05.12.06
Posted in Shorter Catechism on Prayer at 5:46 pm by dowboy
Read: John 14:13, 14
What is sharper, the scabbard or the sword – the leather casing the sword is stored in, or the sword itself? Of course, it is the sword. What is stronger, to pray and put at the end of each prayer, “for Jesus’ sake”, or to really pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. So often, when we are praying, we superstitiously use the mere name of Jesus as a full stop or a way of being confident that God will listen to us. But that is to be a prayer warrior with a scabbard and no sword. Rather, we long to pray with true power and effectiveness, and according to the Shorter Catechism A.98, that is achieved by praying in the name of Christ. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in The Psalms at 11:56 am by dowboy
Psalm 98:1-9
Are we living in a gloomy society? Are you a gloomy person? I sometimes think that Scotland didn’t exist, the share price in the company which produces Prozac would plummet. Scots are by nature gloomy and depressive people – the glass is always half empty. But tonight, I want to look at God’s remedy to our gloom – Psalm 98. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted in Why I Am A Christian at 11:54 am by dowboy
Read: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
Last week, I saw a billboard poster for a prominent British insurance firm recently with the message, “There is only one predictable thing in life – the future is unpredictable.” Now there’s a sense in which I understand what the insurer is saying, but there’s another sense in which that’s just plain not true – that’s just a gimmick to get you to buy their insurance products – that should be prosecuted under trading standards legislation, because you see the problem is that ultimately, the future is 100% predictable. We know the future for 100% of us here today, like as not, will be death and the grave. Every one of us will die – from the oldest to the youngest, from the fittest to the laziest, from the poorest to the richest – we all know the future – and it ain’t orange – the future is dead. We don’t know is when, where or how it will happen, but we know it will. How dark the future is! Read the rest of this entry »
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