Resources by Thomas, Geoff

My friend, John J. Murray, gave me a booklet when we were at a meeting in Glasgow recently. He and members of his family were involved in its reproduction. It is the diary and life of Cathie MacRae of Lochalsh who was born in 1907 and died in Invergordon Sanatorium in 1948. She started to […]

Some students wore hats in our services. Some were from Holland and others came from similar congregations where all the women wear hats. Another student was convicted by this and began to raise the subject with her friends and finally came to me. ‘You say you believe the Bible, but here is plain teaching in […]

The Rev. Arthur W. Kuschke, Jr., passed into glory at his home on July 1, 2010 at the age of 96. A native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Mr. Kuschke graduated from Wheaton College in 1936, after which he earned the Th.B. and Th.M. degrees from Westminster Theological Seminary. Ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1940, […]

I have been listening to some cassettes of a certain style of preaching which seems to have swept the evangelical church. Its emphasis is the Bible as a history of redemption (which it is), but it claims to be the one Christian group which is expounding and exegeting Scripture. It takes large sweeps across the […]

Luke 11:24-26 When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits […]

The Church of Scotland Glasgow Presbytery held a ‘Commemoration of the 450th Anniversary of the Reformation in Scotland’ service in Glasgow Cathedral on 29th June. The address was given by a prominent Roman Catholic, Prof. Tom Devine of the University of Edinburgh on ‘The importance of the Reformation for the Development of Scotland’ and it […]

[The second part of a paper given in January 2010. The first part can be found here.] 3. AREAS TO BE GREATLY VALUED BY THE PREACHER. i] There is the utter delight and enormous cost of preaching. There is joy that is unspeakable in exalting God as a congregation listens, magnifying his grace, describing the […]

This paper was given to a gathering of ministers near Cardiff on 18 January, 2010. The topic was requested by the organisers. How infrequently are older men able to learn brand new lessons. Over fifty years ago I learned at a student week-end conference the Scriptures’ teaching of justification by faith. I believe that that […]

Too much has been made of the fact that Jesus is never said to have smiled or laughed. That fact has been linked to his description as ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.’ The picture is developed making Jesus’ life joyless and stressful. That is a gross over-simplification. For one thing, a joyless […]

I gave this paper on Monday November 23, 2009, in Bala at the first conference to be held in Wales specifically for ministers who had been in the pastorate for under five years. I am not sure that there are important differences between ministers who have been in the ministry five years and those who […]

Whom Do We Shepherd? Whom do we pastor? We evangelize the community; we pastor the congregation. WE PASTOR OURSELVES Paul in his farewell to the elders in Ephesus exhorts them to keep watch over themselves (Acts 20:28). That is to be their first priority, and then he adds, ‘and all the flock over which the […]

Shepherding God’s Flock1 When I was a student fifty years ago I came under the influence of a group of Welsh ministers. I was greatly impressed with them, considering them to be great gifts to the church of Jesus Christ and peerless pastors. My feelings about that have increased with the passage of time. Some […]

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11) Paul is writing to the congregation of new Christians at the heart of the Roman Empire. First of all he has given to […]

A tender farewell The fellowship meal of Abraham with the Lord and the two angels was over, and one part of God’s mission in leaving heaven and coming to Mamre to the patriarch and his wife had been completed. The Lord had assured Sarah that she was going to give birth to a son within […]

I have just completed preaching through the twelfth chapter of Romans, thirty years after I had first preached through the letter. It is the Everest of New Testament ethics, corporate and individual, ecclesiastical and personal. I preached fifteen sermons on it and found much helpful material available compared to thirty years ago. There is the […]