Topic Archives: Christian Living

Just a couple of weeks ago, Steve Burchett and I loaded up his van and drove to Oklahoma from Kansas City for retreat with the leaders of a well-known international ministry I won’t name. The trip was pleasant, but when we arrived after several hours, the gate of the retreat center was only partially opened […]

From as early as I can remember, books, poetry, and literature have mattered to me a great deal. That interest intensified in my teens, and eventually led me to study English as a single honours subject at university — I had no career plans back in those care free, fee-free, days of undergrad education! Lurking […]

In the video below, Pastor Mark Johnston details why the writings of the Puritans are so impactful even today. ‘Part of the genius of Puritan literature is that they were so taken up with God, and his grace, and the provision that was made for sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ, that they opened not […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ –Acts 2:42 James the apostle, in his letter to the twelve tribes who were disbursed abroad, was seeking to bring them back to the revival culture they had first experienced on the day of Pentecost, […]

Published the year after his world-wide bestseller, Pilgrim’s Progress, this 1679 work on the Fear of God is misunderstood & neglected. Yet, anything from the pen of the converted tinker is worth its weight in gold. Bunyan was not only a master of the Word of God — ‘prick him and he bleeds holy scripture,’ […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ –Acts 2:42 Why does preaching do so little to transform people in the pew? When the Apostle Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, after the promised Holy Spirit had been poured out in fulfilment […]

This is a reprint of an article that was first published in the Banner of Truth magazine, July – August 1968. His words remain valuable today. * * * The Value of the Gospel No men in the world want help like them that want the Gospel. A man may want liberty, and yet be […]

‘They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’ — Acts 2:42. In fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28-32), in fulfilment of Jesus’ promise (Luke 24:46-49, Acts 1:8), after ten days of earnest prayer, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the one hundred […]

Imagine the average layperson in your church—the owner of a bike shop, a truck driver, a doctor, a secretary, a lawyer, a school teacher.  If you were to ask him or her, ‘How does your pastor expect you to apply your Christian faith to your work?’ What would they say? I can imagine the average […]

A few years ago, a Christian I knew ended his life prematurely. It was sudden, tragic, and devastating to all of us—but especially to his family. Sometimes it’s hard for any of us to believe that people could do this to themselves and to their families, but the reality is that any of us could […]

The August-September edition of Banner of Truth is always something of an occasion — a significant increase in the heft of the envelope flopping on to the doormat, extra features etc — but the current issue has been particularly engaging. In the opening editorial Jonathan Watson hands over the reigns of the magazine to Ian […]

It has been a little over one year since my heart attack (March 21, 2017). Without warning, I fell to the kitchen floor unconscious. I remember nothing that happened thereafter until five days later when I found myself in a hospital room. I asked what happened, and someone said, ‘You died three times.’ My heart […]

Of the many video clips I watched of Billy Graham in the week of his death, one in particular has stuck with me. Preaching in Southern Seminary Chapel in 1982, Graham said that at sixty-four years old his greatest surprise in life was the brevity of life: ‘If someone had told me when I was […]

Every semester as I teach college students theology, I have them read one or two excerpts from Jonathan Edwards — and every time, I get one of two responses. First, he’s difficult to read! The second response I get from some students is about how Edwards simply sees life differently than they do. They’re surprised, […]

John Owen understood the demands and privileges of ministry. In a sterling sermon preached at an ordination service on Friday 8th September, 1682, he laid out in challenging and practical terms what the task of the pastor truly is. In his mind was the pressing need for ministers to pray. In this piece, we shall […]

Charles Spurgeon was the unlikeliest of candidates to win the heart of Susie Thompson. He was rural England and she was London and Paris. After seeing and hearing Charles in the pulpit for the first time, the furthest thought from her mind was marrying him. How then did Charles Spurgeon win and keep the heart […]

‘Short and engaging little books that offer real spiritual meat, but are accessibly written for the modern reader.’ The Banner of Truth is excited to introduce a new series on the Christian Faith: Banner Mini-Guides. The series is divided into five sections: Key Truths, Christian History, Christian Living, the Christian Mind, and Christian Mission. Each […]

I spent five years immersing myself in the sermons of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. It was truly a transformative season in my life. What was the biggest takeaway? The answer may surprise you. He taught me how to pray. Those who really knew Lloyd-Jones will not find that answering surprising at all. His wife once said, ‘No […]

We have been charting the biblically wise advice of John Owen for pastors, given in an ordination sermon preached on Friday 8th September 1682. His counsel is profound, challenging, and utterly relevant to our contemporary task as preachers. Thus far we have observed the essentials he attaches to preaching the Word and his four great […]

‘Be zealous’ — Revelation 3:19 This watch-word of Christ, it be not now a word in season, I know not when ever it was, or will be. If God should now send through the earth such surveying angels as Zechariah mentions (Zech. 1) could they return any other observation of their travels than this, ‘The […]

There’s a well worn quotation – often wrongly attributed to Mark Twain – which goes along the lines of ‘by the age of seventeen I realised that my father knew nothing. By the age of twenty one I was amazed at how much he had learned’. Regardless of who coined this phrase, it carries a […]

It’s exam-time. Over the next few weeks most of the youngsters who attend the church will be sitting exams of one sort or another. SATS, GCSEs, A levels, university assessments, music exams. . . From early childhood into our twenties, we face one daunting educational hurdle after another and some of us then go back […]

My late Dad bought me a pair of Grenson shoes for my wedding, solid and sensible footwear. They can be buffed to guardsman standard, but are stiff and inflexible and uncomfortable. I wore them to his funeral after my wedding, and have only worn them when I’m conducting funerals in the fourteen years since. Along […]

John Calvin wrote many commentaries, and many sermons. The Banner of Truth publishes a large collection of both. In the video below, watch as Derek Thomas briefly describes how Calvin’s sermons are different from his commentaries, who they are intended for, and why you should read them. Then, click here to take advantage of this […]

It used to be a feature of a Sunday afternoon that a letter would be written to missionaries, absent friends, or children away in college. This was the practice of Dr. Cornelius Van Til of Westminster Theological Seminary, especially writing to the mother of Bob Den Dulk whose godliness and wisdom he greatly admired. Then […]