Worshipping the Lord

The Reformation comes to us from the past. It can lead us on into God ’s future. The Reformers called on their generation to get ‘back to the Bible.’ We still need to hear that message today. For many people in today’s world, the Bible is a closed book - often owned, rarely read. The Reformers call us to take the Bible seriously. We’re not only to read the parts that we like. Blessing may come to us from unexpected places. The Reformers encourage us to ‘search the Scriptures.’ They believed that God had something to say to them. It was something that they could not keep to themselves. They needed courage. They were given courage. They have set for us a great example - asking the question, ‘Is there a word from the Lord?’ and giving the answer, ‘Yes. There is a word from the Lord.’ The Reformers directed attention away from themselves to Jesus Christ. This is what we must do. The Reformers were whole-hearted in their commitment to Christ. They were God’s faithful servants. They teach us...

Christmas is a time for celebrating - giving thanks for the love of Jesus, but it's not the only time for celebrating. Any day, we can thank Him for His love. Every day, we can come to Him, and say, "Thank You, Jesus, for loving me." Before Christmas, begin to thank Him. After Christmas, keep on thanking Him.

Let’s think about the meaning of Christmas. What does it mean in the countdown to Christmas Day? What will it mean for us when we’re in the middle of January? What will it mean six months from now? Christmas is coming. Jesus is coming. Christmas comes. Christmas goes. Jesus comes. Jesus stays. When Christmas comes to an end, Jesus doesn’t leave us. When Boxing Day begins, Jesus is still with us. Christmas is about Jesus. Jesus is more than Christmas. If Christmas was all that we had, would we really be saying, “I wish it could be Christmas every day”? Wouldn’t we be asking, “When does everything get back to normal”? Normal? What is normal? Normal seems so unexciting. Normal is this – Jesus is with us. He’s with us every day. Our ordinary days are very different from Christmas Day. Can we ever say, “This is just an ordinary day” – when Jesus is with us every day? Soon, Christmas 2020 will be behind us. The old year will come to an end. We’ll be into the New Year. The y...

Whatever you may think of Christmas - in our modern world, you will not be disappointed with Jesus. He comes to us from the past - and He leads us on into the future. We're no sooner past Christmas, and we start thinking about the New Year. We wonder what the New Year will bring. Will you go into 2021 on your own - or with Jesus as your Saviour?

What's Christmas all about? Is it about coming to church, coming to a service? No. There's more to it than that. It's about coming to Christ, coming to the Saviour. What a welcome you will get when you come to Jesus. Whatever this year's been like, you can end the year on a high note by coming to Jesus - opening your heart to Him, giving your life to Him.

  2 Chronicles 16:1-18:27; 1 Corinthians 15:1-34; Psalm 102:1-11 The people of God are to be “armed for battle” ( 2 Chronicles 17:18 ). The battle is spiritual. It can only be won through the power of the risen Christ. His purpose is the destruction of “the last enemy … death” ( 1 Corinthians 15:26 ). This has been accomplished, in principle, through Christ’s resurrection. The full reality of His victory will be seen at His return. With such a strong and victorious Lord on our side, we are encouraged to pray to the Lord, fully expecting  to receive help from Him – “Hear my prayer, O Lord, let my cry for help come to You … “ ( Psalm 102:1-2 ). From my One Year Bible

Couldn’t care less! Can’t be bothered! Many people have this attitude toward Jesus Christ and His Church. Perhaps, it’s your attitude right now as you begin to read this invitation. God’s attitude to you is exactly the opposite. He cares for you! He is bothered with you! God’s care ! God’s “being bothered”! Doesn’t that make you think, “What right have I to say to God, “Couldn’t care less! Can’t be bothered! Take time to read this invitation carefully. It may change your life.  * Perhaps, you’re thinking, ' Why should God care about me?' There is no answer to this question apart from the love of God . Look at yourself honestly. God should really have given up on all of us a long time ago – but He hasn’t! God sent His Son – Jesus Christ – to seek and to save the lost. God patiently waits for those who have lost their way in life (that’s all of us!) to come back to Him through trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour.  * Perhaps, you’re wondering, ' How do ...

In his discussion, "Election and the Hiddenness of God" in Divine Election (Chapter Four, pp.102-131), G. C. Berkouwer emphasizes that God's hiddenness is not to be set over against His salvation. He rejects a concept of God's hiddenness which "separates the God of revelation from our lives and mitigates the absolute trustworthiness of that revelation" (p. 125). Even in confessing God's salvation, faith acknowledges that it does not know everything about God (pp. 120-121, especially  the reference to Isaiah 45:15 - " Truly You are a God who has been hiding Himself,  the God and Saviour of Israel."). Although our knowledge of God in Christ is confessed to be true and reliable, we must not presume upom complete knowledge (p. 124 - especially the reference to John 14:9 - "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."). The attempt to attain to complete knowledge is admonished for its spiritual pride, when Christ speaks of these things which...

Lamentations Karl Barth the Preacher Pride and Faith in Berkouwer's Studies in Dogmatics Arminius - Hero or Heretic? John Hick's Religious World A Biblical Approach to Theodicy The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today Can we give an adequate account of human experience without reference to God? The Place of Theology in the contemporary Church... An Introduction to Theological Anthropology The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith   https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/evangel/11-3_066.pdf  (The Building and Dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 5-8))

Joe Boot, "A Time To Search" "Either God exists or he does not. There is no middle ground. Both cannot be true. No amount of philosophical trickery can hide from the greatest antithesis of them all ... We cannot leave this question for the intellectuals, scientists, philosophers and theologians alone ... We must answer it for ourselves." G C Berkouwer "Scripture ... does not derive its authority from the fact that we use it, not even when we use Scripture in faith." G C Berkouwer "In Scripture the election of God ... does not come out of works but out of grace. God's electing plan prepares the way of salvation in which man learns that salvation is obtained only as a divine gift an never as an acquisiton because of good works." G C Berkouwer "Dilemmas always are a source of polarization. We quickly move over to simplistic either-or’s … in which the fulness of truth is torn apart. And in the atmosphere of false polarit...

Warning against "the danger of going outside the sphere of faith into the area of observation", G. C. Berkouwer disputes the legitimacy of interpreting the ways of Providence on the basis of facts" ( The Providence of God , pp. 164-165). He aims to guard against the possibility that "everyone according to his own prejudice and subjective whim (can) canonize a certain event or national rise as a special act of God in which He reveals and demonstrates His favour" (p. 164). Acutely aware that "the interpretation of an historical event as a special revelation of Providence too easily becomes a piously disguised form of self-justification" (p. 166), Berkouwer insists that "no event speaks so clearly that we may conclude from it a certain disposition of God - as long as God Himself does not reveal that His disposition comes to expression in the given event" (p. 170). Concerning events in the history of Israel, which are recorded in Scripture, Be...

Here are two links to an audio version of a lecture given in January 1987:  The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith,Part One The Holy Spirit in the Life of Faith, Part Two _________________________________   The Holy Spirit is the Breath of God.  All Scripture is God-breathed. We experience the Breath of God upon our life when we listen attentively to the God-breathed Scriptures. Paul speaks, in 2 Timothy 3:15-17, of the  relationship between the Breath of God (the Holy Spirit) and the God-breathed Word (the Holy Scriptures) – ‘the Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work’. 1) The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to make us wise.     The wisdom which comes from the Spirit and the Word is a special kind of wisdom. It is not the wisd...

I wrote this review article for the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology _____ Holy Scripture: Revelation, Inspiration and Interpretation Donald G. Bloesch Paternoster Press, Carlisle, 1994; 384pp., £19.99; ISBN 0 85364 589 2  Reading this book caused me to look back over my own theological journey. In this extended review, I share some of its key elements. They may help others to think about the issues involved in our approach to Scripture as well as stimulating interest in the writings of Donald G. Bloesch. I first became aware of his name when, as a divinity student in the mid-1970s, I read his book The Evangelical Renaissance. Bloesch's approach to Scripture differed from the view I had become acquainted with through reading E.J. Young's Thy Word is Truth: Some Thoughts on the Biblical Doctrine of Inspiration. Bloesch presented a perspective which aimed at being evangelical without being fundamentalist. This is the approach he now argues in much greater detail ...

James' attack on " dead faith" (G. C. Berkouwer, Faith and Justification , 137) and his protest for faith as "a truly experienced reality" (136), which dominates the whole of life, does not conflict with Paul who speaks against the works of the law but not against the works of faith.

Charles M. Cameron, “A Biblical Approach to Theodicy,” Evangel 10:2 (1992): 25-29 Charles M. Cameron, “The Building and Dedication of the Temple (1 Kings 5-8), Evangel, Autumn 1993 Charles M. Cameron, “Pride and Faith in Berkouwer's Studies in Dogmatics ,” Evangel 12:2 (1994): 50-53 Charles M. Cameron, “The Use of the Bible in Evangelical Preaching Today,” Evangel 13:1 (1995): 16-21 Charles M. Cameron, "John Hick's Religious World," Evangel 15.1 (Spring 1997): 22-27