Category Archives: The Bible

Miracle Worker

Sometimes we can be blind to the things God is doing in our world. You often hear people say, ‘If God is so powerful, why doesn’t He do something? Why doesn’t He act in the world and change things?’ You might have even made such comments yourself at times. We might wonder why God doesn’t work miracles as he did in Bible times. Let me assure you He does. Often we just don’t hear about it. But this morning some information came from the Bible Society and it clearly shows God is still at work in the world and still … Continue reading →

How Much Proof?

The key to receiving anything from God is believing. The key to eternal life is no different. It comes down to believing. Jesus will return and believers will live, John 5:25. The opposite is also true. Those who choose not to believe God and take Him at His Word, will be judged, John 5:28-29. It’s not like God has kept His plans secret. We can’t say we don’t know. Jesus is the judge. As the obedient One of God, obedient to death, Jesus has been given that right to judge. But can we believe He is who He says He … Continue reading →

The Bible is a Book of Contrasts

Don’t you love how the bible presents us with contrasts? Take the examples in Mark 10:32-52. Here we see two lots of different people with two distinctly different requests. In the first, John and James, after learning about the impending death of Jesus in Jerusalem, reacted perhaps not as we might have expected. Rather than concern for Jesus, their focus was on themselves and what might happen to them and what they wanted to happen. They tried to coerce Jesus into answering their request before he even knew what it was, verse 35. Jesus makes it clear he needs to … Continue reading →

Who is Jesus?

Many people want to insist Jesus was a good man or a prophet. This is not what the bible teaches. The bible teaches: Jesus is ‘the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,’ John 1:1. Or as Colossians says ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,’ Colossians 1:15. ‘No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side has made him known,’ John 1:18. Jesus is the one through whom all things were made, John 1:3. Colossians stresses that ‘by him … Continue reading →

Why We Don’t Need Signs and Wonders

Why don’t we need signs and wonders to prove where we stand with God? Won’t they make us more spiritual or a better class of Christian? No. Because God has given us all we need for the Christian life Colossians tells us. What has he given us exactly? If we have accepted Jesus God has ‘qualified us’ just as he did the Colossian Christians ‘to share in the inheritance of the saints of light,’ Colossians 1:12. God had ‘delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,’ Colossians 1:13. It is through … Continue reading →

Christmas Carols

I’m a sucker for Christmas carols. Three of my favorites are ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel,’ ‘O Holy Night’ and ‘What Child is This?’ Mick’s favorite, as others mentioned in the forum, is ‘Silent Night.’ But, as Janet and others said there are so many great carols to choose from. One of the reasons I particularly like ‘What Child is This?’ is because the birth and the death of Jesus are linked together which they should be. Too often it seems people want to enjoy and celebrate the Christmas story and the birth of Jesus as a baby but forget … Continue reading →

Christmas Joy

On Sunday we want to our sister church- the other church that belongs to our parish. We were greeted the door by children dressed as Mary, Joseph and shepherds and what was, with a bit of imagination,a donkey. In reality he was a huge grey shaggy Irish wolfhound, the size of pony and sporting a pair of gray donkey ears. But what a charming and well behaved donkey he made, as he walked in with the children to be part of the nativity scene up the front near the Christmas tree that with its central branch and two large branches … Continue reading →

More Wisdom From Proverbs

Yesterday we looked at Proverbs 30:5-6. Today we’ll look at Proverbs 30:7-9, where the writer asks two things of God. The first is: ‘Keep falsehood and lies far from me.’ This could be read as keep me from telling lies to others. We often want to grade lies. It’s easy to slip into what we term ‘white lies,’ so as not to hurt another person’s feelings, or because we want to please them or make ourselves look good but God makes no distinction. Lies are lies. Proverbs 19:5 says ,’he who pours out lies will not go free.’ The idea … Continue reading →

Wisdom and Warnings from Proverbs

The book of Proverbs contains great wisdom. Here is one example. The passage is Proverbs 30:5-9. Over the next couple of days I intend to look at it verse by verse and see what truths can be gleaned from it. Proverbs 30:5 tells us ‘Every word of God is flawless.’ Sometimes people will challenge us, claiming the bible is full of contradictions and errors. This statement is invariably made by those who don’t know God’s words or are repeating what they have heard someone else say. The truth is every part of God’s Word will stand up to the closest … Continue reading →

So Easily Misunderstood

The Bible is such an encouragement. I love Psalm 139, especially verses 1-5. Another favorite verse is Psalm 37:4, which says ‘Delight yourself in the Lord;And He will give you the desires of your heart.’.This verse is often misunderstood. There can be a tendency to assume this verse means that whatever we ask of God, He is obligated to give us. However closer investigation reveals this to be a long way from the truth. Just as many bible verses do, this promise has a condition attached. To discover the real meaning, we need firstly to concentrate on the first part … Continue reading →