so important and indeed, as this episode covers, how it is that God will often use trauma to unsettle us sufficiently to give us what we really want and what we really do need: genuine communities and testimonies of "Life Together".

We pray for you for wisdom to 1) Discern God-given trauma in order for facilitating relocation, as opposed to “running away”, avoidance or escapism  2) For courage to relocate if that’s what He is doing in your life and 3) Generosity to accommodate relocation if that is your part in what's happening.

When all is said and done, we need each other and this issue of remaining apart, when we need to be together, we believe, is hot on God's agenda as the Bride is prepared (is preparing herself) for the Bridegroom to come.

CORRECTION: God touched Jacob’s hip precisely to dislocate it rather than heal it. (See Genesis 32).

Please see a related video here regarding the danger of digital media in "enchanting" towards this kind of relocation when it is not right. And, to be clear, it isn't always right to move...but neither is it right to always remain.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can view Friday’s podcast with Seamus Bannon in video form here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days. 

Until next week, 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love, N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

This week we are resuming our study series, City of Temples, working our way through the book of 1 Corinthians. (If you've not listened to the previous episodes, we'd encourage you to go ahead and do that).

Chapter 6 verses 1-11 are the focus of this week's session, looking at the serious issues of:

- What does it really mean to be a brother? (To bear the name brother).
- How is the end of the age supposed to feature in our thinking in how we relate to our brethren?
- How do the errors that the Corinthians were making help us today?
- How else might the general cross-referencing of the words of Paul and the words of Jesus help you to study the Bible?
- What else can you learn from the referencing of Matthew 7 and Luke 21 with this chapter in 1 Corinthians?

Here is the link to the Todd White interview that I refer to.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can view Friday’s podcast with Seamus Bannon in video form here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days. 

Until next week, 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love, N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

This week on Into the Pray, we zoom in on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic work, Life Together, in order to start the ball rolling as we examine more closely what Christian community is supposed to look like.

Last week we talked about when we would draw a line and actually break fellowship so we hope this will be a natural tonic for the difficulty in even thinking about this reality.

We continue to be encouraged from the Word of God that, at times, division is required for very good reason and this episode of the podcast emphasises one of the critical points: we will never realise the glory - and safety - of Christian fellowship (revolving around truth) unless we are intentional about doing so.

Kindredness isn't enough; we have to work to build relationships; we have to be gracious and willing to be inconvenienced.

Most of us will have experienced bad relationships that might have made us "shy" from perusing the real deal. We think this has been a major tactic of the enemy in the instituted monoliths currently understood to be "church", where the glory - and safety - of covenant has been replaced with duty and arm's length shallowness.

Like for Bonhoeffer's seminarians, the Lord is preparing His people for a time to come where we will need both the contagion of these kinds of kingdom relationship but also their deep rootedness to stabilise our sanity during the enemy blitzkrieg {German: “lightning war”} that's approaching. As though in the 1940s, we would do well to ask ourselves, "What if (so and so) isn't here with us next Sunday?"

The exact quote from Bonhoeffer's book that we were discussing today is as follows:

"But God has put this Word into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek him and find his living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of a man. Therefore, a Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure."

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can view this podcast in video form here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days. 

Until next week, 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love, N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

Greetings, Everyone!

This brief episode of Into the Pray is an update regarding our methodical teaching through the book of 1 Corinthians.

Suffice to say, an 8 week-old yellow Labrador called Barley has interrupted my plans for today, hence this shorter-than-normal session. Sincere apologies to all for not being able to make the first session in chapter 6 happen in time for today.

However, there are a couple of important notices in this episode (also partly regarding our next teaching session) that relate to "the prophetic", a proliferation of which we are witnessing emerge at the moment as the world reels and writhes.

Please read our blog post about wise/foolish "prophecy" here.

Please also look out for our forthcoming film that will deliver a sobering warning that will be difficult for many of you to hear - and watch - however, it is precisely what He has shown us in this first month of 2021.

Some of this is personal for just ourselves but it also bleeds into our responsibility to communicate publicly. We consider this public communication to be a key part of our calling in order to see the Body of Christ  'built up in love'.

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days. 

Until next week, 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love, N&M x

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

Greetings All,

This is a difficult question to think about, a harder question to raise publicly and, of course, a painful question to try and answer.

However, it is also a vital question that we believe we all need to wrestle with as the Church stands at a crossroads of unparalleled opportunity.

Are you aware of the urgent need for division - the kind of division found in the pages of the New Testament and that moves us all toward truth and faithfulness?

Of course, pain, division, separation and drama aren't the end goals of breaking fellowship; rather, truth, salvation and sanctification are what we're all longing for.

But enough is enough of agreeing to disagree.

We trust that you also see the profoundly urgent need of discernment regarding who it is that’s in right standing with God - who is genuine - and who is not.

Who is it that’s speaking truth? We can’t all be.

Make no mistake, Christian discipleship is being profoundly clarified on our watch. 

Questions for Reflection:

1. Does it stand to reason, let alone biblical study, that Christians have theological beliefs that are diametrically opposed?
2. Does it ever matter? Or should we just agree to disagree? What might the consequences of this commonplace “solution” be?
3. What do Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 11:18-19 say to you about the national church of Great Britain, the international context AND your own personal context?
4. Why do you think it is that division/separation is such a touchy issue for many Christians when it is so clear that Jesus is coming at the end of the age precisely to divide? 
5. Is “Christian unity” really “Christian unity” when these serious differences are tolerated? Will God really bless that which is not genuine?

"For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognised." (1 Corinthians 11:18-19).

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore." (Psalm 133).

If you would like to help support this podcast and the wider work we're pioneering, we would be very grateful as we increasingly find ourselves at capacity in more ways than one. You can give here.

You can also view our review of 2020 in vlog form by clicking here. 

Finally, here is a song that we have been comforted by in recent stormy days.

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love, 

N&M xx

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.

Welcome to the third season of the Into the Pray podcast!

Mairi and I needed a wee break from the frenetic activity surrounding podcasting as season two drew to a close just a few days before Christmas. (There are more than 40 other episodes over seasons 1&2 that you can go ahead and listen to, including solid teaching through the book of 1 Corinthians).

2021 has started with an intense sense of spiritual activity surrounding a one day fast as we gratefully said goodbye to 2020. (How much do we have to be grateful for in such an unparalleled year?!).

Suffice to say, 12 months ago (before COVID was a thing), the Lord asked us to call every single church in the UK to close its doors. 12 months on we are now recognising more and more why He wanted this to happen and, indeed, why it shouldn't be a reality that we are resisting.

Lord willing, we will be producing a short/hard-hitting/provocative film in the early part of February that communicates strongly about where we ourselves have been feeling overwhelmed with the scale and magnitude of what He's been showing us....and we trust that He will also have been showing you too.

Look out for this film, our ongoing weekly sessions with Dave Brennan, our continuing Sunday teaching through 1 Corinthians and a new audio book version of Body Zero.

We need your help! Please consider supporting this podcast and the wider work that we're pioneering by giving here.

You are also more than welcome (especially if you're sick of Facebook) on our free community app, as part of our fledgling JesusCome! community, and you can find out more here, including the community values and etiquette documents that we make no apology for. 

Come, Lord Jesus!

Love
N&M 

Support the show

Please support our podcast here.