How can I be glad in God’s anger?
Question: "How do you reconcile the angry, wrathful God of the Old Testament to the loving, good God of the New Testament?" It's a question that I've wrestled with and am often asked about so I've decided to compile a small list of resources to address it. These are sermons I've preached to our assembly. I pray they will be of assistance to you. Series: The Gospel of God: Paul's Letter to the Romans
Why I still believe in the local church
An old friend recently asked my thoughts on the local church and it occurred to me that I'm odd. If anyone should hate the local church, it's me. I grew up in an extreme wing of Christian Fundamentalism. My childhood pastor—my Dad—is currently in prison. My world is full of casualties of the unspeakable evils that occurred, not just in the church, but because of the church. And I can honestly say that the greatest
The Jesus who was and is
"Resurrection! Life! He is risen!" These are the joyous exclamations of the season. The realities we celebrate during holy week are truly glorious. Stunning. Even staggering. So staggering, in fact, that we can easily sail straight past such stupendous outcrops without taking the mental energy to notice their sheer magnitude and grandeur. If you'll allow me, I'd like to point out a few of these landmarks we know so well we sometimes forget to see.
The big picture
In 2008, I had the great privilege to travel to Israel. Obviously as a Christian, a trip to the Holy Land was significant to me because of the chance to visit locations I have read about in the Bible. However, one unexpected impact that hit me was number of generations that have lived in the Middle East. Having grown up in Australia where civilisation in urban cities is only two hundred years old, I had
Good change is not inevitable
My friend, Good change is not inevitable. It seemed for years that the battle against slavery in the British Empire would be lost. Those who fought to abolish the evil of slavery—men like John Newton, William Pitt, and William Wilberforce—felt at times a sense of the impossibility of the task. They knew that this change would not happen by accident. It must be fought for. And there would be a price to pay. William
The Bible is the word of God: Direct testimony of the Holy Spirit
Ten reasons why I believe the Bible is the word of God. Tenth, on the ground of the direct testimony of the Holy Spirit We began with God and shall end with God. We began with the testimony of the second person of the Trinity, and shall close with that of the third person of the Trinity. The Holy Spirit sets His seal in the soul of every believer to the Divine authority of the
The Bible is the word of God: Its correlation with knowledge and holiness
Ten reasons why I believe the Bible is the word of God. Ninth, on the ground of the fact that as we grow in knowledge and holiness we grow toward the Bible Every thoughtful person when he starts out to study the Bible finds many things with which he does not agree, but as he goes on studying and growing in likeness to God, the nearer he gets to God the nearer he gets to
The Bible is the word of God: Inexhaustible depth of the Bible
Ten reasons why I believe the Bible is the word of God. Eighth, on the ground of the inexhaustible depth of the book Nothing has been added to it in eighteen hundred years, yet a man like Bunsen, or Neander, cannot exhaust it by the study of a lifetime. George Müller read it through more than one hundred times, and said it was fresher every time he read it. Could that be true of any
The Bible is the word of God: Influence of the book
Ten reasons why I believe the Bible is the word of God. Seventh, on the ground of the influence of the book There is more power in that little book to save men, and purify, gladden and beautify their lives, than in all other literature put together—more power to lift men up to God. A stream never rises higher than its source, and a book that has a power to lift men up to God
The Bible is the word of God: Character of those who accept/reject the book
Ten reasons why I believe the Bible is the word of God. Sixth, on the ground of the character of those who accept and of those who reject the book Two things speak for the divinity of the Bible—the character of those who accept it, and, equally, the character of those who reject it. I do not mean by this that every man who professes to believe the book is better than every man that