riversmeeting
a church in carrick-on-shannonArchive for TALKS
Wilberforce: “feelingly alive…”
“If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”
– William Wilberforce, 1759- 1833, the British abolitionist and subject of the recent film Amazing Grace
I want God
In The Pursuit of God Tozer explained the danger of thinking that union with God through justification is the end of all things. Tozer writes, “We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him” (16). And earlier, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the Soul’s paradox of love, scorned indeed by the too easily satisfied religionist, but justified in happy experience by the children of the burning heart” (14). Read the rest of this entry »
Getting connected…
Are you a “lone ranger” Christian? Are you connected to a local body of believers, or is it just you and Jesus? According to Scripture, fellowship with other believers is of crucial importance. Without it, not only can we not be of benefit to others, but we ourselves become starved of the benefits that come from being in community. Thus, we fail to fulfil God’s purposes in our lives. Read the rest of this entry »
Women who get the call: RUTH
I faced an uncertain future when Mahlon died. So did Chilion’s widow, Orpah, and our mother-in-law Naomi. Ten years before, our husbands had left Bethlehem because of famine. They came to my homeland, the land of Moab, because of the fertility of our plains. Both Orpah and I were happy in our marriages to the sons of Naomi and Elimelech. Naomi seemed content too, that is, until in her old age she lost both her sons as well as her husband. We knew she longed to return to the land of her birth. We helped her prepare to go back to Bethlehem. The day came for Naomi’s departure. We stood together to say good-by, weeping. She pleaded for us to turn back to our mother’s house, and Orpah did. But I made a different choice. It just seemed like the right thing for me to do – to go with my mother-in-law. I said to her, “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1:16). Read the rest of this entry »
Women who get the call: DEBORAH
DEBORAH
I was a homemaker, the wife of an obscure man named Lapidoth. Our house was on the road between Ramah and Bethel, in the hill country of Ephraim where olive and palm trees flourish. I had responsibility as the keeper of the tabernacle lamps.
Read the rest of this entry »
Suffering (and worship)
This is a Bible study from Richard Allen (Sligo). His website is http://richardandtheword.com
if you would like to read further studies.
1Jn. 3:13. Do not wonder, brethren, that the world s you. Jesus himself said, ‘In the world you have tribulation’, Jn. 16:33. Why should we have trouble, or tribulation, in this world? Why on earth should the world hate us? Read the rest of this entry »
The Gospel According to Creation
“… Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities–His eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that man is without excuse.” These words from Romans 1:19-20 make clear that every person has the opportunity to know God based on the evidences in His creation. The evidence for His existence is staggering both in quantity and in quality–especially to this generation.More than speaking merely of God’s existence, the creation, according to Romans 1, also reveals our need to form a right relationship with God and points the way to forming that relationship. As an illustration of the accessibility of the essential information, the Bible includes an account of an ancient character, Job, who without the aid of scriptures and opposed by the religion of his peers, discerned all the elements of what Christians call “the gospel,” meaning the good news. Read the rest of this entry »
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