Category: Uncategorized
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Why did God become man? (Ezekiel 1-3; John 1)
How often do you wonder at the fact that God became a man?! The gospel of John helps us to see something of the enormity of the incarnation. He begins in eternity past, reminding us that God the Son has always existed, He was there in the beginning with God the Father and God the…
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Why hasn’t Jesus returned yet? (Jer 50-51; 2 Peter 3)
As you look around a world filled with pain and suffering and war, do you ever find yourself wondering, why hasn’t Jesus come back? Some of course laugh at such an idea, they think you’re crazy for even believing that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. It’s encouraging to know that…
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A prayer to restore (Jer 47-49; Ps 80; 2 Peter 2)
What do you do when those you love have turned away from the Lord? You cry out to the Lord that they would return. That is what Asaph does in Psalm 80. The northern kingdom of Israel have turned away from the Lord, and they have gone into exile in Assyria. Asaph cries out to…
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Can we trust the Bible? (Jeremiah 43, 44, 46; 2 Peter 1)
It is wonderful that the Bible contains such great promises, but how can we know that it is actually true? Our reading from 2 Peter helps us with this question. Peter is nearing the end of his life (1:14) as he writes his second letter, he also knows that there will be false teachers (2:1),…
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The kindness of God (Obadiah; Jer 40-42; Ps 147; 1 Pet 5)
How kind and gracious our God is! What other God invites His people to cast their anxieties on Him? The gods of religion make demands on their people, place burdens on them, but our God offers to take our burdens of us. Listen to God’s gracious invitation in 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxieties…
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Lamenting loss (Lamentations 1-5; Ps 137; 1 Pet 4)
CS Lewis wrote of his wife’s death – “her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.” Maybe you know a similar all encompassing loss. What do you do when you’re facing such hard times? God in his mercy has given us not only Psalms of lament to sing and pray, but a whole book…
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Light in the darkness (2 Kin 24-25; 2 Chr 36; Ps 126; 1 Pet 3)
If you’ve been following the 5 day Bible reading plan you will have just finished Jeremiah, Kings and Chronicles. Each one ends in a fairly dark place, but with a glimmer of hope. God’s people have disobeyed God and by now both the northern and the southern kingdoms have been destroyed. The people from the…
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What do you do when someone hurts you? (Jer 38, 39, 52; 1 Pet 2)
If you live long enough, someone will hurt you. You have probably already discovered that. There are degrees of hurt, from the careless word, to the deliberate insult, to the physical threat and even harm, such as that faced by Jeremiah. What do you do with the hurt? Do you have to forgive? There is…
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How precious to belong to Jesus (Jer 30-33; 1 Peter 1)
What could be better?! In our reading from Jeremiah 31 God promises His people forgiveness and new hearts. In 1 Peter 1 we learn that Jeremiah and the other prophets were serving us by writing these things for us. Peter tells us how this forgiveness and new heart comes about – those who trust Jesus…
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The blessing of suffering (Jer 37, 21, 34; Psalm 79; James 5)
James began his letter by telling his readers to “consider it pure joy when you face trials” and he ends it by pointing out blessings that come from trials. The particular blessing James has in mind is “steadfastness” – that is keeping going. Remember the danger in the book of James? God has been of…
Light and Momentary Troubles 