Topic Archives: Encouragement

GEORGE CALHOUN: A TRIBUTE SOME YEARS AFTER GOD SAVE HIM, GEORGE BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND AND LOVE THE REFORMED FAITH Were he alive, George Calhoun may have discouraged my writing these remarks for public consumption. George was the founder of Mt. Olive Tape Library (P0. Box 422, Mt. Olive, Mississippi 39119). He did not care to […]

THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS HE DWELT AMONG US; “FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH” INDEED, BUT IN OUR MIDST The Christian Faith is deeply and necessarily ‘incarnational.’ “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John tells us. “He was manifested in the flesh,” wrote Paul. Even more daringly, he tells us that God sent […]

A Commitment to Integrity Our calling is to know and do what is right in all situations and relationships in our lives Recently I heard a report about a young man’s situation which moved me deeply. I believe that his story is perhaps the most powerful testimony to Christian integrity I can recall in my […]

WOODROW NEWSLETTER Dear Friends: This letter comes one year after the last update many of you have had from Nampula. Much has happened for which we rejoice – the arrival of two missionary interns from Malawi who have helped and encouraged us since last October, the coming of the Chiorino’s in February to assist in […]

THE NOVELS OF JAN KARON WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU READ A NOVEL WITH PAGES PEPPERED WITH PRAYERS BY THE PROTAGONIST? Many American Christians are enthusiastic about the novels of Jan Karon, and it was in the USA that we first came across them, but we obtained the Penguin boxed set of the best-selling […]

Forty years ago this month, on Labor Day 1961, the German cargo boat Carl Fritzen, which I had boarded at the Liverpool docks 11 days earlier, began its entry into Chesapeake Bay. We sailed past the beach where the Jamestown settlers had landed in 1607 where they gave thanks to God on the sands for […]

September 12, 2001 Someone asked me after our Tuesday prayer service in response to the terrorist attack, ‘Can we pray for justice, and yet love our enemy at the same time?’ The answer is yes. But let’s start with or own guilt. Christians know that if God dealt with us only according to justice, we […]

A personal testimony. For over twenty years Neil Richards has had a most blessed ministry in Wheelock Heath Baptist Church in Cheshire. He has finally retired from the pastorate, and this is the letter he wrote to his beloved congregation at the end of July 2001. * * * In the Evangelical Magazine of Wales, […]

In a recent edition of the Spectator (28 July 2001) Anne Applebaum describes a visit to Vortuka, north of the Arctic Circle where roses do not grow. There are no daisies or lilies; no sunflowers or geraniums, just a few wild flowers which spring up in the very short, very hot northern summer. The grow […]

ONE While the true greatness of a preacher will only be revealed at Christ’s tribunal, I would join my opinion with those of many others who make the earthly judgment that Charles Spurgeon was the most effective and useful of preachers since the days of the Apostles. Yes, as highly as I regard Augustine, Luther, […]

‘Wise men store up knowledge…’ — Proverbs 10:14a One of the immense edifices on the skyline of Christian history over the last hundred years was the eminent leader, Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones (1899-1981). He is noteworthy not only because he was a great preacher and the pastor of Westminster Chapel of London, but also because […]

One of the most staggering verses in the Bible is surely Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are the called according to his purpose.’ What is so breath-taking is the scope of Paul’s conviction, ‘in all things,’ and the unbounded assurance […]

A member of my congregation, a young man who was an apprentice, became attentive to the subject of religion; and, finally, his convictions became very distressing. I had many conversations with him. It all appeared to be in vain. He continued in his distress, without hope, and almost in despair. One day he said to […]

For years before the Second World War and for another 15 years afterwards the one shop in the United Kingdom which stocked and distributed Reformed literature from the USA was the Evangelical Book Shop of Belfast. This was through the energy and vision of W. J. Grier, that holy happy pastor and one of the […]

A Sermon preached at the Burial service of the Reverend John Herbert Algar, vicar of St Martin and St. Paul, Tipton, at St Paul’s church, on 19th February 2001 * * * My text is the concluding verse of the lesson just read in the Prayer Book Burial Service, 1 Corinthians 15:58: ‘Therefore, my beloved […]