This week Wayne resumes our Deuteronomy series. looking at the whole of Chapter 30 under the title ‘Choose Life (Choose Christ)’. He writes, “The Chapter begins with the promise that God will restore the fortunes of his people when, after having rejected him and suffered the curse of being driven out from the Promised Land, they return to him with all their heart and soul. It finishes with Moses urging the people of God to choose life by loving the Lord, obeying his voice and holding fast to him. While this promise of restoration was fulfilled in part with the […]

This Sunday, Simon Dent will be preaching from Mark 6:45-56 under the heading, ‘God In My Boat’. He writes, “There are two accounts in the gospel of Mark where Jesus stills the waves. After the first event, the disciples wondered about him asking, “Who is this, that even the wind and waves obey him?” In this second account the implied response from Jesus is, ‘I am God, your Savior!’ The disciples failed to understand this at the time. How often do we too fail to understand? In fact, we cannot believe that Jesus is God for us unless he himself […]

In Deuteronomy 10:12-22 this week, we find that as God’s beloved and chosen covenant people, Israel are to circumcise their hearts and no longer be stubborn. This is what the Lord requires of his people if they are to enjoy the fulness of his covenant blessings. Sadly though, even before they enter the land, the Lord foretells their inevitable failure to do this. However, as Paul tells us in the New Testament, “where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.” And in Deuteronomy 30:1-10, the Lord declares that he will do for his people the very thing he requires of […]

As we make our way through the next few chapters of Deuteronomy this week our readings will come from Deuteronomy 8:1-20 and 9:1-7. Here we find the Lord exhorting his people to remember him as they move forward and ‘go in and take possession of the land’ he has promised them. For the people to ‘go in’ they must look back and remember the Lord’s faithful provision to them in the wilderness, and they must also be careful as they move forward, lest they become proud and forget the Lord and his gracious electing love for them. With these things […]

A father knows how to give good gifts to his children. This week, in Deuteronomy 5, we hear of the Lord giving the law to his people – and this is a good gift! The law given at Horeb, and repeated here on the banks of the Jordan, is not the condition for entry into the Promised Land, nor of their being accepted into God’s covenant. It is the way of life given by God, to his people: that they might live; that it might go well them, and that they might live long in the land. The Lord longs […]

This week we are looking at Deuteronomy 2 and 3 where we hear a little more of Israel’s time in the wilderness, yet, when all the men of war have died, the Lord tells them to be on the move once more towards the Promised Land. As they are directed by the Lord in every way, they are reminded of the Lord’s faithfulness and provision, time and time again. There is no reason whatsoever for Israel to doubt the Lord as they face any opposition, nor to disobey him – it is the Lord himself who fights for them. In […]

As we look at the second chapter of Jonah this week, we find the prophet was not only reluctant to call out God’s word against Nineveh, but in his guilt and anger is also reluctant to call out to the Lord himself. Not until Jonah reaches the depths of despair – quite literally – do we hear his first words to God. Jonah prays, “when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord.” However, what he has learned is that the Lord has never forgotten him. Through his own undeserved, miraculous deliverance Jonah has been reminded afresh of the […]

We conclude our series, ‘The Things That Make For Peace’ this Sunday by looking at Philippians 3:17-4:9. From the nations across the globe to the families around us, where there is any sense of peace we feel it is good and right to maintain and guard that peace. Humanity will go to great lengths in order to keep the peace we have. And rightly so, it is part of our mission and mandate from God. However, what we find in this passage from Paul, is that the peace of God guards us! As we rejoice in the Lord and cast […]

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” There are numerous other exhortations and promises relating to the making and pursuing of peace also (eg. Romans 14:17-19; Hebrews 12:7-14 and James 3:13-18). How are we to go about such ‘peace-making’ in the world today? And what resources have we been given to pursue peace here on earth? There is a strong connection in the Scriptures with the making of peace and the matters of sonship, righteousness, wisdom, discipline and grace. These are all ‘kingdom’ matters, and so it […]

This week’s readings come from Psalm 120 and Mark 4:35-41 and I will be preaching on ‘Peace In Times Of Trouble’. So often in difficult situations or times of trouble we are encouraged to ‘look for the silver lining’ or else be assured of ‘the light at the end of the tunnel’. However, as children of the Father, our hope is far greater and more secure than any such counsel. Not only can we be sure that Jesus is able to calm the storm and that one day all the storms of life will cease, we can have peace even […]