Posts from 2022 (Page 19)

When talking with a brother recently, I was caused to reflect upon a time when I was overly generous with my complaints about a certain situation. Though the complaints were not about him, I wanted to apologise for making a difficult time in his life even harder. His response was more than gracious. He felt that my complaints had been fair and that lessons had been learned in keeping with God’s providence. At the time I felt that my ‘persistent…

Many Christians delight in political debates. They say they don’t, but that is only because they narrowly define “a debate” as politicians arguing their respective views during voting cycles. These Christians, like everyone else, tune into their favourite personalities to have their political views either affirmed or challenged. By contrast many Christians eschew religious debates. In this case they broadly define ‘a debate’ as preachers and/or scholars arguing their respective views, but this time in a way that they deem…

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1). It is easy to forget how spiritually helpless we used to be. That now it is only because Jesus reconciled us that we can even call ourselves Christians. It is by contemplating this reunification between God and man, something completely beyond our abilities and resources, that we see hope for reconciliation amongst ourselves. When brethren are not getting along, we must never line…

But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is it for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62). Judgement was inevitable for Jerusalem, and Jesus warned the believers to be ready (Matthew 24). In order to highlight the potential consequences of failure to heed his words, he warned, “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32). His point being: When fleeing the destruction wrought by judgement, “Don’t look Back!” The specific reason that Lot’s wife…

It is easy to imagine that many believed that Jesus’ ministry was as good as over on that day in Capernaum (John 6). The previous day he had miraculously fed five thousand, and within twenty-four hours “many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore” (John 6:66). The crowd had wanted a new Moses who offered daily bread and deliverance from Rome, not someone inviting them to “Eat my flesh and drink my blood” (John 6:53). From…

Of all the many churches I have visited, within the first few minutes, it has always been obvious which ones were doing well. You can’t hide contentment. It is the first thing that you will see in the eyes of the brethren that you meet as you enter a church building. For them, church assembly is a good place to be, because everything is theirs to enjoy. Enter the Bible class of a good church and you will feel that…

The miserable song-leader is the last true barometer of a dying church. Asking him to lead a joyful celebratory song is probably like asking an undertaker to smile at a funeral. You would probably have to go back a good number of years to remember someone saying, “We must make sure that everything in our worship is done decently and in order.” I was always puzzled as to why the brothers said it. I know that they were quoting 1…

Every time the church speaks truth two realities collide. Firstly, God moves to uphold those who speak it, and secondly, Satan moves to attack them. The devil cannot destroy truth, but he will fight to destroy your faith in it. For the last 6000 years, he has successfully tempted billions to deny, abandon, or oppose the truth before their eyes. The Christian soldier keeps Satan at bay by resisting him (James 4:7), or, when need be, fleeing from his assaults…

There is an old Preacher Joke about an elderly church lady who went into a bank to make a withdrawal. The teller asked, “What denominations would you like?” With disgust, she said, “I can’t believe it, religious division has even made it into our banks!” How many thousands of different churches are out there, I do not know? But what I do know is that Jesus died for but ONE! Scripture tells us “There is one body” (Ephesians 4:4), and…