At the end of the year

This is adapted from my editorial in our church bi-monthly newsletter for January and February.
In 2005 Sir Alan Sugar, currently known for his role in the popular “Apprentice” series, predicted that the iPod would never take off.  The accuracy of his prediction sets him alongside other people like Darryl Zanuck who suggested in 1946 that [...]

Yoko Restaurant and Noodle Bar Coleraine

A kind friend gave us a voucher for Yoko as a Christmas gift.  The four of us went there last night to cash in.  It was only my second visit here: the first had left me a little unimpressed, in contrast to the rave reviews the place seems to get.  This time was better.  There [...]

Sunday morning at Portstewart Baptist

Our last Sunday morning of 2008 took the theme of hope.  The message was based on the story of Simeon in Luke 2.  His life revolved around the specific hope of the consolation of Israel.
We thought about how his hope was based on God’s promise.  Although Luke does not specifically mention any particular Old Testament [...]

Who needs strikers?

Everton 3 Sunderland 0.

Tim Keller writing on humility

Christianity Today leads with an article by Tim Keller on humility.  He starts with the humble circumstances of Jesus’ birth and goes on to write about how the gospel of grace shapes humility and what that humility will look like in some of its outworkings.
Humility is crucial for Christians. We can only receive Christ through [...]

“And then, he came.”

On Sunday I used a story I picked up from Steve Brown that serves to highlight some of the meaning of the incarnation. Here is how Steve tells it in his book, A Scandalous Freedom.
She was young and married. She had three children and a lot of responsibility. Nevertheless, she ran as [...]

Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus (set to music!)

If you have ever struggled to memorise all those names in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, try this…

Sunday at Portstewart Baptist

Today is the last Sunday before Christmas (0r the fourth in Advent, to put it the other way around.)  This morning I preached from John 1:14 on the incarnation.  I suggested that the incarnation shows us that God is personal, he is approachable and he is knowable.
You can click here for a written copy of [...]

The Incarnation

Charles Swindoll refers to Winston Churchill’s description of another nation as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”  Swindoll suggests that this would be an appropriate way to describe the incarnation.
Wayne Grudem writes this:
The fact that the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature [...]

The excitement of Christmas

A few nights ago, Pauline’s mobile phone buzzed just before 4 a.m.  It was a friend announcing the birth of a grandson.  The birth of a son is worth waking people!

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace [...]

Deceived by a proud heart

The short book of Obadiah indicts Edom for its treatment of Israel in the day of distress.  The Edomite felt secure, living in a mountainous area where some of the mountains stood almost a mile above sea level. But this is what God said to them:
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you [...]

Sunday at Portstewart Baptist

(The picture is from earlier in the year, not yesterday, but it shows what PBC would look like if it was in South Dakota.)  
Yesterday was a busy Sunday for the church.  In the morning we were looking at the second of three (I know that really should be four, if we were following tradition [...]

Could Everton not play all their games away this season?

Celebrations.  Manchester City 0 – Everton 1 (Cahill).

O Holy Night: more lyrics

In January this year I wrote about new lyrics to the carol, O Holy Night.  Obviously I was a little late for Christmas (or too early).  So here, again are the new lyrics, written by an American friend, Kevin Hartnett.
Humbly He lay, Creator come as creature,
Born on the floor of a hay-scattered stall.
True Son of [...]

Dodgy predictions

Bill Gates and Sir Alan Sugar made some of worse technology predictions of all time – Telegraph
1. The iPod will never take off – Sir Alan Sugar in 2005
2. No need for a computer in the home – Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corp in 1977
3. “Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a [...]

An injury time equaliser was not enough

It was quite a spectacular equaliser – 127 seconds into the 3 minutes of injury time: but there was still time for Everton to get caught out with an Aston Villa winner.

24: Redemption

Redemption is the title of a TV movie made to bridge the gap between series 6 and series 7 of the hugely popular “24” dramas.  The story involves a developing conspiracy in Washington on the day of a new president’s inauguration and a developing coup in a fictional African state where Jack Bauer happens to [...]

ESV Study Bible – delight and disappointment

The publishers (Crossway) and the team involved must be delighted with the response to the new ESV Study Bible.  The disappointment the news that if you have not yet got one, you may have to wait for a while as it has exhausted two print runs.  Here in the UK, they are proving to be [...]

Sunday at Portstewart Baptist

Christmas is getting closer and I am doing a three week Advent series on Sunday mornings.  The first one, yesterday, looked at Galatians 4:4 – “When the fulness of time had come, God sent forth his Son….”  I talked about God’s plan.  The goal of his plan was our adoption as sons and daughters; the [...]

Saturday running mates

There were several people on my iPod this morning (a more or less perfect morning for running on the North Coast). After the most recent Steve Brown Etc, where Steve was talking to one of Billy Graham’s grandsons who has just published a book of stories from people whose lives were changed after responding [...]

Nearly-men

I heard someone use the expression “an almost-man” recently. (I don’t know if he included the hyphen: small points of punctuation aren’t faring too well these days.) An almost-man or a nearly-man is a man who gets to a certain point but doesn’t quite manage to fulfill his potential. There [...]

We live at a time of exponential change

I’ve just been looking at a short video presentation that presents some of the ways our world is changing rapidly.  You may want to jot some notes as you watch it to make sure you remember the information before it is out of date!

“Four Christmases” and a plea

Pauline, Claire-Lise and I went to watch this season’s big box office hit this week – Four Christmases.  It’s the story of a couple (not married – of course, that’s how it is in the movies these days) who have traditionally spun a series of clever lies at Christmas to avoid spending time with their [...]

Santa Christ?

Sinclair Ferguson writes on the importance of not getting Jesus mixed up with Santa Claus.
The truth is that unless the significance of what Christ did at the first Christmas shakes us, we can scarcely be said to have understood much of what it means, or of who He really is.
Read the whole article - Santa Christ? [...]

Stephen Pienaar’s message