Author Archives: adminjohnshields

Let’s admit it, many, many preachers have preached borrowed sermons taken from others, sometimes to good effect sometimes not. If it is the result of laziness to prepare thoroughly, it is both wrong and sinful. Is it always out of place? I think not. In my first pastorate after I had read Spiritual Depression: Its […]

Christianity and Barthianism Cornelius Van Til Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., 1962 464 pp, clothbound ISBN: 978 0 87552 481 8 This is Dr. Van Til’s second book on Karl Barth and Neo-orthodox teaching. His first, The New Modernism, appeared in 1947. That publication did not receive the attention that it merited. This was […]

THE ORWELLIAN LOGIC THAT’S TURNING THE FAITH BRITAIN WAS BUILT ON INTO A CRIME Terrifying as this may seem, the attempt to stamp out Christianity in Britain appears to be gathering pace. Dale Mcalpine was preaching to shoppers in Workington, Cheshire, that homosexuality is a sin when he found himself carted off by the police, […]

I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you? (Acts 19:15) Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was truly remarkable. I love reading about it in Acts 19. It always inspires me with what God can do through men filled with the Spirit who consecrate themselves to Christ, willing to live for him and […]

I am amazed at some of the things that have been said and written in recent years about the gospel. I fear that in many circles a different message is replacing the good news of salvation. I’m not talking about the attacks on the gospel from liberal religion or the theology of the cults, but […]

This is a summary of a message given by Bill Dyer of Pontefract, Yorkshire at the conference immediately following the annual assembly of the Associating Evangelical Churches of Wales, in Newtown on 15 May 2010. 1. A disciple is personally devoted to Jesus Christ. The religious authorities burdened people but learning from Jesus is a […]

. . . and let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:4) Jim Elliot was born into a godly family in 1927 in Portland, Oregon. While at Wheaton College in 1948 he wrote, God makes His ministers a flame of fire. Am I ignitable? God […]

‘Sometimes I stumble on a book that makes me see God more wondrously. Periodically, I will discover a book that will make me return again and again both to it and to that writer. Thomas Watson’s All Things for Good is just such a book.’ [Terry Enns] Below are links to selected online reviews of […]

A FEW WORDS ABOUT FOREWORDS The significant effect of the ministry of Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones on evangelicalism cannot be doubted. Since his death in 1980 his ministry has continued to have an impact by means of his recorded sermons and written ministry. This written ministry, like the recorded ministry, is chiefly in sermon form, […]

. . . vessels of wrath prepared for destruction . . . vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory. (Romans 9:22-23) In the previous article1 I took up the question – does God foreordain evil and evil doers? I said, ‘Yes.’ I said there are two reasons for it. First, God on that […]

I am the Lord, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well being and creating calamity. I am the Lord who does all these. (Isaiah 45:7) The attacks of 9/11, killing nearly three thousand people, were acts of pure evil. The tsunami that washed over much of the Indian […]

‘Consider it all joy’ William Carey, the father of modern world missions, was born into a poor family in Northampton, England in 1761. He had no formal education but taught himself to read and write and mastered Latin by the age of twelve. He began his trade in his early teens as a shoemaker and […]

I was born of godly parents on November 9th, 1843, in the village of Hankerton, Wiltshire. My father was a carrier and small farmer, and I was the youngest of nine children. My parents taught me that if I lived to be very old, and then died without repentance, I should go to hell and […]

This is the testimony of a young man from a Christian home recently baptised and received into church membership in London. Having grown up in a Christian family, I have always been taken to church and to children’s clubs. I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life when I didn’t believe […]

In September of 1840, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, wrote a letter to William Chalmers Burns: I am deepened in my conviction, that if we are to be instruments in [a true revival] we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Oh, cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God by the blood […]

MONDAY Wyn Hughes from Cardiff spoke first on Romans 1:16. Asked to be brief and encouraging, he certainly was. He turned our attention to the gospel itself – our raison d’etre as preachers. As he said, we are Reformed no doubt but is it the gospel that thrills us? In Romans we have a taste […]

Christ died . . . for all God’s elect. John Owen Christ suffered all that wrath which was due to the elect for their sins. Thomas Boston All are not saved by Christ’s death, but all which are saved are saved by Christ’s death. Henry Smith The Son cannot die for them whom the Father […]

After World War II there was a movement in the arts known as minimalism. This approach involved stripping down a work to its most fundamental features. What was really essential to the existence of a piece of music, an object of design, or a sculpture? We live in an age of church maximalism. Churches provide […]

In a day when doctrine is too often underappreciated it is exciting to see to a renewed concern about its importance in the Christian life. Scripture puts a premium on the necessity of sound doctrine. Repeatedly Paul counsels Timothy and Titus, as pastors, to give careful attention to their teaching. In Titus 3:1 he introduces […]

‘Stuart Olyott is . . . a master of good communication and clear Christ-centred teaching . . . In 23 chapters he carefully states, illustrates and applies the teaching of this letter. In every chapter he paraphrases each verse to bring home, in today’s English, the train of thought and argument. This is a most […]

Vladimir Radzihovski came as a pioneer missionary to Nizhni Vartovsk in 1993. He has worked there almost alone and his health is now deteriorating. He recently wrote to me as follows: Dear brother in Christ Roger! Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you very much for your care, understanding […]

I never preached a sermon which did not cost me prayers with strong cries and tears. Thomas Shepard It is not marriage that spoils ministers, but sloth, self-indulgence, and the fear of the cross. Oecolampadius Men are ever to be prepared for the Gospel by the preaching of the Law. Theodore Beza Pray often, for […]

John Newton first went to sea at the age of just 11. His godly mother had died when he was only 6 and his father was a ship’s captain. After that first voyage he kept on going to sea, and over the years he had many adventures and many difficulties, but his own foolishness lay […]

. . . we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Don and Carol Richardson had come, with their infant son, to the Sawi people of southwestern New Guinea for the purpose of bringing the good news of the gospel to them. After building a house Don set about the task […]

In 1880 J.S. Curwen wrote his fascinating and rare book, Studies in Worship Music with its many observations on the psalms and hymns sung by the different denominations in the United Kingdom, the place of the organ if one was used, chanting, harmonizing, and how to train a congregation to sing. The last third of […]