blog

  • Just a thought... 5 April

    So many issues feel so big in our world! The horror of what’s happening in Ukraine, the enormity of the energy crisis, the uncertainties of Covid 19. These and other things are just such massive problems that they feel beyond us! It was a very different scenario but we saw on Sunday morning as Nehemiah and the remnant of God’s people faced a situation that felt way beyond them – yet in their case it was the result of historic rejection of the LORD both by them and their ancestors! Their response is deeply humbling: as we saw...

  • Just a thought... 29 March

    With all of the bad news around, it’s easy to lose sight of reasons to celebrate: the sadness of illness, the threat of war. So often it can feel as if we live under one dark cloud after another. Yet as we saw from Nehemiah chapter 8 last Sunday morning, even in the midst of opposition, and faced with their own failure and sin, God’s people were commanded to celebrate regularly. Telling them to wipe the tears from their eyes at the grief of their sin, Nehemiah’s words to them are thrilling: “…the joy of...

  • Just a thought... 22 March

    Recovering from disaster can be slow, grinding hard work. Once each issue is resolved there always seem to be other problems which need to be dealt with. We know it from personal experience of clearing up the simple accidents of home life, but we also know it from bigger issues that seem to dominate our broken world. We’ve seen it from the Old Testament book of Nehemiah on Sunday mornings recently. Yet last Sunday morning we read the surprising request from those who bore the burden of clearing up that they wanted their leaders to read the Old Testament...

  • Just a thought... 15 March

    Right now through our news screens, we are confronted with deeply moving scenes of human beings fleeing to find safety and rest. No doubt all of us are asking what we can do to help and many reading these words are going to extreme lengths to alleviate the suffering of others, yet in the knowledge that anything we can do (and there are things we can do!) will only ever be temporary. The situation reminds us of the Bible’s description that human beings are always ultimately searching for REST. Everything else we do is only ever an attempt to...

  • Just a thought... 8 March

    The Bible is clear: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” We see the sad consequences of people not living in fear of the LORD all through history: - In Genesis 20 Abraham recognised the danger he and Sarai were in from people who didn’t fear the LORD. - In Psalm 36 David describes the wicked in graphic terms because they don’t fear the LORD. - Writing to Christians in Rome, Paul describes humanity in general with these words quoted from all over the Old Testament: 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness...

  • Just a thought... 1 March

    Today is the first day of Spring! Yet the atmosphere is dampened with “Wars and rumours of wars” that are happening just as the Lord Jesus said they would in Matthew Chapter 24 after his disciples stopped to admire the permanence of the architecture. Yet if you read that chapter He tells us first: Don’t be deceived: “For many will come in my name, claiming, `I am the Christ,' and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:5 To our 21st Century educated ears, this sounds rather unlikely, but just stop and think: Have you ever seen Stonehenge...

  • Just a thought... 22 Feb

    It should come as no surprise to us that any service of God attracts challenges and opposition. Rejection of our creator is the defining feature of the sinful human condition and therefore any work for the creator is likely to be scorned. Yet as we saw last Sunday, somehow the opposition to Nehemiah and his colleagues seemed to grow fast and God’s people could easily have been knocked off course or worse by its impact. In the New Testament the apostle Paul reminds the Christians in the deeply idolatrous city of Ephesus, where the opposition comes from: “...

  • Just a thought... 15 Feb

    Across the world religious people worship all kinds of gods that are not gods at all. These man-made religions involve followers somehow ‘working’ to pacify the god they believe they are serving. People sincerely follow procedures and ceremonies, work their way through daily rituals, give enormous amounts of money and resources and time, but with no assurance of anything. They ‘do’ religion to try and ‘be’ good enough. We saw last Sunday morning the contrast to this that Nehemiah and his colleagues demonstrated as they worshipped the LORD and it involved grace. Their desire to serve...

  • Just a thought... 8 Feb

    The idea of being loved is deeply appealing! All of us want to be loved. Yet if we’re honest we know very well that we are at times not very loveable. That’s what makes the way the Lord Jesus loves us all the more amazing. As we saw the apostle Paul describe it on Sunday morning from Galatians “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20) As sinners in rebellion against the King of Kings we...

  • Just a thought... 1 Feb

    We’re under pressure from all sorts of things, aren’t we? Stresses of work and family, house maintenance, neighbourhood challenges, national events, international issues – not to mention our own inner selves and health challenges. So often it feels like if it’s not one thing then it’s another – and any pause is just a lull in between storms! Thankfully the Bible, which really is our handbook for life, is all ready to tell us how to respond. The Lord Jesus put such worries in context in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 6:31-34...