Are you still in fellowship?
‘Dear Steve, You asked me why I chose to come into the asssemblies and why I am still in fellowship in them. Here are some of my reasons.’ churches in Cambridge, one a Baptist church and the other an assembly of Christians with no denominational name. I had a number of reasons for moving to […]
In My Place
Luis and Sebastian were twins and their home was a flat-roofed white house outside the walls of a little mountain town. Their parents had died but had left them a small inheritance and the boys lived on in their old home. They were so alike that no one in the town could easily tell them […]
The Race
In any race there are at least three stages: starting; continuing; finishing. Each is equally as important as the other in that any one missed means there will be no result. In some sports the strong and compelling feeling among many competitors is that they must win at all costs, even by cheating if necessary, […]
Wise Words From the Book of Proverbs
Eccles. 9. 4. To understand where Solomon is coming from in the Ecclesiastes is to realize that he is speaking only of those things that are,‘under the sun’. In other words God has allowed the wisest man that ever lived to record for us his wisest wisdom as that man and not as a divinely […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the book of Proverbs
Proverbs 31. 30 The NIV translates the first part of this proverb as, ‘Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting’. ‘Beauty is only skin-deep’ may be the wisdom of the world, but it confirms what God says and is true, none-the-less. After all, there’s many a man who has married for a beautiful face but […]
Do animals have rights?
Do animals have rights? In recent times this issue has been the cause of much passionate debate and political activism. The press and media frequently report on threats and violence against those who allegedly deny animals their rights. The anti-fur, anti-hunt, and vegetarian lobbies have become very powerful political forces in society.We are told that […]
Going to the meeting?
It’s meeting time. ‘Let’s see … keys, mobile phone, Bible. Let’s go’. If that’s all the‘getting ready’ you do before the opening hymn, this article is for you!Though most believers know that assembly fellowship involves morethan merely ‘turning up’ on time and filling a seat for an hour, truly ‘getting ready’ for the meeting is […]
Martin Luther
With hammer blows that echoed around the vast Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, a young monk named Martin Luther nailed to the church door a document on which he had written ninety five ‘theses’ which he wished to debate in public. These were matters of church doctrine and practice which Luther thought were unscriptural and […]
Obedience to Parents
When Paul is writing to the Colossians and to the Ephesians he is anxious to set out the responsibility of believers in their relationships inside and outside their families. Husbands and wives, masters and servants and children and parents are all offered advice and instruction. The obedience of each shows ‘they are receptive to the […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the book of Proverbs
Proverbs 15 v1 The natural thing to do when someone is angry with you is to reply in anger: yet how often we regret the words once they are out of our mouths.The tongue, despite being such a small part of the body, has an influence very much inverse to its size. How many wars, […]
Dangers in interpreting Scripture
Reading things into the Bible If exegesis means ‘drawing out’ truth from scripture, then eisegesis means reading things into the Bible. For example, someone might argue that Psalm 45. 1 NKJV teaches that we should have a ‘theme’ at the Breaking of Bread. However, Psalm 45 says nothing about the Breaking of Bread. In any […]
The Challenge to Youth
The scriptures that are referred to in this article use the word ‘child’ but readers of YPS should not be put off by that because in the Old Testament the meaning of the word is usually ‘youth’ or ‘young man’. It may also refer to a ‘young woman’ as well. 1 Israel – salvation ‘When […]
The Church – its nature
God’s pattern for leadership in the local assembly is centred around men who are shepherds of God’s people and who have the responsibility to oversee the activities of the assembly (YPS 2/1). They are called elders and there should ideally be more than one of them in each assembly. It is God who has equipped […]
Applying the Scriptures
There are two dangerous extremes in Bible reading. The first is to study the Bible academically as if it consisted only of ideas to be understood. The second is to read the Bible impressionistically as if it consisted only of isolated Christian life-tips. Some Christians almost deny that God speaks to people today. They poke […]
Essential truths about the attributes of God
‘That’s not fair!’ is an expression we expect to hear from little children, but is surprisingly often heard from adults as well.Mankind seems to have a standard of behaviour by which it judges whether something is fair or not. This assessment of the justice or fairness of something is made about our behaviour to one […]
The Dustbin Lid
The British TV series Dixon of Dock Green ran for an amazing twenty-five years. In 1990, the atheistic playwright behind it, ‘Ted’ Willis, moved an amendment to the Broadcasting Bill, hoping to pave the way for the presentation of humanism on religious programmes alongside Christianity. Explaining his motives to a Committee in the House of […]
Wise Words From the Book of Proverbs
Proverbs 11. 15 A friend of mine, with his wife, moved to Bath a while ago.John had emigrated from Botswana to the UK to read for a post-graduate degree in Bath University. He had been a primary school teacher for several years, and had taught our children when we were resident in Botswana. His wife […]
Essential truths about the attributes of God
Of all the attributes that God possesses, the things that make Him who He is, which would you think was His most glorious? His omnipotence, perhaps, being able to do anything, or His omniscience, in that He knows everything? Perhaps His omnipresence, being everywhere at the same time, His timeless existence, or His awesome holiness? […]
The Valley of the Shadow
This is Grace’s story. She was born in Toronto, Canada, in 1989. She was a beautiful, sweet-natured girl who was well loved by her peers. Her face always glowed with unusual warmth and vivacity and her captivating smile always brought a sparkle to her soft brown eyes. Grace’s life was in full bloom until one […]
Understanding what the Bible means
‘What saith the scripture’? In this second article we consider a number of principles that help us correctly to understand the meaning of Scripture. 1. Accuracy, accuracy, accuracy Understanding the meaning of the words used in the Bible is vital. The story about the farmer who complained about a preacher referring to the Hebrew and […]
Wise Words From the Book of Proverbs
Proverbs 15. 17 Which of us has not preferred a simple meal with good companions to a feast with those with whom we do not get on? The force of this proverb is that a happy loving relationship, though it may not be wealthy, is more desirable to wealth and ostentation where there is hatred. […]
Gambling
What should the Christian’s attitude to gambling be, especially as the United Kingdom is facing the biggest shake-up in gambling laws it has ever seen, and the result of these changes will soon be obvious in holiday resorts, hotels and High Streets? Does the Bible have anything to say on the subject? A definition We […]
How to understand the Scriptures
What does 1 Corinthians 15. 29 mean by speaking of those ‘baptized for the dead’? Who were the ‘sons of God’ in Genesis 6. 2? What does it mean that Christ ‘went and preached to the spirits in prison’, 1 Pet. 3. 19, or that it is impossible to renew some people to repentance, Heb. […]
What can God do?
‘God Almighty’ is a name, or an expression, with which many people are familiar. The truth of it is something with which we can never be too familiar. What does God have power to do? God has power in creation ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’. With these majestic words the […]
Wise Words From the Book of Job
Job 19. 20 The English idiom ‘escaped by the skin of one’s teeth’ is derived from this graphic expression in the book of Job. One of the main themes of the book is the problem of suffering. At the beginning of the book we find Job well blessed, with a large family, considerable wealth and […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the book of Proverbs
Proverb 26.14 The sluggard in the Bible is a tragic-comic character, one who is lazy to the point of ridicule and full of excuses, many of them feeble. ‘I can’t plough today because it is too cold. I can’t go outside because there may be a lion in the streets, or I may be murdered […]
The Church – its nurture
‘God is not the author of confusion but of peace’ – ‘Let everything be done decently and in order’ are instructions from God to an assembly of Christians, 1 Cor. 14. 33, 40, and so to all His assemblies. We can well imagine, then, that He would not want assemblies of believers to be leaderless […]
What does God know?
Though God is spirit and does not have a body as we do, He is a living spirit who can see and hear, (What does God look like?). As spirit being God is not bound to any particular place at a particular time. He is omnipresent (Where does God live?). From these two truths it […]
Auca Martyrs
On January 11th 1956, five days after her husband had been killed, a widow wrote home to her parents, ‘I want you to know that your prayers are being answered moment by moment as regards me – I am ever so conscious of the everlasting arms. As yet we know only that two bodies have […]
Essential truths about the attributes of God
Everything we see and know around us had a beginning. It was either conceived, germinated or made. Once it was not and now it is, and there will probably come a time when it will not be any longer. Our minds naturally imagine, too, that God had a beginning. Where did He come from? Who […]
Red Sky at Night
Signs in the sky have long been used for weather predictions. About 2000 years ago the Gospel of Matthew records an ancient version of the rhyme many of us learned as children, ‘Red sky at night, shepherd’s delight; red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning’. A red sunset is often seen when the western sky […]
Wise Words From the Book of Proverbs
Proverbs 27. 20 There is surely nothing more insufferable than having to listen to someone who is full of himself. The most unpopular person is not necessarily the one with whom we disagree or have little in common. It is the one who does nothing but talk about himself and tell the whole world how […]
Ancient Wisdom for a Modern World: Wise words from the book of Proverbs
Proverb 25.21-22 ‘Heaping coals of fire’ upon an opponent’s head has become a proverbial expression in English and remains in common use even today. The thought behind the proverb is that if we repay evil with good we shall awaken the conscience of our enemy and make him feel uncomfortable. The ‘coals of fire’ are […]
In Search of the Perfect Timepiece
Today’s scientific research requires super-accurate clocks. The best mechanical clocks are inadequate because they might gain or lose at least four seconds a year. Modern quartz watches are more reliable. They depend on the unvarying frequency of vibration of a quartz crystal when an electric current is applied. But there is sill a mechanical element […]
Rebel without a Cause
To be a prophet in Old Testament times was a hazardous occupation. You only had one chance to get it right. ‘The prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak … even that prophet shall die’. There were so many that claimed to be […]
What does God look like?
How often have we heard people describe a church building as the ‘house of God’? Most people would consider a church to be so. But does God really live in church buildings? God is not confined to a place Preaching to Greek philosophers on Mars Hill, the apostle Paul said, ‘God that made the world […]
