Topic Archives: Encouragement

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 […]

GOD BLESS AMERICA 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 […]

TERRORISM, JUSTICE AND LOVING OUR ENEMIES 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 […]

KNOWING AND SERVING GOD 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 […]

THE CHURCH IN NORTHERN RUSSIA 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 […]

THE RICHES OF SPURGEON 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 […]

AN ARGUMENT FOR LEARNING By Pastor Jim Elliff 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 […]

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 […]

BUSINESS HINDRANCE 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 […]

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 literautre 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 first trustees […]

Roger Beckwith 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 brethren, […]

Maybe you have no idea what daily worship involves. Maybe it’s never been part of your life, and no one has ever explained it to you or modeled it for you. Let me describe my own involvement in daily worship. When I was growing up, my parents led us in daily family worship. Before breakfast […]

On a rare Saturday visit to Swansea, which is the second largest city in Wales with a population of 150,000, I had another opportunity to visit Des Roberts at his workplace. Forty years ago he began his lifetime vocation of distributing tracts once a week in the main street. At first he stood outside a […]

It’s what mothers’ worst nightmares are made of – the last thing Jason and Trina Baker expected as they headed out into a blizzard in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on January 2, 1999. And because it was so unexpected, it was all the more horrifying when it happened. As they headed out into the gathering storm […]

A Faith Worth Sharing: A Lifetime of Conversations about Christ, by C. John Miller. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: Presbyterian & Reformed. 1999. 152 pp. $7.95. This book, written by one of the more noteworthy Presbyterian evangelists of the twentieth century, was edited posthumously by Dr. Miller’s daughters, Barbara and Roseann. In an introductory note, they write: […]

“Blue Peter” is the most famous and popular children’s TV programme in Great Britain. This Christmas it chose the best children’s book for 2000. Most of us expected it to be the latest Harry Potter yarn which has swept the globe, but to our delight the book it chose was a new edition of Pilgrim’s […]

The distinguished Dutch physician Bert Keizer went to London this week and gave a lecture at the London Millennium Festival of Science, at King’s College. He spoke of the rise of Modern Medicine after 1850, the study of the anatomical basis of the symptoms of diseases, the discovery of the bacterial causes of diseases, the […]

In early October, 2000, Dr Joel Beeke of Grand Rapids buried an elderly Christian. He gave the following letter to her children after the funeral (on 1 Tim. 1:15-17), detailing his last visit with her:- The last visit I had with your dear mother last week was quite special for me, so I wrote out […]

The daily obituary colums in the newspaper increasingly catch one’s eye. One always glances at the age the deceased had attained. Dr Margaret Pollak was 77 when she died earlier this month (The Times, September 14). A London doctor, Peggy Pollak (as she was known) became intrigued by the wide discrepancies in young children’s development. […]

It’s two o’clock and the lamb race is about to begin. Led out of the barn, Horlicks, Bovril, Pepsi, Expresso, Chocolate and Little Bo Peep enter a field crowded with expectant children and parents. They line up. The children who hold the lambs are instructed about where they should be headed. A boy with a […]

During June this year I was able with God’s help to make a fortnight’s visit to TIUMEN, ONOKINO, TOBOLSK, NIAGAN and PRIOBYE. In all places there is steady progress, much fervent prayer and faithful robust evangelistic preaching of God’s gospel with souls being added to the church. Nowhere did I find any spirit of complacency, […]

On July 23 1999 Paquito, the seven year old son of Pastor Paco and Mrs Julia Orozco of Hermosillo, Mexico, finally died after three to four years of battling with leukaemia. Jim Adams of the Cornerstone Church in Mesa, Arizona, flew to Mexico for that funeral service, an occasion never to be forgotten. Paco reminded […]

A report of the Banner of Truth Conferences held in April this year: What a great privilege it is to be able to attend the Banner of Truth Youth Conference each year! Although it is a busy time it is a wonderful opportunity to see a group of young people so evidently enjoying hearing the […]

There was just one occasion on which my wife and I attended Westminster Chapel during the ministry of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It was on Whit Sunday in May 1965. Thus it was with the greatest interest that we noticed that in the newly published volume of sermons on the book of Acts the very sermon […]