Articles on Practical Theology

This site endeavours to collect together theological material of practical import to Christians in many cases where that material is not readily available on-line or in print.

A new feature (June 2020) is that now by (not very) popular request, here are 300 or so old sermons in MP3 format for you to listen to during lock-down.

New Books available from Amazon

Humour in the Bible (2019)

This is actually a completely serious book, albeit one written a style that is appropriate for a book about humour! Hence the John McEnro look-alike on the cover, with his famous outburst as the subtitle, "You canNOT be Serious!" If we fail to spot the humour in the Bible we will misunderstand it, misinterpret it and misapply it; that is, we will do the wrong thing. So this book helps us to tune into biblical humour so that we can understand the Bible properly when it is being humourous. But beware: Biblical humour if often unlike our own humour and, furthermore, when the Bible is humourous it is often at its MOST serious. Although not exhaustive, this book covers the whole Bible-

The kindle version is available from here, which I think is dirt cheap.

The normal paper version is also available from here.

Here is some of the table of contents to whet your appetite:

1. Introduction
2. Humour in the Pentateuch
2.1 Genesis
2.2 Exodus
2.3 Leviticus

...

7. Humour in the Apocrypha (included by way of contrast!)

...

10.6 Revelation

Many Evangelical Christians will benefit from having a better, more detailed, and applied understanding of biblical covenant theology. God's covenants affect you, your family, and ultimately everybody. But making the connection between scripture and actual day-to-day Christian living needs popular wrong ideas to be challenged, a logical explanation of a biblical covenant theology, and helpful advice on how to trust and obey God's covenants in the Bible in 21st Century.

The kindle version is available from here.

The black and white version is also available from here VERY cheaply!

The full colour, larger print, version is available from here.

Here is the table of contents to whet your appetite:

Part I The Argument
1. Introduction
2. New 'T-Total' Christians
3. What is a Covenant?
4. Are the Old and New Covenants the same as the Old and New Testaments?
5. How Not to Do Covenant Theology
6. How Many Covenants Are There?
6.1 God's Covenant with Creation
6.2 God's Covenant with Abraham
6.3 God's Covenant with David
    Excursus on the Chronology of the Davidic Covenant
7. How Long Does it Take to 'Cut' a Covenant?
8. Are God's Covenants Everlasting?
9. How Do We Know Which Covenants Apply to Us?
10. All Five Covenants Feature a Fall, Judgement and Salvation
    Excursus on The Meaning and Mode of Christian Baptism
11. Must we keep the Ten Commandments?
12. What are the Covenant Signs and Seals?
13. With Whom does God Make Covenants?
    Excursus on The Subjects of Christian Baptism
    Excursus on the Purpose of 'Paidobaptism'
14. What is Church?
15. Is Covenant Theology Christ-centred?
16. 'Faith' - The Right Response to God's Covenants

Part II The Application
17. Problems Solved by Covenant Theology
17.1 The Sabbath
17.2 Parenting
17.3 Subjects of Baptism
17.4 Church Membership
17.5 Teaching Your Children to Pray
17.6 Infant Death and Salvation
17.7 Sunday School
17.8 Prodigals
17.9 Reversing National Spiritual Decline
17.10 The Language of Evangelism
17.11 Theonomy/Reconstructionism
17.12 Health, Wealth and Prosperity
17.13 Anti-Semitism
18. Terminology

This site endeavours to collect together theological material of practical import to Christians in cases where that material is not readily available on-line or in print.

1. The Devil, the Christian and Thought Injection Can Satan plant brand new thoughts in your mind? A consideration of a popular myth and some relevant texts by D.W. Legg.
2. How to Recover after Sinning Despite reading the above article about resisting the Devil, you just did your favourite sin again. So, has God written you off or what? Notes from a 'Christian Basics Course' run at Hounslow West Evangelical Church, by Chris Bennett.
3. Our Brother Timothy Who did write the book of 'Hebrews'? Can we know, or must it remain a mystery? By J.D. Legg
4. The Case for Infant Baptism Would you like to become a Covenant Baptist? Read this article for a brief by Chris Bennett and make your doctrine of baptism more biblical. See also
5. The Meaning and Mode of Christian Baptism Many people have had a stab at writing what they think the true meaning of Christian baptism is. Too often, they read into Biblical texts meanings that they wish were there, but are not. This article attempts to answer the questions "What is baptism about?" and "How should it be done?" This is just a short, simple, article, but for a longer treatment, see Francis Schaeffer or Jay E. Adams. This article is dedicated to the elders of Ashford Congregational Church.
6. Practical Atheism Are you a practical atheist? Give your faith a health check with the help of B.B. Warfield.
7. Churches Together and Ecumenism What are the problems for Evangelicals who are tempted to join Churches Together? Surely the Bible doesn't have anything to say on the matter does it?
8. Church Membership in a Post-Modern, Consumer, Society In the Western world, many churches find that fewer than half of the people in their Sunday congregations have committed themselves as church members. They are just consumers,along for the ride, but uncommitted. Is the notion of church membership biblical, or is it just an outmoded cultural manifestation?
9. What is Worship? What is the purpose of Christian meetings? Have we slipped back into Old Testament worship? Chris Bennett explains.
10. Bringing up Children for God (HTML) Perhaps you are a Christian parent, doing your very best to bring up your children according to the Bible so that they too become Christians. Perhaps you have lots of questions in your mind ...
    
11. One-Two-Three A simple catechism for very young children. A cunning structure allows this catechism to be used with children in the age range under two to ten years old simultaneously.
12. Children's Catechism A catechism for children, with a memory verse for each question, and a set of seven daily Bible readings. This catechism is suitable for use during daily family worship.
13. Small Children's Bible Reading Notes Do you have youngsters who are too young for any published Bible reading notes. This example notes show how any parent can do his own DIY notes for 4 to 7 years olds.
14. Showing Respect to Genesis Chapter One What are the days (yoms) that are built into the structure of Genesis Chapter One? Are they periods of time? Have you been reading Sunday Skool lessons back into Genesis One, or Ken Ham propaganda? Find out, but please don't get upset. Approach the sacred text afresh.
15. Theory for Correctly Interpreting Ecclesiastes Here is a sermon (14MB free MP3 download) introducing a preaching series in Ecclesiastes, called "Don't Do Life the Hard Way". It pre-digests Barry Webb's understanding of how to interpret Ecclesiastes correctly and applies it. Barry Webb's short, but stimulating commentary is in 'Five Festal Garments' from IVP.
16. Introduction to Genesis and Exposition of Chapter 50v20 This is a 33 minute (18MiB) MP3 file of a sermon preached at Ashford Congregational Church on 29th Feb, 2010. It introduces the book of Genesis and focuses particularly on the key verse, 50v20, that summarises the message of the whole book. Applications are in the areas worshipping and trusting the sovereign God, and basing forgiveness of others on a belief in God's sovereignty.
17. Simple Bioethics information for Christians (and others, who want to honour God with their gametes)
    At the end of the 20th Century, Christians were all fired-up and well-informed about bioethics. The 1967 UK Abortion Act seemed to be implementing atheism as the new anti-christian orthdoxy. But since the dawn of the 21st Century, Christians seem to have forgotten about bioethics. We have been worn down by the world's relentless pressure. Time to revisit some basics ...

Bible Study Ideas

• The Genesis Roller-Coaster Bible Study Notes Do you like the idea of being able to cover all of Genesis in 12 studies.
  These notes are suitable for use by both groups and individuals, and are available incredibly cheaply from Amazon.
• A Home Group Bible Study Idea An idea of a book to study to help facilitate home group Bible studies. The book, by Vaughan Roberts, is called God's Big Picture.
• Another Home Group Bible Study Idea An idea of how to approach Bible studies in Mark's Gospel, despite commentators and traditional approaches.
• Yet Another Bible Study Idea 7 Bible Studies in various Books of the Bible covering the topics:
  • The Bible
  • Prayer
  • Meeting Together
  • Community 'Fit'
  • Community Impact
  • The Wider World
  • Building Tomorrow's Church
• How to remember what the book of Nehemiah is about. A limerick of dubious value, starring the infamous Tobiah and Sanballat.

• A Modern Setting of Immortal Honours William Gadsby's great hymn is in danger of being lost to modern congregations Here is my setting of it to a modern tune, with downloadable PDF and MIDI files.
• A Modern Setting of Our God, Our Help in Ages Past Isaac Watts' (not to mention Moses) great hymn/psalm is in danger of being lost to modern congregations Here is my setting of it to a modern tune, with downloadable PDF and MIDI files.
• A Modern Setting of Father of Mercies In Your Word Anne Steele's hymn is very suitable for singing prior to preaching or Bible study. Here is my setting of it to a modern tune, with downloadable PDF and MIDI files.
• A Modern Setting of Sometimes a Light Surprises the Christian While he Sings William Cowper's hymn is often not in modern hymn books and song books. A crime.
• He Shall Feed His Sheep Like a Shepherd An arrangement of the soprano and alto aria from Handel's Messiah, set for SATB plus piano continuo, or piano plus continuo.
• Midnight Christians/O Holy Night An arrangement and new translation Adolphe Adam's French Christmas Carol. Set for SATB plus guitar or piano continuo.

Links to Other People's Stuff

Harry's Story Web Site

Susan Legg Piano Accompanist

Viv Rees Professional Piano Accompanist

Gerald Yuen (thousands of useful links)

Andrew Haylett and family (millions of useful links)

David Anderson's witty parable about the rumour that Richard Dawkins actually exists.