Victory BGC is a church in Bonifacio Global City that exists to honor God and make disciples. It is a member of Victory Philippines and under Every Nation Churches and Ministries.
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Minder om Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion
Sermons by Bishop Mosa Sono, Presiding Bishop of Grace Bible Church. Sermons by other Grace Bible Church Pastors and Guest speakers are available on the Grace Bible Church Podcast. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/GBCPodcast)
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Insights into the weekly Torah portion
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Rabbi Shalom Rosner on The Parsha
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The Faith Today Podcast-Conversation inspired by Canada's Christian magazine. The podcast features interviews with Canadian Christians as they sort through the pressing issues of the day and topics like spiritual growth and health, other religions, religious freedom, vocation, and tough questions of faith and living in contemporary society.
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Hey, it’s Mal 🔮 Let’s talk about astrology, tarot, spirituality, religion and everything else 💫
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Follow the audio shiurim, lectures and speeches of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, global religious leader, philosopher, author of over 30 books and moral voice for our time. Rabbi Sacks served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth between September 1991 and September 2013. A full biography - together with an extensive online archive of Rabbi Sacks' work - is available at www.rabbisacks.org or you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @rabbisacks.
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Series exploring the place and nature of faith in today's world
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Welcome to the Your Move with Andy Stanley podcast, where we help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. Your Move provides practical content on life topics like personal development, relationships, work, leadership, faith, and more. It’s simple. We provide the content and recommend next steps; then it's Your Move! Visit www.yourmove.is for more content to watch, listen to, and read along with resources.
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Live recordings of the sermons preached at our regular services here at Aspire Church, Manchester UK. For more information visit our website at http://www.aspirechurch.co.uk or email info@aspirechurch.co.uk
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Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion
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Bring some Spirit-filled peace into your hectic schedule every weekday morning with this new Daily Devotional.
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Indhold leveret af Premier. Alt podcastindhold inklusive episoder, grafik og podcastbeskrivelser uploades og leveres direkte af Premier eller deres podcastplatformspartner. Hvis du mener, at nogen bruger dit ophavsretligt beskyttede værk uden din tilladelse, kan du følge processen beskrevet her https://da.player.fm/legal.
Bring some Spirit-filled peace into your hectic schedule every weekday morning with this new Daily Devotional.
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Isaiah 2:2-3 In the last days, the mountain of the LORD’s house will be the highest of all…people from all over the world will stream there to worship. People from all nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” Isaiah 1 makes for scary reading. God is hopping mad at the unfaithfulness of his people. They have comprehensively let him down, and they are paying a terrible price for it. God’s blunt language is enough to make anyone blush as he comments: “See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers. Once like pure silver, you have become like worthless slag” (Isaiah 1:21-22). It was a very grim predicament, but God still had a vision for how things could be in the future. The vision in Isaiah 2 focuses on Jerusalem as the place which would transform everything. It would be the focus of peace and unity, and people would stream there from all over the world. Yes, streams can flow uphill when God is at work! In Jerusalem, there would be teaching, and the result would be that people would walk in God’s ways – the teaching would lead to action. There is nothing more dangerous than to study the Bible and to reflect on God without asking the question: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” As I write these reflections, I often wonder what happens as a result. My prayer is that God will use them to help you to make really good decisions that will enable you to live more effectively for him. In his letter, James talks about the importance of not merely hearing the word, but doing it. If you don’t do what God’s word says, he observes, “you are only fooling yourselves” (James 1:22). He suggests that it would be like glancing in a mirror and immediately forgetting what you look like. I wonder what God is saying to you at the moment and how his teaching is helping you to walk in his ways. No pressure, but it is always great to hear about specific ways in which God is leading people, so always feel free to let me know at jonathan.edwards@premier.org.uk Question Why do you think it is so easy to listen to God’s word and do nothing about it? Prayer Lord God, give me your strength to walk in your ways, however tough it might be. Amen…
Proverbs 29:23 Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honour. William Hazlitt, the brilliant 19th-century writer, put his finger on the problem with pride when he observed that it “erects a little kingdom of its own, and acts as sovereign in it”. When we are puffed up with pride, we take total charge and push God out, together with everyone else. The proud person might look impressive for a while but, as the writer of Proverbs observes, sooner or later they end in humiliation. The alternative way is humility. This is the key to all of God’s blessings, so we need to be absolutely clear what it is. The trouble with the word humility is that we often confuse it with false humility, which is horribly unattractive. Anyone who claims to be humble is almost certainly false. The humble person doesn’t expend energy thinking about themselves, and if they were ever identified as being humble, they would deny it. True humility is not about denying that we have gifts and abilities, but having a readiness to admit that we have failings and shortcomings. The disciples were constantly seeking to push themselves forward. They were interested in who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In response, Jesus could have given them a lecture about the virtues of humility, but instead he called a little child and placed him in front of them. He said: “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 18:3-4). Jesus’ words couldn’t be clearer. Humility is the only way to make progress in the Christian life. Only when we acknowledge that Jesus is the King of our lives will we find his peace, love and joy. Building our own little empire may look clever for a while, but it is bound to end in disaster. Question How do you think you could grow in humility? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge you as the Lord of my life. Help me constantly to decrease that you may increase. Amen…
Proverbs 29:20 There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking. The writer of Proverbs has a lot to say about fools. They live dangerously and destructively, and he does everything he can to encourage his readers to avoid foolishness and to live a life of wisdom. When he declares that there is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking, he is clearly describing the most terrible disaster, and that’s because words are so powerful. They can be powerful to build, but they can also be devastatingly destructive when used in the wrong way. So, what thinking should we do before speaking? I love the mnemonic T-H-I-N-K. Here are five excellent tests to apply to anything that you say. T stands for True. So much damage is caused in relationships and organisations because untrue things are said. Gossip feeds off this. A statement might be partly true but give a misleading impression, and when it is passed on a number of times, it bears no relationship to the real situation. If you are not absolutely sure that something is true, it is better to keep quiet. H stands for Helpful. It can be very tempting to share information simply to show that you know it, but it is better to be quiet if what you are saying won’t help. I stands for Inspiring. Your words need to have a positive effect and leave people encouraged and strengthened. N stands for Necessary. For some of us, when we start talking, it can be difficult to stop, and we end up sharing half formed thoughts that are totally unnecessary and are in danger of fuelling gossip. K stands for Kind. If our words are not kind, then they should never have been spoken. We won’t go through all those five steps every time we speak, but I encourage you to start making use of this simple guide. It may help to slow down our speaking and increase our thinking time. Question Which of the five steps is most challenging and important for you to reflect upon? Prayer Loving God, thank you for the privilege of speaking. Help me to become increasingly wise in the way in which I speak. Amen…
Proverbs 29:11 Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. I love the down-to-earth realism of the Bible. It meets us where we are and engages in the sharp reality of our lives. We all have very different anger thresholds. Some people rarely get angry, and others can get steamed up about the most minor issues. Wherever you are on the scale of anger, we all need to know what to do with it. The writer of Proverbs, in his typically blunt way, declares that fools let it all out and wise people quietly hold it back. Valuable and wise as the book of Proverbs is, its short, pithy sayings need unpacking. It would, for example, be a mistake to lump all anger together. Some anger is good. We often hear about God’s anger. In his holiness, he gets incredibly angry about sin. Isaiah wrote of the Day of the Lord when God would reveal his “fury and fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:9) and Jesus expressed anger at the temple being overrun by moneychangers and those who were selling animals and birds for sacrifice. There is clearly a place for righteous anger, and the Bible offers us many illustrations of it. However, anger is often completely unrighteous. We may be angry because we have failed to get our own way, or we didn’t like the way someone spoke to us. The apostle Paul was clearly well aware of the issue of anger when he wrote: “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). This is extremely wise advice. The greatest danger is when we allow our anger to carry on unchecked, and this can so easily happen. Anger is sometimes allowed to grow for months or even years, and it starts to define a person’s life. Knowing how to control anger is crucial for all of us, so we all need to seek God’s strength and wisdom to do so. Question How do you control your anger? Prayer Lord God, thank you that you understand me completely. I invite you to help me to control my anger. Amen…
Proverbs 28:27 Whoever gives to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to poverty will be cursed. The writer of Proverbs often refers to poverty. In his society, there was no welfare state, so poverty was an ever-present and terrible threat. If their family was unable to give support, a person could become totally destitute. Begging would be the only option. It’s not surprising that many proverbs speak of the vital importance of giving to the poor, and in chapter 19 the writer speaks of the spiritual significance of such giving. He writes: “If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD – and he will repay you” (Proverbs 19:17). God loves to see people who are generous to the poor, and this theme runs through the whole Bible, from the law of Moses to the sharp and down-to-earth wisdom of the letter of James. God expects us to care for the poor and will reward those who do so. The reference to those who close their eyes to poverty strikes me with particular force. The writer bluntly states that they will be cursed. God is clearly calling us to open our eyes to the reality of poverty, uncomfortable as that may be. Poverty is never pleasant, and it is very easy for those who are financially secure to get on with their comfortable lives in blissful ignorance of those who are struggling through financial need. The statistics are terrifying. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has been working for over a century to study the causes of poverty in the UK. It believes that more than 20 per cent of the population lives in poverty, and this affects every part of people’s lives – their children’s education, their health, their job prospects, their life span – everything. It is particularly painful to note that more than half of those who live in poverty are disabled or live in a family with someone who is disabled. This is a crisis which demands a response from all of us. Question How aware are you of poverty in your area, and what can you do to help? Prayer Loving God, thank you for all the resources you have given me. Help me to be increasingly generous in sharing them with others, especially the poor. Amen…
Proverbs 28:26 Those who trust their own insight are foolish, but anyone who walks in wisdom is safe. The book of Proverbs has a great deal to say about fools. Time and again, the writer notes how stupid, ignorant and destructive they are. Many of his observations would be incredibly funny if they weren’t so serious and sad. In Proverbs 26, he wrote: “A proverb in the mouth of a fool is as useless as a paralysed leg…like a thorny branch brandished by a drunk” and “an employer who hires a fool…is like an archer who shoots at random” (Proverbs 26:7,9 and 10). His powerful descriptions of foolishness are, of course, his springboard for commending the importance of wisdom. Everything in life depends on the acquisition of wisdom, which leads to security, loving relationships, success and happiness. The writer is absolutely clear that the only one who can give wisdom is God himself. He teaches us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is only by worshipping God and building a life based on him that we can acquire true wisdom, and because wisdom relies upon God, we need to live our lives in continual humility, recognising our total dependence on him. The moment we conclude that we are wise, we are in danger. In chapter 8, the writer represents wisdom as a woman who longs to share her wisdom with others, and the chapter concludes with a picture of the person who eagerly desires her wisdom. She says: “Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates, waiting for me outside my home! For whoever finds me finds life” (Proverbs 8:34-35). Nobody wants to be a fool, but we are all bound to end up being foolish unless we persistently and humbly seek God’s wisdom. We need to keep James’ encouraging advice in mind: “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you” (James 1:5). Question In what aspect of your life are you particularly aware of your need for God’s wisdom? Prayer Lord God, forgive me for my foolishness and help me, day by day, to seek your wisdom. Amen…
Proverbs 28:23 In the end, people appreciate honest criticism far more than flattery. The first three words are crucial in this verse! At first, probably all of us would rather be overwhelmed by flattery than offered criticism. We all want to be loved and to have people tell us how wonderful we are. However, in the end, honest criticism is far more valuable, and we should be forever grateful for those words of wisdom that give us insight and enable us to live better lives. When I learned to drive, my driving instructor had a background in training police drivers and was very demanding. At the time, his words were strong and could even sound rather harsh, but I haven’t forgotten them and, as I look back now, I am so grateful for the guidance he gave. If he had showered me with unqualified praise, it wouldn’t have been any help to me or other road users! The problem with flattery is that it is like candy floss: it has no substance. Edmund Burke, the 18th-century politician, said: “Flattery corrupts both the receiver and giver.” Its power to corrupt lies in the fact that it’s a distortion of the truth. It is therefore deeply misleading, and no relationship that is built on it could be secure. The beauty of well-judged and loving criticism is that it fearlessly offers the truth but does so with the single intention of building the other person up. The apostle Paul sums this up best when he talks about speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). Truth often has sharp edges and it can be difficult both to receive and to share, but when our words have been baptised in love, even the sharpest observations will be a blessing. Question What was the last piece of honest criticism that you received, and how did it affect you? When did you last have enough courage and love to share honest criticism with others? Prayer Loving God, teach me to love other people so much that I will be willing to share the truth with them, and help me always to receive criticism from others with patience and grace. Amen…
Proverbs 28:13 People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. Sin always tries to hide itself. It’s a pathetic process because it is always bound to fail. Sooner or later, the sin will be revealed. Given that we are all sinners and regularly do things that are well short of perfection, we all need to know what to do when we sin. The writer is clear that the best approach is to come clean. When we admit that we have done wrong and turn away from our sins, we will find God’s mercy. In Psalm 32, King David reflected on how grim life was when he refused to confess his sin to God. He said: “My body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (Psalm 32:3-4). The evil one will always try to persuade us that sin is fun and that we will easily be able to get away with it, but the truth is different. It is a burden that is difficult to carry and leads to guilt, shame and more bad decisions. The only way to get free from sin is to confess it and to turn to face in a new direction. That was John’s message in his letter when he addressed people who said that they had no sin. He called them liars. Then, he declared the wonderful news that if we confess our sins, the Lord will forgive our sins and cleanse us from everything that is wrong (1 John 1:8-9). That’s the good news that we need to take with us into each day. As we live for God, we hope and pray that we will sin less and less, but when we trip up, if we confess our sins and ask for God’s forgiveness, we can be sure that we are forgiven. There is no more wonderful feeling than to know that the burden of sin has rolled away. Question What do you find to be the most helpful way of confessing your sins to God? Prayer Thank you, Lord, that you are so ready to forgive my sins. Help me never to take this amazing gift for granted. Amen…
Proverbs 28:6 Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and rich. This is such a typical proverb. It’s punchy, it’s brief and it contains a massive amount of wisdom. Honesty is always the best policy. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America, said: “Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.” It’s not surprising that the book of Proverbs has much to say about honesty. It speaks often of the importance of being reliable, telling the truth and never being deceitful. The writer saw these as crucial qualities of a godly person and was convinced that this was the most wonderful life to live. He wrote: “The life of the godly is full of light and joy” (Proverbs 13:9). Because God loves honesty, he detests dishonesty. The prophets often delivered messages of God’s hatred of those who twisted the truth, especially when they did so to exploit the poor and vulnerable. The prophet Amos described those who couldn’t wait for the Sabbath to come to an end so that they could get back to their daily work of cheating the helpless. He said: “You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor” (Amos 8:5-6). It’s a terrible picture, but the situation was actually even worse. When the people who had been defrauded complained, they would go to the judges who were, themselves, corrupt. They were totally stitched up by a completely dishonest system. God’s words of judgement on them couldn’t have been stronger. Dishonesty continues to be a terrible feature of life. Fraud is very big business. It accounts for about 15 per cent of all recorded crime and is calculated to cause losses of about £190bn each year. That’s similar to the amount that we spend on the whole of the National Health Service. It’s a terrible crime, and so is all dishonesty, whatever shape it takes. It will always be better to be poor than to be dishonest. Question In what form do you come up against dishonesty, and how do you deal with it? Prayer Lord God, help me to love the truth more and more, and to protect those who are the victims of dishonesty. Amen…
Proverbs 28:5 Evil people don’t understand justice, but those who follow the LORD understand completely. The Bible has a great deal to say about justice. The reason for that is clear. God is a God of justice, so he wants us to share his passion. The writer of Proverbs is characteristically blunt on the subject. Evil people, he claims, just don’t get it. They don’t mind bending or breaking the rules because they are only concerned about their own selfish interests. They aren’t bothered if there is no justice in the world, so long as they get what they want. It should be a completely different story for those who follow the Lord. Justice should be so important to Christians that they devote their lives to acting justly and encouraging others to do the same, however difficult it may seem. Our society looks very different from that of the writer of Proverbs, but it has always been the case that the weak and marginalised are most likely to be denied justice. The elderly, the disabled, the uneducated, the poor, immigrants and refugees are often the ones least able to argue their case and to find justice. Fighting injustice is hard work, but it is part of our calling as Christians. We dare not leave it to an enthusiastic minority, but so often that’s what happens. It is the business of [itals]every[end itals] Christian to stand up for those who are vulnerable and weak. In his letter, James was very keen to identify what true religion looked like. He had no time for people who didn’t turn their faith into action. He said this: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means looking after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). I don’t know what this will mean for you, but there is no question that God looks to each of us to stand with him in the fight for justice. Question In what way do you need to work for justice in your community? Prayer God of justice, forgive me for my selfishness and for the times that I have overlooked the needs of others. Open my eyes to the ways in which I can help to bring justice to those in need. Amen…
Proverbs 28:2 When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability. Every nation needs good leaders, but the pages of human history show that they have normally been in short supply. The Old Testament offers us a depressing procession of inadequate leaders, occasionally punctuated by one who was godly and able. In the prophecy of Hosea, God summed up the situation when he declared: “Burning like an oven, they consume their leaders. They kill their kings one after another, and no one cries to me for help” (Hosea 7:7). It was a tragic situation and led to centuries of moral rot, to use the colourful language of this proverb. There is plenty of moral rot in our own society. The massive amount of substance abuse, the breakup of families, the prevalence of child abuse, the phenomenal levels of fraud and the huge rise in knife crime would be just a few of indicators of a society that is in a poor way. In such a situation, we need to cry out for the kind of wise and knowledgeable leaders that the writer of Proverbs had in mind. It isn’t good enough for us to join in with the chorus of cynicism and criticism. We can do better than that. Paul encouraged Timothy to pray for those who were in authority “so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2). As we pray for those in authority, we reveal our commitment to them and our willingness to work with them as they seek to make wise and good decisions that will bless our society. In the work I have done with members of Parliament over the years, I know how encouraged and blessed they have been when they have known that churches have been praying for them. We don’t need to agree with their politics in order to pray for them. We simply need to appreciate that they have an authority which ultimately derives from God and recognise our responsibility to support them. It's too easy to bemoan the wickedness of our rotten society. God calls us to allow his Spirit to work through us so that we can help to build a better society. Question In what ways could you encourage your MP in their work? Prayer Loving God, I pray for this country and ask that you will bless our leaders. May they walk in your ways of compassion, truth and justice. Amen…
Proverbs 27:25-27 After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, your sheep will provide wool for clothing, and your goats will provide the price of a field. And you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family and your servant girls. These verses give us a delightful insight into a rural way of life which has a rhythm that those of us who live in towns and cities can totally miss. The life of a farmer is an interesting interplay between God’s provision and sheer hard work. God graciously causes the grass to grow, but there is then a huge amount of work involved in drying it out and making the hay. The grass and hay sustain the sheep and goats who will provide wool and milk to clothe and nourish the family. It’s a wonderful cycle of life, but nobody should have any illusions that it’s a quiet life. Farm work is massively demanding. However far away we may live from a rural life, we all depend upon that relationship between God’s provision and human effort. The reasonably effortless process of purchasing our food, drink and clothes tends to obscure this, so it is good for us to remind ourselves of both facts. Firstly, we need to give thanks for everything we buy, which, ultimately, has come from God’s hands. It is part of his creation, and although many manufacturing, transportational and organisational processes might have intervened between the original raw materials and our purchase, God is nevertheless the source. Secondly, it is good for us to remember those who have been involved in the frequently very long process by which goods are brought to us. We should thank God for the farmers, fishermen, miners, manufacturers, transporters and retailers and all those who have worked with them to enable us to make our purchases. We are, unavoidably, intimately related to this whole process, so we need to pray that God is honoured and that justice is done to everyone involved in it. Question Why is it important for us to be aware of the way in which our food, drink and resources are produced and brought to us? Prayer Lord God, thank you for all those whose hard work enables me to shop with such ease. Amen…
Proverbs 27:21 Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised. I wonder how you respond when someone praises you. Perhaps you are praised for your excellent work, your sporting skills, your kindness or your reliability. The writer of Proverbs makes the interesting observation that such praise is as critical a test of a person as fire testing precious metals. Praise will expose the kind of person that you really are. There are three things you can do with praise. The first option is to open wide and drink it all in. This is a dangerous path because it is likely to go to your head. It could inflate your opinion of yourself to the point that you become arrogant and unbearable to live with. The second option is to do everything you can to deny the plaudits and suggest that they have got it all wrong. This might sound like a humble approach, but it could easily come across as rude. The best way to handle praise is to acknowledge it gratefully and to use it as an opportunity to review your life and your relationship with the Lord. It could be that the praise will help you to understand where your gifts really are. When I first started preaching, I was a teenager and was totally unsure of myself. The response from the people who heard me preach was crucial, and if they had been negative and critical I probably wouldn’t have preached another sermon. However, their praise has encouraged me to keep doing it! Above all, praise needs to encourage us to look to the one who gave us our gifts in the first place. Any gift, flair or ability we have has come to us as a gift from God, and we need to make sure that he is the one who gets the main credit for anything that we achieve. Question How do you respond when people praise you? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the abilities and strengths that you have given me. Help me never to forget that they have all come to me as a gift from your hands. Amen…
1 John 2:9-10 If anyone claims, “I am living in the light,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is still living in darkness. Anyone who loves a fellow believer is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble. The letters in the New Testament give us a great insight into the life of the early Church. These were exciting years for the Church, but enormous struggles were going on. There were people teaching heresy and others making great claims about themselves whose lives showed that they were a sham. There were the Gnostics, who claimed to have discovered deep mysteries and to have encountered the light, but their lives told a completely different story. So John set out some very clear guidelines to help the believers understand who was truly living for God and who wasn’t. The key test was love. If someone showed true love for their fellow believers, you could be sure that they were living in the light, but those who were showing hatred towards others were walking in the darkness. Even in a church, it isn’t easy to love other people all the time. It might be relatively easy to love our Christian brothers and sisters within the confines of a service of worship, but when you work hard alongside them, it can be a very different story. We all see things somewhat differently from one another, and we choose to do things at different speeds. Some are cautious and careful in their approach, and others are eager to launch into bold new initiatives. Some feel that evangelism should be the church’s priority, and others feel deeply committed to social action. Some love to sing the latest worship songs, and others are much happier with singing hymns. Some are thrilled with the church leaders, and others think that they leave a lot to be desired. I could go on! Churches are filled with a wide variety of people, and loving everyone isn’t always easy, but this is God’s way, and it is the only way to live in the light. Question How do you manage to love people who are very different from you? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for all my Christian brothers and sisters. Please fill me with your love for everyone, especially those who I find most difficult to love. Amen…
1 John 1:8-9 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to God, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. John couldn’t have been more blunt. If we claim to be sinless, we’re lying. Presumably, there were people in John’s day who were saying precisely that. He knew it was such a dangerous point of view that he had to be decisive in his language. We can’t be exactly sure who these people were, but in every age there have been people who have claimed to be perfect. We certainly know that there were gnostic groups around in John’s time who believed that they had special knowledge and were not touched by sin. We are all sinners and need to own up to the fact. We might like to blame our parents, our upbringing, our education, the government or the weather, but, at the end of the day, we must take responsibility and acknowledge that we have sinned. We have deliberately gone our own way and done things that have obstructed our relationship with God and the people around us. Because we are sinners, we will always try to make light of our sin and suggest that we are not as bad as other sinners that we know, but sin is sin, and we need to stop trivialising it. As Jeremy Taylor said: “No sin is small. It is a sin against an infinite God and may have immeasurable consequences. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch.” Sin needn’t have the last word. If we own up and confess our sins to God, he is willing to set us free from them. This is an incredible miracle and couldn’t possibly happen without God. Only he has the power to set us free and send us off on a new journey of life and liberty. Question What do you need to confess to God today? Prayer Lord God, I own up to the fact that I often let you down. Please forgive my sin, fill me with your Spirit and enable me to live a new life with you. Amen…
1 John 1:3-4 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. As a teenager, I developed a great interest in the law, and often visited the local Magistrates’ and Crown Courts. To describe these as eye-opening experiences would be a considerable understatement. Having been brought up in a very loving and protected Christian home, I was learning about a world of which I knew nothing at all. I soon learned how the courts worked, and I recall the way in which the magistrates or judges would insist that witnesses stuck to their own personal memory. The moment witnesses strayed into talking about what they had heard from other people, they were quickly told to get back to their own personal experiences. John knew the importance of sticking to his own personal witness. He’d had the immense privilege of listening to Jesus first-hand and of seeing him respond to the pressures and challenges of everyday life. He knew that Jesus was the source of true life and joy, and he couldn’t wait to share it with other people. Of course, we are not in the same position as John, but we are all witnesses. If we have welcomed Jesus into our lives, we have our own authentic personal account to share with others. It’s wonderful to hear of the love, joy, peace and purpose that Jesus has brought into people’s lives, and to hear of how he has been faithful to them as they have walked through challenging times. Sharing our witness is valuable and important, but it isn’t an end in itself. John was clear that it leads to fellowship. As we share what Jesus has done in our lives, it brings us closer to one another and to the Lord, and the outcome is joy. Who wouldn’t want to be part of something as wonderful as this? Question How would you describe what Jesus has done in your life? Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you for the ways in which you have blessed my life. Help me to become bolder in sharing my witness with others. Amen…
1 John 1:1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. Most of the letters in the New Testament start with a greeting in which the author identifies himself. The only exceptions to this are the letter to the Hebrews and this first letter of John’s. It seems to me that John was so eager to share his message that he didn’t have time for such pleasantries! He wanted everyone to know that Jesus really was the Son of God and that he came and lived a fully human life here on earth. John wrote this letter towards the end of the first century AD, which was about two generations after the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Some people had come up with the theory that Jesus wasn’t really human at all – he merely appeared to be human. John would have none of it. He knew for certain that Jesus really did come to this earth because he had seen him with his own eyes and even touched him. Through the centuries, there has been continuous debate about whether Jesus really was a historical figure. The evidence for Jesus is incredibly strong. We not only have the four Gospels, the earliest of which was probably written within 30 years of Jesus’ ministry, but we also have the letters of the apostle Paul, which were written even earlier. Of course, all these writers were followers of Jesus, so it is important to also look for evidence of Christ’s life from non-Christian sources. Most notable of them was Flavius Josephus, who was a Jew and wrote a history of Judaism in around 93 AD. He made two references to Jesus. About 20 years later, two Roman politicians called Pliny and Tacitus wrote about Jesus. Tacitus recorded that Jesus was executed while Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect in charge of Judaea, and Tiberius was emperor, both of which we know to be historically accurate. Pliny records that when he was governor in northern Turkey, Christians worshipped Christ as a god. Neither of them liked Christians – Pliny writes of their “pig-headed obstinacy” and Tacitus calls their religion a destructive superstition. The fact that Jesus was a real man was desperately important for John, and it still is today. Our salvation depends upon it. Question What encouragement do you draw from the fact that Jesus was a real historical figure? Prayer Loving God, thank you that because of your love for us you sent Jesus Christ to our world. Amen…
Luke 19:26 “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” In this parable, Jesus spoke about servants who had all been entrusted with some money. Two of them managed to multiply the original amount enormously, and the king was thrilled when he discovered this. However, the third servant played it safe – very safe. He hid the money and ensured that he could return it in full to the king. The king was furious and ordered that this preserved money should go to the most successful servant. Jesus’ message is clear: don’t play it safe! If God has given you a gift, use it. If you have a gift of caring, studying, administrating, teaching, healing, praying, writing or whatever it may be, make sure you are using that gift as productively as you possibly can. One day, the Lord will ask you what you have done with the gift, and you must expect a severe response if your answer is that you played it safe and did nothing with it. It’s very tempting for all of us to look at our gifts and think that they don’t amount to much. We can all look at others and reflect that they are so much more gifted than we are, but that isn’t the point. You and I have been given a gift by God and he is looking to us to use it. If you’re not sure what your gift is, let me encourage you to pray about this and then talk with others. Most people who know you well will immediately identify it. I started preaching as a teenager because someone else identified that this was my gift. I would never, ever have put myself forward for this, and I was really nervous when I first did so, but I am so grateful that they identified the gift and encouraged me. Whatever you do, don’t play it safe. Make good use of whatever gift God has given you. Question What’s your gift and how are you going to use it? Prayer Thank you Lord for the generous gifts that you have given to me. Help me to make the most of them. Amen…
Luke 19:5-7 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Everyone loves to be called by name. It is particularly special if you didn’t realise that the person speaking to you knew your name. Clearly, Zacchaeus was not only surprised that Jesus knew his name, but thrilled when he offered to visit his house. This changed everything for Zacchaeus, who realised that he had to turn his life around. The fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners is amazing and wonderful, but it means little until you realise that he is addressing you personally. You matter to God. Incredibly, as Augustine stated long ago, if you had been the only sinner who had ever lived, Jesus would have died for you. As a teenager, I really struggled to believe that I could be that important to God. It seemed so unlikely, but that is precisely the truth that Jesus came to proclaim to the world. That is the good news, and when you accept it for yourself, it cannot fail to turn your life upside down. The crowd didn’t approve of Jesus’ choice. They couldn’t believe that he would go to the home of a notorious sinner. They had assumed that Jesus would choose people who they considered to be respectable, not a tax collector who represented everything that was most appalling and distasteful about their society. However, the good news of Jesus knows no limits. He still comes to sinners of all kinds and personally welcomes them to receive the gift of his salvation. Question If Jesus were walking the streets of your community and looking for a notorious sinner, whose home would he visit? Prayer Lord Jesus, thank you that you call me by name and that, incredibly, you offer me the gift of new life. Amen…
Luke 18:35; 40-43 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind beggar was sitting beside the road…When Jesus heard him, he stopped and ordered that the man be brought to him. As the man came near, Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” he said, “I want to see!” And Jesus said, “All right, receive your sight! Your faith has healed you.” Instantly the man could see, and he followed Jesus, praising God. And all who saw it praised God, too. Jesus knew that he was heading to Jerusalem where he would be killed. Despite what was ahead, he still had time for people, and when he heard a blind man call out, he stopped and gave him his full attention. From the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he had declared that he had come to bring sight to the blind, in fulfilment of Isaiah 61. That didn’t mean he had come to impose his healing – he’d come to offer it, and that’s what he did when he met this blind beggar in Jericho. Jesus never barges into our lives telling us what’s best for us and imposing his will on us. He simply offers himself. On the face of it, it seems strange that Jesus would ask a blind man what he wanted him to do for him. We know nothing of the circumstances of this man, but we might presume that his blindness was connected to his begging. He lived a life of complete vulnerability, so it was surely obvious that he needed to receive his sight. However, Jesus respected him as an individual and let him make the decision. All of us need the loving touch of Jesus on our lives. We need his forgiveness, his peace, his love and his joy. We are all in desperate need of him, but he refuses to impose himself upon us. Today, as Jesus knocks at the door of our lives, he leaves it to us to decide whether we will open it or not. Question Will you open the door to Jesus today? Prayer Loving Lord Jesus, thank you that you offer me your life today. I welcome you and invite you to fill me with your Spirit. Amen…
Luke 18:31-33 Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true. He will be handed over to the Romans, and he will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit upon. They will flog him with a whip and kill him, but on the third day he will rise again.” A few days before Jesus’ death on the cross, he took his disciples to one side and give them a vivid description of what was going to happen. However, incredibly, they didn’t understand a word of it. It was a complete mystery to them, and the coming days were a total shock. They understood that Jesus was an amazing teacher and healer, but they hadn’t yet grasped the true meaning of his life - and didn’t want to think about his death. We live in a society that is equally unaware of the significance of Jesus’ death. This is a great tragedy, and we need to reflect on the ways we can help people to grasp its importance. We should be very glad that, at Easter time, chocolate eggs are still a focus of huge attention. Incredibly, 80 million are sold every year in the UK, along with more than 500 million cream eggs! While Easter eggs aren’t typically a source of deep spiritual enlightenment, they are a clear and powerful image of new life. And, in them, we have been handed the most amazing visual aid to help explain to people the new life that Jesus came to bring, whatever the time of year. Question Thinking of the people you meet each day, how might you be able to help them to understand the true significance of Jesus’ death on the cross? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you were willing to go to the cross out of love for me. Amen…
Luke 18:16-17 Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Jesus continually surprised people, but his reaction to children would have been particularly astonishing to his hearers. Children had no status in law and at best they were regarded as potential adults who needed to be seen but certainly not heard. The disciples were keen to protect their rabbi from the children so he could get on with the serious business of instructing the adults. However, as so often was the case, Jesus turned their thinking upside down. Not only did Jesus welcome the children, but he said they provided the role model for his disciples to follow. What was Jesus getting at? He wasn’t encouraging his followers to be childish. He wanted them to come to him with openness and simple trust. The beauty of children is that they haven’t lived long enough to make life complicated. I’m sure he also wanted to encourage a spirit of adventure in them. I love seeing the delight in children’s eyes when they experience something new. The Christian life is a daily adventure in which God is constantly inviting us to face new challenges and opportunities. Only a childlike attitude will do. Jesus’ words couldn’t have been stronger. Not only were children to be the role model for every Christian disciple, but Jesus declared that if anyone refused to come like a child, they would be denied entry into the kingdom of God. That’s a very blunt message, but he wanted them to know that an arrogant person would never be welcomed by God. It is only as we humble ourselves like children and come to God with empty hands that he is able to bless us. Question What do you most need to learn from the example of children? Prayer Help me, Lord, to become more and more childlike as I trust you in every part of my life. Amen…
Luke 16:10-12 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” We all tend to be impressed by competent people who get things done, but competence isn’t everything. A person’s character is of far greater significance. Indeed, a person who has enormous competence but who has a bad character is very dangerous, and their activity is likely to lead to disaster sooner or later. Jesus’ words are wise ones and we need to listen to them carefully. Faithfulness is a key quality, and if someone has proved unable to be faithful in one area of life, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were unfaithful in other areas as well. If someone shows dishonesty in a trivial matter, it should come as no surprise if they are dishonest on a bigger scale as well. Our core character will determine how we live our lives, whether the issue is large or small or involves our family, business or church. This all emphasises the importance of continually growing our Christian character. As we allow the Holy Spirit to direct our lives, our character will gradually change so that his fruit becomes increasingly evident in our lives – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This fruit is amazing because it will last. It isn’t like normal fruit, which has a very short shelf life. Impressed as we may be by competent people, we all need to long for the amazing fruit of the Holy Spirit, which God loves to grow in our lives. Question In what ways are you seeking to grow the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Prayer Loving God, help me grow closer to you every day and welcome the changes that you are bringing about in my life by your Holy Spirit. Amen…
Luke 15:20-21 “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’” Of all the stories that Jesus told, the parable of the prodigal son is the most famous, and it takes us to the heart of the good news. The son was a complete embarrassment. Can you think of anything worse than a son asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive? He then, predictably, went off and squandered the money and ended up stony broke. He was so desperate that all he could do was find a job feeding pigs, and for a Jew, you couldn’t imagine a worse job – they were banned from eating pork. The people would have listened to Jesus with rapt attention, but when they heard that the son had resolved to go back home and ask for a job from his father, they would have assumed they knew what was going to happen next. Any self-respecting father would give his son a hiding. He would punish him severely because everyone could see that’s what he deserved. However, this father was different. Even though he had been horribly abused, he threw his arms around his wayward son and welcomed him home. He then gave him the best robe, put a ring on his finger and threw a big party. This is precisely the good news that Jesus came to bring. We have all strayed from God’s ways and treated him appallingly. We don’t deserve his love. Punishment would be entirely appropriate, but incredibly, God throws his arms around us and welcomes us home. Question What does this parable say to you personally? Prayer Dear Father, thank you that even though I have done so many things that are wrong, you are willing to forgive me and give me a new life. Amen…
Luke 15:8-10 Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbours and say, “Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.” Almost everyone has got a moving story to tell of the time when they lost something very precious. For me, it is normally my keys, glasses or mobile phone and, most of the time, the search concludes successfully within a few anxious minutes. I have never lost my wedding ring, but I have heard many heart-rending stories of people who have. The woman in this story had lost one of the ten silver coins that formed part of the headdress given to her when she got married. There was no point in telling her that she still had nine! The coin was of massive sentimental value, and losing it caused her great distress. The pain of losing something as precious as the silver coin is massive. It’s gut-wrenching and it dominates life. We struggle to settle to anything else. Then the moment of discovery comes, and the joy is overwhelming. It would be unthinkable to keep it to ourselves. Everyone needs to know about it! Jesus says that’s exactly how it is in heaven when a sinner repents. When even one person turns to God in repentance, heaven has a party! Joy is a big theme in the Bible and it is God’s response to everything coming together. Sin is the opposite. Sin always spoils, tarnishes and destroys and leads to certain misery. When we live in step with God, the outcome is joy because he sees everything coming together in the way that he wants. God’s supreme desire for us today is to share in his joy, and we will do precisely that as we let his Spirit fill us and direct us. Question What brings you most joy in life, and in what way do you think God shares in that joy? Prayer Loving Father, thank you for the joy that you pour into my life when I live in step with you day by day. Amen…
Luke 15:4-5 If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. This is such a beautiful story. You can picture the shepherd as he makes sure the 99 precious sheep are safe and warm and then trudges out into the wilderness to look for the one that was lost. It’s a heart-warming story, but it doesn’t make any sense. Economically, why would you run the risk of endangering the 99 by leaving them all alone in the desert while you go out and search for just one sheep, who constitutes only 1 per cent of your business? Surely the shepherd would have been better advised to protect 99 per cent of his business and hope that the silly lost sheep would wander home. The only explanation for a shepherd acting in this way is love. The shepherd sets out to search for the lost sheep for the pure and simple reason that he has compassion. This gives us an insight into how Jesus lived and worked. He spent a lot of time with people who everyone else considered to be lost causes. He could have spent his time comfortably in Jerusalem having interesting conversations with the educated, influential and religious people, but no, Jesus chose to go to the people who lived on the edge of society – poor people, children, women, people with leprosy, prostitutes and tax collectors. He was looking for the lost sheep. In our churches today, we need to make sure we never stop seeking the lost sheep. It is very easy to get comfortable in church life and to shape everything we do to suit us. Jesus reminds us that we exist in his name to reach out to people who may be completely unlike us and who may have been rejected by society. When they turn to Christ and find new life in him, we should have a celebration! Question In what way are you seeking to reach the lost? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you have been a shepherd to me. Help me to reach out to others with your arms of love. Amen…
Luke 13:18-19 Then Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like? How can I illustrate it? It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.” A mustard seed is tiny – between one and two millimetres. You would hardly notice it because it so small, but it can grow into a huge plant, commonly more than two metres tall and sometimes even up to four metres. It’s understandable that Jesus described it as a tree. Inevitably, a mustard plant attracts huge attention from birds, who love to feed on the little black seeds. Jesus’ point is clear. When we see God at work in the world, it may not look impressive. It may be overlooked because it appears so small, but the kingdom of God is always in the growth business, so even though it might seem tiny, it will keep growing. In many parts of the world, the Church is small and struggling. I’ve visited many towns and even cities where there is only one Christian or just a small group. I’ve always been incredibly impressed when I’ve met such people. In human terms, their situation has looked impossibly challenging, but they’ve had faith that God can grow his kingdom against all odds. We live in a world that is impressed by size and success, and it is easy for churches to be sucked into this kind of thinking. There is nothing wrong with either size or success, but we must never forget that we serve a God who does miracles. There are many churches and Christian organisations in this country that are, on the face of it, weak and financially insecure. They are not outwardly impressive, but we need to hold on to the fact that we worship a God who brings growth and blessing in phenomenal ways. The one thing we must never do is look down on things just because they are small. Question What church, Christian organisation or initiative are you looking at that seems as small as a mustard seed? Prayer Thank you Lord that you are a God of miracles. Help me to look at every situation with your eyes and to see how you can bring growth in the most unlikely places. Amen…
Luke 12:21 Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God. I love the fact that most of Jesus’ stories are told in very few words. Our verse today is the punchline to a very brief story he told about a rich farmer who’d had such a successful harvest that he realised he needed to build more barns. He said to himself that he could now settle back and enjoy life. He could eat, drink and be merry. Jesus called the man a fool because he hadn’t considered that his life might come to an end that very night. Jesus doesn’t want us to drag our way through life long-faced with the morbid realisation that any day might be our last. He wants us to live our lives fully every day, enjoying the wonders of his creation and the miracle of being alive. However, he wants us to do so in the light of eternity. He wants us to invest in the things that last, and nothing is more enduring than our relationship with God. There is nothing wrong with making money, but there is something hideously wrong with thinking about it to the exclusion of everything else. Our society continually encourages us to think about our money, our possessions, our holidays, our pensions and our health. All of those things are essentially good, but as we look at the adverts and listen to the voices around us, we need to remind ourselves that God calls us to live with the much bigger perspective of eternity. Every day, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of living close to our eternal God and of sharing his love, joy and peace with those around us. Question Do you consciously live and make your decisions in the light of eternity? Prayer Thank you Lord for the wonderful gift of today. Help me to recognise how precious it is and to ensure that you are at the centre of all of my decisions. Amen…
Proverbs 27:15-16 A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands. I’m not going to defend the pure sexism of this proverb. There’s absolutely no need for it. Anyone can be quarrelsome, whatever their gender! The writer is convinced that the quarrelsome person is very hard to stop. He makes it sound as if quarrelling has become their way of life. No amount of challenging will change them. Clearly, quarrelling is something that has happened since the dawn of time, and it’s not surprising that the apostle Paul was fully aware of the problem. He instructed Timothy that “a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach and be patient with difficult people” (2 Timothy 2:24). The sad truth, of course, is that any of us can be quarrelsome. It may be that we’re not feeling well, or we are generally unhappy with the state of things or we are feeling threatened by life. Paul gives sound advice that, instead of quarrelling, we should seek to be kind and patient. Quarrelling with people is never kind. It causes anxiety and undermines relationships. The kind person is always looking to show love and care to people and to be sensitive to their needs. Such a person will always seek to be patient. Patience is always much more easily said than done, but Paul knew how vital it was in responding to difficult people with whom, it would seem, the Church has always been generously supplied. If you are finding someone particularly difficult at present, it is, perhaps, comforting to know that the Bible is familiar with your dilemma. Even more importantly, it is wonderful to hear that God knows the whole situation and will give us the grace and strength to cope if we ask him to. Question How have you found it best to cope with quarrelsome people? Prayer Lord God, I ask you to help me to be wise and gracious in my relationships with other people, especially those whom I find most difficult. Amen…
Proverbs 27:14 A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse! This might sound a bit harsh, but if you’ve ever lived with someone who is irrepressibly loud and cheerful, you probably know what the writer of this proverb is getting at! In life, it’s not so much what you say as how, when, where and why you say it. The writer is talking about people who are insensitive, and, let’s be honest, we all know people like that, and we’ve all done it ourselves. In the previous chapter, the writer referred to someone who was completely insensitive and totally misread the situation. He saw them as a serious liability. He wrote: “Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says: ‘I was only joking’” (Proverbs 26:18-19). Everything was wrong about this. He shouldn’t have been lying in the first place, and to try to pass it off as a joke was just pouring fuel on the fire. We all have something to learn from this. We need to learn to use our words with increasing care, because the same words can be received totally differently depending on the person, time, weather and a thousand other variables. Words that might amuse one person might antagonise another. Statements that some people find full of insight might cause lasting offence to another. Before you conclude that you need to keep your mouth firmly shut and never say another word, let me encourage you to lean even harder on the Holy Spirit. He is the one who can give us the wisdom and strength to speak in the way that the apostle Paul described in Colossians 4:6: “Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.” Question What has this proverb taught you about communicating with others? Prayer Father God, thank you that you have given me your Holy Spirit to enable me to speak in a way that will honour you and bless others. Amen…
Proverbs 27:12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Prudence isn’t a word that we hear much these days, but it’s a wonderful word. The prudent person not only discerns the right thing to do, but does it. They make good plans and anticipate the problems that might occur. Our society is very safety-conscious, and that is obviously a good thing, although it can easily be taken to extremes. There was a well-publicised story of a headteacher who insisted that children playing conkers should wear goggles, and suggested that candy floss on sticks should be banned for fear of people tripping up and impaling themselves! Happily, the health and safety executive disagreed with both approaches. What we need is to live and make our plans carefully and sensibly. Jesus addressed the importance of planning when he talked about the person who proposed to build a tower. He pointed out that it was important to estimate the cost of completing the job before the work began. He said: “Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you” (Luke 14:29). The careful work of preparation is demanding, but it needs to be done and done well. The simpleton, on the other hand, has a completely different approach. They can’t be bothered with the faff of coming up with plans and checking the regulations. They aren’t willing to spend time doing complicated sums. They just want to see the job done, so they blindly rush ahead until, whoops, their plans run into a brick wall. We’ve all seen it happen, and let’s be clear: Christians, like everyone else, can act with great foolishness at times. There can be such an eagerness to see a project happen that the thoughtful planning stages are rushed or totally overlooked. The world would be a much better place if we all worked hard at being prudent! Question Who is the most prudent person that you know, and what have you learned from them? Prayer Loving God, help me to act prudently today. Amen…
Proverbs 27:9-10 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Never abandon a friend—either yours or your father’s. The writer Samuel Johnson once wrote: “Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship.” I am sure we could all speak movingly of our friends. They are the people with whom we can laugh and cry, and be completely ourselves. It isn’t surprising that the writer of Proverbs had much to say about friendships. He recognised how important they were in a happy and fulfilling life. We see many friendships in the Bible, such as the friendship between David and Jonathan. There was an immediate bond between them when they first met, and the friendship sustained them through desperately difficult times. Words are a crucial part of friendship, and the writer of Proverbs observed how precious the counsel of a friend is. This doesn’t mean that a friend’s words are necessarily easy to hear. They may be deeply painful, but because they are motivated by love and care, they will always be a blessing. We hear the most beautiful words of friendship spoken by Ruth to Naomi, her mother-in-law. They were very different from one another in many ways. They came from different nations and were of different generations, but Ruth, after the death of her husband, was devoted to Naomi and refused to be separated from her. She said: “Wherever you go, I will go, wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God” (Ruth 1:16). Friends will often be very similar to one another, but this beautiful story shows that friendships can cross every kind of boundary. Just before his death, Jesus told his disciples the kind of relationship that he wanted to have with them. He said that he didn’t want to call them slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Instead, he wanted to call them friends (John 15:15). That’s how it is today, too. As we follow Jesus and are obedient to his loving commands, we are nothing less than his friends. Question Why are your friends important to you, and in what sense do you think of Jesus as your friend? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you want to be my friend today, and throughout my life. Amen…
1 John 5:21 Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts. Every day, we are all bombarded with influences. Family, friends, television, internet, advertising, books, social media and radio are all trying to claim our attention and suggest different ways in which we should be thinking. Much of the time, we don’t even notice it’s happening, but we cannot stop the process. Most of those influences are not inherently bad, but they all have the potential for distracting us from serving God. Idols come in many shapes and sizes. They will never announce themselves as idols, but they are, as this verse so clearly states, anything that takes God’s place in our hearts. It could be your family, your hobby, your football team, your garden or your job. Anything which takes first place in our lives pushes God into second place at best. Our families, our hobbies, our sporting interests, our gardens and our work are all wonderful gifts of God and they can bring enormous enjoyment and satisfaction, but they must never be looked at like gods. All gods demand to be worshipped and invite us to make sacrifices of our time, money and attention, but only our heavenly Father deserves that commitment. It's interesting that these are the last words of this letter. In the greeting “dear children”, we sense John’s warmth and love for his readers, and the fact that these are his last words suggests that they were extremely important to him. The Greek verb that he uses has the sense of guarding themselves from idols. They needed to recognise the serious threat they were facing and take appropriate measures to protect themselves. I have not the slightest doubt that if John was speaking to us today, he would use exactly the same words. Question What are the potential idols in your life? Prayer Lord God, help me to guard myself from anything which might distract me from worshipping and serving you. Amen…
1 John 5:14-15 We are confident that God hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. Prayer is of absolutely crucial importance to our lives. It has been wisely said that you and I are as strong as our prayer lives and no stronger. Every part of our lives depends upon prayer, so it is really important that we are clear about the Bible’s teaching on this subject. One of the most important things to recognise is that prayer is never a matter of simply saying certain words to God. Bishop Ryle said: “We have learned a great lesson when we have learned that ‘saying prayers’ is not praying.” Prayer is all about a relationship with God in which we talk to him and open our hearts so that he can work in our lives. The Old Testament prophets often observed that people said prayers that were completely unacceptable to God because their lives showed that they had no interest in serving him. God spoke particularly bluntly through Isaiah: “When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims” (Isaiah 1:15). Prayer is therefore never a matter of us declaring to God our personal and probably selfish shopping list. It is about grasping hold of what God wants, because his will is always best. When we pray like that, we can pray with confidence, because we can be sure that God will always want to answer our prayer. Many people want prayer to be a form of magic in which we take control and compel God to give us everything we want and act in the way that suits us, but prayer is always the complete opposite of that. Prayer is about listening to God so carefully that we get to know him better and therefore increasingly ask for those things which are in line with his will. Question How important is prayer in your life? Prayer Loving Father, thank you that you love to hear my prayers. Help me to grow in confidence in prayer. Amen…
1 John 5:11-12 This is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. Sooner or later, everyone is bound to ask what life is all about. Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, one of the most successful rock groups of all time, asked the question in one of his last songs: “Does anyone know what we are living for?” It was a genuine cry from the heart. In human terms, he had everything. He had money and fame on a colossal scale, but, shortly before his death in 1991, he admitted that he was desperately lonely. He said: “You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man, and that is the most bitter type of loneliness. Success has brought me world idolisation and millions of pounds, but it’s prevented me from having the one thing we all need – a loving, ongoing relationship.” John would have totally agreed with Mercury. A “loving, ongoing relationship” is what we all need, and the only place to find that is in our relationship with God. Human relationships are wonderful, but they come and go, and even the best of them cannot last forever. However, our relationship with God has no limits and will never come to an end. It is this relationship which opens the door to life in all its fullness. John was typically blunt in his language. If you have faith in Jesus, you have life, and if you don’t have faith in him, you don’t have life. This is completely in line with Jesus’ own language. He said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus’ words give the definitive answer to anyone who wants to find the real purpose of life, whether they are a rock star or you and me. Question What do you think John meant by describing people as not having life? Prayer Lord God, thank you that your Son came to this world to give us life in all its fullness. Amen…
1 John 5:4-5 For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We need to be clear that whenever John talks about the world in this passage, he is talking about the world without God. When humankind rejects God, the world is a terrible place full of sin, death and destruction. We are all called to live in such a world, but John wanted to make it clear that we don’t need to be scared of it because in Christ, we have the victory. On Good Friday, Jesus died as the evil world unleashed its worst on him, but that wasn’t the end. On the Sunday morning, Jesus rose from death and proved that he had the victory. This has very practical implications for us. It affects our daily lives in a very profound way. Day by day, we head into a world where God is not respected by most people. The news is full of accounts of abuse, violence, brokenness and disorder. On the face of it, this is all very depressing, but the wonderful fact is that because Jesus has won the final victory over sin and death, we can look at the world with hope and confidence. Towards the end of Jesus’ ministry, he encouraged his disciples to receive his gift of peace. His words were very realistic. He didn’t deny that there would be problems in the world, but assured his followers that final victory would be theirs. Jesus said: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). At times, it might feel as if the power of God and of evil are fairly evenly matched, but they aren’t! As we place our trust in God, we can claim the Easter victory every day. This should fill us with confidence as we serve God today. Question What do you understand by Jesus’ claim that he had overcome the world? Prayer Loving God, I thank you for your gift of peace. Thank you that as I trust myself to you, nothing can destroy it. Amen…
1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. You cannot see the wind, but you can easily see the effects that it has. Equally, you cannot see electricity, but we have no doubt that it exists because of all that it does. No one has ever seen God, but we know that he exists because we see his love reflected in the people around us. The more we love people, the more they will have the opportunity to see the living God. Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers, wrote of how the pagan Romans were struck by the Christians’ way of life. “See how they love one another,” was their response. I would love to think this would be the response to each of our churches, and I believe it often is. People see churches setting up food banks, debt advice services, parent and toddler groups, listening services and many other activities. They are wonderful expressions of love and care to our communities, but let’s be honest – people often see something very different. They see churches squabbling over doctrine, worship and buildings, and the last thing they see is love. We won’t make things better by decrying the Church and blaming other Christians for not being loving. We need to look to ourselves and reflect on how we can be more loving. As we listen to God’s voice, we need to find practical ways of increasing our love for our Christian brothers and sisters, and then explore together ways in which we can share his love more fully. We don’t want to put on a big show, but we want to love. We want to make it clear to everyone in our communities that God is alive and well. Question How can you reflect God’s love today? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for your amazing love to me. Help me to share your love generously with others in whatever I do. Amen…
1 John 4:10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Most of the love that we experience in our lives is reciprocal. We love other people, and they love us. Sometimes we have taken the initiative and, on other occasions, they have done so. It is very different with God. There is nothing that we could ever do to win his love. However hard we might try, we could never get to a point where God was forced to love us. The fact that he has chosen to love us is entirely down to his own initiative. This is an incredibly important truth because the whole of our Christian life needs to flow from it. In his letters, Paul often used the word grace to describe God’s relationship with us. Forgiveness and salvation are a matter of sheer gift. There is nothing we could ever do to contribute towards them. When we take the step of faith and accept Jesus into our lives, we are simply responding to his incredible generosity to us. Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Because of God’s incredible and totally unmerited love, our lives need to be full of praise and thanksgiving. If we had made any contribution at all towards our salvation, it would be different. We could go around with a smug expression knowing that our wonderful lives had been duly rewarded with the gift of God’s love. However, as it is, all we can do is boast about God and keep telling others just how incredibly generous he is. Question How do you respond to the fact that God loved you long before you ever thought about him? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for your amazing love. Help me to allow it to shape every part of my life. Amen…
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. There have always been false teachers, but they must have been particularly difficult to face in the early Church. Many Christians would have come from completely different religious and philosophical backgrounds, and few of the church leaders would have had much education. It would have been extremely easy for articulate people to creep into the Church and lead people astray. Anyone can claim to speak by the Spirit, and it is not surprising that many young impressionable Christians simply accepted what they were saying. What John wanted to do was to encourage every Christian to test what they heard. Jesus himself was well aware of the challenge from false teachers. In the Sermon on the Mount, he said: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act” (Matthew 7:15-16). Jesus was saying that the lives of prophets must ring true. A prophet who is unkind, rude, bitter, unforgiving or unloving couldn’t possibly be a true prophet. There were many different false teachings floating around in the early Church, but John was particularly concerned about those who were denying that Jesus was really human. He was very blunt: if someone did not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, he concluded that person did not come from God and had the spirit of the antichrist. False teaching wasn’t just unfortunate, but was to be avoided and resisted at all costs. In a world that is teeming with false prophets, we all need to be on the alert. John declared that we can be confident as we do so because the Holy Spirit is greater than the spirit who lives in the world, and he will lead us into all truth. Question What are the false teachings which we need to be careful to avoid today? Prayer Loving God, help me to listen to the voice of your Holy Spirit day by day. Amen…
1 John 3:16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. The most famous verse in the whole Bible is John 3:16: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” It’s a wonderful verse, and it takes us to heart of the good news. We need to read it alongside today’s verse, 1 John 3:16, its natural twin, which reminds us that it is not only a case of God loving us and sending Jesus for our salvation, but about us in turn offering up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. I thank God for the amazing Christians that I have known over the years who have poured out their lives for others. I think of children’s and youth workers, deacons and elders, ministers and carers who, because of their love for God, have gladly given everything to support other people. They have thought little of their personal safety or health but have kept on loving in the face of disappointment, discouragement and ill health. They have looked for no reward other than to know that they faithfully served their Lord. This practical love takes many forms, and in the next verse, John speaks of the obligation on those who have enough money to show compassion to Christian brothers and sisters who are in need. C.H. Dodd, the great biblical scholar, defined love as “the willingness to surrender that which has value for our own life, to enrich the life of another”. Love is always costly. It involves giving to others something that we genuinely value but which we gladly give in order to bring joy and blessing to others. It’s a challenging way to live life, but it’s God’s way, and it’s always best. Question As you serve God today, what is he calling you to give to others in need? Prayer Loving Father, thank you for sending Jesus into the world to be my Saviour. Help me to be more ready to be loving and generous to others. Amen…
1 John 3:1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! My wife and I had the privilege of being foster parents for a number of years. Those years gave me a new understanding of how important our relationship with our parents is. To be honest, I took for granted the love, security, affirmation and warmth of my own parents, but I now treasure those amazing gifts in a new way. Here, John reflected on the even more important relationship that we can have with our Father God. He burst out in wonder as he reflected on the fact that God loves us so much that he chose to call us his children. He did so not as a mere formality, but because we really are his children. Just as the relationship between children and their parents will have life-long implications, so too will our relationship with God our Father colour and shape our lives. We have the privilege of being able to walk into every new day with the certain knowledge that we are loved. We are secure for time and eternity. As John unpacked this theme, he reflected that he didn’t know what we’d be like in the future when Christ appears, but he knew one thing: we will be like Christ, for we will see him as he really is. We know little about the future, but that’s absolutely fine if our relationship with God is secure. Whatever his plans may be for us, we can be sure that they will be the best. God’s love for us is all about grace. He loves us not because of anything good that we have done or could ever do. He has called us to be his children, and all we have to do is reach out and accept his hand of love. As with John, all we can do is burst out in praise and thank our heavenly Father that we are not only called the children of God, but really are! Question What does it mean to you to be one of God’s children? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the privilege of being your child and knowing that my future is completely secure in your hands. Amen…
1 John 2:26-27 I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. Our world today is very different from the one that John knew, but I suspect that if he were addressing us, he wouldn’t have changed his message at all. The Christians he was speaking to were under constant attack from false teachers, and he was eager that they should be strong in their faith and able to stand up to every challenge. These days, anyone with access to the internet can have instant connection to an unlimited number of religions and philosophies. It can all be very bewildering and confusing. John would want to offer us the same encouragement that he brought 1,900 years ago. The Holy Spirit is still our completely reliable teacher. He teaches us everything that we need to know. Towards the end of his ministry, Jesus told his disciples it was to their advantage that he left them because when he went, the Holy Spirit would be sent to them (John 16:7). He described the Holy Spirit as the advocate or paraclete. The Greek word literally means “someone who draws alongside us”. I’ve always found it most helpful to think of the Holy Spirit as the supreme friend. He understands and loves us perfectly and is able to lead us into all truth. If we are relying on him, we can be confident as we face challenges from other philosophies and religions. The Holy Spirit uses lots of different ways of teaching us. He certainly speaks through the Bible and prayer, but he also speaks through other Christians, music, art, literature and nature. Our role is to be open to him, listening out for his voice but doing so with the confidence of knowing that he loves to share his truth with us. Question What has the Holy Spirit been teaching you recently? Prayer Lord God, thank you for sending us your Holy Spirit. Help me to be constantly listening to his voice so that Jesus will be praised in all that I do. Amen…
1 John 2:15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. John’s concern here was very similar to that of Jesus when, in the Sermon on the Mount, he said that it was impossible to serve both God and money (Matthew 6:24). We have a choice to make as to whether we will allow all our energy to be expended on worldly interests or on God’s kingdom. We cannot possibly do both. John encouraged his readers to focus their attention on loving God and not the temporary pleasures of the world. Does that mean we should all leave our jobs and homes and sit on a park bench reading the Bible? No, far from it! We are called to enjoy God’s world, to serve him in our jobs and homes and to live alongside those who know nothing of him, but, as we do so, we need to keep our focus on the things that last and not on those pleasures, possessions and achievements which have a very short shelf life. John writes in very sharp language to encourage us to sort out our priorities. When our actions are shaped by our love of God, everything else will flow in the right way. We will see our achievements and possessions as a gift of God’s grace and not as a sign of our brilliance and success. We will seek to use everything that God has given us to bless other people and to enhance their enjoyment of life, and in doing so we will please God. When we focus all our attention on possessions and pleasure, we push God out, and we push life out in the process. John’s language may be blunt, but this is because he wanted his readers to live their lives to the full, which will only happen if we live for God. Question How do you seek to give God priority in your daily life? Prayer Lord God, thank you for the life that you have given me. Help me to live responsibly and carefully in this world and never to fall in love with it. Amen…
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Minder om Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion
Victory BGC is a church in Bonifacio Global City that exists to honor God and make disciples. It is a member of Victory Philippines and under Every Nation Churches and Ministries.
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Sermons by Bishop Mosa Sono, Presiding Bishop of Grace Bible Church. Sermons by other Grace Bible Church Pastors and Guest speakers are available on the Grace Bible Church Podcast. (http://feeds.feedburner.com/GBCPodcast)
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Insights into the weekly Torah portion
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Rabbi Shalom Rosner on The Parsha
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The Faith Today Podcast-Conversation inspired by Canada's Christian magazine. The podcast features interviews with Canadian Christians as they sort through the pressing issues of the day and topics like spiritual growth and health, other religions, religious freedom, vocation, and tough questions of faith and living in contemporary society.
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Hey, it’s Mal 🔮 Let’s talk about astrology, tarot, spirituality, religion and everything else 💫
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Follow the audio shiurim, lectures and speeches of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, global religious leader, philosopher, author of over 30 books and moral voice for our time. Rabbi Sacks served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth between September 1991 and September 2013. A full biography - together with an extensive online archive of Rabbi Sacks' work - is available at www.rabbisacks.org or you can follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @rabbisacks.
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Series exploring the place and nature of faith in today's world
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Welcome to the Your Move with Andy Stanley podcast, where we help you make better decisions and live with fewer regrets. Your Move provides practical content on life topics like personal development, relationships, work, leadership, faith, and more. It’s simple. We provide the content and recommend next steps; then it's Your Move! Visit www.yourmove.is for more content to watch, listen to, and read along with resources.
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Live recordings of the sermons preached at our regular services here at Aspire Church, Manchester UK. For more information visit our website at http://www.aspirechurch.co.uk or email info@aspirechurch.co.uk
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