Psalm 147:1-20 ‘The Lord builds up Jerusalem. He gathers the exiles of Israel. he heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds’(2-3). This is much more than the building of the city of Jerusalem with bricks and mortar. This is God building up His people in their ‘most holy faith’(Jude 20). This is God blessing …
Continue reading God ‘Blesses’ Us Through ‘His Word.’ He ‘Blesses’ Us In ‘The Spirit.’
Luke 13:1-35 Jesus stresses the need for both repentance (Luke 13:1-5) and the fruits of repentance (Luke 13:6-9). God’s Word, planted in our hearts at conversion, is to bear fruit. This requires continual repentance and faith (Colossians 2:6; Galatians 3:1-5). Don’t put it off till tomorrow! Today is ‘the day of salvation’. Don’t ‘neglect’ God’s …
We have to speak to today's world - but we must make sure that it's God's Word that we speak. What are we to say to the world? We must begin with another question: What is God saying to us? If we are to hear what God is saying to us, we must make time for …
The Holy Spirit opens up the Scriptures to us, and he leads us to Christ. As we learn from the Scriptures, and are led to Christ, our way of thinking changes. This changes our way of living. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
Job 32:1–33:18 When doubts fill your mind - remember this: "God does speak ... though man may not perceive it"! ‘The Bible is the Word of God’ - What do we mean when we say this? Two statements from Elihu may help us to think about this question. (a) ‘Understanding’ comes from ‘the breath of …
When Jesus was praying to His Father for His first disciples, He spoke these words, "Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). If, in our generation, we are to be the people of God - filled with His power, His love and holiness, we, no less than Jesus' first disciples, need …
'O Lord, You are exalted for ever… The Lord reigns, He is robed in majesty… ' (Psalm 92:8; Psalm 93:1-2). You, Lord, are ‘exalted’. Help us to exalt You in our worship. You are not exalted because we exalt You. We exalt You because You are exalted. You are ‘exalted far above all gods’. That is why we sing, ‘I exalt …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us keep on praising the Lord.
We thank You, Lord, that You have opened up for us a great future. What glory awaits us in Your eternal Kingdom! What encouragement this gives to us when we’re going through a hard time! Help us, Lord, to lift up our eyes, to catch a glimpse of Your glory, to be changed by Your …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us praise our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
https://youtu.be/RbBOOmkMLmI _____ We thank You, Lord, that Your Son, Jesus, is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). In His death for us, we see Your love for us. Help us to come to the Cross of Christ. Help us to worship You in the beauty of holiness. …
Mark 4:1–34 God’s Word carries this message: ‘He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says...’ (9; Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22). We must listen for the voice of the Spirit. Grace has been ‘given’ to us (11). It is God's gift. To God be the glory! Sadly, some refuse to listen. Think …
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus - sung by Fernando Ortega Often, Lord, we have too much self-confidence and not enough confidence in You. May there be less ‘I can’ – that’s the pride we can do without – and more ‘God can’ – this is the faith we need so much. …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us open our hearts to the love of Jesus, our Saviour.
How do we decide which things are really important and which things are not really so important? We turn, again and again, to God's Word. We let Jesus Christ be our Teacher. We learn to see things in the light of God's eternal Kingdom.
We thank You, Lord, that Jesus has risen from the dead (Luke 24:6). Death could not hold Him (Acts 2:24). He has triumphed over death – “Where, O death, is your victory? … Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). _____ When we read the …
https://youtu.be/lCt1s44cfMM The Father, The Son, The Holy SpiritAdvent is the time of preparation for Christmas. Make sure that you prepare your heart for a real celebration of our Saviour. Remember that Christmas is not about us. It’s about God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: “an angel of the Lord” comes with …
Continue reading In our own homes – may we experience God’s love and enjoy His blessing.
https://youtu.be/JmGwHdNtpEw _____ Less of our sin, more of Your love – Lord, this is our prayer. Our sin does us nothing but harm. Your love always does us good – nothing but good. We’re sinners, Lord. Why do You keep on loving us? We don’t know why – but we’re glad that You do! We …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us remember that the Lord is with us, every step of the way.
‘How I love Your Temple, Almighty Lord! How I want to be there! I long to be in the Lord’s Temple. With my whole being I sing for joy to the living God’ (Psalm 84:1-2). Lord, we read this words, and we know that this is much more than paying lip-service to You. This is real. ‘I long …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us pray to the Lord and let us praise the Lord.
https://youtu.be/s3hNZT6ddJg ‘Fulfil your vows’ (Nahum 1:15). Lord, You’re calling us to be faithful to You. We are to be faithful in worship. We are to be faithful in reading Your Word. We are to be faithful in prayer. We are to be faithful in giving. We are to be faithful in witness. Our faith is …
https://youtu.be/-Msh0PAJfPU Lord, we read about Your judgment upon sinful nations – Ammon (Ezekiel 25:1-7), Moab (Ezekiel 25:8-11), Edom (Ezekiel 25:12-14) and Philistia (Ezekiel 25:15-17). You speak to us. You say to us, ‘You will know that I am the Lord’ (Ezekiel 25:5,7,11,17). You speak to us as our Judge. You speak to us about ‘sin, …
Continue reading In our own homes – May the Lord fill our hearts with His love, joy and peace.
https://youtu.be/mgzRB4gEPf4 We compare ourselves to other people. We like to think that we’re doing pretty well. What, Lord, do You think about all of this? Are You impressed? You’re saying to us, “What about Jesus? How do you compare to Him? Help us, Lord, to look at Jesus – and see where we need to …
Continue reading In our own homes: Let us look to Jesus – and be changed by Him.
https://youtu.be/BUT-G4xHYpo ‘The Lord roars.’ ‘The Lord thunders’ (Amos 1:2). We thank You, Lord, that Your Word comes to us from above – ‘The Lord will roar from on high.’ You speak to us from heaven – ‘He will thunder from His holy dwelling.’ We dare not ignore Your Word. Your Word comes to us as …
Continue reading In our own homes – Let us return to the Lord and hear His Word of salvation.
“In the beginning, God … ” (Genesis 1:1). “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start… ” (from the film, The Sound of Music). When we go back to “a long time ago”, do we go back far enough? The first four words of the Bible takes us back beyond “a long …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us praise our Saviour.
Not far off sixty years ago, when I was a young teenager, I learned a bit about science: not a lot, I must admit. When I was in my mid twenties, I dipped into some books which touched on the subject of science. What I'm saying is this: I'm not, exactly, an expert on science. …
" ... the authority of God's Word is not an arbitrary, external authority ... (But) a wooing and conquering authority ... Scripture's authority does not demand blind obedience ... rather a subjection that spells redemption ... a subjection to Christ whereby he is never out of view ... in which acceptance occurs with joy and …
History: What's your reaction to the word, 'history'? Perhaps, it does nothing for you. You think of things that happened a long, long time ago, and you say, "Not for me!" What about His Story, the story of the eternal God, coming to meet us where we are? He comes to us from the ancient …
God is calling us to walk in the light with Him. * He’s calling us to walk with Him in the light of His love. Go back to Genesis 1:3 – “Let there be light, and there was light.” Go back beyond the created light. Go back to the eternal God – “In the beginning, …
These two questions are closely connected, but they're not quite the same. Christian faith is more than believing what the Bible teaches us about Jesus Christ. It's trusting in Jesus Christ. While we can distinguish between the two questions; What do you believe? and Who do you trust?, we must not set these two questions …
"Fulfil your vows" (Nahum 1:15). * Faith We're going to think together about our Church membership vows. These vows can be summarized in five words: Faith, Worship, Devotions, Giving, Witness. The first vow is the foundation upon which the others are built. The other four vows are the practical implications of the first vow: our …
In our times of suffering, we ask the question, "Where is God in all of this?" There is another question we need to ask. It's the question, "Who is God?" - In life's most difficult times, we need to "learn what God is like" (from the hymn, "Workman of God! O lose not heart"). When …
* We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. * We need to feed on the Holy Scriptures. * We need to worship the holy God. * The holy God leads us in the way of holiness. * We walk in the way of holiness when we keep our eyes on our holy Saviour. …
‘Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord… Let us come before Him with thanksgiving… Come, let us bow down in worship… ’ (Psalm 95:1-2,6). Lord, You’re calling us to worship You with joyful thanksgiving. We rejoice in You. We give thanks for Your love. You are ‘the great God’. You are ‘our God’. You are the God of creation – ‘In His …
Continue reading Let us worship God – with joyful thanksgiving.
We begin with a simple and yet profoundly helpful illustration from James Philip. "The black plastic disc (for those who are more familiar with compact disc, he's speaking about the vinyl record - you can replace 'black plastic disc' with 'compact disc'!) that is put on the gramophone turntable has a voice within it, and when we put it …
The first four worship videos are choruses I remember from my youth. I hope they will encourage you all in the Lord. The first one is sung by a young man, who is, also, playing his guitar. For God so loved the world https://youtu.be/Gl1uoaLVwkM ‘Let us go to the Lord’s House; let us worship before …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us lift up our hearts and voices to the Lord.
Sometimes, God speaks to us from places which seem rather unlikely. As we explore His Word, we learn that He is the true and living God, ever ready to bring to us something new and fresh, something that will increase our joy and strengthen our faith.
"When you read God's Word, you must constantly be saying to yourself, 'It is talking to me, and about me.'" (Soren Kierkegaard).
God's Word encourages us to look back, and it, also, encourages us to look forward. It takes us on a journry, from Genesis to Revelation. We're taken back to the beginning. We're being led on to the eternal future. As we look back to the past, let us lift up our hearts and voices to …
Continue reading God is with us here and now, today and every day.
If I were to go around the congregation and ask you, "Why have you come to this church service?", I'm sure I would get quite a variety of different answers. Some of you, if you were being perfectly honest, might have to say, "I came because I've got into a routine of coming to church …
Continue reading The Word of God – Christ, Scripture, Preaching
Scripture speaks with authority because it speaks as the God-breathed Word. The authority of the Word by which we are brought to faith must be seen in connection with the power of the Holy Spirit. The life of faith into which we are brought by the Word and the Spirit is both life in the …
Continue reading “Be filled with the Spirit” and “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.”
Luke 10:38-11:28 Mary was ‘listening to the Lord’(39). Martha was ‘distracted’(40). ‘One thing is needful’(42): Don’t let anything distract you from this - Getting alone with God. More than anything else, Jesus wants to ‘teach us to pray’(1). The greatest gift that God gives - in answer to prayer - is the Holy Spirit (13). …
Continue reading Pray that you will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We may study Scripture personally but we must not study it individualistically. Our study of Scripture must be related to God, the Church and the world. We need a revival of the apostolic devotion - “we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). We are not to study …
Let’s think about God’s love, God’s Word and God’s Son. * God’s love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. We read in the Bible about God’s love. Is this just something from the ancient past? Is it for us? The Bible speaks to us from the ancient past, but it’s not to be left in the …
As we approach the Lord's Table, let's think about two verses of Scripture. "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler" (Psalm 91:3). The first of these …
Continue reading Approaching the Lord’s Table: Forgiveness, Victory, Faith, God’s Word, God’s Love
Centred on the Saviour, Empowered by the Spirit, Grounded in the Scriptures – These are the lessons that we must keep on learning if we are to bring glory to God and receive blessing from Him. * Centred on the Saviour Being a Christian isn’t something that we do for ourselves. It’s not something that …
Continue reading Centred on the Saviour, Empowered by the Spirit, Grounded in the Scriptures
Berkouwer criticizes "an incorrect conception of theology, a conception of theology, a conception which considers it possible to discuss Holy Scripture apart from a personal relationship of belief in it, as though that alone would constitute true 'objectivity'." (Holy Scripture, pp. 9-10). He holds that those who view Scripture in this way "wrongly ... see …
How do we come to faith in Christ? How do we grow in Christ? How do we receive the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit work through us to bring other people to Christ? Do these blessings come to us from out of the blue? No. They come to us from the Word of …
How are we to speak to today’s world? Before we can speak to today’s world, we must listen to God’s Word. Speaking for God begins with listening to him. A word that is spoken by us for the Lord must, first, be a word that is spoken to us by the Lord.
" ... the authority of God's Word is not an arbitrary, external authority ... (But) a wooing and conquering authority ... Scripture's authority does not demand blind obedience ... rather a subjection that spells redemption ... a subjection to Christ whereby he is never out of view ... in which acceptance occurs with joy and …
Let us worship God. "No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). We begin with a great hymn - The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord. Be blessed, as you listen to it - and sing along with it. As you sing …
Links to a lecture given, in two parts, in 1987. The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith, Part One The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith, Part Two
Serving You, Lord, doesn’t begin with our choice. It begins with Your call. The initiative is Yours – not ours. Thank You, Lord, that You love us so much. Thank You for saving us – and calling us to be Your serv.ants. At the beginning of the lockdown, Jack McHugh, the Moderator of the Presbytery …
Some people say, “Surely, you don’t believe the Bible.” They say that the Bible belongs to the past. It’s not for us today. This kind of talk takes us right back to the Garden of Eden – “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1). The Bible says that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God?” …
Continue reading God’s Word – Unchanged, Unchanging, Unchangeable
God's Word is "a lamp to our feet and a light to our path." He has "wondrous things" to teach us as we pray "Open my eyes that I may see" (Psalm 119:105, 18, 11). "May God's blessing surround you each day, as you trust Him and walk in His way. May His presence within …
Continue reading God’s Word Is A Lamp To Our Feet And A Light To Our Path.
Luke 4:31-5:11 ‘His Word was with power’(32). Where there are hindrances, obstructing the flow of God’s Word, we must pray that God’s Word will be heard for ‘what it really is’- ‘not the word of men but the Word of God’(1 Thessalonians 2:13). Our hearing of God’s Word is not to be a superficial thing …
Continue reading We must hear the Word of God and act on it.
There is so much to hold us back from worshipping and serving the Lord. We could so easily become discouraged. We need the encouragement of God’s Word. This is what we have in Psalm 60:12 - ‘With God we shall gain the victory, and He will trample down our enemies.’ At times, it may seem …
Continue reading What are we to do when we feel discouraged?
In Isaiah 40:8, we learn that "the Word of our God will stand for ever". Jesus says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Mark 13:31). The Word which Jesus Christ speaks to us now is nothing less than the Word of God. We are born again through His Word (1 …
‘I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the House of the Lord”’ (Psalm 122:2). Why, Lord, do we go to Your House? We go ‘to give thanks to the Name of the Lord’ (Psalm 122:4). We seek Your mercy for our past sins: ‘Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us!’ …
Continue reading In our own homes: In our troubled times – let us praise the Lord and pray to Him.
https://youtu.be/lhUiRonlzaQ Lord, we need Your wisdom (2 Chronicles 1:10). We need Jesus – He is Your wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30). Without Jesus, we’re fools. We may think that we’re wise – but we’re not. Jesus makes us wise. True wisdom comes from Him. When we build our lives on Jesus, we are truly wise (Matthew …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us put our trust in Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
At this difficult and distressing time, we're not able to gather with one another to worship the Lord in His house. In our own homes, we can come to the Lord and we can bring our praise to Him. Let's begin our worship with "We have come into His house and gathered in His name …
This time of worship is not only for Sunday morning (or some other time on Sunday). You can come back, again and again, during the week, and be blessed by the Lord. He is with us every day. He loves us - always and forever. However difficult and distressing our present circumstances may be, let …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us rejoice in the Lord and receive strength from Him.
“Sing to the Lord with grateful praise” (Psalm 147:4). Here’s a link to a song – “I’m forever grateful.” The video will lead you to think of God, your Creator. The words will lead you to the cross of Christ, your Saviour. Look around you – and sing to the Lord with grateful praise. Look to your …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us sing to the Lord with grateful praise.
Amazing grace Lord, we thank You for Your “amazing grace” – “I once was lost but now am found” (John Newton). We think about our life. Did we find our way back to You? – No! You found us! You came looking for us – and You found us. We think about this, and we say, …
Continue reading In our own homes – let us give thanks to God for His amazing grace.
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