You are unique

Talk to Blakehurst Baptist Church Leisure Group Christmas Luncheon, 16 November 2000. Psalm 139:13-14 God could have come as a preformed child, found, like Superman, in a field somewhere - arriving not from Krypton but from heaven. Or God could have immediately created a whole body, as he did with Adam when he formed his flesh …

The mystery of Christmas

Talk to Blakehurst Baptist Church Leisure Group Christmas Luncheon, 19 November 1998 Isaiah 9:1-2 Weary, we arrive once more at Bethlehem,Asking if this yearly journey is needful or worthwhile.But, O God! Our God indeed!As Christmas approaches our hearts start to beat to your music,And our minds acknowledge a wonder set in strawWorth a thousand journeys …

Welcome to heaven!

Iโ€™m so glad the biblical narrative ends as it does. The final two chapters of the Book of Revelation provide a fitting conclusion to Johnโ€™s apocalyptic vision and are among the most glorious passages of all Scripture. The Lamb wins. We are redeemed. Heaven is open. I wonder what thoughts ran through Johnโ€™s mind after …

The cost of discipleship

When you look at the amount of persecution and martyrdom ofย Christians around the world, the statistics tell a sobering story. According to Open Doorsโ€™ World Watch List,ย 4,476 Christian were killed for faith-related reasons in 2024,ย and some 380 million Christians today suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.[1] A martyr is literally a …

The ministry of witness

We sometimes think of the Book of Revelation as a mysterious puzzle or a terrifying forecast of the end of the world. But if we read it thoughtfully, this last book of the Bible is a spiritual treasure and a source of deep joy.  Itโ€™s not the easiest book to read, but it also has …