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William Wilberforce   In the spring of 1786, William Wilberforce, Member of Parliament for Yorkshire, returned to the House of Commons a changed man. The various evangelical influences to which he had been exposed had at last borne fruit, and now, at the age of 26, he was a Christian.  His conversion profoundly affected his political life. Young and highly talented - Wilberforce was a remarkable orator - his burning ambition had

 Jonah Two helpful expositions I will always associate the book of Jonah with the Isle of Skye and Hugh Martin. Skye was where I did a number of student pastorates during the years I was at the Free Church of Scotland College. The first of them was in 1985 and over the course of six weeks I preached my very first series – an exposition of the book of Jonah

Church and danger: now they are together [To avoid any misunderstanding, it should be said that the following piece was written to help me think this matter through for myself and is posted in the hope that it may help readers do the same] Church and danger. Up until recently it would not occur to British Christians to put these two words together. We associate church with many things. But not

Job – A Reflection from the End of the Story   We all love a story with a happy ending and Job’s story, in this respect, does not disappoint us. Friends and family members come to comfort him and to help him get started again; the Lord makes him twice as prosperous as he had been before; ten more children are born to him; and the story ends with

Job – A Reflection from the Middle of the Story Through a great swathe of the book of Job – from the beginning of Ch.3 to the end of Ch.31 – we are listening, largely, to Job himself. As we do so, one thing stands out more clearly than anything else. Job is a man who is struggling. He is carrying the most terrific weight of sufferings and is

Job – A Reflection from the Beginning of the Story Job’s three friends could not have been more wrong. They looked at this profoundly afflicted man and concluded that by his sin he had brought all this suffering upon himself. What other explanation could there be? But there was another explanation, one that lay at the opposite pole to the one these men so vehemently contended for. And that

In the Best of Hands One of the abilities that we have as human beings (and it’s one that distinguishes us from all the other creatures), is our ability to ponder the future – to wonder, to imagine, to look forward to, to fear what lies before us. And we all do it! Our minds are often turning to the future and what that future might hold for us

Tired and scared? Ol’ Man River – a song from the Kern and Hammerstein musical Show Boat – has suggested both our title and subject. Listen on YouTube to Paul Robeson singing it in the 1936 film version or to William Warfield in the 1951 re-make and enjoy the treat. It movingly expresses the hardships and struggles of African Americans; especially the lines, Ah gits weary An' sick of

"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am." John 17:24 O death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If thou must use thine axe, use it upon the trees which yield no fruit; thou mightest be thanked then

"And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed."Matthew 26:39 There are several instructive features in our Saviour's prayer in his hour of trial. It was lonely prayer. He withdrew even from his three favoured disciples. Believer, be much in solitary prayer, especially in times of trial. Family prayer, social prayer, prayer in the Church, will not suffice, these are very precious, but the

Letters of John Newton Banner of Truth The Letters of John Newton reviewed here needs to be distinguished from Select Letters of John Newton, also published by the Banner of Truth. This is a much larger and quite separate selection. It was first published in 1869 and was edited by Josiah Bull, one of Newton’s biographers. It has a number of attractive features. One is the book itself as

[The following is an edited version of an article that first appeared in the Banner of Truth magazine for January 2019] It’s God the Father who made it happen! They are surely among the saddest words that fell from our Saviour’s lips: ‘You refuse to come to me that you may have life’ (John 5:40). And in every generation since the folly and sin

Whatever else changes, God will not What changed for you last year? Maybe a great deal. It’s so often how it is with us. Things can be very different at the end of a year from what they were at the beginning. And often these changes are unwelcome. A loved one no longer with us. A major loss of income. A drop in the value of our savings. A

Three impossible things We begin with a little exchange from Lewis Carroll’s Alice Through the Looking Glass. Alice tells the White Queen, “One can’t believe in impossible things”. To which the Queen rather loftily replies, “I daresay you haven’t had much practice. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” If you are reading this

Grace Baptist Mission Annual Mission Day 2019 On Saturday 27th October the Friends Meeting House in London played host, once again, to the many hundreds who gather annually for Grace Baptist Mission’s Mission Day. Visiting missionaries included Jason Murfitt, preparing for church planting work in Madeira; James Hammond, currently involved in the establishment of a new church in Bordeaux; Phil and Carolyn Reid, recently returned from service in West

Crazy Busy Kevin DeYoung According to the subtitle this book from the pen of Kevin DeYoung is A (mercifully) short book about a (really) big problem. The first part means that it’s accessible. The book is short and does not take long to read. The second part underscores the importance of it. The problem DeYoung is tackling really is a major one. Many of us are not only busy

HAPPY ARE THE SAD? Sounds extraordinary, doesn’t it? Yet there is a sense in which it is true. In his Sermon on the Mount Jesus pronounces certain people to be blessed. God has marked them out for special favour and blessing. And amongst them are those who mourn. ‘Blessed are those who mourn’, said Jesus; ‘for they shall be comforted.’ Now it scarcely seems necessary

The Key to True Prosperity It was a young Billy Graham who arrived in my native Scotland in March 1955. Just 36 years of age. His invitation was to preach for six weeks in the city of Glasgow’s vast Kelvin Hall. Seated for 11,000 people, it was filled every night. A time of remarkable blessing was enjoyed, and many lives were changed by the power of Christ. But

A Day’s March Nearer Home Autobiography of J. Graham Miller Edited by Iain H. Murray Banner of Truth J. Graham Miller was a New Zealander. In the course of his long life (he was born in 1913 and died in 2008, just a few weeks short of his 95th birthday) he also lived for many years both in Australia and in the New Hebrides. Not the least interesting feature

Following the Lord fully It was something Caleb said about himself (Joshua 14.8). He had fully followed the Lord. Nor was it an idle boast. His words are merely an echo of the Lord’s: “my servant Caleb…has followed me fully” (Nu.14.24). How may we do the same? We need faith. When Caleb and Joshua and the other ten spies came back from

On how to deliver a twenty minute address in twenty minutes (or a ten minute address in ten minutes, or a five minute one in five – you get the idea!) Your invitation to speak is explicit about the time. Twenty minutes. Thirty minutes. Or just ten. How do you prepare in such a way as to fit your message into your assigned time-frame? Think about it in terms of

John Piper This is the seventh in a series of biographical studies entitled The Swans are not Silent. The conviction behind the series is that there are voices from the church’s past that continue to speak to us to our spiritual profit. In this volume it is our privilege to ‘listen’, as it were, to three of them, each an outstanding figure in 19th century English evangelicalism

I wonder if it has ever struck you in reading the New Testament how often faith and love are mentioned in the same breath. Again and again you find that where the one is the other is as well. Let me give you some examples. In one place, Paul declares that “we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers…because your faith is growing abundantly, and

Life after death. It is still the case that most people believe in it. In some form and in some place existence will continue beyond the grave. And most expect, too, that they will be happy. Life can be miserable enough for them here. But their comfort is that there – beyond the grave – the happiness that has eluded them here will finally be theirs. The Bible has a great