Author: nickjones2011
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Where to turn in trouble? (2 Chr 19-20; 2 Kin 1; Ps 20; Matt 3)
Where do you turn when trouble comes? Jehoshaphat was afraid, it’s not surprising 3 of the superpowers of the day were coming against him in battle! (2 Chronicles 20). What did he do with his fear? He set his face to seek the LORD. He turned towards the LORD and not away from him. He…
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Leadership matters (1 Kings 22; 2 Chr 18; Matt 2)
What makes a good leader? In 1 Kings 22 we see two very different leaders. The difference is in how they treat God. When a decision has to be made Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah seeks God (v5). He wants to know and obey what the Lord says. This is what we should look for…
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Surprises in Jesus’ family tree (1 Kings 19-21; 2 Chr 17; Ps 129; Matt 1)
How far back can you trace your family tree? Have you had any good or perhaps embarrassing surprises? Matthew begins his gospel by going back 42 generations in the family tree of Jesus!In the first Century the family tree, the genealogy was a way of saying to the world “This is who I am.” It…
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Zeal for God (1 Kin 17-18; Ps 119; Jude)
“My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law.” (Psalm 119:136) The psalmist had a real passion that God’s Word was heard, delighted in and obeyed. As we read this challenging Psalm, we should we pray that God would give us a greater desire to follow Him. In our reading from…
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A bad end (2 Chr 15-16; 1 Kin 16; Philemon)
Is it more important how you begin or how you finish? Asa had begun so well, he’d helped to reform the country by returning to the Word of God (2 Chr 14-15). He had relied on the Lord when trouble came, he got rid of the idols and sacrificed to the Lord. What went wrong?…
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Be gentle (1 Kin 15; 2 Chr 13-14; Titus 3)
What has happened to gentleness? I think it’s something that today’s world would benefit from greatly! There are plenty of people who are polite on the surface, but cross them and they explode! What has happened to gentleness? We are supposed to be a tolerant society, but try disagreeing with those who say we should…
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How can you change? (1 Kin 13-14; 2 Chr 12; Ps 47; Titus 2)
We’re just over half way through the year, a good time to remember any New Year resolutions you made! How did you get on? Why is change so hard? Why do we keep making the same mistakes? In Titus 2, Paul tells us the secret to self-controlled, godly lives. The secret is not found in…
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A divided kingdom (1 Kings 12; 2 Chr 10-11; Titus 1)
Solomon’s sin of ignoring what God said about sex and marriage led him into idol worship. This in turn resulted in a tragic split in the kingdom. We were told it would happen in 1 Kings 11 and now in 1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10-11 we are told what happened. It happens after…
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What’s the point? (Ecc 10-12; 2 Tim 4)
What’s the point? Why keep going? Solomon wrestled with these questions 3000 years ago as he wrote “vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” As we have seen this means life is like a vapour or mist that disappears, if you try and grab hold of it, it just disappears faster. How can we make sense…
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Isn’t Scripture out of date? (Eccl 7-9; Ps 46; 2 Tim 3)
“Times have changed” someone might say, the Bible is out of date with our culture. What would you say? Yesterday we heard the need to guard our steps as we come to worship, the need to listen to God (Ecclesiastes 5). Today we fast-forward 1000 years and discover the Apostle Paul makes a similar warning…
Light and Momentary Troubles 