John 3:16-17

IT WAS HIS LIFE FOR YOUR LIFE!

(March 19, 2024) Wayne Swift calls it as it is, challenging us to reflect on a great truth…

Good Friday next week!

The day Christians remember the life of a great man who lived some two thousand years ago, and recalling His deeds and with affection and gratitude we extend Him our appreciation for the gracious way He gave up His life for us!

But… what was the background here? Let me share a eulogy to this great individual…

1. Beginning
Two young people, Mary and Joseph, were betrothed to be married – Joseph, an honourable man and his fiancée Mary, a young virgin with an outstanding reputation. Out-of-the-blue Mary claimed to have had a dream about falling pregnant to God Himself (Luke 1:35). Joseph must have thought she’d lost the plot! But then an angel appeared to him confirming Mary’ story (Matthew 1:20).

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ROADBLOCK

(February 05, 2024) Dr Jim McClure challenges…

I have been reflecting lately on the unexpected journey my life has taken over the years and I would never have guessed the direction it would take. It truly has been an amazing journey of discovery on roads that have been generally unplanned.  

Life can be compared to a journey. Sometimes the road resembles a journey down a 6-lane motorway and sometimes it is more like travelling down an unsealed, pot-holed lane.

In my last article, A Road Untravelled, we considered the account of the miraculous crossing of the Jordan river by the Israelites who were leaving their wilderness wandering of 40 years to begin the challenge of a new life in Canaan.

Of course, their journey did not end when they entered Canaan – they had many other roads ahead of them as they settled in, such as this one… 

Shortly after they had entered the Promised Land, they encountered their first roadblock in the form of the city of Jericho.

Considered to be one of the oldest cities in the world, it was rich in resources and its location was strategically important as it controlled the routes between north, south, east and west. Jericho was also one of the world’s first walled cities.  And what walls they were!

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THE LIGHT HAS COME!

(Sunday December 03, 2023) Dr Jim McClure shares … 

Today is the first day of the season called Advent which many churches observe throughout the world. Often associated with Advent is the lighting of a candle each Sunday with a final one being lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

The lighting of the candles is not just a decorative novelty – but symbolic of light that banishes darkness.

One of the values of Advent is that it encourages us to –

  • Reflect on Christmas’ spiritual significance in the midst of so many distractions and anxieties in the world.
  • Remember that Christmas really has nothing to do with Santa Clause but has everything to do with the birth of Jesus.
  • Read afresh John’s summary of 2000 years ago: ‘The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognise him’ (John 1:9-10).
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OUR FATHER’S BUSINESS? IT’S THE BIGGEST!

August 20, 2023… some remembered thoughts of the late George Forbes, missionary spokesperson, that remind us to be about our Father’s business.

Jesus, the Saviour of the  world – a dark world now –  declared in Matthew 24:14, ‘And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come.’

‘The end’ is ultimate! But between now and the end with God’s enabling the gospel of Christ must be proclaimed in the entire world as a witness to all nations. Then and only then, will the glorious end come.

Then and only then will…

  • Christ appear in the clouds.
  • The dead in Christ rise!
  • We (who are still living) be caught up with them and together we will all meet our Saviour Jesus in the air to be with Him forever!

Meanwhile…
We must be about our Father’s business! With His guidance, enabling and power, there is much work to do that must be done!

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WISE PARENTS – WAYWARD CHILDREN

(October 13, 2022) Maureen McQuillan shares good advice…

Wayward children!

I know, I know… Psalm 127:3 says children are the blessing of God in that they are an inheritance from Him. ‘Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him’ (NLT). But… how they can cause parents trouble at times!

Worries
Some heartbroken parents shared with me recently that their child is an adult and, naturally, they have no control over them. Now they don’t want to tyrannically control their child… but, being good parents, want the best for their ‘inheritance’ regarding certain situations. Unfortunately the ‘child’ won’t be counselled by them!

I won’t go into a long list of things that are troubling these particular parents. However, some of you will relate to the following short list –

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THE ‘BIG QUESTION’

(October 11, 2021) Dr Jim McClure, noted theologian, shares in-depth on what can be a distracting issue…

Here is a topic that has often distracted Christians and divided home Bible study groups – Did God select in advance those who would be saved or is the exercise of our free will to accept Jesus as our Saviour the deciding factor?  How many fruitless hours have been wasted in argument that has often been dogmatic, hostile and divisive!

The ‘Big Question’ which often stirs people is this: Is our salvation determined by God’s decision or by ours? The problem is finding an unambiguous and unequivocal answer because there is an apparent conflict between the biblical concepts of God’s sovereignty and human free will. Does God decide in advance who will be saved and who will be lost? 

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This is a massive theological issue that has been addressed in multiple books by many profound theologians so I admit that my comments here are most inadequate.  However I hope that they may be of some help.

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LEST WE FORGET

(August 21, 2020) Dr Jim McClure, straight shooting theologian, challenges us not to forget…

Last Saturday in various countries throughout the world commemoration services were held reflecting the surrender of Japan on August 15, 1945 which signified the end of World War 2.

World War 2
Below is a photo taken shortly after that day back then in which a celebration party was arranged for the children in the street where I lived in Belfast.

I just about remember that day… the street lined with tables filled with ‘goodies’ 
that, because of food shortages had been in limited availability during the war years, yet the mums somehow managed to turn the meagre supplies into a celebratory meal! I do remember the sense of joy in all the mums who, after six years of suffering, were so elated to celebrate this wonderful news with their children.

And what a time of suffering those six years were. My father worked at night in an engineering factory in Belfast and most nights German planes tried to bomb it. When my dad went out to work neither he nor my mum knew if he would be returning home the following morning.  Just before I was born, German fighter planes would try to shoot civilians; my parents described their fear as they covered my brother and the unborn ‘me’ with their bodies as they watched the bullets rip along the ground close to where they were under cover.

World War 2 was the most lethal military conflict in history. Around 75 million people died (that is about 3.3% of the world population in those days) and that included around 20 million of those who served in the military and 40 million civilians, many of whom died because of deliberate slaughter, mass-bombings, disease, starvation and limited medical services.

We must not forget the horror and the social consequences of those years and the years that followed nor must we forget the sacrifices that brave men and women made to rescue us from ruthless domination.  It is right that we from time to time reflect on those events – lest we forget!

The Covid-19 War (more…)

THE BIGGEST BUSINESS IN THE WORLD!

(November 13, 2019) Dr George Forbes, missionary statesman, challenges us to be involved in God’s business – now…

‘And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end shall come’ declares Matthew 24:14.                              

Too often we are prone to look for the end before we have really considered the allotted task – and before we have really done enough that is realistic about witnessing to even one nation, let alone all of them.

Nevertheless the end is ultimate! But between the beginning and the end there are many factors, including time, season, opportunity, and God’s enabling.

The certainty is that the gospel must be proclaimed in the entire world, nothing less, as a witness to all nations not one less, and then and only then, will the glorious end come. Then and only then…

  • Christ will appear in the clouds
  • The dead in Christ will rise
  • We (who are still living) will be caught up and together we will meet our Saviour Jesus in the air to be forever with him!

The biggest business on earth!
Meanwhile we must be about our Father’s business. With his guidance, enabling and power, there is much work to do that must be done! (more…)

JONAH – THE UNIVERSAL RECONCILING LOVE OF GOD

(August 26, 2019) Dr Jim McClure, straight shooting theologian, shares on the most misunderstood book in the Bible…

The book of Jonah is probably the best known book in the Old Testament – but for all the wrong reasons! Most people think of it as a pleasant bedtime story for children about a man who fell off a boat and was swallowed by a whale. A few days later the whale spat him out and he walked off into the land of happy-ever-after.

But that is not what the book of Jonah is about. Its message is much more interesting, challenging and radical than that.  In fact it is one of the most revolutionary books in the Old Testament!

Background to the story
The story of Jonah is set around 2700 years ago and the people of Israel believed that they were in an exclusive relationship with God who loved only them. They had a kind of exclusive and territorial mentality about Yahweh.

God chose Jonah to ‘shake their world’!

Yet we do not actually know much about him. We know that his name means ‘Dove’ and that he came from a town near Nazareth.  He was given an unenviable task – to go to Nineveh, the oldest and most densely populated city of the ancient Assyrian Empire which was also considered to be one of the wickedest cities in the world and its people were known for their ruthlessness, cruelty, child sacrifice, sexual perversion and witchcraft.

1. The reluctance of Jonah
(i) Jonah’s call
God’s call to Jonah was personal and specific – ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me’ (1:2). (more…)

BAD NEWS OR GOOD NEWS!

(June 26, 2019) Dr Jim McClure, straight shooting theologian, reminds us of scriptural bad news – and scriptural good news…

Nobody likes bad news!

But sometimes we need to hear the bad news if it urges or provokes us to do something that may correct a tragedy or help us avoid disastrous consequences.

In Australia each year bush fires cause heartbreaking devastation to trees, animals, towns and, of course, people. How hard it is to watch the horrendous and frightening images of out-of-control fires raging through trees and homes, destroying livelihoods, creating havoc, causing death, pain, sorrow and financial devastation.

Fortunately many lives are saved each year when advance warning is given that enables people to vacate their properties, perhaps save their animals and leave with some treasured possessions. The tragedies would be significantly worse if warnings were withheld because they represented ‘bad news.’ Therefore, sometimes we do need to hear ‘bad news’ in order to avoid even worse consequences.

Angry response
However, the fact remains that no one likes to be on the receiving end of bad news. Some people deal with it by denying it. Others respond by anger at the person who delivers it.

There is an old saying that states, ‘If you don’t like the message, don’t kill the messenger.’  This advice has been around for a long time. For example, in the middle of the 5th century BC, Sophocles, a Greek poet and playwright, wrote, ‘No one loves the messenger who brings bad news.’

However, in recent days we have seen a ‘messenger’ being savaged by the media and social media. Israel Folau, who quoted from 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, has not only lost his employment as a rugby player but has also been roundly condemned as bigoted, intolerant, homophobic and so on.

But the bottom line is that what he tweeted is wholly in line with scripture. He was sharing a message that was not his and if the warning it contained was not to the liking of those who read it, he cannot be blamed for its content! (more…)