Growing in Faith
By Not Known One of the titles of our Lord Jesus Christ most familiar with us is that of “the Author (Pioneer) and Finisher (Perfecter) of our faith” (Heb 12: 2). Peter (2 Pet 1:3) tells us how the Author and finisher’s “divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness.” This should remind us of two very important…
Theology of Growth 101
By Not Known Classical growth theory popularised by Adam Smith’s 1776 treatise “An Inquiry into Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” defined output of economic growth as a functional relationship between population investment and land growth. Smith’s neat and succinct formulae had influenced many economies then, giving rise to several other…
Eternity
By Not Known Arthur and all his family were alcoholics. His two sisters ran brothels. Arthur had little schooling and made his life in pubs and brothels. One day Arthur committed himself to the Lord and his life changed. A year or two later, a sermon about eternity touched Arthur’s heart and life. This barely literate man found he could write the word eternity in a…
Thous My Great Father
By Not Known One of the warmest images for God is that he is a father. Not just any father, but the father of whom all earthly fathers are imperfect shadows. Indeed, the high point in the Lord’s Prayer is when we address God as Our father who is in heaven. He is our father is the sense of being the source of our life, the one who surrounds us with only good gifts…
Complacent or Committed
By Not Known It is easy for Christians to be complacent and cavalier. After all, we say, God accepts me ‘just as I am’ and there is ‘no condemnation’ because of the cross of Jesus and my faith in him. And so we settle back making no real effort or commitment in the Christian life. This is not God’s calling, scripture teaches us that we are to…
Knowing Ourselves
By Not Known We often make one of two mistakes when it comes to knowing ourselves. Some have self-esteem that is far too high. We have swallowed the snake’s lie and believe that we are like gods (Gen 3:4). Others have too low a view of people in general or too low an individual self-esteem. They see only the dust that we share with the rest of creation and do not…
An Active Membership
By Not Known Today is a celebration of grace as we receive new members into the church. They are a testimony to the sovereign grace of God. The Father chose them in ‘ eternity, the Son died for them and intercedes for them and the Spirit called them to faith and now lives in them. Their part is to respond to what God is doing. At the end of the membership service…
Amazing and even more Amazing
By Not Known We people of God can sometimes be amazing. Consider the Old Testament church as they travelled from Egypt to Canaan. They had seen God’s salvation in the exodus, had met with God on Mount Sinai and were the objects of his promises. They had food sufficient for each day, water and deliverance from their enemies. Yet, they grumbled and grumbled. Again,…
Grumbling Against God
By Not Known Do you grumble against God? It’s quite common for us to grumble when he does not give us what we want and when we want it. Or when he takes things from us that we want. Or when he sends hardship and challenge. Let’s think about our grumbling. Israel grumbled on her journey from Sinai to Canaan and we have one example as our morning text today (Num…
Landmarks and Landmines
By Not Known Many years ago I mas taught navigation skills as part of training for military intelligence. A bunch of us soldiers were put into a sealed truck, dumped in the bush and told to plot a path back to home base. For that, we needed to know where we were. At first glance this seemed impossible, for we were in a tree-strewn wilderness and there was no GPS system.…