The imprisonment of the Apostle Paul was a big blow to the early church. Many may have thought it was game over. The great evangelist, the beloved Apostle to the Gentiles, the lynch pin of the early Gentile Church is now in a Roman dungeon awaiting trial. All is lost!

King Josiah began his thirty-one year reign over Judah at the early age of eight and he is known to be the last good king to rule over Judah. At the age of sixteen whilst he was “yet a boy” he began to seek God (2 Chronicles 34:3). Others around him were caught up in the idolatry that was rife throughout the nation but Josiah sought God alone and sought him wholeheartedly. He didn't delay pursuing God until he was older so he could enjoy himself in the present and as a king he certainly would have had the means to do as he pleased.

Have you ever been praying for God to convert someone? Maybe a friend or a family member? Have you given up praying for them and witnessing to them because you think they will never repent? John 13 reminds us of the love that Jesus had for his disciples.

Daniel grew up in Israel and was no more than a teenager when he was swept off with the Israelites to Babylon as a slave. He was suddenly surrounded by a completely foreign culture, foreign lifestyle and most importantly a foreign god.

A little girl sat at the back of the church listening. The minister was talking about her brother who had just been killed in an accident. A worker for God - he had been a student for the ministry - had gone. Who would take his place? The little girl thought, “I can’t be a minister but maybe I could be a missionary.” That was all. I was that little girl.

Amy Carmichael gives an exceptional example of the set-apart life. From the time of her conversion to her going home, she poured out her life in service to the Lord and had little-to-no regard of human opinion.

Why should we be concerned with the changes in marriage or the redefinition of marriage? Why does marriage matter? In support of the case that marriage is right and appropriate only between a man and a woman, I want to call three witnesses to give testimony.

My favourite bible character is Esther, the brave queen. Let me tell you a little bit about the story of Esther.

Storms are something we are very familiar with in our land. They are a regular occurrence every year sweeping in and battering our island. Storms are inevitable, not just meteorological ones but the storms we face in our Christian walk. Our circumstances are like the weather in Ireland, very changeable. Maybe you are in the midst of a storm right now.

The Devil loves nothing more than to whisper doubt into our ears, attempting to snuff out our faith with his insidious lies about God’s goodness, the hope of forgiveness, the promise of eternal life. When doubt washes over us, it can be so easy to be crippled by it, and find ourselves trapped in the same cycles of guilt and self-loathing. If you, like me, often find yourself facing doubts, you may find the following verses helpful

Gladys was just a normal woman, a parlour maid in fact, and yet God chose her as a leader of some of his people and an ambassador for Christ. She spent her life savings on a train to Tsechow, think of all the things she could have done with this money, but she chose to spend them on God’s work. I find this an amazing act of selflessness that shows how much God can do in us.

IN 2016 there were 70,440 children in care in the UK. Of this number, 5% were placed back with parents and only 4% were adopted. This left the majority in foster care, secure units or other residential placements like children’s homes. How should that affect us as Christians? What can the Church do to help? This article will look at adoption and the next issue will deal with fostering

This is the account of Noah and his family …

Ezra is the man who God will use for the third phase of the restoration: faithfulness to God’s Word. As we look at Ezra the man, at least three things are worth noting about him:

Time and again the Gospels tell us that Jesus saw the crowds and was filled with compassion (eg. Matthew 14:14). Crowds full of sinners, unlovable mistake makers, needy people. We are often surrounded by the same sorts of people (we are the same sorts of people) but we rarely feel that same sense of compassion for them.

Guilt is not a pleasant feeling. It gnaws away at our consciences, our relationships with others, and can taint every experience in life. Yet, it can also be a gift from God.

That relationship, those results, that career, those friends, that new iPhone. We are a generation of discontented, jealous people. What can we do to fight off this temptation?

When it comes to our spiritual life there can be occasions when a dull and lethal lethargy creeps into the soul. On these occasions a glimpse of the heaven fuelled life of God’s saints from past and present can be just the life surging boost that is needed.

PICTURE THE SCENE: Thursday afternoon, sometime around 2pm. Stuffy classroom, not yet even the end of the day, let alone the week. Lunch has left you with serious drowsy numbness, and the bell went before you could finish that conversation with your friend. Now this: not only are you stuck in school, but you have to learn another language. As the teacher starts to explain how to give directions to the cinema in Toledo in Spanish, your brain simply shuts down. “Why?” I hear you cry. It seems so utterly futile. You’ve never been to Toledo and, even if you were there, you would be appreciating the sights, not going to the cinema, nor would you ever dream of actually asking a Spanish person in Spanish about how to get there. They all speak English anyway.

YOUNG MEN - what do you want to be when you grow up? If you have been blown away by the Gospel there will be stirring within you a deep compulsion to serve King Jesus. You can do that in almost any walk of life: working on the farm, sitting behind a desk, driving a van, teaching children, collecting the bins or delicately operating on an aortic valve. It is exciting when young men passionately want to serve Jesus Christ not only in their workplace but in something more.