Wednesday 27 November 2013

Belfast


In a neat little town they call 'Belfast'...
Yesterday was our day off. My good wife had a training day in Belfast, so we headed up to our capital city (and the place of my birth). The day didn't get off to a good start. I wasn't long on my own when I discovered that my mobile phone was lost.  However (to save me dragging this out)  it turned up later on. It had fallen out of my pocket in the grounds of Olive's work place and some honest and very helpful person handed it in. A lot of hassle avoided there, but it did take the shine of the early part of the morning.


We lunched in the city centre in LittleWing where our daughter works which was nice.

I did quite a few second hand bookshops - mostly the charity shop run - but restrained my buying to 3 paper back books which I got for a "few bob" each. I do a lot of reading, but I tend to buy more books than I read, so space is at a premium as the pile of 'must reads' continues to grow. I picked up the following books:

American Notes by Charles Dickens -  A secular book recording his visit to the USA in the mid 1850's. He was very honest about what he saw and managed to provoke some controversy on both sides of the Atlantic. I would put this in the 'light reading' section.

The Power of Prayer - The New York Revival of 1858 by Samuel Prime. It was the news of this revival that encouraged Jeremiah McNeely and his friends to pray through the winter months in the North of Ireland and led to the 1859 revival which (it is estimated) saw 100,000 converts. At the weekend past, I was in Coleraine in Co. Antrim. Tbe Town Hall in Coleraine was completed during the 1859 revival and the opening ball was cancelled and (if I tell it right) the hall used for the preaching of the gospel. For those who say that Calvinism deadens evangelism and revival, do note that Mr Jeremiah Calvin Lamphier who prayed earnestly for the 1858 New York Revival was a Dutch Reformed Calvinist. The Ulster Revival was largely a Presbyterian one with some 60% of the converts joining that denomination. 

Heirs of Salvation by Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones - A small book of 5 sermons on the doctrine of Biblical Assurance, drawn from some of the men of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11. 

I got the Christian books in the Evangelical Bookshop in Belfast which was founded by this stalwart of the faith

On the way home, I received a call on my once was lost but now its found phone to ask me to prepare some radio messages for the Q101 which will be a new experience for me. I think my messages will have to be 12.5 minutes long and 4 are required to be broadcast in January (DV). 

Finished off the day in the pew at the prayer meeting in my home church (Bethel FPC) with about 40-50 others. So plenty to do indoors today. I'll need to make a start on these radio messages. I can see the first one taking an age - working out approx how many words you need to fill a 12.5 mins slot.  I have a Youth Bible Study on Jeremiah (PowerPoint) already prepared for Saturday night and then preaching in the main services in Bethel FPC on the Lord's Day. 

So that's it! Thanks for visiting this blog. Have a look round the indexes for (hopefully) some helpful articles.

THE END 



3 comments:

  1. Thanks for an interesting peek into your life. May not seem like much, but is still an encouragement to other Christians to press on even in daily tasks. Others may follow in your steps, seeking for edifying books, looking to future projects that might win souls and honor the Lord, and then finishing the day with prayer along with the other saints. Sounds like a profitable day.

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  2. Hi Anonymous: A nice way of putting it. Your commetns are an encouragement to me too.

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  3. There is quite a pool of FPC radio preachers for the Q101 weekly broadcast, so I might get on every 10 months or so. Still...another opportunity.

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