Matthew 15-17

The Lord Jesus Christ stood in stark contrast to the religious leaders of His day. They were false hypocrites. He was, in reality, the Christ, the Son of the living God (16:16). In chapter 17, Jesus is preparing His disciples for the events that lay ahead of Him: His death and resurrection. We must not …

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Here, Peter is speaking about his Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is exalting the name of Jesus. This is what we must do. We must exalt the name …

Matthew 18-20

Jesus teaches us how we are to relate to God. He, also, teaches us how we are to relate to one another. Our relationship with God shapes our relationship with others. We, who love God, are to show our love for God in our love for others (chapter 18). Our relationship with God, also, shapes …

God’s Written Word – And His Living Word

"The Holy Scriptures are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). In the Bible, we have God's written Word. The Bible points us to Christ. He is God's living Word - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …

Christ Will Come Again – ‘With Power And Great Glory’. ‘Come, Lord Jesus.’

Zechariah 9:1-10:12 '...See your King comes to you... gentle and riding on a donkey...’(9:9). These words point us to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Jesus is our King. Jesus comes to us. How are we to welcome our King? We are to welcome Him with joyful praise - ‘Blessed is He who comes in …

What’s the story of your life?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). As we make our way through life, there are two stories that are being told. They are two very different stories. There's the …

A Faraway God?

“O my God, do not be so distant from me. Come quickly to help me, O Lord, my Saviour” (Psalm 38:22). Is God a faraway God? If we think of God in this way, we’ve missed the point. We don’t just ask Him to come to us. We thank Him that He has come to …

Help us, Lord, to hear Your Word, to speak Your Word, and to live Your Word.

Help us, Lord, to hear Your Word, to speak Your Word, and to live Your Word. You speak to us. Are we listening? There are people who need to hear Your Word. Do we fail them? Do we keep Your Word to ourselves? the world is watching us. Are we living for You? In our hearing, …

The Solid Rock

“Have you never read the Scripture passage: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The Lord has done this, and it is amazing for us to see’?” (Mark 12:10-11). Jesus is the Cornerstone of our faith. We build on Him, the solid Rock. He’s the sure Foundation. He died for us. He …

Lord, You call us to belong to You.

Lord, You call us to belong to You. This is wonderful. It makes our hearts glad. You also call us to serve You. We're not to remain what we were before we became Your redeemed people. We're to be renewed - "beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed into His likeness from …

Let Your Light Shine.

"The Light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it" (John 1:5). Jesus is the Light of the world. We are to be like John, who said, "Make the way for the Lord straight" (John 1:23). Like John, we are to say, "Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away …

All The Days Of Our Life

“If you buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing” (Exodus 21:2). In the seventh year, the slave could choose to leave his master. The slave was no longer under a legal requirement to remain in the service of his master. In the …

Despite our many sins, the mercy and grace of Christ reaches us.

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews …

Christ’s love for us comes before our love for him.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last (John 15:16). When we think about our own decision to believe in Christ and follow him, let us not think that this is the first thing we must say about our faith …

Make Sure That Your Trust Is In Christ. He Will Never Fail You.

Luke 13:1-35 Jesus stresses the need for both repentance (1-5) and the fruits of repentance (6-9). God’s Word, planted in our hearts at conversion, is to bear fruit. This requires continual repentance and faith (Colossians 2:6; Galatians 3:1-5). Don’t put it off till tomorrow! Today is ‘the day of salvation’. Don’t ‘neglect’ God’s ‘great salvation’(15-16; …

God is with us – even when things seem to be going from bad to worse!

"The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it" (Exodus 7:5). For the people of Israel, the land of Egypt was their land of oppression. Soon, they would be delivered from their oppressors. God had something better planned for them. …

Searching the Scriptures and finding the Saviour

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse …

One Spirit, one Lord and one God and Father of all

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when …

Getting to know what Jesus is like and praying that we will become more like him

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of …

God’s Word still speaks to us (70): “Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, …

Where would we be without the love of God?

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had …

Matthew 21-22

Jesus' parables of the Kingdom were a significant part of His ministry. It is still true today that there are those who, when they hear God's Word, see what it's all about, while there are others who miss the point altogether. We should not be discouraged because some do not believe, but we should give …

Less leaning on our own understanding and more trusting in the Lord

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought …

Mark 8-9

In these chapters, we see Jesus, looking ahead to His death and resurrection. On two occasions, He speaks to His disciples of these events, which lay ahead of Him. Following the first prophecy, Jesus emphasizes taht the way of the cross is the way of discipleship (chapter 8).

What does it mean to believe in God?

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4). There are many people who say that they believe in God, but when they're asked …

God’s Word still speaks to us (69): Receiving Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, and bringing others to him

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My …

Mark 10-11

There is, in chapter 10, a third prophecy concerning Jesus' death and resurrection. Jesus, also, speaks of "the cup", which He must drink. It is "the cup" of our condemnation. He drinks from this cup so that we might drink from the cup of His salvation. Jesus enters Jerusalem (chapter 11). He is moving steadfastly …

What about God? What about what he says to us?

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path (Psalm 119:105). Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens (Psalm 119:89). We live in a world of "this is what I think." What about God? What about what he says to us? What about Christ? What about what he says …

Mark 12-13

There is a seriousness about Jesus' teaching, as He speaks of His first coming, in the parable of the wicked tenants, in chapter 12, and His second coming, in chapter 13. The Christ, who was rejected by men, has become "the keystone" (chapter 12). This will be clearly seen when He comes "in the clouds …

God is always greater than all our words about him.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3, verses …

How are we to win people for Christ? Don’t forget the working of the Holy Spirit.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). How are we to win people for Christ? Are we to present them with arguments for the …

Mark 14-16

This is the story of Jesus. There are, however, sub-stories within it. There is the sadness of Peter and the tragedy of Judas. Supremely, however, there is the assurance of Jesus, as he faces the cross with confidence in God. The story of Jesus is a story of apparent defeat (the crucifixion), which turns out …

Luke 1

The stories of Jesus and John are blended together. John's whole purpose in life was bound up with Jesus. He was the forerunner, the herald of Christ. The supreme goal of his life was to be a witness to Christ, pointing away from himslef to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Impossible?

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him (Acts 2:24). This turns the world's way of thinking on its head. It's the exact opposite of what the world says to us. The world tells us that people don't …

Luke 2-3

The stories of Jesus and John continue to be blended together. This blending together of John's ligfe with Jesus' life is, surely, a lesson for us and pattern for our lives. We must never forget that "our life is hid with Christ in God." Our witness to this hidden (or inner) life must not, however, …

Enlightenment?

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The word, "enlightenment", means different things to different people. To some people, it has to do with breaking free from God. For other people, it …

Luke 4-5

Following His baptism, Jesus faces the devil. This is the beginning of Jesus' ministry. It is, also, the pattern of His ministry: conflict with the devil. Jesus announced that He had come as the fulfilment of prophecy. There was immediate opposition from His enemies. This opposition was more than merely human: 'The spirit of an …

There’s a difference between life under the sun and life in the Son.

There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17). There's a difference between life "under the sun" and life in the Son. It's important that we understand this difference. Life under the sun: this is life, …

Miracles?

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31). Some people will tell us that talk of miracles is a …

Luke 6-7

The ministry of the Lord Jesus was a ministry of both words and actions. The mighty miracles of our Lord demonstrate the truth of His Word. He is more than a prophet. He is "much more than a prophet." He is the One who "forgives sins." He is the Saviour, who says to the believer, …

Revelation or discovery?

The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel" (Ezekiel 1:3). The word of the Lord that came to Hosea (Hosea 1:1). The word of the Lord that came to Joel (Joel 1:1). The Spirit of the Lord is on me (Luke 4:18). I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive …

Luke 8-9

Jesus emphasizes the importance of hearing the Word of God and putting it into practice, yielding a harvest through perseverance. If we are to be true followers of Jesus, we must take up the cross daily. It is in this way, the way of the cross, that the glory of the Lord shines into our …

God’s Word still speaks to us (68): “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or …

Luke 10-11

It is, surely, significant that the parable of the good Samaritan and the story of Martha and Mart are set alongside each other. Devotion to the Lord and His Word is to be accompanied by real love for our neighbour. The lamp of outr life is to be let by by God's Word and held …

Luke 12-13

Jesus' teaching calls for our response. We dare not live for this world, once Christ has laid His claim on our lives. We dare not remain satisfied with an unfruitful life, once Christ has called us to a life of fruitfulness.

Remembering the Lord, rejoicing in Him and looking forward to His return

Easter Sunday Evening: Isaiah 25:6-9; Psalm 114; 1 Corinthians 5:6b-8; Luke 24:13-49 Remembering the Lord, rejoicing in Him and looking forward to His return ‘O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your Name... You have done marvellous things’ (Isaiah 25:1). We remember what God has done for us. He sent …

Luke 14-16

To belong to Christ carries with it an impetus to reach duty for Him. In this, we are to follow our Lord who "welcomed sinners." Jesus is the Saviour who has "come to seek and to save the lost." He has come to bring the prodigals back to the Father. If we are following Him, …

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1). The Psalmist's words reach out to us, down through the centuries. They call us to put our faith in the Lord. They call us to walk in the light of the Lord. They …

Luke 17-18

The Kingdom of God is coming. Jesus is coming again. We must be ready for Him. We must live for the world to come, not as Pharisees, but as those who have received grace, those who now count it as our greatest privilege to live for the Lord Jesus Christ.

God’s unfailing love and his great salvation

May your unfailing love come to me, Lord, your salvation, according to your promise (Psalm 119:41). We come to this prayer of the Psalmist, and we are reminded of God's unfailing love. We are reminded of God's great salvation. How often and how easily we forget God's words of love, his words of salvation. We look at …

May God help us to keep our hearts open to his words of unfailing love and comfort.

May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant (Psalm 119:76). What does the Word of the Lord have to say to us? So much time has passed since its words were written. Can we really expect very much from reading the words of Jesus? Can we hope to learn much from …

Luke 21-22

In chapter 21, Jesus warns His disciples of the dangers which lie ahead of them. He speaks to them of His second coming. He calls on them to be ever alert. In chapter 22m wew are tken more deeply into the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. The suffering of Jesus is more than the …

God’s Word still speaks to us (67): Thanking God for his love for us, and learning to love God and love our neighbour

What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8). Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’... Love your neighbour as yourself (Mark 12:30-31). "To act justly and …

John 1-3

In the opening chapter, Jesus is described as both "the Word" (of God) and "the Lamb of God." We see Jesus active in both creation and salvation. In the cleansing of the Temple, we see Christ's holiness. We see Christ as the supreme demonstration of God's love: "God so loved the world that He gave …

Something very special

But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation (Psalm 13:5). God loves us, and he saves us. How are we to respond to the Lord's unfailing love? We are to trust in his unfailing love. We are to rejoice in his salvation. What are we to say about our trusting, and what …

John 4-5

We see the Lord's ministry of love. He brings the Samaritan woman out of her bondage. He removes her guilt. He brings her into the joy of salvation. The Lord brings hope where there seems to be no hope. This hope shines through in His signs of the Kingdom of love. This hope is eternal. …

God’s Word still speaks to us (66): The ancient paths” and “a new thing”

Ask for the ancient paths (Jeremiah 6:16). See, I am doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:19). God's people need to be pointed back to the Scriptures, and they also need to be reminded that God is leading them on to his future. We need to be reminded of both the Word of God and the …

Studying the Word of God

Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15). Study: what does it mean to study the word of God? What about hearing and reading the Word of God? When we hear the Word of God, we must accept …

John 6-8

Jesus is the bread of life (chapter 6). He is the kiving water (chapter 7). As we feed on the Lord Jesus Christ, His Word brings life: "The words I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life." Through His Word, we are brought into the life of the indwelling Spirit. Jesus is …

The Holy Spirit is our teacher.

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because …