Today is the second anniversary of my brother Andrew's death. It is also the 49th anniversary of my reading the whole Bible for the first time on 22/8/1971. I have read the Bible daily ever since and now I spend several hours a day on my Bible commentary, making its teaching accessible to ordinary people, …
Category: preaching
There is a Christian Party
"There is a Christian Party – I like that!" This is good news. When Donald Dewar, the first First Minister of the reconstituted Scottish Parliament in 1999, launched the Scotland Bill in 1997 he announced: "There shall be a Scottish parliament," and added: "I like that!" Similarly, "There is a Christian Party – I like …
Code exegesis
There are people who exegete Scripture as if it is code. I call it code exegesis and it is over three years since I intended to explain it more fully. As Scripture clearly has Old Testament types of Christ and symbols of various spiritual matters, this has developed into a form of allegorising that sees …
What constitutes a ‘good’ minister?
Not so long ago I discussed the subjective nature of a 'good' sermon. A good minister is not so subjective to assess as a sermon because the apostle Paul discusses it in his letters and he gives advice about a good minister 1Tim 4:6 and evangelist 2Tim 4:5 when writing to Timothy. Ministers and preachers …
Evangelistic one-liners
Recently I drew attention to Goodbye meaning 'God be with you'. This is one in a series of evangelistic one-liners that Christians should practice. Christians need to learn how to use one-liners. The role of one-liners There was a time when people read books. As advertising became more prominent, leaflets were used, not so much …
What constitutes a ‘good’ sermon?
The answer to this question is subjective, although it ought to be objective. The difficulty in making it objective is that everyone has a different idea of 'good'. The preacher will have a different assessment from his hearers, and the hearers will differ according to their readiness to receive instruction from the preacher. Even Jesus …
View from the Pew
In the 1980s I edited View from Farr and in the 1990s Auldcastle View. The past two decades have given me another perspective and so I am beginning a new series in my blog called View from the Pew. It is specifically aimed at preachers, preaching and congregations. The reason for this is that whereas …
What should we expect from preachers?
Most people watch television, so public speakers including preachers should thereby learn some presentational skills. This being so, preachers who cannot read the Scripture clearly and intelligibly are without excuse. It is sometimes evident from the wrong emphasis they use in their reading of Scripture that they do not understand what they are reading. What …
Those who do not like the godly
The godly are a rare breed in our day. Even so, many people do what they can to avoid them – at least, those who will speak to them about the things that matter. Rather like references to sin and Sabbath, the conversation of the godly reminds them of God and eternity, which they do not …
Asking for God’s gift
Multitudes of those who know about Jesus Christ do not know the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us that if they did know the Gospel, then they would have eternal life. He says so in His conversation with the woman of Samaria. Jesus told the woman of Samaria that if she knew the gift …
