Posts by Barry Forder (Page 11)

Dead Works vs. an Active Ministry

Hebrews 6 vs 1 speaks of ‘dead works’; that is work done by sincere people, often in the name of Christ, but without the Spirit of Christ. Put simply, an enthusiastic human effort to do things in a misguided attempt to appease God, aka religion. One of the great wonders of the Gospel of God’s Grace […]

The Rapture of The Church

The word ‘rapture’ is one that most Christians will have come across at some time or another. However it is a sad fact that the subject is rarely discussed or explained from the pulpit, leaving many confused and uncertain as to what, and who, to believe. It would seem that many people prefer to ignore […]

What The Bible Says About Judgment

Introduction The word ‘judgment’ occurs almost 300 times in the Bible; over 100 of these references speak of a specific time or day of judgment for “all those who dwell on the earth” (Luke 21:35 / Isaiah 13:6-13 etc.) in other words, everyone! In the book of Matthew, we are told that for every idle […]

Ordinary man. Extraordinary God.

The book of James tells us that Elijah was a man ‘just like us’. Really?! “he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months” (James 5:17). I don’t know about you, but this doesn’t sound like the experience of an […]

Are You Being Used?

Have you ever prayed ‘God please use me!’, only then a short time later to have this felling that you are just being used! Exactly what is fair for God to ask us to do? After all, surely God knows that although our spirit’s might be willing, our flesh is often week. It’s quite ok […]

To obey or not to obey – that is the question.

How would you summarise your life? Recently a very dear friend and brother in Christ went home to be with the LORD, and, as is common, at his funeral service a eulogy will be given, presenting a brief summary of his life. My lasting memory is that he was a man who loved God’s word, […]

The Ahijah Effect

Chapter 14 of 1st Kings opens with Jeroboam sending his wife to enquire of the prophet Ahijah what will become of their son who had fallen sick. Ahijah had been the prophet who had spoken to Jeroboam when Jeroboam was just a humble servant of Solomon, and prophesied that God had ordained him to become […]

The Danger of Retreat

It is an interesting fact that the only part of a Roman soldiers body that was not protected by his battle dress was his back. Quite simply, they were not to retreat, for that would be when they were most vulnerable. We see the same in the amour of God as described in Ephesians 6; […]

The wrong kind of fear!

We often get told that fear is a good thing, a natural inbuilt protection system; yet the Bible has a very different perspective. 1 John 4:18 says: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love”. If […]

Three Lamentable Words

Chapter 11 of 1st Kings starts with three lamentable words: “But king Solomon…” We have just journeyed through 10 chapters where everything has been on the up and up. The throne is established, the surrounding nations subdued and paying taxes. Solomon’s wealth and wisdom is becoming the stuff of legends, and to cap it all, […]