God’s freedom, we saw last month, means that he does not need to seek the permission of any other being to act as he chooses. And because God is free, God loves freedom and he desires that his creatures should be free. The defining narrative of the people of Israel in the Old Testament…
Read more
In last month’s article, I made two observations which set the context for the biblical basis of creeds: 1) The Bible itself contains various creeds and confessions. 2) The church is commanded to ‘confess’ Christ (Romans 10:9-10). For the church to obey the command to confess our faith, we of necessity are going to…
Read more
A striking and yet often ignored fact is that the Reformation and Puritan eras produced over 40 confessions of faith. Men like John Calvin, John Knox, and John Owen saw the writing (and confessing!) of creeds and confessions as essential to the recovery of gospel truth and the building of Christ’s kingdom. Contrast this…
Read more
‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder’ according to the popular proverb. While this is often true, so is the opposite – ‘Out of sight, out of mind.’ In response to the Covid-19 pandemic churches cancelled in person worship services. Many have only recently begun to meet in person again. Some have yet to do…
Read more
S. J. Curtis, in his History of Education in Great Britain tells us, ‘The important fact, so often forgotten in modern times when the State plays such a predominant part in education, is that the English schools were the offspring of the Church, which regarded them as one of its chief instruments in the…
Read more
The question of how we educate our children is not a matter of indifference or personal taste for Christian disciples. Our God is a literate God! His handwriting is at the centre of his covenant relationship with his people (Exodus 32:15-16, 34:1) This original writing of God is intended to act as a signature…
Read more
God speaks to us without video, audio, diagrams, emojis, or musical notation: we simply have his Word. But because it’s exhaled and made understandable by his Spirit, (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 1 Cor. 2:13, 14), it has an incomparable communicative power (Heb. 4:12). In my three guest articles I’m meditating on that thought by…
Read more
As the Prime Minister’s press conference ended, it was clear that life was going to be very different for the next few weeks, possibly months, possibly longer. Severe social distancing measures were announced in the next attempt to combat COVID-19. It was not long before my phone began to ring, text messages, emails looking…
Read more
Maybe there have been times in your Christian walk when you have known the nearness of the Lord and glimpsed something of his glory and beauty in the Word. It may have been in your personal devotions or when you were gathered with the Lord’s people. But sadly, it is likely we have also…
Read more
Not long after my wife and I were married, we moved to Cornwall and the house we rented had a great open fire. I soon realised there was an art to building a fire that lasts with the right materials. It is important to put the coal, kindling, scrunched paper, and logs in good…
Read more
In the last two columns I’ve tried to show that old age doesn’t mean the end of your Christian usefulness. Older saints are particularly well positioned to glorify God, through your trials and through your prayers. In this final instalment we’ll think about how you can do so through your legacy — and I’m…
Read more
When you can’t be involved in Christian service as actively as you once were, you can find yourself standing on the sidelines of church life, feeling like a spare part. But the church is a body, with no dispensable members (1 Corinthians 12:12-25). There are important roles which only older believers can fulfil. In…
Read more
