The Dutch pastor Wilhelmus à Brakel urged Christians to make it their habit to meditate on Christ’s life — from the cradle to the cross — until our hearts are melted by His love.

‘The power that the disciples received at Pentecost was power to witness to Christ, and therefore a movement that is authentically Pentecostal must carry on this witness to the world.’ —Francis Sullivan

‘The truth of a prophet’s teaching is not a sufficient criterion of the true prophet; he must also live up to his teaching.’ —Francis Sullivan

Despite not having seen each other for three months, my fellow pastor and I have both managed to turn up to church in matching outfits for his first day back from sabbatical.

Theodorus à Brakel (1608–1669), Dutch Reformed pastor and theologian, encouraged Christians to set aside each day for meditation following this schedule:

Does the inverting of the Welsh “selfie-sticks and flags” to “flags and selfie-sticks” in the English translation say something about the respective priorities of Welsh-speakers and English-speakers?

‘Anybody can prove anything by piecing together isolated texts. What is the teaching of the entire Word of God? That is the question that must be considered.’ —A.W. Tozer

Proud of my Union colleague, Steffen Jenkins, whose new book is available for pre-order now. cambridge.org/highereducatio…

It’s a very busy day, but a very joyful day, as a new year begins at the theology school.

Really glad to welcome Agnes Mitchell to the ACTS Divinity teaching team this term (pictured with me and David Mitchell, our New Testament lecturer, on a very wet church history outing). Agnes starts this week with a course on Logic, Writing and Study Skills for our new students.

Tonight David Mitchell is kicking off our New Testament module with a look at the historical background.

‘Our weakness is that we are not going on to know Christ in enriched intimacy and acquaintance.’ —A.W. Tozer

‘We want Jesus Christ, and the glory will take care of itself.’ —A.W. Tozer