A recently purchased piece of furniture came with an instruction booklet of the assembly required, complete with pictures of what to do and what not to do. The what-not-to-dos came from common pitfalls that had undoubtedly led the common Allen-wrench craftsmen astray from properly constructing a fine piece of particleboard furniture. Yet it was the what-not-to-dos that proved to be especially helpful, saving me from much hand-wringing frustration. Similarly, through His Word, the Lord provides instruction for fathers that can save us from soul-wrenching pitfalls—pitfalls that can lead to our downfall, as well as the downfall of our children. The Scriptures are filled with divine instructions of what to do as fathers—as well as what not to do—as demonstrated by the Apostle Paul’s dual instruction, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

Pastor Simione writes: Dear Sponsors. We would like to share with you something of our journey during the first half of 2026. We began the year full of hopes and expectations of seeing our Casa das Formigas (House of Ants), transformed. At the end of February, we received a very special donation from a Paint Factory named Neuce Tintas – as part of their corporate social responsibility program. In addition to the paint needed to repaint the entire Casa das Formigas the donation included a large quantity of non-perishable food items. I can assure you, CDF has changed; it has been transformed and now offers a clean, beautiful and very welcoming environment for the children. We look after around 300 children every day across our various workshops, not to mention the full-time care we provide for more than 30 resident children on a daily basis.

In this episode, John-Mark is joined by Dr. Robert Strivens to discuss "The 1689 Handbook", a chapter-by-chapter introduction to the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith with a foreword by Michael Haykin. Strivens outlines his pastoral background in Bradford-on-Avon, his years at London Seminary, and his earlier career as a solicitor, then explains how he moved from suspicion of confessions to valuing them, especially the 1689 as reflecting Scripture. He describes the book’s origin in Reformation Today articles and its aim to provide a concise, non-polemical entry point alongside larger commentaries. The conversation highlights how confessions and church history help believers see beyond modern cultural assumptions, clarify doctrine on God and human freedom, connect to earlier councils and Reformation confessions, encourage careful understanding of language, and show that theology should serve piety and pastoral Christian living.

Plans to legalise assisted suicide will be brought forward again at Westminster in the form of a Private Member’s Bill. Labour MP Lauren Edwards came second in the Private Members’ Ballot last month, and says she will bring forward legislation that is identical to Kim Leadbeater’s Bill, which narrowly passed in the House of Commons one year ago. By using identical legislation, Edwards could invoke the Parliament Acts. This would mean that if the Bill is voted through the House of Commons in an unchanged manner, the House of Lords – where the Leadbeater Bill stalled – could table amendments, but would be unable to reject it outright. The Parliament Acts have only been used seven times in the last century, and never for a Private Member’s Bill.

Christians in Somalia live in one of the harshest environments in the world and persecution arises from multiple sources. A key one amongst them is the extremist group Al-Shabaab, which openly executes anyone they suspect might be a Christian. Conversion to Christianity comes with extreme risk – believers can be disowned by their clan which leaves them highly vulnerable, and some are even killed by their own relatives to preserve the ‘honour’ of the community. Aweis, a Somali believer, received a threat from his father when he found out about his son’s interest in Jesus: “My father said, ‘I cannot stop you from reading your Bible, but if you become a Christian, I will be the one to kill you.’”

Christ has not been unclear about who may serve as a pastor in any church that bears His Name. He cares deeply about how His churches are organized and operate. We see this in the language that the Apostle Paul uses to instruct Timothy about giving leadership in the church at Ephesus. He writes, “I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15). God cares about how His people conduct themselves in His house. In other words, His house—His rules. And God has made it a rule that only qualified men can serve as pastors in His church. This is abundantly evident from the plain teaching of the New Testament both in the examples we have (no church was led by women pastors) and in the qualifications prescribed for pastors—“he must be…the husband of one wife” (μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα, a “one woman man;” emphasis added), 1 Timothy 3:2. Additionally, the Apostle Paul addresses the question directly in 1 Timothy 2:9-14.

Devotion is a word we hear often. We hear it in love songs and in references to early morning times with the Lord. To be devoted is to be loyal and dedicated to some cause or to a person. Stories of devotion abound in our world. In The Return of the King, Samwise Gamgee sees the utter exhaustion of his friend, Frodo. They are at the foot of Mount Doom—so close to the end. Sam does not simply take the ring and finish the journey himself; he lifts his ring-bearing friend onto his shoulders and carries him up the mountain. He is devoted to the end. Films like Saving Private Ryan and Braveheart likewise portray devotion to a cause, where one is willing to risk his own life for the freedom of another. Devotion inspires heroic acts of courage in the face of looming threat. We love stories like these because we know how difficult devotion really is.

The Coalition for Marriage writes: Marriage is the freely chosen, public, lifelong union of one man and one woman, and the gold standard for couples and the children they raise. The Government has just opened a consultation that would quietly dismantle its place in law. Blandly titled “A fairer end to relationships”, it would automatically hand the legal benefits of marriage to couples who never married – unless they opt out – and, when one partner dies, give the other the same inheritance rights as a husband or wife.

Benedict writes: There are so many opportunities, here! To give one example. There was one man at the pastoral training who spoke a little English. He pastors a church 2 or so hours from Chiang Rai. He gives some very basic pastoral training every Sunday night to the other men present at the training week. But he himself is coming to this basic pastoral training and learning, showing that he is in great need of being taught. Ideally, someone would go to his church to see the situation and to guide and teach and help him. But, the men here simply do not have the time because of all their other ministerial commitments and responsibilities. Sunday was a blessed day. It was a joy to worship with fellow believers in such a familiar manner, even though we were nearly 6000 miles from England. At 9:15am, we had the Bible hour with teaching on chapter 13 of the 1689 Confession, ‘Of Sanctification’; we were well-reminded of the ‘irreconcilable war’ that wages in us between the flesh and the Spirit but were encouraged by the truth that sanctification is a work of God, and he shall complete what he has started. Worship began at 10:45am. We were familiar with two of the hymns that were sung: ‘Praise my soul the King of heaven’ and ‘Before the throne of God above’. The sermon drew our attention to the remarkable richness of Genesis in explaining the origins of the world, of sin, and even of salvation, it being so filled with types and pictures of Jesus Christ. We fellowshipped with the brothers and sisters and were heartened by their commitment and love of the Lord.