God’s Kingdom will come – in His time.

"Rejoice with all your heart... Shout in triumph... Your King is coming to you... " (Zechariah 9:9). Here, we have the prophecy that was fulfilled by Jesus when He entered the city of Jerusalem, on His way to the Cross. This is followed, in Zechariah 9:10, by the words, "He will rule from sea to …

Peter – preaching on the Day of Pentecost

Peter preached Jesus as the way of salvation, the way of joy and the way of victory. To those who are needing to hear the Word of the Lord, the true messenger of the Gospel of Christ still says this: "Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:21). To …

A New Name

God has given us ‘a new Name’. It is ‘the Name which is above every name’, the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (Isaiah 62:2; Philippians 2:9-11).

It was the genesis of my life.

Genesis When I was writing these words, I was thinking of some of the stories in the book of Genesis (the book of beginnings). I was thinking about Adam, Abraham and Joseph – and I was thinking about Jesus!___________________________________________ It was the genesis of my life.Things were looking so good.Then, it all went badly wrong.What …

The increase of sin, and the ray of hope!

Genesis 4:1-26 This chapter tells the story of the progression of humanity, the increase of sin and, in it final sentence, the development of worship. There are interesting snippets of cultural information (20-22). There may be progress in the horizontal dimension - agriculture, music, industry, but history reveals, again and again, that all is not …

A Famine Of Hearing The Word Of The Lord

Amos 7:1-9:15 ‘That’s enough, prophet! Go back to Judah and do your preaching there... Don’t prophesy here at Bethel any more’(7:12-13). Amos was a faithful preacher of God’s Word - but his hearers wanted to get rid of him! This was the beginning of a time of great darkness: ‘The days are coming when I …

The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today

If you want to read the list of footnotes, which accompanied the original article, click on this link – The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today. _____________________________ Ernest Best was Professor of New Testament at the University of Glasgow. Robert Davidson was Professor of Old Testament at the University of Glasgow. The late …

We read of Abraham, and we look beyond him to Christ.

Genesis 12:1-20 The blessing promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) takes us right on to the book of Revelation, to "the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven" (Revelation 21:10). The story of Abraham is more than a human story. It is part of God's eternal purpose which will find its ultimate fulfilment in …

How can we be strong and courageous?

"Be strong and courageous ... for the Lord your God will be with you" (Joshua 1:9). How can we be strong and courageous? Does strength and courage come from within ourselves? We may like to think that we're strong and courageous - but we're not. Again and again, we're reminded of how weak we really …

Life is empty without You, Lord.

Life is empty without You, Lord. You fill our lives with Your blessing. You give to us new life, abundant life, eternal life (2 Corinthians 5:17; John 10:10; 1 John 5:11-12). All of these blessings come to us through Jesus, Your Son. He brings us out of emptiness. He brings us into a life that …

Jesus Came To Give Us Abundant Life.

1 Kings 4:1-34 ‘God gave Solomon wisdom’(29). Solomon shared this wisdom with others (32-34). Christ is ‘our Wisdom’(1 Corinthians 1:30). Don’t keep Him to yourself. You may not know much about ‘trees… beasts… birds… reptiles… fish’(33). If you know Jesus, you know all that you really need to know! You can live a happy life …

God’s gift of grace is so great.

Isaiah 14:1-16:14; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Psalm 106:1-15 Christ came to destroy the evil one, Satan – to bring him “down to the grave, to the depths of the pit” (Isaiah 14:12-14). Satan seeks to impoverish our lives. God, however, is very different. He gives us His “surpassing grace.” This is given to us in His …

God Sees Us In Our Sin – And He Sees Us In His Grace!

"I  will look to the Lord. I will wait for God to save me. I will wait for my God to listen to me" (Micah 7:7). Who is the Lord our God? The answer to this question is found in Micah 6:18-20. we are never wasting our time when we look to the Lord.We are …

We thank You, Lord, that Jesus comes to us in love.

We thank You, Lord, that Jesus comes to us in love: "the voice of my Beloved! Look! Here He comes" (Song of Solomon 2:8). We thank You that He calls us to come to Him: "Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away" (Song of Solomon 2:10). He calls us to belong to Him …

Jesus is waiting for us.

"Our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for. the Lord Jesus Christ" (Philippians 3:20). What is it that makes heaven such a special place?  - It's Jesus! He is there. He's waiting for us - and he will welcome us.

Jesus – friend of sinners

"Friend of sinners" (Matthew 11:19) - what a great description of Jesus, our Saviour! He comes to us in love. He says to us,'I want to be your friend.' There are times when we feel alone. Jesus says to us, "You've got a friend.' He says to us, 'I am you friend.' The friendship of …

Give thanks to the Lord.

Joel 2:21-32 Give thanks to the Lord (Joel 2:21). Harvest is a special time for giving thanks to the Lord (Joel 2:22-24). * We look back from the harvest, and we see the character of God (Joel 2:13). * We look forward from the harvest, to greater blessing: spiritual as well as material (Joel 2:28-29). …

A call to pray, a call to seek God’s glory

“You do not have because you do not ask God” (James 4:2) - This is a call to prayer. “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:3) - This is a call to seek God's glory.