SERMONS:

To listen to some sermons by David Young recorded at churches in Wrexham, Hookgate and Penycae, scroll down to below the list of devotional articles. You can then select from a range of sermons, and click on your choice. These are followed by two sermons by the late Norman Parker, recorded at Hadlow when David was pastor there, and two by David Obbard, the minister who married us (David and Margaret Young) in 1973.

“I’m listening to your sermons off your Primitive Methodist website. Thus far have heard 6 and found them most enjoyable, informative and challenging” (Tony Treasure, former missionary, Berat, Albania)

 

ARTICLES:

A Dysfunctional and turbulent Family

I wonder if any of you identify with the seriously dysfunctional and turbulent family of whom part of the story of two generations is related in Genesis 27. The main characters are a father, a mother, and two sons. We will look at them in that order:

The Father

Isaac showed favouritism between his twin sons. He loved the older one more than the other, and he let it be known. When his life was nearing its end, and he was almost blind, he asked his favourite son to go hunting, prepare a sacred meal for him from what he caught, and as part of the meal he would bless the son. The blessing included, “Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.” He reserved no blessing at all for the younger son.

The Mother

The mother was also guilty of favouritism, loving the younger son, Jacob, more than the older. When she overheard Isaac giving the instructions regarding the hunting and the meal, she quickly told Jacob, her favourite son, to kill a couple of two young goats from the flock, from which she herself would prepare the sort of meal Isaac loved. She then helped Jacob disguise himself as Esau, his brother, so that he could get to Isaac before Esau had time to get back from hunting and to prepare the meal. Thus she led her son into a major act of deception, had a hand in deceiving her husband, and deprived her older son of the sacred blessing his father wished to impart before he died.

The older Son

Esau had a tendency to be flippant and shallow concerning important matters. One day when he was hungry from his outdoor activities, he recklessly and promptly sold his birthright to Jacob for some lentil stew: the birthright included spiritual blessing, preeminence in the family, and an enhanced inheritance.

He also married two foreign women who made life bitter for his parents, to such an extent that his mother, Rebekah, said, “I loathe my life because of the Hittite women.”

The younger Son

Jacob broke several commandments during the course of this deception. He took the Lord’s name blasphemously in vain, for when Isaac asked how he had managed to hunt and prepare a meal so quickly, he replied, “Because the Lord your God granted me success.” Another commandment has this requirement: “Honour your father and your mother.” Another forbids the bearing of false witness against one’s neighbour, yet Isaac claimed to be Esau in answer to Isaac’s question, “Are you really my son Esau?” Another commandment says, “You shall not steal.” And the last one says, “You shall not covet … anything that is your neighbour’s.” The Ten Commandments had not yet been written on stone tablets, but the righteous principles were – and always are – valid.

* * *

Not one of these characters comes out well from these events: none could say, “I was guiltless.” But here is an amazing and merciful thing: through this family God was at work, carrying forward the blessing he had planned for all the world, to bring through them the Messiah, the Christ, and the blessings of faith, forgiveness, and eternal life to all the nations of the world. Do not despair of experiencing God’s blessing within your own turbulent, dysfunctional family: his mercy is over all that he has made.

God had promised Isaac in the previous chapter: “I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven … And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” And so it came about that many years later, through the descendants of Isaac and Jacob, Jesus was born, Son of God and Son of Man, to give his life a ransom for many, to rise from the dead, to impart eternal life freely to all who come to him in true repentance and faith.

 

Resisting Doubt

This small book of about 100 pages was originally written for translation into Albanian, and was published in Tirana under the title Mposht Dyshimin. It explores various doubts about God and our salvation which often afflict sincere Christians. Here is the English original, newly prepared for publication on-line or on paper (or both). Click on the link for some advice on how to ward off or counter the doubts that trouble you about God, his love for you, your sin or forgiveness, your inadequate service, your eternal salvation. Click on the link to read on. And please feel free to download and keep this pdf file, and to pass it on to others, unaltered and with its source acknowledged.

doubt

Studies in Immortality: Shall we be re-united in the Beyond?

by Rev. William E. Farndale, Aldersgate Magazine, 1919

A persuasive argument from Scripture, by a former Primitive Methodist minister, President of the Methodist Conference in 1947, that those who die in the Lord will know one another after death, and will be reunited, albeit without resumption of the earthly family relationship.

Click here to read the article

Thorin Oakenshield: some thoughts on his death

Thorin is a leading character in J. R. R. Tolkien’s story The Hobbit, who dies a heroic death in the events the story relates, and utters some deeply meaningful words at his death scene.

Click here to read this short article

Some Thoughts about the Coronavirus Epidemic 2020: two short articles

As the coronavirus spreads from China across the world and kills people in Britain, many may be asking “Where is God in all this? What is God doing? And why? Can I find him?

Click here to read two short articles offering some thoughts about the Coronavirus Epidemic 2020

“Providence”: how God often leads us

I have often pondered on the ways of God in leading us through our lives, if we wish to serve him, and I am aware that people worry in case they miss their providential way (to borrow Charles Wesley’s phrase (Wesley’s Hymns 326). This short meditation is intended to help readers find peace and trust that God will always fulfil his purpose for those who sincerely desire to serve and follow him. Click here to read it:

“Providence”: how God often leads us

HADLOW: call, ministry, failure, questions

“There was a very very strong feeling that God had let me down. I had no full-time secular job to provide for my family and no sense of direction . I reckon there must be other ministers who have tasted a similar bitterness, and I would love to assure them that they are not alone“, and I hope that my experiences in this article will speak to someone who is in a similar time. Click here to read the article (the words by me, the title by the magazine editor): Hadlow call and closure

Ruby Violet Oakley-Hill, a little-known English Christian in 1940s Albania

Ruby (1916-2007) left missionary training college at the outbreak of World War 2 and in her own words: The war broke out during my last term at missionary training college… I was called up to the SOE branch of the Foreign Office Balkans section to set up a new department for operations in Albania.” She married Col. Dayrell Oakley-Hill who served under King Zog from 1929, during the War with the Albanian Resistance, and after the War with the United Nations. To read Ruby’s story, with some of Col. Oakley-Hill’s story as well, click here: Ruby Oakley Hill article

The Founding of the Albanian Evangelical Mission

AEM was founded in April 1986 to promote Evangelical life and ministry among the Albanian people. This article, written to mark the 35th anniversary in April 2021, relates the events leading to it foundation: the why, who, where, how. Click here to read:  founding AEM corrected (rather than this version with typing errors founding AEM )

Ælfric, first Abbot of Eynsham

Ælfric was a man in whose heart burned a steady, unextinguished love for God and man – the sort of ardent desire to serve God and bring others to have faith in Him that has stamped itself on every sincere Christian heart for many hundreds of years.  The love and zeal which moved and activated Ælfric a thousand years ago may move us as we read and ponder his life and his writings. Click here to read about him Ælfric, first Abbot of Eynsham

Ælfric, weekly readings from his sermons

Here in just under 9000 words are extracts from the homilies of Ælfric, translated into modern English and arranged under date to provide a reading for each week of the year. Click here to read them, and feel free to download them for ease of future access: Ælfric extracts (Eng.)

SERMONS

Over the years I have had the privilege of preaching in different parts of Britain, and in France, Switzerland, Germany, mainland Italy, Sicily, Albania, Kosova, and Greece, and have participated in evangelism in Austria (1966, 1967), Spain (1967), and Sweden (1988).  A number of the sermons I preached at Bradley Road Baptist Church, Wrexham,  Zion Baptist Church, Penycae, and Providence Chapel, Hookgate, were recorded, and can be heard either via the links the links below.

I have suggested some themes grouped under headings, but that is only a rough guide: a number of sermons fit as well into one group as into another.

Please note that as there were a number of churches and kinds of recording equipment, the volume may not be the same on all the recordings, and you may need to turn it up or down on your speakers for the best level. Please listen with blessing; may God speak to you.

SERMONS ON HOLY COMMUNION

FOR TIMES OF TROUBLE

BIBLE CHARACTERS

DEVOTIONAL

GUIDANCE

THE CHURCH’S YEAR

THE CROSS: THE ATONEMENT AT CALVARY

ESCHATOLOGY: THE END

preaching at Piana 2011

Preaching in Piana degli Albanesi, Sicily

 

TWO SERMONS BY NORMAN PARKER

The late Norman Parker lived in Borough Green, Kent, and afterwards in nearby Seal. These are the only two sermons I know of that were recorded in the Baptist chapel in Hadlow whilst I was minister there. Norman was a good friend to my wife and to me, both before and after we were married, and was my best man on 28th July 1973. A lively and passionate preacher, his life and his preaching were full of Christ.

Norman Parker

TWO SERMONS BY DAVID OBBARD

The late David Obbard was pastor at Rehoboth Baptist Chapel, Tunbridge Wells, and conducted our wedding at Borough Green chapel in July 1973. These sermons speak of God’s total forgiveness of his people’s wrongdoings, and of God’s promised permanent presence with them.

Morning: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee

Evening: I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins

David Obbard

 

SERMONS TO READ

If you turn to the part of this website called “My Books” you will find a pdf on backsliding from earlier ardour and spiritual service and returning to God. This book is in fact the essence of twenty of my sermons, and may be read, either in short readings of each sermon or as an entire book (130 pages) by clicking here and scrolling down to the appropriate entry:
My Books