Yearly Archives: 2017

‘I have continued to this day to give away perhaps more copies of [this] little book, than any other. It has been monumental in my personal life, in my ministry, in my preaching…’– DECHERD STEVENS Few better guides have existed in this or any other area of spiritual experience than Thomas Watson. He was a master of both […]

Let me introduce a contemporary church situation in England, and go back a time (a few hundred years in fact) to give it its origin, a contrast, and a perspective. I must take you back to William Bridge who is about as anonymous a Puritan preacher as you can find. Bare facts are the following, that […]

“. . . the spirits of the righteous made perfect.” -Hebrews 12:24 Now My dear friend, if you are a Christian, one truly born again by the work of the Holy Spirit, then our gracious God has brought you from death unto life, from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son, […]

Muriel Ruth Cook, for 50 years a member of the church at Nottingham, and formerly for 6 years at Watford, passed away to her eternal rest on September 23rd, 2016, aged 96. The following is culled from her writings, left for the family, sermon/diary notes and letters. *     *     * Muriel […]

“Should it be according to thy mind?” (Job 34. 33) This is the second half of a sermon preached by John E. Hazelton at Streatley Hall, London, on August 1st. 1909. The occasion of this wonderful discourse was the death of his only son. The first section may be found here. Secondly, the proper reply […]

“Should it be according to thy mind?” (Job 34. 33) This is the first half of a sermon preached by John E. Hazelton at Streatley Hall, London, on August 1st. 1909. The occasion of this wonderful discourse was the death of his only son. The whole verse reads: “Should it be according to thy mind? […]

It is with great regret that we must announce the passing of John Cheeseman (1950-2017) who was called home to his Saviour earlier this year. John, an admirer of the Puritans and a Banner author (Saving Grace and The Priority of Preaching), went to be with the Lord on 15 April 2017. Whilst studying Classics […]

‘Why do you go to church twice on a Sunday? Isn’t once enough?’ In many churches the Sunday evening service is disappearing. There are two main reasons for this. First, demands from employers have increased enormously over the last 30 years. Weekends have become precious. Two Sunday services are seen as taking up too much […]

Requests for prayer; we hear them over and over again. As we read the New Testament Scriptures (and especially the letters of Paul), as we come week by week to Prayer Meeting, as day by day we use our missionary prayer guides. Christians asking fellow Christians to pray for them. Why do we make such […]

“What hath God wrought?” -Numbers 23:23 Wouldn’t you love to see two hundred and twenty-five people join your church by profession of faith in an eighteen month period? Wouldn’t you love to see a vast number of college students repent and believe the gospel, being transformed in life, thought, and deed, being used of God […]

This is the second of a two part series on salvation in the Old Testament, the first of which can be read here. Clearer Revelation in the New Testament Thus the Old Testament is not corrected by the New Testament but is rather more clearly explained and expanded in light of New Testament revelation. The […]

 Adam and Eve In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1) On the sixth day of creation, the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Now the LORD God had planted a […]

An unusual conference was held in the Round Church in Cambridge on May 19th and 20th. It was organised by Dr Joel Beeke and Reformation Heritage Books, who are currently publishing the complete works of William Perkins in 10 volumes (volume 4 appeared just before the Conference). The library at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary has […]

I’m not too keen on the title of this book, though I understand the context in which it was chosen, but I do love the author unequivocally. Elly Achok Olare and his brother Barnabas are two wonderful men, former students of mine whom I taught in the Pastors’ Theological Course in Nairobi, Kenya. I think of […]

It is now over sixty years since Professor John Murray, in his 1955 Peyton Lectures, later published in Principles of Conduct (IVP, London, 1957), spoke of the ‘eclipse of the fear of God’. It was such he said that ‘we have become reluctant to distinguish the earnest and consistent believer as God-fearing’. If that was […]

The Let’s Study Series seeks to combine explanation and application. The aim is the exposition of Scripture written in the language of a friend, seated alongside you with an open Bible. For one week only, you can get the Let’s Study Series at 40% OFF the retail price, and each individual volume in the series […]

This question can be embarrassing, can’t it? Why do you worship on Sunday? Doesn’t the Bible say that the seventh day is the time God consecrated for his people? Where does the Bible say that Christians should sanctify the first day of the week, rather than the seventh day? It’s a good question, you will […]

FRIDAY, MAY 26, 2017 I slept fitfully, but was up before five and my oldest daughter Eleri took me to a Finchley station where I got the Heathrow Express for £6. There were no queues to the check-in and brief lines through the security X-rays. I walked to a pleasant restaurant for a full English […]

It is with deep regret that we must announce that after a long battle with Alzheimer’s the wife of Stuart Olyott, Doris, passed away during the Banner Ministers’ Conference. Much prayer had been made for her at that time and for Mr Olyott the day before she died. There was much thanksgiving for her life […]

Am I a real Christian? There is not a true Christian who has not asked himself or herself that question, in fact every Christian should be examining his life to see if redemption is his or her privilege and eternal blessedness. As we come to the Lord’s Supper we do so renewing our awareness of […]

We have made these studies of the so-called Great Heresies because they represent significant false steps in the history of Christian teaching; in each of them a true teaching is distorted, and so becomes false. Each precipitated a crisis that forced the Church to look deeper into the Scriptures and consider the fullness of God’s […]

This series is in three parts, the first (Williams’ early years and conversion) can be read here, and the second (his marriage and ministry) can be read here. The Later Years The revival of 1762 may have broken out at Llangeitho, but it was given impetus by the works of William Williams, in particular the […]

This article is part two of a series. The previous section (Williams’  early years, conversion, and call to ministry) can be read here. Writings and Married Life William Williams moved to the farmhouse at Pantycelyn, by whose name he is generally known, soon after his marriage in or around 1747. His bride, Mary Francis, had […]

This year sees the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of William Williams of Pantycelyn, the ‘sweet singer’ of the eighteenth century Welsh revival and pre-eminent hymn-writer of Wales. The third of the great figures of the Methodist revival after Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland, Williams is claimed by Wales as a whole to a […]

Sixty years ago a friend of mine was a preacher in a Reformed congregation in Grand Rapids. The practice in that congregation was that at the close of the sermon the elders stood in the front of the church and the preacher came and shook hands with each of them. Thus they showed to all […]