In 1 Kings 22, King Ahab had a decision to make. The king of Syria had promised to return a series of cities to him, and after three years one key city had not been returned to Israelite rule. Should he ignore this breach or go to battle over it? He sought advice from four …
We read about the call of Elisha the prophet in 1 Kings 19. Elisha is a man who is busy doing what most people of his culture did: farming. Specifically, he was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when Elijah came along and appointed him as an apprentice. That’s a lot of oxen in a …
Obadiah is a little-known figure from the Old Testament, but he gives us a useful template for serving God in ungodly times. We meet Obadiah in 1 Kings 18, when the prophet Elijah returned from three years away from the kingdom of Israel. We are told that Obadiah was “over the household” of Ahab (v3), …
Rod Dreher has noticed a connection between what is happening in our cultures today and what has happened in the past. In his latest book, “Live not by lies”, Dreher compares the rise of “soft totalitarianism” and identity politics to the situation Christians found themselves in under the communist regimes of the 20th century. …
All Nations Presbyterian Church, the local church that I serve, is starting a second church service this coming Sunday. After having one service for many years, we have decided to start up an afternoon service. This is an intentional move that will stretch us but which we believe will be good for the spread of …
In my last blog post here, I made the point that we need to read books and extended pieces of writing. We get accustomed to skimming and staying in the shallows and not thinking deeply about anything. Over time we lose the ability to concentrate; social media and internet browsing change the way our minds …
Are you a reader? I don’t mean ‘can you read’; the vast majority of people can read. I mean, do you read books? I find that so many people never read books at all. The Buggles once famously sang that “video killed the radio star”, but the popularity of video has also meant that many …
It is Easter week. Churches all around the world will be gathering to worship, probably on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. This catches the attention of the media in many places who ask local church leaders what they will be preaching about at Easter time. Unfortunately, many of the church leaders in my city give …
At the end of Matthew 15, we come across a few short verses that summarise Jesus’ ministry in a mainly non-Jewish area of northern Israel. We read this: 29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great …
Good Bible teaching has to be clear and easy to understand. That’s always true, whoever the teaching is for. You need to be clear when explaining something to small children, and you need to be clear when teaching theological students. Yet, too often, I come across Bible teaching that is unnecessarily complicated! A little thought …