Posts for Letters From Alistair

May 2013 Letter from Alistair Begg

Yesterday I enjoyed the privilege of addressing the student body of a local university, and tomorrow I’ll be in Michigan speaking at a student conference. Today I received a letter from a young pastor in Florida who wrote to encourage me with his news and also to ask me a question. Having spent the greater part of my life as the “young chap” seeking advice from mentors, it is quite a shift for me to realize that I am now being looked to for guidance. It is both a terrific privilege and a sobering responsibility...

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Alistair Begg's April Letter

Dear Friend,
Warmest Christian greetings.

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal addressed the potential for technology to fix our broken world. It got me thinking about how to engage our friends in discussions about Jesus.

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The Hour Has Come

By Alistair Begg

When Jesus made the declaration in John 12 that the time had come for the Son of Man to be glorified, many of His listeners would have caught their breath. Jesus’ followers were looking to the day when their political tyrants would be crushed under the feet of their conquering Messiah. However, they were about to discover that Jesus’ definition of “glorified” was radically different than their own...

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A Travesty of Justice

By Alistair Begg

In the annals of history there surely has never been a greater travesty of justice than that which is described in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of John.

Consider the accusers of Christ: Annas and Caiaphas. Annas is someone we might regard as “the godfather.” He was the ruling power in Jerusalem and recognized in Jewish history for the horrible way in which he ascended to prominence. Annas and his sons had accumulated vast wealth through dreadful practices, including extortion...

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The End of Normal

By Alistair Begg

From one perspective, there was a routine about the events of the crucifixion that was normal. The soldiers fulfilled their function with the kind of objectivity which marks the seasoned grave digger. Finding the grave digger singing at his task, Horatio explains to the perturbed Hamlet, “Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.”

As the soldiers went about their business with callused indifference, they failed to recognize that this scene was far different from any other crucifixion in which they had been involved. The pivotal event of human history was being worked out here in the everyday events of Roman jurisdiction. As men and women wandered through their empty way of life, God was intervening in the act of redemption. At the very outset of the Gospel, John had recorded the words of John the Baptist, who upon seeing Christ had exclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”...

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March Letter from Alistair Begg

Every so often in a Q and A session, someone will ask to whom does the pastor go when he has a question or problem. It stands to reason that pastoral ministry does not come with an exemption from trials and difficulties. They may be personal in nature or related to circumstances that the pastor had never faced and for which he was completely unprepared. I was recently confronted by the latter and was so glad to be able to turn to a friend whose experience in pastoral ministry exceeds my own and whose spiritual insight is invaluable. The experience reminded me of Ecclesiastes 4:9, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.” When Jesus sent the disciples out, they went in pairs. That it is not good for a man to dwell alone is true in more than ways than one...

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February letter from Alistair Begg

This letter must begin with a huge THANK YOU for your extremely generous giving throughout 2012 and particularly in the final weeks of the year. Our year-end goal was substantial ($2.5 million) and it is thrilling to report that we received just over $2.4 million in the closing two months...

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January letter from Alistair Begg

The writer to the Hebrews encourages us to fix our eyes on Jesus. This is a good word for the opening month of the year. The Jesus to whom we are introduced is He who has died for our sins and has been raised for our justification. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Since He is the One that has begun a good work in us, we may be confident that He will complete what He has planned. In contrast to the self-focused, self-reliant messages that are emphasized by contemporary culture, the Christian acknowledges that HIS strength is made perfect in our weakness...

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Warmest Christmas Greetings from Alistair Begg

Dear Friend,

Warmest Christmas greetings! Our year-end theme from Psalm 139:14, “Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well,” has brought to mind a hymn by the late Bishop William W. How (1823-1897). The opening verse reads...

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Letter from Alistair Begg - "Our times are in God's hands"

"The Lord our God the Almighty reigns." These words from Revelation must have been a source of real encouragement to God’s people as they faced all kinds of trials and adversities in the first century. They also provide a timely reminder to each of us at this point in history. As I listen to conversations among those who should know better, I am amazed at how little attention is apparently being paid to the fact that the ascended Christ is presiding over the affairs of the nations. Whatever the outcome of our presidential election, let us be clear that nothing is out of control! Our times are in God’s hands...

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Letter from Alistair Begg: "Appreciate the Pastor In Your Life"

Dear Friends,

My earliest recollections of 'church' involve large crowds, enthusiastic singing, clear and powerful preaching and shaking hands with the minister as we were leaving. I really don't know why that simple gesture meant so much to me as a small boy, but it did. Our church was actually a mission hall that had been established, along with others in the UK, as a result of the impact of the evangelistic endeavors of D.L. Moody. My first pastor was John Moore and as a boy of four or five I would look up into his kind eyes as he spoke. John is still alive and active in Canada. He is well-known as the author of “Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary” and a host of Gospel songs which continue to be sung around the world.

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Letter from Alistair: "Not Merely a Human Invention"

The materials we make available address many of the issues that are raised in listeners' letters. This month's resource is a good illustration of this. David Wells begins his treatment of the Trinity by observing:

"This much is certain. Had the Christian faith merely been a human invention, Christians would never have come up with the doctrine of the Trinity."

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July Letter From Alistair: "Keeping Our Eyes On the Prize"

"Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days."

These words from the fourteenth verse of Psalm 90 have been in my mind for the last ten days or so. In this Psalm, Moses reflects upon the comparison between God’s eternity and man's frailty. We are as frail as summer flowers but before the creation of the world, from everlasting to everlasting, He is God. We teach our grandchildren: "Before there was time, before there was anything, there was God." It is this Psalm which was paraphrased in the hymn by Isaac Watts and begins: "O God our help in ages past…"

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June Newsletter from Alistair Begg

Dear Friends,

These first five months have been marked by fresh evidences of God's grace and goodness to Truth For Life. Our small, tight-knit staff experienced a number of personnel changes recently – all as a result of the comings and goings of everyday life. We are grateful for the substantial contribution from those who have left us. We welcome those who have settled into their new assignments working to enhance our website, distribute our teaching materials to a wider audience, and deliver more capabilities through our mobile app...

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Celebrating the Death and Resurrection of Christ

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." This month we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: the only person through whom we are reconciled to God.

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Letter From Alistair: The Christian Family

Dear Friends,

Growing up as a boy in Scotland, many of my friends were Jewish. I have vivid recollections of leaving their homes on wintry Friday afternoons as their mothers lit the candles and prepared for the celebration of the Sabbath. I must confess to a certain amount of envy when I think of the way in which Sabbath worship begins for my orthodox Jewish friends. It seems to me that to recite the Shema with such regularity reaffirms God’s covenant promise from generation to generation...

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Letter From Alistair: The Truth At Cost

Dear Friends,

There is never a day that goes by without the lyric of a song or a hymn coming into my mind and influencing my thinking. Perhaps it's because it is now February, the month of Valentine's Day, that I have awakened with the words of "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by Stuart Townend on my mind:

How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son, To make a wretch His treasure...

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God's Great Generosity

Dear Friends,
George Whitefield was greatly used by God as an evangelist in North America in the 18th century. He was born in 1714 and died in 1770. Halfway through his relatively short life, we find this quote in his diary, written in North Carolina on Christmas Day 1739...

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2011 Year in Review: A Letter from Alistair Begg

Dear Friends,

"You accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God."

The Apostle Paul commended the believers in Thessalonica because of the manner in which they received the word of God. In light of this, it is interesting that Luke records the fact that the Jews in Berea were more noble than those in Thessalonica: "They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."

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Preach to Your Soul: A Letter from Alistair Begg

One of the questions I receive most frequently is: "Who is your pastor?" My answer always includes older wiser ministers to whom I listen and from whom I take counsel and encouragement. I also point to my colleagues here at Parkside Church and to a few of our elders who take a particular interest in my spiritual well-being. But in a strange way, the pastor is involved in pastoring himself as he teaches the Bible, Sunday by Sunday. This is a sobering thought brought home by James when he warns about becoming a teacher since, "he who teaches will be judged with greater strictness."

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