Dr Paul Allen

English: A basic, Sharp-brand solar calculator. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Philip answered Him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." — John 6:7 Here in the New Testament was Philip the Calculator—Philip the Mathematician, Philip the Clerk. There was need for a miracle, and Philip set out to calculate the odds. Probably every Christian group has at least one person with a calculator. I have sat on boards for many years, and rarely is there a board without a Philip the Calculator among its members. When you suggest something, out comes the calculator to prove that it cannot be done.... There are always two kinds of board members : those who can see the miracle and those who can only see their calculators and their strings of calculations.... The people with the calculators have seen the problem, but they have not seen God . They have figured things out, but they have not figured God in. Philip the Ca...

Embraced by Words (Photo credit: Robbert van der Steeg ) “And the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over and join this chariot.’ So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ And he said, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.” Acts 8:29–31 Have you ever had someone give you tremendous help? Maybe it was on a tough homework assignment where you didn’t know what to do and your parents came to your rescue. Perhaps your family was stuck on the side of the road, and some nice person stopped to give you a hand. Maybe you didn’t have enough money to buy something you wanted, and you were able to do a little extra work for someone and get paid exactly what you needed to get what you wanted. We all need help in various ways, and part of the joy of living in community is having people around us to give us help when we are in need. The Spirit loves to do this when it comes to h...

Baptism of Christ. Jesus is baptized in the Jordan River by John. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” No membership class. No onlookers are mentioned. No period of seeing whether or not this Ethiopian was serious about his profession. All that we have in this context is a gospel explanation by Philip, a chariot driver, and “some water”. Therefore, churches ought to follow Philip and baptize people upon profession. Right?!?! I’ve had to think through this question in recent days. First I’ve had to think of it because I believe that there are many people within our churches that have said a prayer, given a few correct answers, and then took a bath at church. Upon this bath they are now told that they members of the church. It means that we as a church are standing behind your profession and as it were saying to the Lord, “We believe this pe...

Christ the Saviour (Pantokrator), a 6th-century encaustic icon from Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai. NB - slightly cut down - for full size see here (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The twelve apostles included “Philip” ( Matt. 10:3). Friendships can provide the most fertile soil for evangelism. Philip was probably a fisherman who was acquainted with Peter , Andrew , James, John, Nathanael , and Thomas prior to their all becoming disciples. We first meet him in John 1:43–46, which says, “The next day [after Jesus encountered Peter and Andrew], He purposed to go forth into Galilee , and He found Philip, and Jesus said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida , of the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth , the son of Joseph. … Come and see.’” Those brief verses reveal two things about Philip. First, he had a seeking heart. Apparently he and...