Pride at the PA

We had a bumper turn out at the reading group at the Pastors Academy in Finchley last Monday. We must have been around 16 and had to remove from the Library to the Lecture room where there is more space. Spencer Cunnah chaired. The book under consideration was Matthew Roberts' book on the whole subject of culture's obsession with identity. Many were quite positive about the book but several, nevertheless, felt a little nervous in places. It was hard to tease this out really but we were generally agreed that the approach to homosexuality that has dominated the evangelical scene needs refuting as this book does. Anyway very stimulating. We will meet again in May, God willing, when we will look at Rumours of a better country by Marsh Moyle.

Lord's Day January 28 2024

We had a great turn out last Lord's Day morning, perhaps as many as sixty. We baptised two more Iranians, which got people along (at least 18 there). I preached from the closing verses of Matthew. In the evening we were in double figures but a much smaller cloud when I got round to the message from Revelation 19 I had hoped to preach earlier in the year. Not having preached for three weeks I was raring to go and quite excited.

Midweek Meeting January 24 2024

Lovely to be with eight or so others to pray and to look at Galatians 6:1-6. We also opened the baptistry for Sunday afterwards.

Multicultural London

Multiculturalism has a downside perhaps but mostly it is a joy to be in the midst of it. Two cases yesterday. I was in Golders Green and I spoke with a Trinidadian lady who had come to Golders Green becasue she knew it had Jewish shops and she was after a Jewish prayer shawl. I warned her that it would not make her pray any better but pointed her in the direction where the Jewish shops are mainly situated. As I spoke with her one of my members passed. She is a Londoner but her father is Japanese and so she is very aware of those cultural nuances. Then on my way back I passed two African women talking in a language that sounded suspiciously like Hebrew. One of them confirmed to me that it was. I mentioned the falashas but she did not seem familiar with that word. I don't recall ever meeting a Hebrew speaking African.

10 Scavenger type words

There was a news article recently about mudlarks. It got me thinking of these various terms.

1. Beachcomber (someone who walks along a beach looking for valuable or interesting items)
2. Mudlark (someone who scavenfes in river mud lookiung forobjets of value)
3. Scavenger (someone who searches for and collects discarded items)
4. Forager (someone who searches widely for food or provisions)
5. Treasure hunter (someone who searches for suken, buried, lost or hidden treasure and other artifacts)
6. Scrounger (someone who searches about and turns up something needed from whatever source available)
7. Rummager (someone who searches for soemthingdifficult to find among other things)
8. Gatherer (someone who collects things or forages for them)
9. Collecter (someone who collects objects togerher, ususally becasue they are valuable or interestng)
10. Hoarder (someone who collects large amouonts of something and keeps it for themselves, often ina  secret place)

(A detectorist is someone whose hobby is usinga metal detector to locate lost coins, etc)

Day Off Week 4 2024

After a funny old start to the year, I'm trying to get back into a routine so I took the day off on Tuesday in my ususal manner, as best I could. I had an annual check up at the doctor's to start the day and then I spent some time blogging and writing in connection with various projects I am currently working on. I also spent time reading Matthew Roberts' very worthwhile book Pride whcih we are due to discuss next Monday at the Pastors Academy. In the evening I watched some TV. Fool me once is a flawed Harlan Coben thing with a crazy plot but it kept us watching. 

Evangelical Library Lecture Samuel Davies Part 2

Last Monday I gave the second part of my zoom lectue on Samuel Davies and his trip to this country in 1754. Even though I was only trying to deal with half the trip, the part that took him outside London, it was still beyond me and we had to give a rather scrappy account of the East Anglian leg of the journey. Hopefully there was something there for the 20-30 who tuned in. It should be on our Evangelical Library YouTube channel soon and I will endeavour to publish much of the two lectures in In Writing. This extract covers part of his time in Northampton

On August 9 Davies rode to Northampton. Conscious that Doddridge had ministered here Davies felt the town now had a desolate and melancholy look. “The dear remembrance of him engaged my tender thoughts as I rode along, and threw me into pensive melancholy. How much has my mission suffered by his death! I think I never felt such friendly sensations towards an entire stranger.” He called on Doddridge's successor, Robert Gilbert (1708-1760) but found him in company. In conversing with Gilbert the next day, he found there was but little prospect of success for fundraisers in Northampton, the people being lately put to very great expense about their own affairs. He visited the illustrious James Hervey (1714-1758), rector at nearby Weston Favell, and spent most of the day in endearing conversation with him. He notes “I have observed that when I have contracted personal acquaintance with great authors, they have seldom answered the idea I had formed of them from their writings but Hervey greatly exceeded it. The spirit of devotion animates his conversation and the greatest modesty and delicacy of imagination adorns it. The Scriptures are his favourite topic and he charms one with his remarks upon their beauties. He also frequently throws out some pertinent quotation from the Latin and Greek classics, of which he is an excellent master. Blessed be God that there is such a man on this guilty globe.” On the Sunday, Davies preached in Doddridge's pulpit. “The sight of his monument with a very significant inscription, struck my mind with uncommon energy.” The congregation had decreased since Doddridge's death though Davies was not aware that Gilbert preached anything different. He drank tea with Doddridge's widow, “for whom I found a greater friendship than I could decently express.” He was prevailed upon to preach in the evening (Isaiah 66:2). Many gave him the warmest expression of their satisfaction and seemed quite revived. He spent the rest of the evening in conversation with Gilbert (“naturally grave and reserved”) and his assistant, William Warburton.

The next soom lecture will be Dr Densham on Calvin and worship on February 26

10 pairs of words to describe Paul's pattern in his letters

1. Axioms then applications

2. Beliefs then behaviour

3. Credenda (things to believe) then agenda (things to do)

4. Doctrine then duty

5. Exposition then exhortation

6. Precepts then practice

7. Principles then policies

8. Systematics then strategems

9. Teaching then tactics

10. Theory then technique 

Reformation Today 311

A new edition of Reformation Today has recently appeared. This edition marks the hand over from Dutch man Kees van Kralingen to American Aaron Prelock, both of whom I know and who are excellent men. The magazine was founded by the late Errol Hulse.  I have an article in this one, Five things every parent should know. Do seek it out and give it to parents. I think it will encourage them.

Saturday January 20 and Lord's Day January 21 2024

Last Friday we headed down to Cardiff, where we stayed with our third son Dewi and his family and had a lovely take away with Eleri's sister Fflur and her family who are also denizens of Cardiff.

Our main reason for heading that way is that on the Saturday our second son, Dylan, was ordained and inducted as pastor of Bethel Evangelical church in Clydach. I had never been to Clydach before. It is a community of around 8,000 just off the M4 Motorway and 5 miles north east of the centre of Swansea. It grew up in the coal era when the Swansea canal ran through the village and coal was broughtdown from Ystalyfera and other mines to Swansea and the sea. It also has the Europe's largest nickel refinery, nickel being important these days for batteries. Anyway Bethel have a lovely building but it was rightly judged too small for Saturday and so we used the large, beautifully kept Welsh speaking Capel y Nant (Clydach is 24% Welsh speaking) for the service and came over to Bethel for refreshements after.

The service was a double one in that Dylan was first ordained by Paul Whitely and the other elders of Emmanuel, Cardiff and then inducted by the three elders already at Bethel (Nigel Clifford, Nathanael Ayling and Mark Barnes). Paul Whiteley preached a very appropriate sermon from Isaiah 6.

There must have been 200 present - family, friends, Emmanuel and Bethany members, etc, etc. It was good to chat to many but there were lots I missed chatting too. Great day.

We then stayed in Gowerton with Dylan's parent-in-law. They looked after us very kindly. Gruff seemed a little confused to have four grandparents in one house but he took it in his stride. he's three so he's aware that there are changes going on but he's coping well. Poor Daisy, his sister, is really not well at the moment. Anyway, it was great to hear Dylan preach his second sermon from Titus on Sunday morning in Bethel. It really is a wonderful set up there amd Dylan seems to be fitting like the proverbial hand in glove.

After lunch with the Davies's we drove through the rin to Cardiff. We had wanted to be there for the evening service but all three of us (Owain and his dog was with us) are not 100% so we presssed on to London. Eleri managed to tune in to the 5 pm service in Aber so we heard most of Rhodri on Romans 1:18 and then Dylan's sermon on God's Image from Genesis 1. They are different in style but both can preach and have learned well from various good teachers. What a blessing they are.

Arrived home not too late after a great weekend. Eddie kindly preached for me here. I hope they got on well.

Midweek Meeting January 17 2024

So I was able to be there and to speak on Wednesday night though a bit croaky. I found another J C Ryle sermon on sicjness, this one from John 11:32 and adapted that for my use. We also had a good time of prayer, though not all prayed. We also had an extra members meetung where we agreed to baptise an Iranian couple and for them to join us so that was good. The J C Ryle sermon can be found here.

GB Slowly getting better

So I am slowly getting better, as is Eleri, though more slowly than me. Having completely missed Sunday January 7 and Wednesday 10 (taken care of by Eddie) I thought I might at least be there on Sunday 14 but I couldn't even manage that and had to listen to Eddie and James Grimwood from the seminary (both excellent) online. Eleri went in the morning but had to go out twice coughing. I am not due to preach next Sunday anyway.

10 Respiratory Tract Infections

1. A common cold

2. Bronchitis (inflammation of the airways in the lungs, usually caused by an infection)

3. Sinusitis (swelling of the sinuses, usually caused by an infection)

4. Tonsillitis (an infection of the tonsils at the back of your throat)

5. Laryngitis (when your voice box or vocal cords become irritated or swollen)

6. Pharyngitis (an inflammation of the pharynx resulting in a sore throat)

7. Pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs, usually caused by an infection)

8. Pleurisy (inflammation around the lungs, which causes sharp chest pain)

9. Influenza (highly contagious viral infection of the respiratory passages causing fever, severe aching and catarrh)

10. Asthma (a common lung condition that causes occasional breathing difficulties)

10 Lessons on learning from sickness by J C Ryle

Preaching on Isaiah 38:2 J C Ryle gives ten lessons we can learn from sickness.

1. Not an unmixed evil. ... In the next place I ask you to learn from this chapter that sickness is not an unmixed evil. That King Hezekiah received spiritual benefit from his illness I think there can be no doubt. The beautiful and pathetic language of his "writing," which Isaiah was inspired to record, places that beyond question. The good man saw things in his sickness which he had never seen clearly and fully in the days of health. "By these things," he says, "men live." He might have added, "By these things men learn."

I do not say that sickness always does good. Alas! We ministers know to our sorrow that it frequently does no good at all. Too often we see men and women, after recovering from a long and dangerous illness, more hardened and irreligious than they were before. Too often they return to the world, if not to Sin, with more eagerness and zest than ever; and the impressions made on their conscience in the hour of sickness are swept away like children's writing on the sand of the sea-shore when the tide flows.

But I do say that sickness ought to do us good. And I do say that God sends it in order to do us good. It is a friendly letter from heaven. It is a knock at the door of conscience. It is the voice of the Savior asking to be let in. Happy is he who opens the letter and reads it, who hears the knock and opens the door, who welcomes Christ to the sick room. Come now, and let me plead with you a little about this, and show you a few of the lessons which He by sickness would teach us.

1 (2) Meant to make you think. Sickness is meant to make us think - to remind us that we have a soul as well as a body - an immortal soul, a soul that will live forever in happiness or in misery - and that if this soul is not saved we had better never have been born.

2 (3) A reminder of the world beyond the grave. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave - and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery and no sin.

3 (4) A call to review your past life. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly and conscientiously. Am I ready for my great change if I should not get better? Do I repent truly of my sins? Are my sins forgiven and washed away in Christ's blood? Am I prepared to meet God?

4 (5) A reminder of the emptiness of this world. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest needs of the soul.

5 (6) A call to get back to the Bible. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles. That blessed Book, in the days of health, is too often left on the shelf, becomes the safest place in which to put a bank-note, and is never opened from January to December. But sickness often brings it down from the shelf and throws new light on its pages.

6 (7) A call to pray. Sickness is meant to make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight.

7 (8) A call to repent. Sickness is meant to make us repent and break off our sins. If we will not hear the voice of mercies, God sometimes makes us "hear the rod."

8 (9) It draws to Christ. Sickness is meant to draw us to Christ. Naturally we do not see the full value of that blessed Saviour. We secretly imagine that our prayers, good deeds and sacrament-receiving will save our souls. But when flesh begins to fail, the absolute necessity of a Redeemer, a Mediator and an Advocate with the Father stands out before men's eyes like fire and makes them understand those words, "Simply to Your cross I cling," as they never did before. Sickness has done this for many - they have found Christ in the sick room.

9 (10) It encourages symoathy fr others. Last, but not least, sickness is meant to make us feeling and sympathising towards others. By nature we are all far below our blessed Master's example, who had not only a hand to help all but a heart to feel for all. None, I suspect, are so unable to sympathise as those who have never had trouble themselves - and none are so able to feel as those who have drunk most deeply the cup of pain and sorrow.

Men and brethren, when your time comes to be ill, I beseech you not to forget what the illness means. Beware of fretting and murmuring and complaining, and giving way to an impatient spirit. Regard your sickness as a blessing in disguise - a good and not an evil - a friend and not an enemy. No doubt we should all prefer to learn spiritual lessons in the school of ease and not under the rod. But rest assured that God knows better than we do how to teach us. The light of the last day will show you that there was a meaning and a "need be" in all your bodily ailments. The lessons that we learn on a sick-bed, when we are shut out from the world, are often lessons which we should never learn elsewhere. Settle it down in your minds, that, however much you may dislike it, sickness is not an unmixed evil.

Gary Brady is not well ...

On the way home from the Carey I did feel a little coldy but nothing serious. Things then began to go downhill and I wondered if I had what Eleri has been suffering with for a while now. I was still determined to preach, however, and got the notices sorted, etc. There was a special evening arranged for our Iranian friends Saturday night and I did pop in to say hello but soon after that I realised I would not make it. Thankfully my assistant Eddie was able to preach in the morning and they had a prayer meeting in the evening. I have continued to be ill since then. Symptoms - bad cough and great weakness. We are both unwell. I left Wednesday night with Eddie too and am not planning to preach Sunday. It is all rather frustrating.

Carey 2024 Day Three

We had two final sessions to finish the conference this morning. Paul Mallard gave the second part of his seminar on unconverted children and David Campbell preached his final sermon on holiness - its beauty. I have not mentioned the women's track. Gail Curry was the speaker at two sessions just for the women. A good few days of teaching and fellowship then. How refreshing.

Carey 2024 Day Two

We had another two good sessions this morning - more from David Campbell on holiness and then the first of two more ineractive sessions on Loving children who do not love Jesus from Paul Mallard. We had a break in the afternoon and then reconvened at five for a mission session which included news of Equipping Pastors Worldwide, EMF, the APCs and GBM. In the evening COnrad Pomeroy spokeagain, this time taking us to John 1:14 and the incarnation.

Carey 2024 Day One

Yesterday I travelled through the rain up to Swanwick, courtesy of Bill Jmaes, to be with a hundred or so others for the Carey Conference. We began with three excellent sessions from Paul Brunning, David Campbell and Conrad Pomeroy.

Paul spoke on very helpfully and thoroughly (and not depressingly) on Spurgeon and his depression. David gave his first paper on holiness from Romans 6. This is the main theme of the conference. Then in the evening Conrad gave the first of two papers from John 1. Just before that we had a ten minuste oresentation of the 1689 confession chapter 5 from John Mark Allmand-Smith. I'd forgotten we do that. No doubt reordings of the addresses will be available at some point. (The 2023 talks are here). Great to be here.

Christmas 2023

We've had a pretty good Christmas here. All the boys were back home at one point or another and the grandchildren. We also had Eleri's father and his wife with us Chrsitmas Day. I persuaded everyone to buy me one big present rather than individual ones and so I enjoyed reading from the Oxford handbook, an academic book looking at all aspects of Christmas. (One son broke rank and also got me a book on Charlemagne but I'm not complaining and another some coffee beans). Large amounts of food, some TV and a few games also featured and a good time was had by all. The coffee machine let us down rather but we bought an aeropress and that got us through.

Lord's Day December 31 2023

On the last day of 2023, it was good to be preaching the word once again. As on the previous Sunday, there were a good number present in the morning and a small congregation (of 8) in the evening. I took two new year texts - 1 Peter 4:3 and Proverbs 23:17, 18. Two African ladies (one from Malawi and one from Zambia) passing through turned up. There were one or two other visitors.