Luke 7:11–17 The widow's son is raised from death by Jesus. What a wonderful miracle this is! In this great miracle, we see the love of God, the power of God and the glory of God. (1) Love - "When the Lord saw her, His heart went out to her and He said,'Don't cry'" (Luke …
Continue reading The Love Of God, The Power Of God And The Glory Of God
We live in a world in which many people are trying to grab our attention. There is more interest in making a profit than listening to the prophet. We need to listen to what the prophet says to us: Emmanuel - God with us - has come to us (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). God has come …
Continue reading Out of an old year, into a New Year – with Jesus!
The Psalmist prays, ‘Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord’ (Psalm 143:9). He is not concerned only about his own welfare. He is concerned about the glory of God: ‘For Your Name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life’ (Psalm 143:11). How does God lead us in victory? How is He glorified in our lives? He …
In Zephaniah 3, we have a story of sin, 'Woe to the city of oppressors, rebellious and defiled! She has not obeyed His voice. She has not accepted correction. She has not trusted in the Lord. She has not drawn near to her God’ (Zephaniah 3, verses 1 and 2). We, also, have a story …
(a) ‘We know that our old self was crucified’ (Romans 6:6): What a great thing God has done! He has made you ‘a new creation in Christ’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). (b) ‘Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 6:11): Believe it. This is what the Lord has done: ‘you …
Here are some thoughts on our true freedom in Christ. In his book, Divine Election, Berkouwer places great emphasis on the love of God as the eternal source of salvation. He emphasizes that, in salvation, all the glory belongs to God and not to ourselves. ' ... in Scripture the election of God ... does …
‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’ (Jeremiah 31:3). So often, we have been like ‘the prodigal son’ (Luke 15:11-24). We have walked away from our Father’s House. We have wandered off into ‘the far country’. We feel that we are far from God, yet still He draws …
‘I will look on you with favour’ (Ezekiel 36:9). Through Christ our Saviour, God looks upon us with favour. Here are some words which will help you to rejoice in the ‘wonderful grace of Jesus’ which is ‘greater than all my sin’, the ‘wonderful grace of Jesus’ which ‘reaches me’. ‘Let me introduce you to …
It was ‘a valley of dry bones’ (Ezekiel 37:1-2). Then, the Lord changed everything, ‘I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live’ (Ezekiel 37:5). What a difference the Lord makes! ‘Breathe on me, Breath of God. Fill me with life anew’ (Church Hymnary, 103). What happens when the Spirit of the Lord …
God had redeemed His people. He was with them, and He was about to reveal His saving power in a mighty way (Exodus 14:13-14). There is judgment as well as salvation (Exodus 14:30). Looking to neither the ‘right’ nor the ‘left’, we must look to the Lord (Exodus 14:21-22). Rejoicing in ‘the great work’ He …
The Word of God is spoken - ‘Seek the Lord while He may be found...’ (Isaiah 55:6-7). No one seems to be listening. What are we to do? We must remember God’s promise: ‘My Word will not return to Me empty’ (Isaiah 55:11). We do not see all that God is doing. He is doing …
Hoping for ‘good luck’, some people expect good things to happen to them, all the time! God says, ‘Seek wisdom. Be ready for the hard times’. Wisdom comes from God. He speaks to us with words of wisdom (Proverbs 2:6; Proverbs 8:6-8). Wisdom is not only for ‘kings and rulers, princes and nobles’. It is …
Can... a leopard change its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil" (Jeremiah 13:23). A leopard can't become a lion or a tiger. A sinner can't stop being a sinner. Sinners: that's what we are. Sinners: that's what we always will be. Looking at ourselves, looking at what we are: …
Continue reading Bad News About Ourselves, Good News From God
Life is going well, but we wonder, "Will it all be taken away from me?" We worry about many things, but we need not despair. Jesus is with us. He gives us hope. He assures us that His perfect love casts out our fear (1 John 4:18).
Genesis 49:28-50:26 It was a time of "very great and sorrowful lamentation" (10). Jacob had died (33). Soon, Joseph would be gone (26). God was still there. He had been there in the past (20). He would be there in the future (24-25). Times are hard. We rejoice: ‘The steadfast love of the Lord never …
Continue reading Everything seems to be changing. We trust in God’s unchanging love.
God’s love, God’s power, God’s glory: We see all of this in Jesus Christ, crucified for us, risen for us and coming for us. “The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). His love is stronger than death. Through His powerful love, He is leading us on to eternal glory.
Love for the Lord brings us into fellowship with others who love the Lord. Our faith in the Lord is personal, but it's never private. It's a faith that we share with others. We are supported by other believers, and we give our support to them. Together, we are on a journey. It's the journey …
Continue reading Love for the Lord brings us into fellowship with others.
"O happy day that fixed my choice ... He drew me, and I followed on ... " "Loving Him who first loved me ... " Before our love for the Lord, there is His love for us. It's His love for us that draws out from us our love for Him.
Even in the darkest night, the sun is getting ready to come out again. This is a message for each of us, when we're wondering if there's light at the end of the tunnel. There is! The Lord is there, in life's hard times as well as its happy times.
Let’s sing of God’s great love for us. ‘I will sing of the Lord’s great love for ever; with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness through all generations’(Psalm 89:1). Many years have passed since these words were written by the Psalmist. Many generations have come and gone since Jesus Christ came to our …
"In my distress I called to the Lord, and He answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and You listened to my cry" (Jonah 2:2). What are we to do when the going gets tough? We've heard the saying, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going.' We wonder …
God loves us. He comes to us. He calls us to come to Him. The call of Samuel is a vivid example of what God can do in the lives of children. Samuel’s early response to God set in motion a whole process of events leading Samuel to become ‘a prophet of the Lord’ through …
In the beginning, there is love, eternal love, the love of God. ‘Genesis’ means ‘beginning’. These opening verses challenge us to get our priorities right – (a) The priority of God (Genesis 1:1). God comes first. Before anyone else is mentioned, He is there. (b) The priority of God’s Word (Genesis 1:3). God is the …
God reveals Himself in creation and Scripture. He speaks through His created world. He speaks through His written Word. God is always speaking. He is never silent. Through His created world, God is speaking to us, every day and every night. He is showing us His glory (Psalm 19:1-2). He makes us aware of His …
Whenever we speak of God's holiness, we must, also, speak of his love. Holiness shows us where we've gone wrong - but it's love that forgives our sins. Let's thank God that He did not, because of his holiness and our sin, keep his distance from us. He has reached out to us in love. …
Our light can go out. Jesus' light never goes out. This is something we must never forget. It's not about our light. It's about His light. Our feelings tell us one thing. Jesus tells us something else. Who are we to believe: our feelings or Jesus, our Saviour? We know what our answer should be, …
Continue reading When we feel like the light’s been switched off
Caring leads to sharing. If we care, we will share. Do we care? Let us share.
"… so outstanding is His love…”(Psalm 103:11) "… overwhelming victory is ours…” (Romans 8:37). “The peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). This is the overflowing peace of God – The peace of God in our hearts is an overflow from the God of …
Continue reading Outstanding Love, Overwhelming Victory and Overflowing Peace
If we to think big thoughts about the love of God for us, we must learn to be honest about ourselves. When we are honest about ourselves, we will learn to appreciate how wonderful the Lord's love really is. In Ephesians 2:1, Paul gives us a devastating description of ourselves - "As for you, you …
Let’s think together about looking, listening and learning - looking to the Lord, listening to Him and learning from Him.. When we look to the Lord, what do we see? - We see love. We see Jesus, crucified for us. We know that God loves us. When we listen to the Lord, what do we …
‘Be still, and know that I am God... Shout to God with loud songs of joy’ (Psalm 46:10; 47:2). In our worship, there is to be both quiet trust and loud praise. We read the great words: ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’ (Psalm 46:1). God’s Word brings peace …
We're no longer in the past. We're not yet in the future. We're in the present. What are we to say about our life in the present? Can we understand our life in the present without thinking about our past and our future? We're shaped by our past. We're preparing for our future. What kind …
Isaiah 48:1-22 ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go’ (Isaiah 48:17). God knows what is best for us. He helps us to say, ‘As for God, His way is perfect’ (Job 23:10; 2 Samuel 22:31). How does God help …
Continue reading I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you.
They never wear out - God's love, God's power and God's glory. God loves us. His power is at work in us. He's preparing us for his eternal glory - where we will see the fullness of his love and his power. This is our God. This is his salvation. He's the eternal God. His …
We live in a changing world. Everything changes. Nothing remains the same. This is life - as we know it; but what if there's something else, something that's unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable! You may ask the question, "Is such a thing possible?" In the Bible - in the heart of the Old Testament, there's a …
Some people begin with their own idea of “love” and then say, “That’s what God is like.” They may dip into the Bible, reading their favourite passages. They will not take the trouble and make the time for reading the whole Bible. They say, “Why bother putting a lot of time and effort into studying …
Lord, we rejoice in Your ‘constant love’. This is our ‘comfort’ - You keep on loving us no matter what’s going on in our lives. We may be going through really hard times - ‘Men persecute me with lies... They have almost succeeded in killing me’. There’s one thing that never changes - Your ‘constant …
Exodus 34:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 Exodus 34:6 invites us to focus our attention on the Lord our God - The Lord is the compassionate and gracious God. - The Lord is the God who is slow to anger. - The Lord is the God who is abounding in love and faithfulness. Here, in this verse, …
Continue reading The Lord loves us – and He calls us to love Him and love one another.
When the love of God reaches us, we step out of our darkness and into His light. It's Jesus - the light of the world - who shows us how much God loves us (John 8:12). When the light is switched off, it doesn't do us any good. When it's switched on, the love of …
The love of God is eternal love. It's the love of the eternal God. His love comes to us from before the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4). It takes us on to beyond the end. Sometimes, when our heads go down, we think, "This the end. I can go on no longer." When, in love, …
Here, we pick up on the words of Genesis 7:16 - ‘the Lord closed the door behind them’. What was going on outside of the ark is contrasted with the haven of salvation inside the ark. What was it that made the ark a place of salvation? - The Lord. What is it that makes …
We stand between the past and the future. What kind of people will we be as we move out of our past and into God's future? God calls us to be His people. He calls us to do His work. Let us commit ourselves to being His people and doing His work. Sometimes, in God’s …
Where do we see Jesus, and hear Him speaking to us? Does this only happen when we’re at Church or when we're reading the Bible? Come to Church, read your Bible, and look for Jesus everywhere you go. He’ll give you glimpses of His love! “Open our eyes, Lord, We want to see Jesus … …
Continue reading Where do we see Jesus – and hear Him speaking to us?
Jesus was making His way to Jerusalem (Luke 13:22). This was the place where He was to be crucified. In the cross of Christ, we see both the hatred of men and the love of God (Luke 13:34-35). (1) In Jerusalem, there had been human hatred directed against the prophets – “you who kill the …
Continue reading God loves us … In love, He is waiting for our response of love.
Jesus tells us a story of God’s love. Jesus is the Story of God’s love. In the preaching of God’s Word – the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), we have a story told By Jesus. It’s a story of God’s love. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we have the Story of …
‘Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore’ (Psalm 16:11). In this earthly life, there are many difficulties. For all of God’s people, there is something better still to come. We must look not only at the things which …
What are we to say about Barth the preacher? Surely, J. S. Stewart has described him well in these words of commendation: “this Colossus of a theologian is basically concerned with simple things… no one reading Barth can have any doubt… (about his) single-hearted devotion to Christ” (Prayer and Preaching, 7, from ‘Preface’ by J. …
Psalm 136:1-26 ‘His love endures for ever’. This is the great message contained in every single verse of this Psalm. It’s a message worth repeating, over and over again! God’s love is an everlasting love: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love’ (Jeremiah 31:3). God’s love is an unfailing love: ‘My unfailing love for …
Continue reading God’s Eternal Love – In the end, there will be love, eternal love, the love of God.
God’s great love for us: it reaches us in our sin, and it changes us.
As we approach the Lord's Table, let's think about two verses of Scripture. "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler" (Psalm 91:3). The first of these …
Continue reading Approaching the Lord’s Table: Forgiveness, Victory, Faith, God’s Word, God’s Love
In the beginning, there is love, eternal love, the love of God. ‘Genesis’ means ‘beginning’. These opening verses challenge us to get our priorities right – (a) The priority of God (Genesis 1:1). God comes first. Before anyone else is mentioned, He is there. (b) The priority of God’s Word (Genesis 1:3). God is the …
Psalms 89:38-90:17 ‘Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations… From everlasting to everlasting, You are God’(Psalm 90:1-2). The Bible begins with the words, ‘In the beginning, God…’ (Genesis 1:1). Before the world began, there was God, ‘the eternal God.’ He is ‘the high and exalted One’. He is the God ‘who inhabits …
Continue reading The eternal God, His everlasting love and His gift of eternal life
May God help us to feel for the lost, to look upon them with His love, to long for them to be saved.
Let’s think about God’s love, God’s Word and God’s Son. * God’s love is unchanged, unchanging and unchangeable. We read in the Bible about God’s love. Is this just something from the ancient past? Is it for us? The Bible speaks to us from the ancient past, but it’s not to be left in the …
The resurrection declares Christ’s victory over evil, the triumph of His love. There is no need for fear: ‘He has risen’- His ‘perfect love casts out fear’ (Matthew 28:5-6; 1 John 4:18). There has to be a new beginning in faith. First, there was a new beginning ‘in fact - Christ has been raised from …
Jesus was speaking to men who practised a very high-brow kind of religion. As far as they were concerned, they did all the right things. They regarded themselves as the people of God. From this high vantage-point of religious observance, these men became proud and arrogant. They looked down on others. Rather than looking deeply …
"I have always been mindful of Your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on Your faithfulness" (Psalm 26:3). Have we always been mindful of God's unfailing love? Have we always trusted in His faithfulness? We know the answer as soon as we ask the question. Often, we have failed the Lord - but He …
Continue reading Often, we have failed the Lord – but He has never failed us.
God is calling us to walk in the light with Him. * He’s calling us to walk with Him in the light of His love. Go back to Genesis 1:3 – “Let there be light, and there was light.” Go back beyond the created light. Go back to the eternal God – “In the beginning, …
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