The scribes and Pharisees were opposed to Jesus and His teaching. Jesus accused them of hypocrisy: 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you close the kingdom of heaven against mankind: for you neither go in yourselves, neither do you allow those entering to have entered’ Mat 23:13. He also exposed the inadequacy of …
Category: Preaching
A merry heart is a good medicine
Not many people know that this is a quotation from the Bible. ‘A merry heart does good like a medicine’ Pro 17:22. Some Christians are too morose for their own good and for the good of Christianity. Some people think that serious Christians should be morose; rather morose Christians need to learn their Christian behaviour …
Scotland needs a Reformer
The main message from the 500th anniversary of the European Reformation is that Scotland needs a Reformer. We have plenty of theologians and preachers, but no reformer. Scotland's Reformer was John Knox but we have fallen upon such backsliding times that we need a new one, but at present Scotland has no reformer. A reformer …
Martin Luther – Europe’s Reformer
Today we remember the 500th anniversary of the trigger that began the European Protestant Reformation, when Professor Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses for discussion to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. There are many theologians but few reformers. We commonly speak of the first and second generation Reformers, but without the …
Main stream media is the secular pulpit
Preachers have a habit of missing the mark. Jesus Christ majored on what mattered and accused preachers in His day of omitting the weightier matters. In our day, preachers are failing to address the secular dogmas being preached by the mass media. The greatest errors of our day are being preached through the mass and …
Denial and post-truth – the real problem with faith
The film Denial has been recently released in British cinemas after its premier at the Toronto film festival on '9/11' last year and its UK premier on Holocaust Memorial Day 27th January 2017. It gives the outline of the libel trial brought by notorious Holocaust denier David Irving against the American historian Deborah Lipstadt for …
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Sermon on Acts 13:26
The Free Offer of the Gospel ‘Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent’ Act 13:26. God's salvation is sent to you. The Holy Spirit sends the Gospel to all who hear it and offers salvation freely to them. …
What do we do about confusion in congregational preaching?
Intelligent listeners will notice differences in teaching between preachers even in the same denomination, as well as between denominations. The right of private judgment is permitted to Christians, but the continuous and unchallenged preaching of different doctrines only leads to confusion in congregations - and God is not the author of confusion 1Cor 14:33. So …
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What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the good news of the free offer of eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The evidence of a living faith in Jesus Christ is love to God, love to one’s Christian brethren and love to one’s neighbour. Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep My commandments" Jn 14:15,23. Faith …
Exegesis and eisegesis
As a divinity student in 1980 I came across the term 'exegesis' in reference to the exegesis of Scripture. It means 'drawing out' the meaning of a written text and Scripture in particular. I was aware of the common problem of people reading into Scripture their own opinion and thus putting into Scripture something that …
