A Spiritual Growth Check
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.
Against Hastening to Remove from our Post of Duty
Do we shy away from Christian service? As the Lord’s workers we should desire to glorify Him. Christian service is not about selecting the comfortable positions; it is best to yield our own will to the will of God altogether.
Sanctifying Power – and Films, Music and Leisure in the Christian Life
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 Pilgrim Concept
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.
Six Biblical Steps for Guidance
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.
Does the Lord Really Guide?
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.
Long-Term Praying
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.
Remember the Lord’s Day
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.
Taking Care of Others
When the Saviour spoke, he spoke volumes. We take a little of his gold and hammer it out into acres of gold leaf, for we cannot talk ingots of gold as he did. His words had infinite meanings which only he could fulfil.
Remedies for Problems in Prayer
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.’
The Holy War – Do we dodge enlistment?
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.
The Dissolving of Doubts
‘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.
Five Keys to God’s Law
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’.
How God Uses His People in Soul Winning
Are you a soul winner? Jesus Christ is glad to save sinners, but most of all He is glad to save them by the means of those already saved. This article is a must-read for all who seek to honour the Lord in winning souls to Christ.
What Satan Can and Cannot Do
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?
The Battle for Souls
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.
The Seven Pillars of Counselling
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.
Spiritual Joy
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.
Comfort for Tried Believers
Are you troubled, and are you inclined to despair? Take counsel; these storms are not beyond what believers in Jesus can bear. Is not the Lord himself with you as your captain, and is not the Holy Ghost with you as your guide, and have you not a faithful God to trust to in the stormiest night you may ever know?
C H Spurgeon on the Present Financial Crisis
Financial scandals demonstrate the foolishness of believing that you can have morality without Christianity. Spurgeon here refers to the crisis around Overend, Gurney and Company, which collapsed in 1866. The Bank of England refused to bail it out, leading to the collapse of over 200 other banks and companies. How history repeats itself.
Are there Gossips Among Us?
Gossip has been defined as idle talk or compulsive news-mongering, including the spreading of groundless rumour. Do we indulge in it? To see the ugliness of it and its effect upon the church ought surely to make us think, and put us off. We must neither speak gossip, nor listen to it.
The Deep Things of God
‘For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.’
The Spirit does not search in the sense that he needs to find out. He is the Holy Spirit, eternal, all-knowing, equal with the Father and the Son. He searches in the sense that he surveys and penetrates all knowledge and all events. He has the past, present and future in his mind all the time.
When God Commissions
Many Bible-believing Christians, sadly, do not seem to have realised that each one has a personal commission. They think of themselves in a very humble way as recipients of the grace of God, but not as having received a special call to the service of Christ.
True Repentance for Believers
In Leviticus, the Lord prescribes very precisely the order and manner of worship. They were not to devise services for themselves, and even in our day of greater liberty we are not to create expressions of worship not seen in the New Testament.
Mutual Debts in Marriage
Christ has purchased us, freed us from condemnation, and given us a better life and a glorious eternal home, by His precious blood. How readily we should now pay our due debts to the one God has given us for the journey of life – our very own spouse. Are we meeting our obligations?
Long-term Resentment in the Young
‘And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord’ (Ephesians 6.4). It hardly needs to be said that parenthood is a tremendous responsibility, and we are glad of every word we have in the Bible showing how we should go about it.
Witchcraft in a Modern Guise
In reviewing the sins of the flesh (Galatians 5.19-21) the apostle uses a word for ‘witchcraft’ which we have in English today. It is a form of our word ‘pharmacy’. Obviously, no translation would use this term, because for us it denotes a healing profession, not a sin of the flesh. So in what way were witches of old times involved in pharmacy?
Companions of the Apostle Paul
Towards the end of Paul’s remarkable letter to the Colossians, written during his first imprisonment in Rome, he names seven men who assisted him at that time, men whose lives have much to teach us, and who continue to challenge and encourage us today.
The Immeasurable, Personal Love of Christ to His People
It is an astonishing concept for us that Christ Jesus, the Lord of glory, should dearly love his people. Here is an opportunity for us just to skim the surface of that mighty, unspeakable love. He has bound himself to each one of his people, even to the weakest, the youngest, and the smallest, with a depth of affection beyond human comprehension.
Joshua’s Sixteen Resolutions
Speaking by divine inspiration, the aged leader Joshua gave the people sixteen profound and heart-searching resolutions that stand to this day as monitors of the committed spiritual life. Although given in the form of exhortations, they are clearly intended to be embraced as personal resolutions or pledges by those who love and serve the Lord.
The Pattern for the Church
When we speak of the sufficiency of Scripture, we mean that the Word of God provides all that we need to know in order to be saved, to be sanctified, to worship, and to organise and operate the church of God (2 Timothy 3.16-17). It clearly shows a pattern for the church.
How We Treat the Holy Spirit Within
The personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the believer is such an amazing privilege that the mind never wholly grasps it. A daily succession of joys, temptations and trials produces various reactions in us, often without stirring our awareness that God is in residence, and will be pleased or grieved by what we think, say or do.
The Golden Chain of Blessing
The apostle is about to unfold the great ‘cycle’ of spiritual experience for Christian workers by teaching the golden chain of pressures (prayer: encouragement: thanksgiving). He wants all Christians to see pressures turn into spiritual encouragements, such as deliverances, provisions, strength and fruitfulness.
Recent Race Demonstrations
All manifestations of racial disrespect are disgraceful to sincere Christian people. They flow obviously from the Fall of man. All hatred, all superiority, all disdain, all persecution of ‘other’ ethnic groups and religions, together with all ideological persecution (which is the greatest killer in modern times), and all class prejudice is forbidden by the sixth commandment – ‘Thou shalt not kill.’
A Dressing-Down on Dressing Down
According to Scripture we are to stand out as lights in the world and to be different, and this must surely be reflected in our dressing. If the clothing of the world is contrary to biblical guidelines, then we need to consider whether we are dressing like the world. But when the Christian develops inward beauty, their maturity and love for Christ will manifest itself outwardly.
3. A Defence of the Authenticity of the Woman Taken in Adultery
‘..When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’ (John 8.10-11)
2. A Defence of the Authenticity of the Traditional Ending of Mark
‘And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.’ (Mark 16:20)
1. A Defence of the Traditional Text of Scripture
Identifying the Key Spiritual Pastoral Themes in a Psalm
A study of a selection of psalms to show how they minister to communion with God, and the securing of spiritual strength and perception in all conditions of life.