May 2020

Audio sermons


KICS assembly talks. Current series of KICS studies: “They were Bright and Shining Lights.”

  • A word about the coronavirus
  • Bright and shining lights in the Bible: No new messages currently being added due to school closure. See all the talks in this series here.
  • Download a zip file of all the recent studies in the Parables here.
  • See all the KICS assembly talks listed here

Other sermons

An Intervention from GodMessage by Rev. Brian McClung on the 20th anniversary of his ministry in Newtownabbey FPC.


Featured series on the Book of Ephesians: The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

Part 26- Faith not works Pt1 Part 27- Faith not works Pt2 Part 28- From foreigners to fellow-citizens Pt1 Part 29- From foreigners to fellow-citizens Pt2 Part 30- Reconciliation by the cross Pt1 Part 31- Reconciliation by the cross Pt2

(See all the messages in the series here)

 

The gospel ‘vaccine’

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool,” Isaiah 1:18.

Last night, my sleep was disturbed as I thought over the last article I sent out – UK ‘absolutely’ preparing for second Covid-19 peak and may not see back of virus for ‘several years’.

Time and again I found myself developing the subject further, with scripture after scripture flooding into my mind.

Now, as I try to put down those thoughts, I trust the Lord will bring back to my mind the scriptures that came to me in the night!

In the last article, mentioned above, I more or less dealt with the issue of the Government lifting the lockdown restrictions from a simple factual, human point of view. If ‘social distancing’ has brought the spread of the Covid-19 virus down, what will the lifting of those regulations do, only increase the spread of the virus since it has not been utterly removed from society nor has a vaccine been produced!

This the Government acknowledges to be so because it is preparing for an increase in the numbers infected after it relaxes the restrictions upon social distancing. Read more


UK ‘absolutely’ preparing for second Covid-19 peak and may not see back of virus for ‘several years’

I have already shared this news article link with one sister in Canada who was asking about the lifting of ‘Lockdown’ in the UK. As I was getting ready to reply I saw this article on the ITV news site and shared it with her.

I added this comment: “They thus know that ending ’social distancing’ is going to cause a rise in the number infected! It is not the beating of the virus that is the main aim of the government (just like Trump) but getting the wheels of the money-making machine moving again!”

Further to this comment, it surely must be clear that the government knows that ‘social distancing’ has brought down the number of people infected with Covid-19. The fact that they are lifting the ‘social distancing’ restrictions and are also expecting and planning for a rise in the Covid-19 infections indicate that they know those two things go together! Lifting ‘social distancing’ MEANS a rise in Covid-19 infections.

That being so, why is the Government easing ‘social distancing’ restrictions, despite the Government’s repeated ‘mantra’ that controlling the virus remains the Government’s ‘top priority’?

I have just listened again to Priti Patel MP, the Home Secretary, repeating that assurance on the ‘Channel Four’, 7.00 pm news broadcast.

What is it that the Government is seeking to do and why is it willing to risk a second pandemic breaking out? It wants to get business up and running again and satisfy the complaining multitudes who are missing their parties, boozing companionship and general carousing.

There has to be a heavy price paid for such folly and it will be the young, the weak, the sickly and the old who most likely will pay that price!

I feel distressed for those who may share my concern but whose living accommodation does not enable them to easily maintain a degree of ‘social distancing’, which is after all, the Bible’s response to contagious diseases!

Like the thinking in the future empire of the Antichrist, PROFIT comes before PEOPLE!

Surely a temporary lowering of our living standard is preferable to an adding to the 35,000 + DEATHS which have already occurred!!


Londonderry was key to victory in longest-running campaign of WWII

Seventy-five years after the surrender of the U-boat fleet, GORDON LUCY explains NI’s strategic importance in the Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest running campaign of the Second World War.

It began with the sinking of the Athenia, a transatlantic passenger liner, on September 3 1939 within hours of the British declaration of war, and only ended with the defeat of Germany in May 1945.

Churchill claimed: ‘The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril.’ It caused him even greater anxiety than the Battle of Britain in 1940.

The UK’s heavy dependence on imported food stuffs and raw materials made the nation extremely vulnerable. Read more


Impoverishment – A Judgment from the Lord

“If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” 2 Chronicles 7:13-14.

There has been much considering of the significance of the impact of the Covid-19 virus upon the nations by thoughtful and reflective Christians. The fact that here in Northern Ireland there have been at least 501 people, young, middle-aged and elderly, who have succumbed to this disease to date, is enough to cause any to ponder the circumstances which have overtaken us. In truth, when the final figure is revealed it is likely to be nearly double that of today’s total of 501, indeed, even more!

Even as I was writing this, an email arrived from “The Belfast Newsletter” which stated: “We have some terribly sad news to bring you today. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has identified 61 additional COVID-19 related deaths as having occurred between May 9 to May 20 – this takes the death-toll to 664.” Read more


Sovereign Grace Advent testimony May monthly meeting.

Because of the Covid 19 ‘lockdown’ and the restriction on public gatherings, the service was broadcast on the internet. The preacher was Dr John Douglas. His subject was “The Prophecy of Nathan.” It may be watched here.


Again, the wicked are favoured by our legal system

United Kingdom supreme court quash Gerry Adams’ convictions for trying to escape from jail during internment in the 1970s

The reason given by the five law ‘Lords and Lady’ for such a decision was that since the internment paperwork had not been handled by the correct government minister in the mid-1970s, his imprisonment was invalid – and therefore he could not be guilty of trying to escape “lawful custody”.

The judgment does not decree upon the ‘rightness’ of the internment of those engaged in terrorism, just the handling of the ‘paperwork’ that brought it about!!
The judges who made yesterday’s ruling were Lord Kerr (who was Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland from 2004 to 2009) sitting alongside Lady Black, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Kitchin and Lord Burnett.

At least two of these judges have Roman Catholic backgrounds. Lord Kerr was educated at St Colman’s College in Newry. In 2004 he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, only the second Roman Catholic to hold the position. Read more


The zeal of the Lord of Hosts

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this,” Isaiah 9:6-7.

I read the above verses in my Bible reading yesterday morning, as might well many of you. They come at the end of one of the sections designated for reading, if one follows Robert Murray McCheyne’s Bible Reading Calendar.

These words immediately seized upon my heart and I was made to consider how that the Lord ZEALOUSLY engages in the accomplishing of His eternal purpose in mercy and grace toward His people.

God’s people, at times, have been deceived to foolishly think that God has grown careless and indifferent toward them and His cause. Christians have often been heard to say, like Martha of old, “Lord, dost thou not care . . . ” Luke 10:40. How wrong… Read more


Another faithful soldier called home

Dr Stephen Scott-Pearson, Who went to be with the Lord, Wednesday 6th May, 2020.

“For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” 2 Corinthians 5:1.

I had a phone call on Wednesday evening from Mrs Janet Scott-Pearson, informing us that her husband, Stephen, had passed away some three hours earlier. I have known Dr. Stephen Scott-Pearson since the time of the Pope’s visit to Great Britain back in 1982. I invited him over to Ulster at that time and he spoke in Kilskeery FPC and in some other churches as well.

It was the first of many visits. He and his family stayed at the manse in Kilskeery and we visited him and his family in England on a number of occasions over the years. When I spoke at the Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony meeting back in the summer of last year, we went home by his house on our way to the Cairnryan Ferry and had a sweet time of fellowship with him and his wife, Janet. That was Tuesday, August 6th. We well remember his emotional prayer before we parted.
It was the last time we were to see our dear friend.

Now he is at home with His Saviour to Whom he was faithful as a preacher and contender for the faith. His journey is ended, his weariness and pain is over. He is with the Lord which is far better.

I have counted him a friend, a fellow-labourer in the gospel, a faithful contender for the faith and a dear brother in Christ. To his wife Janet, his son Charles and daughter Margaret and their respective families we offer our sincere and prayerful sympathy.

We can say truly with David: “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?” 2 Samuel 3:38.


VE Day – A reminder of the loss of feedoms our parents and grandparents endured

We mark the 75th anniversary of the ending of the World War II in Europe today. I have but the faintest memories of the atmosphere of that and subsequent times manifested in the lives of my father and mother back then.

I emphasise that they are were but faint, mere impressions of a child, since I was only approaching my third birthday!

Today, the nations is remembering that great day, 75 years ago and rightly paying tribute to those who lived and died to make victory possible.

However, the Christian will notice I am sure a very sad omission. There is little mention made of the Lord Who wrought the deliverance for us a people! Read more