We can sometimes be paralysed by waiting for the perfect conditions to do something. I found myself in that position a week or two ago when I needed to put fertiliser on my lawn. The packet said that the fertiliser should be applied to wet grass, but it must not rain within 24 hours or …
The book of Psalms is a wonderful book for many reasons. It is the songbook of the Old Testament people of God, containing the full range of human emotions poured out to God. Many appreciate sections that speak of God’s love, his shepherding, and his protection like a fortress. And yet, amid these types of …
Sometimes you might hear someone say something like this: “I hope the sermon today is interesting; I hope the preacher uses funny illustrations and makes the Bible interesting”; or “I love that particular Christian blogger; they make the Bible relevant to me”; or “I think non-Christians won’t be interested in the Bible; let’s reduce the …
For a new believer, the way the Bible is laid out is a little confusing. Many expect that it is like a novel, that you start at the beginning and read through to the end. There are, however, all kinds of numbers and divisions in the Bible that need a little explaining. The books of …
The world is a messy, and often wicked, place. Just turn on the news. They never have to cancel investigative shows that reveal injustice because there is so much around. That’s nothing new. The Teacher of Ecclesiastes noted the same kind of things around 3000 years ago. In Ecclesiastes 8, he noted that governments can …
I have recently returned from the General Assembly of the World Reformed Fellowship. As I mentioned in my previous post, this was a wonderful opportunity to meet with like-minded people from around the world, to encourage one another, and to consider carefully the challenges we face in the modern world. The theme of the GA …
This past week I have had the privilege of attending the World Reformed Fellowship General Assembly in Jakarta, alongside an elder from one of our sister churches. The World Reformed Fellowship (the WRF) is an organisation that aims to connect people from the Reformed tradition together from different churches, denominations and organisations worldwide. The hope …
It is true that, to be a Christian, there are things that we need to understand intellectually. We need to understand that we are sinners, that Jesus is God himself, that he came to earth as a man and died for our sins, rising again to prove that that the sacrifice was accepted. These are …
Last Sunday at church, we looked at the wonderful gift that God has given to his people in the Bible. We have the words of God, given through different people over a long period of time, adding up to one big story of God’s work in the world. The sermon touched on a range of …
Think back to the last time you had to pack a suitcase when you last went on holidays. You usually have more things to take than whatever room you have in your case. You have a pile of things on the bed and an empty suitcase in front of you. How do you begin? Well, …