Author: nickjones2011

Our world is an anxious world. I don’t know the statistics but I imagine there is more anxiety today than at other times, or maybe it just feels that way? Maybe there is more pressure on people today than in previous generations, but anxiety is nothing new, otherwise Jesus would not have needed to tell…

Deuteronomy 23:1 is at first sight a troubling verse: “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.” What are we to make of that?! It’s not the sort of verse you stick on your fridge is it! Why are these people excluded? Before…

Our world is very confused about how to live, it seems to live by the mantra, “Do whatever makes you happy.” But what if your happiness leads to someone else suffering? God’s law gives us a clearer answer. God’s law tells us to live for the good of others. In Deuteronomy we see lots of…

All sorts of voices compete for our attention, who should we listen to? There is so much confusion in the world, who knows what is best? There is so much suffering in the world, who can help us to navigate it? Our reading from Deuteronomy tells us that God will raise up a prophet like…

Can you remember what you heard at church on Sunday? Or what about what you read in your Bible yesterday? Well you may say, I can’t remember every meal I ate either but they still did me good! This is true, and its very hard to measure the impact of God’s Word in our lives.…

The death of anyone is hard, but when it’s your child, it is perhaps the hardest of all. And when it’s your only son, and you’re a widow it would surely be overwhelming. It’s hardly the sort of thing you could call “light and momentary”. Jesus meets a woman in exactly this situation in today’s…

There’s no one like our God! What a privilege to be His people. The book of Deuteronomy recounts what God has done to get Israel to this point. As Israel is about to enter the promised land, God is saying to them, remember who you are. Who are they? They are a beloved people. Here…

Is your Christianity a hobby, something you do in your spare time? Perhaps that’s how Simon felt about Jesus, he was happy to listen to Jesus occasionally, but to listen to Jesus in all of life was a bit too much. In Luke 5 something happens that helps Simon discover that there is great blessing…

Do you long for an end to suffering? No more physical or mental anguish. No more knots in your stomach over concern for a loved one. Whilst much good can come through suffering, if we’re honest, we’d rather be free from it. In our readings today the boundaries of the promised land are drawn out…

Look at the heart of Jesus: “But I, when they were sick – I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with my head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother… But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against…