Topic Archives: Christian Living

The Christian believer is always living in an inescapable tension! Much as we would love to be free of this tension, until we leave this earthly scene and enter the nearer presence of our great and gracious God, we will be engaged every moment of every day in this tension. I hardly need to spell […]

The Christian life is full of extraordinary ‘highs’ and unsettling ‘lows’. This is something young Christians are often unprepared for. And yet God’s Word could not be clearer that our spiritual good requires that the Lord lead us through dark valleys as well as lifting us up to expansive mountain tops. This is why reading […]

How do we deal with doubts that arise against our faith? My question does not directly include how we answer the doubts of others. Our attempt to answer others’ doubts and objections has its place in the realm of what is called apologetics, but while it is legitimate and necessary at times for us to […]

. . . trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:10) Every Christian is called to heed and obey the myriad of commands for holiness, for keeping God’s law.2 And we all acknowledge that we fall short of that standard. In a desire to address legalism in the evangelical church the contemporary […]

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. (Daniel 9:3) After reading the prophet Jeremiah and having known of the promised return from the exile, Daniel seeks Yahweh with diligence and zeal – fasting, putting on sackcloth and ashes, and making supplication. […]

‘We’ve a story to tell to the nations.’ So how does it go? We need to think about that. Barna has his statistics, and it looks like a lot of us struggle in just knowing what that story is. Is it what you once heard the evangelist say, that you’re a hell-deserving sinner and that […]

Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) was a well known Puritan Pastor who was known as the ‘heavenly doctor’. This work is twenty sermons preached by him on Song of Solomon 4:16 to 6:3. For Sibbes the Song of Solomon is ‘nothing else but a plain demonstration and setting forth of the love of Christ for his church, […]

It has often been said: if you wish to start reading the Puritans, begin with Sibbes – the point being that he is simple and direct. (Others may suggest Watson or Swinnock.) Richard Sibbes (1577-1635), ‘the heavenly doctor,’ was one of the foremost among Puritan preachers and divines.The Love of Christ was first published under […]

Paul Wolfe is a new author on the British scene who deserves to be read. He came close to never writing at all. At only 28 years old, newly married, he was diagnosed with cancer. He was studying for the ministry at Westminster Theological Seminary, and to use his phrase, had his life all scripted […]

Raymond Oakley, esteemed former pastor of the church at Hope Chapel, Arcal Street, Sedgley (1980-2007), and an acceptable supply minister for many years, passed to his eternal rest on December 3rd, 2011, aged 84 years. Our friend was a faithful minister of the gospel for sixty-two years and served the churches as a supply minister […]

This book of the law . . . you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it . . . then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. (Joshua 1:8) Do you drink in the […]

Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee. (Psalm 119:11) If we wish to be blameless (Psa. 119:1), if we hope to be blessed (Psa. 119:2), if we desire to live righteously (Psa. 119:3), if we want a shame free life (Psa. 119:6), if we long for lives […]

Surely some of the most staggering words in the New Testament are found in 2 Corinthians 2:14: ‘But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.’ If you are a Christian, however bad or poor or despondent you […]

Don’t blur the frontiers of the law. It works well as it is. There are two key tests to apply to Lord Falconer of Thoroton’s report: does it present convincing evidence that the law we have now is in need of change? And, if it does, are the safeguards proposed adequate to protect vulnerable people? […]

This is not a book so much about heaven, but rather the Christian’s attitude to heaven. The author’s aim is to make Christians more heavenly minded. The book is in two parts. In part one Mr. Wolfe looks at the Bible’s teaching on heaven, how we get to heaven and what it means to set […]

The times need changing. United prayer meetings are held on the first Friday of each quarter in Glasgow. Similar groups have begun to meet in Northern Ireland, Wales and England. The meetings are open to all evangelical Christians of whatever denomination. New meetings may be organized in your area or you may join in secret […]

Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me? (1 Samuel 2:29, NASB) Hophni and Phinehas were worthless men who did not know the Lord and who regularly abused the sacrificial system in Israel. They commissioned their workers to go […]

I do not ask thee to take them out of the world but to keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15) You daily face untold danger, opposition, and sorrow. The danger takes many forms. You could be killed on the way to work this morning by a third shift worker on his way home […]

The homosexual marriage debate is not about homosexuality. It is not about ‘gay-bashing’, and Christians who are often intimidated by that unjust jibe should not be afraid to take on the government over the issue of redefining marriage. It is not even about marriage. It is about God. Who is God? Is God God? Or […]

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? (Hebrews 2:3) Are you straying from the strong, church-going lifestyle instilled in you by your parents? Perhaps you slowly drifted away from Christianity as you married, had children, and got into the fast-paced life of work, rearing children, and being part of your community. […]

By Brian Ellis, Manila, Philippines. What do I mean? I must start with some personal testimony so that I can explain. My interest in religion began when I was in the 6th form at Grammar School and I began to attend the Student Christian Movement meetings each week. There we discussed all manner of matters […]

In John 15 the Lord Jesus Christ explains to us that Christians are united to him in a spiritual union. Our Lord uses the illustration of a vine and its branches. The Lord supplies to all believers the grace of his Holy Spirit. This, like the sap, is the source of all the ‘fruit’ which […]

Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood (Jeremiah 48:10). Jehovah speaks through Jeremiah the prophet to Moab, a wicked idolatrous nation to the east of Israel, which had a long history of causing God’s people trouble. He pronounces woes upon them, […]

Joel Beeke, what three books have been most helpful to you as a Christian and as a minister? The first book that comes to mind is the Letters of Samuel Rutherford, which I kept on my nightstand for decades. Whenever I was discouraged, I would sweeten my mind with a morsel of Rutherford before I […]

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Paul’s marvellous proclamation is most often terribly misunderstood. I have been guilty of misunderstanding it myself. Romans 8 is not grounded in justification but sanctification. (If you would rather not follow this technical language then skip down to paragraph three). […]