Pastor Articles RH

This article presents the traditional view that we are to seek real guidance from the Lord in all the major decisions of life, and he will certainly clarify our thinking, or overrule our circumstances.

Sometimes when believers decide where they would like to live or work, almost the last matter considered is their commitment to their church. Is it possible that our criteria for such decisions are out of line with the Lord’s?

In Christ ‘there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.’ Neither male nor female is superior to the other in the sight of God. All are equal in spiritual value before God.

The last few decades has seen the rejection of a precious Biblical principle – that God has a specific plan and purpose for the life of each of his children, and that they should seek his direction in all the great issues of life.

We usually consider these famous words in an evangelistic context. But we realise they are equally made for all believers, because Christ spoke of the Father’s readiness to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him.

Growth means dependence upon God, communion with Christ, daily engagement in holiness, prayer and proclamation. We cannot select one or two of these but must engage in all.

Why did the Lord institute the sabbath day, and in what way has it changed with the coming of Christ? This article responds to these questions, showing that the sabbath principle is still God's will for believers today.

Why does the Lord sometimes cause us to pray for some things repeatedly, often over a long period of time? Every praying Christian sometimes experiences long waits in prayer, sometimes extending over several years.

What is 'the day of the Lord'? Peter is speaking about the Lord's return, when the earth will be melted and burned up. When will Christ return? The answer is in the analogy. He will come when society is asleep.

‘...he must rise again from the dead.’ 'Must' is the vital word that is the foundation of this article. It derives from the verb ‘to bind’ - he is bound to rise again. It is inevitable, obligatory and inescapable. But why?

Where will your church be five or ten years from now? With the adoption of contemporary worship, many have changed beyond recognition. This is one of the most important issues confronting churches today.

Is our continuing sanctification impeded by worldliness? Here is how we may rediscover the secret power. We need always to ask – Is it clean? Is it edifying? Could I take the Lord there?

The concept of pilgrimage is tremendously important to the Christian, especially today when an increasing number of evangelicals advocate being ‘culturally relevant’, exhorting us to be like the world.

Whenever wisdom is needed to assess the latest strange idea or movement to penetrate the churches, we hear the 'counsel of Gamaliel’ quoted - especially when there is no scriptural support for something.

Like no other agency, Sunday Schools enable us to reach and draw a large part of the rising generation to the Saviour. No Sunday School ministry, no saved teens and twenties in the church, except for children of believers.

We may have no assurance, coldness, and small desire to pray. Isaiah 50.10 is a good solution: ‘Who is among you.. that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.’

Why is it called the cup of blessing? It pictures the source of all our blessings - the atoning substitutionary death of Christ for our sin; his indescribable suffering bearing the eternal punishment that we deserved.

Satan aims to bring down Christ’s people by denying their sincerity and salvation, and scheming their backsliding. No wonder Paul is inspired to use the terminology of combat. There is no hiding from this battle.

Young men and women are needed who will abandon the fickle, undiscerning way of accepting anything and everything, and take their stand on the authoritative Word of God. Only then shall we see the blessing of God.

The idea of two conflicting ­natures in the Christian is only a model, but is scriptural, enabling believers to see themselves corrupted by sin, and yet substantially renewed by the converting power of God.

‘These things have I written unto you... that ye may know that ye have eternal life…’ (1 John 5.13). This verse is written for those who doubt whether they have been forgiven and saved by God, and struggle with assurance.

There is nothing quite like the Ten Commandments for stimulating progress in sanctification, once our minds are primed to see all that they teach. In the New Testament we read that keeping them is an act of love to Christ, and also the basis of assurance.  This article employs five biblical keys to unlock the riches of the ‘royal law’.

The Bible does not feature a list of 'permitted' activities and possessions, but it explains the principles which must guide believers in their choices. This is just as well for us, as there are so many pursuits and desirable things around today which did not exist in Bible times. How, then, do we determine whether an activity or possession is right for us?

The title of this article is obviously not meant in a charismatic sense. We offer no advice on how to cast out demons, rather on how to help true believers who have been heavily influenced by charismatic ideas such as tongues, visions, prophecies, ecstasies, dancing, falling down slain etc, and who have come to see them as wrong.

The loss of separation has already led to a weakened, worldly, psychological evangelicalism in Britain, and the situation will grow worse still without a return to former standards of loyalty to Christ and his Word. But the commands to stand clear of false doctrine, immorality and worldliness are still in the Bible.

With Calvary before Him, the Lord spoke these remarkable words – ‘Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.’ From this time Satan would be curbed in his power, still able to work much wickedness until the final day, but severely limited. But how exactly was Satan cast out by Christ’s death?

Not surprisingly, more questions are asked about finding God’s direction for marriage than about any other aspect of divine guidance, especially by young people. They also seek the Lord’s will about their future work, but here the mechanics of guidance seem easier to apply, and in any case, a mistake can be rectified, whereas marriage is for life.

Is it wrong to seek advancement, or to possess wealth as a Christian? Believers face career decisions, and need to know if there are clear standards in the Bible governing advancement in the world. Where should the line be drawn between justifiable, legitimate advance in wealth and authority on the one hand, and covetousness on the other?

How do we love God who is invisible? He is seen in creation, in salvation, and also in our experience in the ongoing Christian life. How do we love God who is untouchable? But he is touchable by prayer. How do we love God who is unhearable? But we do hear him in his Word. Read much, and we hear him much.

It is a glorious sight to see a church where the people work willingly to press forward the Gospel and to keep the coals of the testimony glowing hot. Pastors and elders will need to enthuse God’s people and implement the work. Let us build working churches, for these are growing churches.

It is often claimed by those cynical toward the Bible that Genesis 1 is contradicted by Genesis 2. But these claims are so obviously mistaken and easily refuted. Genesis is amazingly precise and consistent as narrative.

Love for our fellow believers is one of the proofs of conversion, and it is certainly essential for pleasing the Lord. Six times in the New Testament love is described as 'philadelphia', meaning 'brotherly love'. Internal clashes and divisions must go, and 'philadelphia' love must be cultivated.

Faith towers over all other Christian duties throughout the Bible, and corporate faith is a glorious aim. Our longing should be that our congregation will have unwavering confidence in the faithfulness of God, and trustingly obey him. Individual faith is the life-blood of the believer, but congregational faith is also a high and precious grace.

The apostle's prophetic analysis of perilous times has proved harrowingly accurate, and serves as a powerful vindication of the inspired accuracy of revelation. Nothing is happening which we have not been told to expect, because all is known to our God. The world does not understand itself, but it desperately needs the saving message of Christ.

Ever since Balaam counselled the Moabites to intermarry the Israelites to bring them down, infiltration and compromise has been Satan’s chief strategy for the destruction of faithful evangelicalism. Yet so many believers recoil from obeying the biblical commands to stand clear from error, while so many conservative evangelical churches are being devoured.

When problems are brought to a pastor, our first aim is the preservation of the marriage bond, and the keeping of husbands and wives and families together. This must be our first objective: a much better and happier relationship. But sometimes this is not possible.

‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5.10). Will believers be included at the judgement seat of Christ?

There is a central function assigned to local churches, without which nothing else can develop or stand for long. We must strive to produce a consciously learning church, where people love to hear the Word unfolded, its wonders researched, and the words and plan of God expounded.

We are ‘saved to serve’, but that little maxim is unfashionable today. It is, however, biblical and right. We are called to the tremendous work of the great commission of Christ to his disciples in every age – the gathering in of lost souls. A believer whose mind and heart is not engaged in Christ’s cause cannot expect to make spiritual progress.

One of the most beautiful characteristics in a congregation is a sacrificial spirit, and we should greatly desire and work for this. A sacrificial people fulfil the principle of Romans 12.1 – ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’

Over the last decades there has come in among Christians a craze for counselling borrowed from secular psychology, largely formulated by atheists opposed to biblical teaching. It is astonishing that even evangelical churches are hiring counsellors to ‘heal’ Christians who need biblical advice, not psychological therapy.

This article could equally be titled 'a well-pastored church'. How effectively do we pastor our churches to produce a sanctified community? Paul sets the standard: ‘Warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.’

Spiritual joy is a deep cheerfulness and gladness of heart. It is happiness and a calm spirit. It comes to us as the direct result of knowing Christ Jesus, along with all that he has done for us, and will do, not just in this life, but eternally. It has a constant property, flourishing in the worst soil, and coexisting with fierce conflict, disappointment and loss.

A distinctive gathering for prayer has a special warrant in the New Testament, where we see distinctive prayer meetings described in Acts chapters 1, 4 and 12. These were not preaching meetings, but prayer meetings, convened to besiege the gates of Heaven with specific needs.

In Britain, countless churches have closed and others have dwindled to a handful. Some, in panic, have yielded to contemporary worship, hoping that this will save the day. But none of this was necessary! If only pastors and officers had inculcated in their people a thirst for evangelism.