Our readings for this week have taken us through the first seven chapters of First Kings, which detail the last days of David’s life and the early part of Solomon’s reign. This morning I want to look at three incidents from this era, and see what lessons they have for us today. The incidents are […]

Generally speaking, the promises of God come in two different types: those which are conditional and those which are unconditional. In both types the justice, forgiveness, and majesty of God come shining through. The conditional promises, like God’s promise to overthrow Nineveh in forty days, or the promise to set Israel on high above all […]

Our faith in God is not a one sided thing. God cares for us and loves us, as a father loves his children. There is something very special, however, about the love that God shows, and the New Testament has a special word for it. God’s love for us is his grace. This point is […]

One of the very beautiful things about the Bible is the sheer quality of the writing. The words of man are weak and feeble. The words of God are strong and everlasting. This is particularly evident when writing an exhortation. I was going to write something about God’s love for us, and the way he […]

“My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” These words of Christ contain very great comfort, and should be a source of inspiration for us all. There is a striking example of the easiness of Christ’s yoke in today’s reading from Acts. I’ll just read a few verses from it to refresh our memories […]

Proverbs 10 verse 2 says, “Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.” Proverbs 11 verse 4 says a similar thing: “Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” I want to look at several examples of both these points, so that we can learn […]

The rituals and observances of the Law of Moses are there for a reason. Every one, however odd, teaches us something about God. There are two related observances from yesterday and today’s readings in Leviticus that I want to talk about this morning: the Sabbath Year and the year of Jubilee. Please turn to Leviticus […]

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” That is a verse that we all know, and it beautifully sums up the reason why we are all here today; we are here because of love. Love is […]

I want to base my thoughts this morning around two short passages we recently read in Romans, and to look at the lives of Moses and Paul as examples of the things discussed in these passages. I’m also going to consider how these passages from Romans might affect us in our daily lives, in the […]

One of the advantages of being a Roman citizen living in ancient Rome itself was the corn dole. The government would distribute a ration of corn, usually made into bread, to provide the basic diet for the Romans. Not everybody was equally entitled to this – slaves for example – and the number of people […]