This site endeavours to collect together theological material of practical import to Christians where, in many cases, the material is not readily available on-line or in print.
During the recent COVID lock-down periods, listening to sermons on-line has been a huge blessing to many. Some are listening to expository, biblical, sermons for the first time. Here and Here are about 380 sermons in MP3 format for you to listen to at home. There are also some MP4 format videos to download. The sermons were mainly preached in or near Liss and Liphook (Hampshire), Lee Mill (Devon) or Ashford (Middlesex), UK. There are currently around 7,000 downloads each year :).
Readers may also be interested to see a brief obituary for my late Dad, John D. Legg, here.
It has been exciting to work on an evangelistic book that will be genuinely useful for giving to people who show a little interest in the gospel. It is probably not the sort of book that you could post through every letter box in your area, but you could give a copy to anyone that you have a worthwhile conversation with. It could also be bought for whole churches to help them to reach their friends and neighbours, work colleagues etc.
What is great about this book is that it doesn't vaguely mumble about "believing that Jesus died for you", which is really not a biblical way of explaining the gospel to anyone, confusing faith with assurance, and running the risk of giving readers a cheap, false, assurance on the basis of a misunderstood gospel offer. It deals with the bad news of sin, the good news of Jesus, but then challenges the reader to trust Christ for himself. Jesus is offered as both Saviour and Lord.
The book is written in a chatty, friendly and contemporary style, so it will easily engage with a wide age-range of people. I think it especially suitable for giving to men. Too many evangelistic books seem to appeal to the female of the species, not enough to the male.
This 79 page book, perhaps 'booklet', is available in both: paperback and Kindle format.
The Kindle version is even available for free download on Sundays during September and October 2024 (and will be again, soon). In fact, did you know that you can install a Kindle app on your 'phone, tablet or whatever device, and then buy and download Kindle books?
The paperback version is cheap enough for everyone to give away, at £3.97 (currently). It is also available from Amazon in at least 12 countries.
Commendations and reviews are rolling in as I write this, including this one from Rico Tice, the evangelist behind Christianity Explored and Hope Explored:
‘At a very small Christian meeting, wonderfully, the speaker explained the passage Keith has selected for this book. I remember my heart racing as the human condition was diagnosed, and God's solution to it explained. It changed my life; it was such a relief to hear. That moment from forty years ago came flooding back in Keith's clear, well-illustrated and, above all, thrilling book. I can't recommend it highly enough.’
If you would like a pile of these with a bulk discount, email us using the Covenant Books UK contact tab and we will let you have them for about half price + postage and packing. :) Many amazon Kindle customers can get these books free, of course. :)
Here are the Contents to give you a flavour:-
1 Introduction 7
2 The bad news 19
3 The good news 33
4 The God news 49
5 What will you do with the news? 63
Scripture Index 75
Created in LibreOffice Community 24.8.1.1 with open source software on Fedora™ 40 Linux™. Paperback ISBN: 9798329957273
One and Two Chronicles, or First and Second Chronicles were originally a single book in the Hebrew Bible. Together they amount to 29+36=65 chapters! In fact, Chronicles is the largest book in the Bible! This means that it can be daunting to study as a home group or even individually.
However, help is at hand to enable you to study the whole book, and to read most of it with the minimum of effort and preparation, but with lots of help. This Bible study manual chops the whole book up into 22 convenient studies that will easily fit into 6 months, or two school terms. Often Bible maps are irrelevant to studying a book of the Bible - not so with Chronicles. The maps in this study guide will make it very clear how the kingdom expanded, was divided and eventually dwindled through exile and defeat. Other illustrations and tables will also enhance the readers' understanding of Chronicles.
Chronicles has a lot to tell the modern kingdom of God, and there is much Christ-centred theology to be excavated. This study guide is available in both colour (rather nice, especially the maps!) and black and white. The Kindle version was even available for free download on Sundays during March 2024 (and will be again, soon). The paperbacks and Kindle versions are cheap enough for every small group member to have a copy to write in, answer the incisive questions, and take notes. The problem is that, unless you have a Kindle Scribe, you cannot easily write answers to the questions or make notes, so you will probably each want a paperback copy.
If you would like a pile of these with a bulk discount for small group members, email me using the Covenant Books UK contact tab and I will let you have them for about half price + postage and packing. :) Many amazon Kindle customers can get these books free, of course. :)
Here is the Table of Contents to give you a flavour:-
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Historical background to Chronicles 7
1.2 Chronicles: Redressing the balance 10
2 The identity of the perfect kingdom 13
Study 1 ■ 1 Chronicles 1-9:34 – Just a boring list? 13
3 The kings of the perfect kingdom 17
Study 2 ■ 1 Chronicles 9:35-12:40 – David’s perfect reign begins? 19
Study 3 ■ 1 Chronicles 13-16 – Serving the perfect God 23
Study 4 ■ 1 Chronicles 16 – Thankful but divided worship 27
Study 5 ■ 1 Chronicles 17 ‒ The promised everlasting king 31
Study 6 ■ 1 Chronicles 18-20 ‒ The victory of the messianic king 35
Study 7 ■ 1 Chronicles 21:1–22:1 ‒ A mystery and the heart of the gospel 39
Study 8 ■ 1 Chronicles 22:1-19 – Solomon king of peace 43
Study 9 ■ 1 Chronicles 23-27 ‒ Levites and the priesthood of all believers 47
Study 10 ■ 1 Chronicles 28-29 ‒ David’s and Solomon’s hearts 51
Study 11 ■ 2 Chronicles 1-2 ‒ Solomon seeks God’s kingdom (at) first 55
Study 12 ■ 2 Chronicles 3-6 ‒ The perfect house of God 59
Study 13 ■ 2 Chronicles 7-9 ‒ Solomon, the perfect king? 63
4 The division of the perfect kingdom 67
Study 14 ■ 2 Chronicles 10-12 ‒ Imperfect King Rehoboam 69
Study 15 ■ 2 Chronicles 13-16 ‒ The LORD is with you while you are with him ... 73
Study 16 ■ 2 Chronicles 17-21:3 ‒ Jehoshaphat models repentance 77
Study 17 ■ 2 Chronicles 21:4-24:27 ‒ Families! 81
Study 18 ■ 2 Chronicles 25-28 ‒ How good is your king? 85
5 The continuation of the perfect kingdom? 91
Study 19 ■ 2 Chronicles 29-32 ‒ Hezekiah, a truly Christlike king 93
Study 20 ■ 2 Chronicles 33 ‒ Manasseh: Amazing Grace! 97
Study 21 ■ 2 Chronicles 34-35 ‒ Josiah delays disaster 103
Study 22 ■ 2 Chronicles 36:1-23 ‒ The end of the perfect kingdom? 107
6 Whatever happened to the perfect kingdom? 113
Appendix A – The Hebrew Bible (Tanak) 115
General Index 117
Scripture Index 121
Often, Christians can be a bit wary of becoming church members. They say,
"I'm already a church member because I am a member of Christ's universal church, I take communion, I've been baptised; why do I need to sign on the dotted line and commit myself to a local church?"
This book explains why. But not only 'why?', also how church membership locally produces lots of blessings for the new member and for other church members. The book deals with the theology behind local church membership, and then moves quickly into the spiritual motivations and practical applications. It even contains promises normally made upon becoming a church member, and a useful appendix for exploring in the Bible what it means to be a member in practice.
If you would like a pile of these to give to (prospective) church members, email me using the Covenant Books UK contact tab and I will let you have them for about half price + postage and packing. :) Many amazon Kindle customers can get these books free, of course. :)
Here is the Table of Contents to give you a flavour:-
1 Introduction 7
1.1 Historical background 7
1.2 Doubts about membership 9
2 ‘Think globally; act locally’ 11
2.1 The universal church 11
2.2 The local church 12
2.3 Joining the local church 13
3 Membership and culture 17
3.1 Just another club? 17
4 Membership leads to blessing 19
4.1 More blessed to give … 19
4.2 Christian maturity 21
4.3 Family love 22
5 ‘Dos’ and “Don'ts” 23
5.1 Set a Christ-like example 23
5.2 Be submissive 24
5.3 Balanced ‘Dos’ and “Don'ts” 24
6 Why not join? 27
6.1 Discipleship-Lite? 28
6.2 How we view God's people 28
6.3 The heart of the matter 29
6.4 The church itself? 30
7 Membership promises 31
7.1 Promises for new members 31
7.2 A promise for existing members 32
8 You might have asked … 33
8.1 Frequently Asked Questions 33
8.2 ‘Righteousness, peace and joy’ 34
Appendix - Helpful list of ‘Dos’ and “don'ts” 35
General Index 41
Scripture Index 43
Often, a bit of liturgy can be helpful during worship services and also during private devotions. These are the aims of the book:
There is also a colour hardback available, as well as the usual paperback (ridiculously cheap, I think) , hardback and Kindle versions.
During October 2023, there are free downloads each Sunday of the Kindle/eBook version. My hope is that people will like the Kindle version and then buy a hard copy :).
Use the Amazon Read sample feature to check out the content. Notice how there are *four* extremely convenient ways of finding what you want: the Overview of Contents to get a quick summary of what is available; the Detailed Contents pages to enable you look-up specific items; the General Index; the Scripture Index. In the Kindle version you can, of course, search for whatever your device will let you do. It is also *free* for many Amazon customers :). Here is the Overview of Contents to give you a flavour:-
Overview of Contents 5
Detailed Contents 7
1 Introduction 15
2 Services 19
2.1 Sunday Morning Worship 19
2.2 Sunday Evening or Other Time of Worship 25
2.3 Lord's Supper (Communion) 26
2.4 Baptisms 39
2.5 Marriages (Weddings) 58
2.6 Funerals 83
3 Prayers 111
3.1 The Lord's Prayer 112
3.2 Prayers of Adoration 115
3.3 Prayers for Illumination 118
3.4 Prayer for the Church 120
3.5 Prayer for the World 122
3.6 Prayers for the Persecuted 123
3.7 Prayers of Thanksgiving 124
3.8 Prayers of Complaint 125
3.9 Prayer with the Unwell (Sick) 126
3.10 Prayer and Readings for Pastoral Visitation 128
3.11 Prayer with the Seeker 129
3.12 Prayer for the ‘Obstinate’ or Unrepentant 130
3.13 Calvin's Household Prayers 131
3.14 Paul's Epistolary Prayers 133
3.15 National Prayers 136
4 Confessions 143
4.1 Confessions of Sin 143
4.2 Confessions of Belief (Creeds) 152
5 Blessings (Benedictions) 163
5.1 Biblical Blessings 163
6 Other Resources 167
6.1 Calls to Worship 167
6.2 Doxologies 177
6.3 The Ten Commandments 182
6.4 The ‘Shema’ (from Deuteronomy 6:4-9) 184
6.5 The Greatest Commandment(s) 184
6.6 Encouragements to Confess Sin 185
6.7 Assurance of Pardon (Forgiveness) 189
6.8 Catechisms 196
General Index 205
Scripture Index 211
Covenant Books UK has republished Covenants for Evangelicals. This is ideal to give to your theologically minded friends who are still Baptists and somehow don't "get" Reformed theology. They find Reformed theology attractive, but don't see how it all revolves around covenants. If you are distressed at all the young people in your church growing up somehow unconverted, then this book is for you. The book takes a ‘Biblical Theological’ approach in order to establish the Five Covenant Model of Covenant Theology (see the diagram).
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.
These arrangements were made in Rosegarden (rosegarden4) for Linux under Fedora 8 or earlier, and are free to download also as PDF files and MIDI files.
Rob Hunter's local woodwind repair service in Petersfield
Viv Rees Professional Piano Accompanist
Gerald Yuen (thousands of useful links)
David Anderson's witty parable about the rumour that Richard Dawkins actually exists.