The wise king Solomon's advice on preaching: Ecc 12:10“the preacher sought”: a good preacher studies how to put across his teaching in an acceptable and memorable manner. “acceptable words”: to speak in a manner which will be well received by his hearers. This does not mean pleasing words, which will not upset people, but it …
Author: Donald
Tesco mobile don’t know how to take payment from Tesco credit card
I've just spent over an hour trying to make a one-off payment to Tesco mobile with my new Tesco credit card. They have a secure system for testing payment; I went through it till the last stage when it said that it could not take payment. I tried three more times. Then I phoned Tesco …
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PLUTO and the ANZACs
We had a very full evening on Street Pastors last night. It began with a brief chat with an athlete who slowed down her running for a chat about the constellation Orion, shining clearly in the sky, then we came across a veteran of the South Korean war who told us about Pluto. I suspected …
Vain worship of God and a mark of effective Christianity
Jesus teaches about worshipping God in vain: 'in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men' Mk 7:7. Vain worship is empty worship, devoid of proper content, but this is not the emphasis of the Greek word used here, which points to the 'fruitless activity' of such worship. It points to …
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The kingdom of heaven
The kingdom of heaven is not the same as the kingdom of God, as some preachers and commentators erronously assert. The kingdom of heaven is that kingdom on God’s earth in which heaven is interested, which heaven promotes, with Christ as its King. It is that spiritual kingdom on earth which acts as the portal …
The People’s Bible
The People's Bible was an initiative to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the King James Version of the Bible by re-writing it nationally using the technology of digital pens and ipads. The project journeyed through most of Britain to give the public the opportunity to write two verses of the Bible each, …
The night of the tumble
I had a bad tumble last night - the same day as Elizabeth took delivery of our new tumble drier at Ebenezer! At least I was not hung out to dry. During my next Street Pastor shift in Hilton, just as the night was finishing, we returned to base through a play area to engage …
Questions and answers in church and congregational life
In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul deals with some congregational issues and in 1Cor 14:35 he says about wives: "if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home, because it is a shame for women to speak in the church." This strongly suggests that husbands were asking questions in congregations …
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Presbyteries or Church Courts?
It is very common to hear people speak about church courts. However Kirk Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods and General Assemblies become church courts for specific cases. This legal terminology is now so common that people fail to see that ecclesiastical assemblies are for the mutual support and oversight of the people of God. It is no …
Self-examination
"Self-examination is asking oneself the right questions and following them through until one arrives at the right answers." Bias We are biassed in our own favour, so we must call in the help of heaven by prayer and ask God "Examine me, O Lord, and test me; purify the motives of my conscience and my …
Donald's Thoughts 