Topic Archives: Encouragement

Acts chapter 9 recounts two miracles performed by the Apostle Peter in regard to Aeneas and Dorcas of Joppa – Aeneas, a man who was paralyzed for eight years, and lay on a mat; the other Dorcas, who was very much alive, until she died suddenly in the midst of her labours. I thought of […]

The Bible, God’s own Word, can be deeply disturbing to read. It has a ‘knack’ (being inspired by the Holy Spirit this should never surprise us) of unsettling us, and deeply humbling us. This has been the case with me these past few weeks in particular. Let me explain. I am trying (and trying is […]

I am constantly amazed how quickly and easily I forget that ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms’ (Eph. 6:12). This does not mean that indwelling sin is not […]

He was born in 1712 and reared a Calvinist in Geneva. He came from a well-to-do family and his mother died when he was an infant. He had one sibling, a brother seven years his senior. His father loved his brother but despised him. He gave us cold baths, weekend cottages, and the notion that […]

Both Scripture and sanctified experience teach us that our Lord is a most sympathetic High Priest (Heb. 4:15, 16). Because our Redeemer has been tempted in all ways as we are, He can understand as a Man the pressures of our temptations and sympathize accordingly with us. It is, however, remarkable that there is not […]

… among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Ephesians 2:3. Ernest Hemingway, an American icon of the 20th century, one who, perhaps more than any other writer, changed […]

The Saviour had been crucified. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had laid Him in the grave. The chief priests and Pharisees recalled that Jesus had foretold His rising from the dead on the third day. They went their unbelieving way to Pilate, claiming to be afraid that the disciples would “come by night and steal […]

Obadiah, Ahab’s chief civil servant (not the minor prophet), was a remarkable man. We know very little about him, but what we know is deeply instructive and hopefully deeply humbling. Obadiah lived at a time of wholesale national apostasy. Ahab, beguiled by his heathen, Baal-worshipping wife Jezebel, had sought systematically to destroy the Lord’s prophets. […]

Caroline Hand writes on how reading John Gwyn-Thomas’s Rejoice Always1 helped her. Why is it we do not always see the fulfilment of God’s promises in our own personal circumstances? Romans chapter 5 tells us that tribulation produces perseverance, character and hope, with the end result that God’s love is poured into our hearts. But […]

David declares that our Lord is a God of deliverances, to whom belong escapes from death (Psa. 68:20). Some of those escapes can be quite narrow, as David himself experienced. At one time only a mountain stood between a murderous Saul with his army and a fleeing David and his company (1 Sam. 23:26). At […]

Perpetua, a young, well to do woman, lived in Carthage in 200 A.D. Carthage, modern day Tunis in north Africa, had a vibrant Christian community living amongst a pagan people, and Perpetua had come to believe in Jesus as the Christ. She was attending a Catechism class to prepare her for public profession and baptism, […]

Most of you know the story about Eric Liddell, the gold medallist in the 400 meters in the 1924 Olympics in Paris, how he refused to run on Sunday and forfeited his place in the 100 meters, opting to run a race which was not his speciality. What you may not know is that Eric […]

THE 2002 PASSAGGIO REFORMED CONFERENCE IN ITALY The eighth annual conference of the reformed publishers ‘Passaggio’ took place at a new venue this year. Some fears had been expressed beforehand that moving the conference farther south to the town of Misano on the Adriatic coast would deter some of the participants of past years from […]

SPORTS AND GAMES FOR CHILDREN “As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.” John 9:4 Some men are spending their time in making money. That is the main object of their lives. They would be as usefully employed probably […]

A WARNING AND A CHALLENGE Never, never he afraid to hold decided doctrinal opinions We cannot withhold our conviction that the professing Church is as much damaged by laxity and indistinctness about matters of doctrine within, as it is by sceptics and unbelievers without. Myriads of professing Christians nowadays seem utterly unable to distinguish things […]

LITERATURE IN TAMIL The 1689 Confession of Faith (3000 copies) and the Children’s Catechism (2000 copies) was printed in South India two weeks ago. Already, 200 copies have been sold and more orders keep coming. 200 copies will be sent to Sri Lanka as well. We are in the process of informing the churches and […]

A REFORMED CONFERENCE IN CUBA It’s the second week of February and we’ve just returned from beautiful Cuba, hearts bursting with gratitude and praise to the Lord for His faithfulness throughout the trip. We left the Valley of the Sun in Arizona several hours late on January 31, due to a snowstorm in Toronto, the […]

THE RIPPLE EFFECT OF THE WORD More Thoughts On Reading And Writing I’ve been thinking again about the importance of reading and writing. There are several reasons I write. One of the most personally compelling is that I read. I mean, my main spiritual sustenance comes by the Holy Spirit from reading. Therefore reading is […]

BRAZIL AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE Brazil is a fertile country, with its warm-hearted people drawn from many nation Four days up the Amazon from the ocean, and more than another four days from the Andes where that river has its sources, lies the town of Manaus. Despite its remoteness, it equals Birmingham, U.K., in […]

DR. JOEL BEEKE’S EXPERIENCE IN RIGA LATVIA I would then literally talk to myself — “Focus on Jesus! Focus on Jesus!,” and would again feel God’s intervening grace. [In early January Dr Joel Beeke flew to Latvia to give a series of lectures and to preach. While he was In Riga he was attacked, robbed, […]

ALL WE WILL GET IN 2002 IS MERCY January 1, 2002 Let us make crystal clear at the beginning of 2002, all we will get from God this year as believers in Jesus is mercy. Whatever pleasures or pains come our way will all be mercy. This is why Christ came into the world – […]

What Jesus wants most for Christmas is that his elect be gathered in and then get what they want most to see his glory and then savor it with the very savoring of the Father for the Son. What does Jesus want this Christmas? We can see the answer in his prayers. What does he […]

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 […]