Yearly Archives: 2013

No one ever became a missionary by a journey across the seas. One shows that one has truly been called to be a missionary by how one lives and speaks where ‘one is at,’ today. Hudson Taylor was one of the greatest missionaries in the whole history of the Christian church. He was born in […]

David B. Calhoun is already the author of the highly-commended two volume history of Princeton Seminary, published by the Banner of Truth in 1996.1 He is a gifted theologian, a thorough historian, and a warm and devotionally-inspiring writer. The first six chapters of his latest work2 contain a kind of short biography of some of the most […]

. . . and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed (Acts 13:48b). Without question the Scriptures teach the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. That is – ‘[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us […]

‘undoubtedly one of the spiritual greats of our land, worthy of being honoured, and a reminder of the powerful impact of a godly life, lived by the grace of God, and committed to the preaching of the gospel of that grace, on the toughest and most godless environments.’ [John Brand has ‘discovered’ Richard Hobson of Liverpool!] […]

In the December 2012 issue (No. 591) of The Banner of Truth magazine, Iain Murray asked the question, ‘Where are the Best Tracts?’ As indicated in the February 2013 issue (No. 593), we received some very helpful responses to his question, although not all were included in the magazine. A number of pastors said that they wrote […]

. . . they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace (Acts 14:3). Upon Saul of Tarsus’ conversion on the road to Damascus, Ananias was commissioned by the resurrected Christ to go to this persecutor of Christians and to lay hands on […]

There is a place you can go in the world to learn about evangelism. It is a place unlike any other I have found, where the beauty of God’s creation and the darkness of humanity’s sinfulness stand in such stark contrast to each other. It is a place where evangelism is the focus of the […]

Ernest Kevan is best known as the founding principal of London Bible College, or London School of Theology as it is now called. He was also the author of a significant work on the Puritan theology of the law, entitled, The Grace of Law. Beyond those two facts, I don’t suppose many readers will know much […]

I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent (Revelation 2:5). The church at Ephesus (in the province of Asia Minor, modern day western Turkey) was established by the Apostle Paul on his third missionary journey (Acts19:1ff). Upon his arrival he found a few believers there, who […]

Every believer who has ever lived has faced and experienced disappointment. There have been and will be no exceptions. Even the perfect Man of faith, our Lord Jesus Christ, experienced disappointments, difficulties, hardships. As he hung alone and abandoned on Calvary’s cross he cried out, ‘My God, My God, why . . .?’ Woven into […]

This1 is a second volume of sermons on Genesis which Calvin preached in St Peter’s Church to the citizens of Geneva, from 24 January to 15 May 1560. They are numbered 50 to 97 and, as was the case with the first volume,2 they are here translated into English for the first time by Dr Rob Roy […]

You are probably reading this as one year ends and another begins. A new year is a milestone in our lives. And we do well to remember that not everyone who passed the last such milestone has reached this one; similarly not everyone who passes this milestone will reach the next. We are on our […]

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their ‘earnestness’ makes many think they must be right. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be […]

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by appearing and kingdom, preach the word (2 Timothy 4:1-2). Eschewing his privileged religious pedigree – having been circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a […]

The material below is dated in that it was published once before 13½ years ago, but also in that the always-trendy-but-always- behind kind of evangelism it describes continues in its evolution of outreach methods. A pleasant consequence of the publication of this article was that the author received a letter of appreciation from Dr John […]

The following is taken from Puritan Portraits by J. I. Packer, published by Christian Focus (192pp, paperback, ISBN 9781845507008). There are seven Puritan leaders who are evaluated and commended by Dr. Packer in this fine book. The notes have been added. I owe more, I think, to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern, […]

Mary Moffatt was a remarkable woman. Wife of Robert Moffatt, mother-in-law of David Livingstone, she and her husband served as missionaries in Bechuanaland for 45 years. The early years were hard, their labours resulting in not a single convert. Yet Mary was undaunted. When a friend wrote, asking what useful gift could be sent from […]

To be casual today is usually regarded as a good thing; it is cool. To be ‘non-casual’ (stiff? formal? intense?) is not good. You need to chill. One of the first books I read as a Christian was The Best That I Can Be by J. Oswald Sanders. On the front cover is a photo […]

The city of Columbia was created the capital of South Carolina by the state legislature in 1786. It was intentionally located near the geographic centre of the state to provide citizens equitable access to their government institutions. The town was laid out two miles square with ten blocks per mile; the streets were built one […]