23.12.08
Moving Home …
As from 23rd December, my blog will be moving home. It’s new address will be http://dowboy.wordpress.com/
Please keep coming and commenting
Dowboy
17.12.08
The Doctrine of God (SC:5&6) - II - The Living and True God
Jeremiah 10:10
Imagine the shock the poor motorists traveling on the A96 near Nairn a few Saturdays ago must have felt. Traffic was being held up because two men were having a fight in the middle of the road. The surprising thing, however, was that one of them was dressed up as a cow, complete with a brown hat; and the other one was dressed up as a horse, complete with a straw hat. If I was a passing motorist, I’m not sure if I would have laughed or cried, but I know I would have been surprised.
I want to begin tonight by shocking and surprising you by saying something you will never have heard from a Free Church Pulpit before. I am an atheist – a convinced, card-carrying atheist. I’m not just an unsure agnostic, I am positively atheist. But before you pack up and walk out, let me explain myself – regarding the supposed existence of any other God other than the One True and Living God of the Bible, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I am an atheist. I am utterly convinced that no other God, other than the God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, exists. I believe that our God is the True and Living God. Read the rest of this entry »
The Doctrine of God (SC:5&6) - I - The Only God
Deuteronomy 6:1-6
According to a recent study by finance giant MBNA, around 2 million football fans in Britain alone have pre-match rituals. These range from taking the same route to every game, to wearing lucky clothing, to using a lucky toilet before the game starts. Most football fans have their habits. In the same way, over the years, we Christians often develop habits, some of which are not always helpful. One of these is the imprecise ways in which we speak of God. The Puritan Stephen Charnock wrote, “It is impossible to honour God as we ought, unless we know him as he is.” The more precisely we know God and are able to describe God, the more it becomes possible to honour Him in lifestyle worship and service. The better you know Him, the more you will love Him and the more you will want to give up your life to Him. Read the rest of this entry »
07.05.08
Home Evangelistic Groups: (II) Introduction
“Make every home a mission station” – “Make every home a station for advancing the good news of Jesus.” Last week, we looked at the Biblical and Historical justification for making such claims and we saw that God commands and resources us for evangelism from the home. But this week, I want to move on and take up more practical issues of the how-to, although as you will discover, I’m always going to try and relate your experience to the theology of the Bible. And so I want no-one to be able to legitimately say – I don’t agree with it, or I can’t do it, or I don’t know how to do it.
Evangelistic Home Groups: (I) Justification
“Make every home a mission station” – such was the statement I recently heard a fellow minister make as he encouraged his congregation to reach out and grow. In the intervening time, I have spent a lot of mental energy thinking through what he meant, working out how that may apply in our situation, and then communicating it to you. In my reading of the Bible and my reading of Free Church History, I soon realised that in times of God’s revival blessing, every Christian home was considered a mission station – a station for the advance of the Kingdom of God. And I wondered what the impact of such attitudes to the growth of the Kingdom of God, and to our homes, would look like in practice in St. V’s. And so, I thought, in preparation for launching out into the deep of home evangelism, I would prepare you by communicating the Word behind the Work – the Vision behind the Mission.
24.04.08
Colossians (20): The Early Church - Colossians 4:15-18
It has always, and always will be, tempting to look back and to live wishing that the good days would return. So you say, even to yourself if not out loud, “I wish it was like it was in the good old days”. The problem is that the good old days were not as good as we thought they were – time has erased the problems. Never is that more true of the way we view the early New Testament Church – a church which was exponentially growing but had all different kinds of problems. Were these the good old days, or were the days old, but no better than today? I want tonight to conclude our studies in the book of Colossians by looking at the church of the truly good old days – the early church and to compare it with the way we see Church today and perhaps to learn some lessons, both things to avoid and things to imitate. I want to see three things: first, it’s location, second, its leaders, and third, it’s everything.
Colossians (19): The Roll of Honour - Colossians 4:7-14
Professor Roy Anderson, James Crosby, Philip Green, David Michels, Professor Roger Williams – all of these people (none of whom I know anything about) were Knighted in the 2006 Birthday Honours List. Perhaps there can be no more prestigious earthly roll of honour than to be named on the Queens Birthday list. But there is an even more important roll of honour than that – the roll of honour as working in and for the Kingdom of God. Colossians 4:7-14 record such a roll of honour for us.
Colossians (18): Wisdom and Holiness (2) - Colossians 4:5-6
The great Scottish Preacher, Robert Murray McCheyne once wrote, “my people’s greatest need is my personal holiness”. What the world needs more than anything else from Christians, is that we live holy lives – lives transformed and practically demonstrating the truth of the power of the Gospel. Such a need, Paul deals with in Colossians 4:5-6.
Colossians (17): Wisdom and Holiness - Colossians 4:2-6
The other day, as I was sorting through material in my office, I came across a book I forgot I had. It was a copy of E.M. Bounds book, ‘Power through Prayer‘. I got it on the recommendation of the former minister of the Tron, Eric Alexander, who told a ministerial fellowship I was privileged to attend, that he reads this particular book once a year. It keeps him focussed upon where the real power in the Christian life comes from - prayer. Through prayer, God re-applies the benefits of believing the Gospel of our crucified and risen Saviour to us, and, through our prayers, He spreads the net out wider and brings in our friends, families and colleagues into the kingdom of Jesus. The apostle Paul knew how vital prayer was in the Christian life - all these commands he has given us regarding our relationships to our husbands, wives, children, parents, employees and employers - he knows that the only place where we can go to get the power to obey is God Himself, and that through prayer. And so, he commands the Colossian Christians to pray.
Colossians (16):Workplace Holiness - Colossians 3:22-4:1
It is official – according to the Economist, the British work longer hours than anyone else in the European Union, with nearly a third of our working population working more than 48 hours per week. If that is true, then that third of people devote nearly 50% of their waking hours to their work. If it important that we, as Christians, know how to live holy, Gospel centred lives in our homes, then it is just as important that we know how to live Gospel centred, holy lives in our workplaces. The Bible has much to say about how a Christian should view work and how she should conduct herself in the working environment. Such is the thrust of Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3:22-4:1, where he talks of issue of practical holiness between slaves and their masters –the modern equivalent of which, is the relationship between employers and employees. And so this forms the basis of our study of God’s Word tonight – what impact should the Gospel have upon our attitude to the workplace, and our conduct in the workplace?