Category: Uncategorized
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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Isn’t Scripture out of date?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“Times have changed” someone might say, the Bible is out of date with our culture.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…
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Guard your steps (Eccl 4-6; Ps 125; 2 Tim 2)
My wife hates bananas! If I decided I wanted to show Dorothy how much I love her, I wouldn’t buy her a bunch of bananas! If I did, it would show that either I didn’t know her or just didn’t care what she thought. Sometimes when it comes to worship, people don’t think about what…
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Gift not gain (Ecclesiastes 1-3; Ps 45; 2 Tim 1)
Time flies! When you realise this, and that you can’t slow it down what do you do? Do you try and cram in as much as you can? Try and fit in as many experiences as you can, try and get to the top of your career, make a name for yourself? The book of…
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When everything is not enough (1 Kings 10-11; 2 Chr 9; 1 Tim 6)
Solomon had everything, yet here in 1 Kings 11, we see it wasn’t enough. His striving for more and more led him to turn away from God, and tragically that led to a split in the kingdom as we’ll see as we read on in 1 Kings. The apostle Paul began his letter to Timothy…
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Call the Sabbath a delight
I’d been praying that the Lord would help me understand the Sabbath better and then in His loving kindness He brought a book right in front of my eyes called “Call the Sabbath a delight”. I was sorting through books in the charity shop I work in when I came across it, and at 50p…
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What impresses God? (1 Kings 9; 2 Chr 8; 1 Tim 5)
What impresses God is not our achievements but our integrity. Solomon was an impressive man by the time we reach 1 Kings 9. Israel has become wealthy, Solomon has overseen the building of the temple and his own impressive palace. He has dedicated the temple and prayed that it would be a place of blessing…
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A Psalm for when you’re in hospital (2 Chr 5-7; Psalm 121; 1 Tim 4)
Our daughter was born two months early and needed life saving surgery within 48 hours of being born. She was our firstborn and we thought we were going to lose her. I still remember the doctors giving us a side room in the hospital while our daughter was on a life support machine. Everything felt…
Light and Momentary Troubles 