Articles

Genesis 2:18 “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’“. There have to be unique reasons why it wasn’t good for Adam to remain alone, but it’s just as bad for anyone to live in isolation from other people. We haven’t been made to spend our lives like the […]

[In the 1950s Professors Renwick, Collins and Finlayson used to travel south from Edinburgh and address the Durham University Christian Union. It was probably this sermon, preached with great unction and power, and published later in The Life of Faith, that left some of its hearers feeling so guilty that their heads were bowed low […]

Augustus Montague Toplady was born at Farnham in Surrey on 4th November 1740. His father, Major Toplady, died in May 1741 of yellow fever at the siege of Cartagena. Toplady was baptised at Farnham Church on the 29th November of that year. We can pass over his childhood for there is little of importance for […]

Genesis 2:24&25 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.“ One of the greatest challenges to Christianity in Wales today is what is called ‘postmodernism.’ Don’t worry […]

In the early part of my ministry I had no picture of what a reforming work might look like. Though familiar with some 16th century Reformation personalities and events, the ongoing necessity for biblical reformation had not captured my imagination. But that soon changed. I was in the midst of studying “Church Growth” under Peter […]

In the previous installment we traced the roots of the New School Dutch Calvinistic preaching. This type of preaching is characterized by historical-redemptive rather than an exemplary approach to Scripture. Rejecting what it considers the individualistic, subjective, mystical and experiential elements in Old School Calvinistic preaching, it emphasizes the covenantal, objective and corporate aspects of […]

The Bible’s Teaching On Election This fundamental doctrine teaches believers that they were chosen in Christ before the world was created. The eternal Father chose a people from the ruins of the fall of Adam; a number that no man can number from every nation, kindred, tongue and people. The eternal Father loves them in […]

Introduction Every religion has certain characteristics that sets it apart from its rivals. There are different traditions, customs, rituals, ceremonies, modes of worship and styles of preaching. Limiting ourselves to Christianity and preaching, there is a marked difference, for instance, between Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal and Reformed or Calvinistic preaching. It does not […]

Keep a Close Watch on Yourself and on the Teaching (3)– Al Martin I Timothy 4:16 “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Take heed to yourself that you are growing in grace and maintaining a vital walk with God, by […]

Someone contacted me to say that the town drunk had had a stroke and was in the local hospital. Could I visit him? I have had dealings with him over the years, seen him lain out on a bench in front of the bank dead drunk, an empty wine bottle under the seat, been approached […]

The Life of John Knox – Iain Murray John Knox was born around 1514 at Haddington. At 12 an unknown book arrived in Scotland, Tyndale’s Bible. Thirty years later the first Scottish martyr was to be burned at St. Andrews. Knox was ordained a priest in the Scottish RC church in 1536. In the 1540s […]

If it were to be asked what is the recurring theme in Knox’s words and writings the answer is perhaps a surprising one. Sometimes he could be severe, and sometimes extreme. Given the days and the harshness of the persecution he witnessed, it would be understandable if these elements had preponderated in his ministry. But […]

“On Becoming a Better Pastor”– Graham Heaps, Dewsbury Evangelical Church, Yorkshire I am tied to my notes because I have 10 minutes. It is natural to think that years of pastoring make one a better pastor, but is that necessarily so? My son played the violin and practiced for years and yet he failed his […]

(A sermon preached at the Memorial Service for Donna Cunningham, a single sister in Christ who died of cancer at age 58, and who served the kingdom unselfishly and sacrificially, especially in the education of church at Grace Christian School. She was also a faithful member of Covenant Presbyterian Church, Louisville, MS, who endured in […]

We all perhaps would have to admit that we do not pray as often as we should. That admission, while it may shame and grieve us, would probably not surprise us. However, what may surprise us is the fact that few, if any of us, pray as often as we think we do. This is […]