Sacrificing to God Today
Unless one actually lived in Old Testament times it is unlikely that one could imagine how much the whole of an Israelite’s life was centred around the offering of sacrifices. Every morning and evening, without fail, animals were sacrificed by the priests; every day a steady stream of men and women brought their own individual […]
The Breaking of Bread
Oh! No. It’s Sunday morning and we’re going to the breaking of bread meeting once again. Are we really going to sing the same old hymns, listen to the same half-dozen brothers praying the same words? What is the point of it all? Why do we spend an hour or more each week with long […]
The Want-Mores
Meet Miss Covetous She is never satisfied with what she has, is jealous of what others have and often causes trouble.The tenth commandment states simply and clearly, ‘Thou shalt not covet’, Exod. 20. 17. We covet when we want what other people have.The problem with coveting is that it leads us to feel dissatisfied. Envy […]
Assurance of Salvation
Assurance of Salvation – ‘once saved, always saved’ One of the legs on the ‘chair of assurance of salvation’ (YPS vol 5 number 3) was the one that reminded us we have to prove the reality of our profession of what God has done in us and for us. In other words, if we live […]
Building Blocks
Before we can appreciate the ‘good news’ that God has for us in Christ we must grasp the ‘bad news’ of our condition before Him and the urgency of our need for God’s remedy for it. It is pointless to know about a remedy if you cannot recognise the symptoms and source of the illness. […]
Fools in Fellowship
Meet Mr Short-fuse He seems to be a very angry sort of man and one who can fly off the handle at any moment and for no obvious reason. Now it is not sinful to be angry. ‘Be ye angry and sin not’ means it is possible to be angry without sinning from time to […]
Assurance of Salvation
Countless numbers of Christians down through the millennia of time have struggled with doubt. ‘Am I really saved?’ they ask. ‘Is it possible for us to be completely sure that God has saved us?’ ‘How can I be sure of my salvation?’ Some have been so uncertain that they have asked the Lord to save […]
Mr Naïve
Meet Master Naïve He and his sister are easily led, believe everything they hear and don’t seethe need to consider things, to evaluate them, before they accept them. They are often called‘the simple’ in the Bible, not because they lack brain power but because they are ‘void of understanding’, Prov. 7. 7. In a classic […]
The Principle of Original Sin
Detailed Teaching ‘No one’s perfect’, ‘we all make mistakes’, ‘we are only human’ – all of these expressions are used by most of us at some point. Essentially they are not used to excuse our actions but as an admission that we really cannot help getting things wrong or saying wrong things as it is […]
Moral Maze
‘From the beginning …’ When God made man in the beginning He gave him a task in paradise which involved meeting all the other creatures He had made. God brought them to Adam to see what he would call them and Adam took the role of the steward of God’s creation and named them all. […]
My Top Ten Books
Bible: The Greek/Hebrew Key Word Study Bible Included under book number 1 1 The Greek/Hebrew Key Word Study Bible by Spiros Zodhiates I have found this Bible to be an excellent language help study Bible.Key words in each verse are keyed to Strong’s dictionary in the back of the Bible. Key Hebrew/Greek words are also […]
The Whisperers
Meet Mrs. Gossip Of course, when we speak of Mr. Know-it all, Master Cynic or Mrs. Gossip we know that these characteristics are not gender-specific; there are many women who are sarcastic and know it all, just as there are many men who are gossips. But we are identifying a family in our assessment of […]
Fools in Fellowship
Meet Master Know-it-all He and his wife always know best. They sail along through life supreme in the knowledge that they have it all sussed. No-one else has their experience, their knowledge, their understanding, their foresight. If only people knew the depth of their wisdom! If only people would see things the way they see […]
Made for Him and bought by Him
John had spent many Saturday afternoons in the garage building that boat. He had carved the hulk out of a solid block of wood, chiselling it out and sandpapering it. His mother had helped with the sails but he had a model and knew exactly what to do with the rigging. It was a beautiful […]
Same-sex Relationships
‘Friends stand shoulder to shoulder; lovers stand face to face’. Since a close, yet non-sexual, friendship with someone of the same sex, a friendship which is ‘shoulder to shoulder’, can be a blessing, what about a relationship with someone of the same sex which is ‘face to face’? If a close non-sexual friendship between a […]
Conclusion
Declaring God’s Authority The Lord’s Prayer, which begins with an introduction that reminds us of the relationship we can have with the One to whom we are praying, finishes with a conclusion that reminds us of the power and authority He has to do His own will. This conclusion, therefore, is both a stimulus to […]
Fools in Fellowship
You have probably met him and his sister, before now. They are always cynical and sarcastic. They never accept things at their face value; there is always some hidden agenda for them. Whatever anyone says, or does, elicits from them some negative comment. It is not that they have any constructive criticism to make. No […]
I like the Assemblies
Pardon me, but I just happen to like the assemblies. It seems almost counter-cultural to say something like that. The ‘in thing’ is to bad-mouth them, to highlight all their faults and failures. There are plenty of critics who pontificate on what is wrong with the assemblies. Maybe it’s time for someone to step forward […]
Same-sex Friendships
There have always been close friendships between members of the same sex since the beginning of the world. Over the thousands of years of the history of mankind men have had close friendships with other men and women with women without eyebrows being raised over the nature of that friendship. As the moral tone of […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the book of Proverbs
No one, other than the proud himself, likes a proud person. God likes the proud least of all. One of the seven things that are an abomination to God is ‘a proud look’, Prov. 6. 17. This is because pride is the exact opposite of what God looks for in His creatures; it is ‘the […]
(2) Fellowship
In our last article we asked and sought to answer a number of questions onthe subject of baptism. We want to follow a similar pattern with respect to the subjects of fellowship and reception. We may hear believers speak of ‘reception into the local assembly’, or of being ‘received into fellowship’. It is important that […]
Man’s Concerns
Dependence upon His grace If the first three requests of the Lord’s Prayer show us that we should be concerned, first and foremost, for God’s glory, the second three show us our dependence upon His grace. They speak, in turn, of our need for provision, pardon and protection. This reflects, once again, the trusting relationship […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the New Testament
Perhaps you, like many others, have little time for the Lord Jesus. Some deny He is the Son of God, saying He was deluded in many of His claims, especially when He said, ‘I am the way … no man cometh to the Father but by me’, John 14. 6. Yet, even some dyed-in-the-wool atheists […]
(1) Baptism
Considering this subject I want us to explore a number of simple questions and see what answers we can find in the Bible. It is important that we can answer all these questions from the scriptures and be clear in our own minds why these things are the practice of New Testament assemblies. What is […]
God’s Concerns
That the first three petitions of this prayer have in mind God’s concerns teaches us that the things of God should always have priority with us, even in our own prayers. ‘Seek ye first the kingdom of God’ is the principle which our Lord gives us – and then ‘all these things will be added […]
Bible Dictionaries
What is a Bible Dictionary and why should I have one? There is such a wide range of Bible dictionaries on the shelves of Christian bookshops that it is a daunting task to try and select one.How do you start to make a decision, especially when the potential outlay can be anything from £7 to […]
Capital Punishment
The term ‘capital punishment’ refers to the legal execution of a person by the government or state. Most western countries have abolished capital punishment on what they term as humanitarian grounds and have replaced it with sentences such as life imprisonment; Britain abolished the death penalty in 1969. The United States of America and other […]
The Lord’s Prayer
A Family Prayer ‘Our Father, which art in heaven’, are the opening words of the prayer. It is this expression, ‘Father’, which reminds us that this is a family prayer; children are calling upon their father. In this first section of this familiar prayer we invoke, or ‘call upon’, the name of the Father. Dispensationally, […]
Book Review
Is Anybody Out There? John Blanchard Paperback, 40pp. Published by Evangelical Press, Faverdale North Ind. Est. Darlington. DL3 0PH. Price £1.50, ISBN 0-85234-616-6 Do you have difficulties knowing how to challenge the sceptic or to reach the cynic with the gospel? Have you ever thought through the implications of atheism or agnosticism? John Blanchard’s pamphlets […]
Euthanasia
The word ‘euthanasia’ means ‘dying well’. When referred to these days, it usually refers to the grounds upon which others should be permitted to speed up or ease the death of another person. Following on from the principles established in a previous article on abortion, which is the taking of human life in its infancy, […]
Introduction
A Familiar Prayer The ‘Lord’s Prayer’ is probably the most familiar passage of the Bible to millions of people. Memories of it for older generations of people are inevitably linked with school assemblies where it was taught and recited every week, though younger generations will not be so familiar with in how that schools are […]
One-volume commentaries
ONE-VOLUME COMMENTARIES “What is a ‘commentary’ and why should I have one? Isn’t the Bible its own commentary?” There are some believers who think the only way to understand the Bible and to interpret it correctly is to read and study it for oneself, with no help from anyone else. After all, they say, even […]
Abortion
‘I don’t think that infanticide (the killing of infants) is always unjustifiable. I don’t think it is plausible to think that there is any moral change that occurs during the journey down the birth canal’. Are you troubled when you read something like that? You ought to be, especially when you realize that this is […]
Bible Study
Although it is an honour to engage in the immensely rewarding task of Bible study, make no mistake, it’s hard work! The Bible calls its students labourers, 2Tim 2. 15. With that in mind it might be helpful to list a number of benefits connected with personal Bible study: 1. It facilitates real personal spiritual […]
The Devotion of Youth
God speaks wistfully through the prophet Jeremiah to Israel, ‘I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal. When you went after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord’, Jer. 2. 2-3 NKJV. God is remembering the zeal and dedication of Israel in […]
Wise Words From the Book of Proverbs
Proverbs 18. 8 This little proverb is so important that it is stated twice, here and in Proverbs 26. 22. It warns us of the pleasure and problem of gossip; the pleasure lies in the telling and the hearing of the gossip; the problem is in the effect it has upon us. The word for […]
