English Bible reading thoughts – July to September

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July – click on the date below:

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–31–Top

August – click on the date below:

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–31–Top

September – click on the date below:

1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8–9–10–11–12–13–14–15–16–17–18–19–20–21–22–23–24–25–26–27–28–29–30–Top

July 1st.

Today’s practical thoughts will again start with Saul. 1 Samuel 13 is sadly the turning point in his life – he blatantly disobeyed God, verse 13. Saul tried to justify his actions, verse 11-12, but this does not change the fact that he disobeyed God. This is a warning for us, sometimes we justify our actions using Bible teaching out of context, but it is clearly not what God wants. For example, because we know that God forgives sin, which he does, we cannot assume that he always will, forgetting that he also knows our attitude. There were consequences for Saul’s disobedience, his justification just did not stand up. Saul took the law into his own hands and forgot that God is everywhere and in control. Notice Saul’s human reactions, he blames Samuel for being late, he used the excuse that soldiers were leaving, he provided his own justification and he became proud of this own position and had no respect for God. It is interesting too that verse 10 says that Saul “went out to greet Samuel”, this suggests that he did not regret what he had just done, he had completely the wrong attitude. He incorrectly believed that God’s power to help them was actually because of the burnt offering and fellowship offerings and not the attitude of mind and the genuine commitment to God’s will. Despite this God remains working and is already preparing a replacement king with the right attitude and mind, verse 14. The scene is also set for God’s power to be shown through the weakness in human terms of Israel, verse 16-22, God did not need man’s weapons to defeat his enemies. We have these contrasts between following God and not following God in Isaiah 56 and 57. Chapter 56 is a great confidence boost for those of us who have been baptised and accepted Jesus – we are the “gentiles” that Isaiah is talking about here. Verse 1-2 says that we should “do what is right” and that “blessed is the man [and woman] who holds fast to God’s teachings, sadly, Saul was an example of someone not “holding fast”. The confidence that we get is from verse 3-8, clearly stating that if we “hold fast to God’s covenant” and keep his commands we will be “gathered” and brought to the kingdom – there is no doubt about this. But there is the contrast in this chapter too, ie verse 9-12, suggesting that there are those who cannot be bothered with following God.  That is their choice, but they cannot expect to get the wonderful blessings promised by God. Chapter 57 starts off by talking about the “righteous who perish”, this is interesting because we know all people will die unless Jesus comes back first, but see what it says in verse 1-2, ie they will be “spared from evil”, they will be at “peace” and they will “find rest as they lie in death”. This is an excellent reminder that those who “die in Jesus” are actually taken away from further suffering and they have a peace as they wait for Jesus to return – this is why we often use Jesus’ words that he used when talking about Lazarus in the New Testament that they are “asleep”. Only resting until Jesus returns. Then we have the contrast of the wicked again, ie those who do not respect God, verse 3-5 and have replaced him with own strength or money or other things, verse 6-9. God says let those things that you trusted in save you, because they will not! In fact even when “worshipping” these “false gods”, people see that these “gods cannot help”, verse 11, yet no one asks why and they still carry on! It is quite amazing that people still “worship” false things even though they know that they cannot save! And God asks us why, verse 11, ie 3 things he points out to us about the people: 1. being “false” to him, 2. not “remembering” him, and 3. not thought about him. All these things take us away from God, so we should be determined to always put God first, because, as it says in the last part of verse 13, “But the man who makes me [God] his refuge will inherit the land and possess my [God’s] holy mountain [Jerusalem]. Verses 14-19 shows what happens to those who trust in God and try to follow his commands. Our attitude should be humility, verse 15. We should have complete respect for God knowing that he will heal us, verse 18-19, but at the same time being aware that we need to repent when we fail. There are only two ways to go in life and they are shown for us in this chapter. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace, verse 2; but there is no peace for the wicked, verse 21. Revelation 21 and 22 show us the reward for those who follow God and Jesus now as best as they can. When Jesus returns all our suffering and pain will end, our human nature will end, chapter 21 verse 4. We are the “bride” verse 9, those whose names are in the “book of life”, verse 27, if we are recognised as being a follower of Jesus, with his “mark on [our] foreheads, chapter 22 verse 4. We can be confident of this promise, but there is a warning because all who are not recognised as Jesus’ will be excluded, chapter 21 verse 8. This picture in Revelation is of the future when Jesus comes back, it is a time that we are looking forward to because it means that we will be saved from our human nature and death will be gone, chapter 22 verse 3. So the lesson is, we have a wonderful future to look forward to, we have to always try to respect and follow God’s commands and we have a saviour to help us. Jesus said that he is coming “soon”, chapter 22 verse 6-7, we actually do not know when, we believe that the “time is near”, verse 10, but we cannot be sure; however we know from Isaiah that those who are God’s may die sooner than we think to save us from further suffering so we need to be prepared now. Because when the time is right for Jesus to come back it will be quick, the word “soon” used in verse 12 and 20, can convey the meaning that Jesus’ return will be “quick”, so if we are acting like Saul or those described in chapter 21 verse 8 and chapter 22 verse 15, it may be too late to change then, so let us follow God’s ways now with complete confidence. July

July 2nd.

Practical thoughts today from our readings. In 1 Samuel 14 we just have a snap shot of 2 people’s lives, one godly, the other, sadly not. This is Jonathan and Saul. Both were leaders, see 1 Samuel 13 verse 2 for Jonathan and we know that Saul was the king. We can get lessons from this as we live our Christian lives. It is so clear that Jonathan was godly, verse 6, 10 and 12. Jonathan had a genuine trust in God and a belief that God was in control. All his decisions and his actions were godly and this was noticed by others, eg his armour bearer, verse 7 and the rest of the army, verse 39 and 45. This is an important example for all of us brothers who are elders, we have to genuinely follow God and we have to set good examples. This is in complete contrast with Saul – he is becoming more and more ungodly as he allows his human attitude to replace his previous godly attitude. In this account Saul does not acknowledge that it was God who brought about the victory, verse 15 and 23, neither does he acknowledge Jonathan’s part in this, in fact he was prepared to kill him for breaking an ill thought out oath that he had made, verse 24, 28 and 44. Saul was the leader yet he did not consult God, verse 36. He just thought like Eli’s sons did, that God’s power was in the ark, verse 18. He just simply responded to situations and appeared godly, eg verse 34-35, notice this was the “first time”. Sadly, Saul was now not fully committed to God, in fact he was now more interested in his own strength and in who he could recruit to his army, verse 52. Because Saul did not put God first in everything he was now being undermined by his army, verse 45 and Saul’s anger and jealousy allowed the Philistines to get away and the consequences were that there was continued fighting over the years. In Isaiah 58 we again see this comparison between godly and ungodly attitudes, verse 1-5, shows the wrong attitude, ie pretending to look godly and verses 6-12 shows the actions of the godly. The ungodly, for example, look godly but their actions betray them, they do all the bad things listed, whereas the godly are seen to be godly. The godly really practise what they believe and respect God. Note that God’s response is conditional, verse 9-10, this is re-emphasised in verse 13-14. So if we want God to help us and bring us to his kingdom we have to demonstrate our godliness. Saul’s eventual request for an answer in 1 Samuel 14 verse 37 was not answered, just as God indicates in Isaiah that he would not listen. When we fail and if we have the right attitude, we have forgiveness because we have Jesus, Matthew 1 verse 21. The genealogy of Jesus, verse 1-16 shows God’s plan, despite human failings as we see the “mistakes” in people’s lives, eg David and Bathsheba, verse 6. This is a huge hope that we have in Jesus that with the right attitude we have our sins forgiven. In these 2 chapters we have human nature on display, chapter 1 verse 20, Joseph was angry when he discovered that Mary was pregnant, but he listened to God, verse 24, he was godly. Herod, on the other hand, had absolutely no respect for God, he was determined to destroy God’s son, verse 16. This is extreme, but it is worth remembering it as an example of how corrupt human nature is. The birth of Jesus was a world changing event, it has meant that we can come close to God in Jesus so that we can have our sins forgiven and have the promise of life. July

July 3rd.

The real positive message for us is in Matthew, but just to set the context of our practical thoughts we need to start in 1 Samuel 15 because the human response here is typical of all of us and is the reason why we need Jesus so much. This chapter, sadly, shows Saul’s continuing fall into human thinking, and this confirms the reason for him being rejected as king, verse 26. Saul was given a task to do, he was told to completely destroy the Amalekites, an ungodly people who had refused to let the children of Israel pass through their land all those years ago when they were saved from Egypt, verse 2-3. Like Saul, we are also given tasks to do, summarised by being like Jesus, and God expects us to do our best in doing this. Saul only half did the job and Samuel brought the sad, but inevitable, message from God to Saul, verse 10-11. Saul’s arrogance here is quite appalling, he knew he had done wrong, verse 9, he should have destroyed everything, verse 3. But he then went off and set up a monument to himself, verse 12, this is pride! He then lied to Samuel, verse 13, he then blames his men, verse 15, and he tries to justify himself by saying that the animals were sacrifices! You cannot lie to God, you will not get away with it! Even if you justify disobedience in your own mind, like Saul did, verse 20-21, you will still not get away with it! And this is the problem when we rely on our own strength and forget that the things that we have are from God in the first place. There is a real danger then that we go on to ignore God. Verse 22-23, puts things into perspective, ie God is more interested in us obeying him rather than making sacrifices, whatever that may be. Rebellion and arrogance are typical human ways and we need to continually guard against this. Saul appears to repent, verse 24 and 30, but God knows his heart and there are consequences for his ungodliness. This is a sobering lesson to all of us and we are constantly reminded of this throughout the Bible, Isaiah 59 is another example and God’s words to Israel in verses 3-8 could equally have been said to Saul and also to us when we try to justify our human actions. Saul certainly told lies, verse 4, do we do the same to our brothers and sisters? The fact is if we, like Saul, disobey God then “justice is far from us”, verse 9-11. We cannot expect God to be with us if we are doing wrong! However, we do all fail and humanly speaking there is no justice, verse 12-15. Acknowledging this is the first part of repentance and if we try our best to do right, God’s plan in Jesus allows us forgiveness, verse 16, and Jesus is that “Redeemer” from Zion, verse 20, God ultimately brings salvation through Jesus. And to Jesus we come in Matthew 3 and 4. Both John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ first recorded words are “repent”, I suggest that this is deliberate and therefore important, chapter 3 verse 2 and chapter 4 verse 17. Both said that the Kingdom was near, so if we want to be part of the kingdom we need to repent – 2 important, simple messages right at the start of the New Testament! When Jesus was baptised God said that he was well pleased, chapter 3 verse 17, God was pleased because now it was possible for salvation to happen – Jesus was God’s faithful son and he set the example of baptism that would only “work” if Jesus continued to live a sinless life and therefore be raised from the dead. This salvation was possible because Jesus always obeyed his father, the examples during his temptation show just how much Jesus followed his father, chapter 4 (verse 1-11). He countered all of his bad, human thoughts, by quoting what his father had said and wanted, verse 4, 7 and verse 10, he chose not to justify himself in any sin like Saul did. We need to try to do the same. We thank God for Jesus, because we really need the salvation brought through him. With this wonderful hope that we have we also have responsibilities to try our best to obey God and Jesus and not to do as Saul did and take things into our own hand. The wonderful, positive message in Matthew is that baptism is our start of our preparation for the kingdom and as part of our repentance we are required to produce “fruits” that demonstrate that we take this seriously, chapter 3 verse 8, it is our actions that show others what motivates us. We followed Jesus’ example by being baptised, so too should we follow his example in how we cope with temptations and try to be more familiar with God’s word so that we can know better what is right and wrong. Our response to Jesus’ invitation to follow him should be as enthusiastic as that of the disciples who “at once” and “immediately” left everything to follow him. There was no regret and no half-heartedness, they faithfully followed. So we do too. We all have doubts and we all make mistakes but we can rely on Jesus for forgiveness and healing. The last few verses of chapter 4 tell us that Jesus preached the “good news of the kingdom” and he healed the sick, sickness is a reminder of our human nature and our sinfulness and because Jesus healed the sick we also have a vivid reminder that Jesus forgives us of our sins too, making us “whole” for the kingdom. So let us constantly remember that we have a wonderful promise of a future with God, so let us try our best to produce fruits that demonstrate the value we place on this and the value we see in Jesus’s sacrifice, without which we would have no hope at all! July

July 4th.

Saul was rejected as king because he did not follow God’s commands. God is clear that he is to be replaced, 1 Samuel 16 verse 1. Samuel obeys, despite being concerned about how Saul will respond, and goes to Bethlehem as instructed. The beginning of verse 2 just shows us how ungodly Saul was because Samuel was afraid of him! There was nothing about Saul that reflected God’s love, he was just out for his own benefit, an attitude that is not acceptable to God. A warning for us again. Interestingly Samuel continued to mourn for Saul, 1 Samuel 15 verse 35, this shows a godly love for others, a good example for us, however, God does encourage Samuel to move on because of Saul’s ungodliness, 1 Samuel 16 verse 1. Not such a good example for us to follow is Samuel’s initial consideration of outward appearances only, as Samuel started to do when looking for God’s chosen son of Jesse to anoint, verse 6. No, God looks at the heart, verse 7, and because David was godly, God worked with him, verse 13. And because he was godly he was also seen as godly and noticed by others, verse 18. Such a contrast to Saul, verses 14-16, notice that the evil spirit was from God to allow Saul’s ungodly character to come out, probably a bad temper, or depression, or maybe jealousy. Because David was godly he was trusted and he earned respect, a characteristic that we should have as followers of Jesus, verse 21-23. The picture that we get in Isaiah 60 is one of restoration, it is ultimately in the kingdom when everything is restored and all those in the kingdom are godly. Some of the words used here remind us of those words used in Revelation when all things are restored when Jesus has returned and sin and death are done away with because all are godly. This is a wonderful picture of peace and it is graphically demonstrated by the use of light and darkness, verse 1-3 and then in verse 19-22. We see this use of light and darkness all the way through the Bible it starts in Genesis 1 verse 1-5 and climaxes in Revelation 22 verse 5. Light is always associated with godliness and righteousness and dark with sin and ungodliness. This is such an uplifting chapter. Peace is what Jesus teaches in Matthew 5. Verses 1-12 are the characteristics of those who will be on the Kingdom, they are completely opposite to the natural human thinking, like Saul and us when we disregard God’s commands. And God will give us all these things in the kingdom to all those who humbly try their best to follow. All the blessings referred to in these verses are given to those who try to act in godly ways. The salt and light in verses 13-16 appears to be Jesus asking us to look into our own motives to see if what we do actually reflects who we say we are. Because we say we follow Jesus we have to always try and demonstrate that we are Jesus’s in our lives, otherwise it is pointless being “salt” or a “light” they both have to have a use! We cannot ignore it when both God and Jesus say that we should obey, verse 19, if we want to be part of God’s promises we have to obey, or as it says here we will be “called least in the kingdom of heaven”. It is interesting that the implication here is that we still enter the kingdom, but presumably providing we repent. Matthew refers a lot to the ”kingdom of heaven”, we know from other more clearer passages that no one goes to heaven so the message for us here is that the kingdom is “of God”, ie it is godly. Jesus then presents us with examples of how we should obey from our hearts and he makes the obvious sins like murder and adultery really close to all of us to make us realise just how like Jesus we should be. Murder = anger; adultery = lust, Jesus is making us think of our attitude. Jesus turns human thinking upside down. Saul did not change but should have, and we all need to. So Jesus is inviting all of us to look at our motives and to question our actions and our thoughts. “What would Jesus do” has to be our constant question. The real positive message from these readings is that the kingdom on earth will be a godly place, there will be no human corruption and as result there will be peace, this is promised to us! July

July 5th.

In Matthew 6 Jesus says to seek the kingdom of God first then all the things that we desire will be given to us, verse 33. There are 2 questions that come from this, 1 what does it mean to seek the kingdom first and 2 what should be included in the things that we desire? We have seen from thoughts on the readings that only those who are godly will be in the kingdom therefore this implies that our desires have to be godly too. As an example to help us we have David’s godly character to think about in 1 Samuel 17, because he always put the “kingdom” first. Clearly he thought of God first, verses 26, 30, 36, 45 and 46. All these verses show us that David’s first thoughts were of God, he was distressed that God was being defied. He had no fear of human strength because he knew that God was with him. There is a massive difference in characters between David and others here. The Philistines relied on human strength, verses 4-7, Eliab was jealous and embarrassed as well as misrepresented David, verse 28, and Goliath was proud, verse 43-44, all these human attitudes are wrong and David was completely opposite to these because he put God first. Although David is described as a “boy” here, he was not, he was a young man, strong enough and big enough to wear Saul’s uniform, verse 38-39 and also strong enough to use Goliath’s sword, verse 51. David thought of God first and he desired what God wants, not what humans want. Isaiah 61 is a continuation of the picture of restoration for God’s people, it includes the teaching about Jesus the return of the people of Israel to the land of Israel and ultimately the kingdom when Jesus comes back. A verse that had an impact on me shows how seeking God’s kingdom first and desiring the same things that God wants us…. verse 8. This clear message shows us what God loves, ie justice, this should be what we also love, David did. The verse also shows us what God hates, ie stealing and iniquity. Both these words cover everything that is ungodly, so God hates taking anything that is not yours; he also hates it when we break his commands. We know that parts of this chapter were fulfilled by Jesus because Jesus tells us they were in Luke 4:18-19,so Jesus’s teachings in Matthew 6 are partly a fulfilment of Isaiah 61 and Jesus’s teachings here continue in the theme of our attitude. He tells us to he humble, verse 1-4, he tells us how to pray, verses 5-15, he tells us that when we do things in personal worship not to show others, verses 16-18. In all these sections he says not to be a hypocrite, the word hypocrite means “play acting” or “pretending”. God knows what our motives are, we can not lie to him, we can not pretend to him, Jesus is very critical of hypocrites. In verses 19-24 Jesus is asking us what things are actually in our heart and are we trying to serve 2 masters, ie God and money or human things. Jesus is clear about the right answer, ie you can not serve both. The contrast between light and dark is big and unmistakable, Jesus is saying if your desires are human then you are bad and in darkness, however if you desire godly things then you are good and in the light. Then Jesus says not to worry, verses 25-34, not to worry about our life, about food, or clothes, etc, but to seek God’s kingdom first, then we will have the godly things that we desire. Notice this is we will have the godly things that we desire, not the human things. God is in control, he knows exactly what is happening in all of our lives, he knows our motives, our thoughts, our actions. He knows if we are genuine or not and he knows what we desire so he will bring us to his kingdom. David thought of God first, do we? July

July 6th.

Thinking of practical lessons from today’s readings we still see the contrast of godly and ungodly characters in 1 Samuel 18. Saul’s jealousy of David is now becoming a regular thing. Sail was angry because David was credited with more success than he had been, verse 8, he tried to kill David, verse 11, and he remained disrespectful to God’s will, verse 12. He plotted to get David killed by the Philistines, verse 17 and verse 21, he was even willing for his daughter to go through the pain of having her husband killed. This was a man whose ungodliness took over his everyday thinking and he became worse and worse. This is what happens when human beings allow human thinking to take over. It is a complete contrast to David who had friends who were also godly, verse 1-3, he did his best in everything such that he had respect from others, verse 5 and 16 and he was humble, verse 18 and 23. Yes David was a godly man, he took no credit for himself, he was well known, even the songs about him show this, verse 7, he was even well known by his enemies, verse 30. But with all of this success he remained humble. Saul should have been pleased for David as he was on his side! A massive lesson for us, we should not be proud and arrogant as Saul was, we should accept God working in all of our brothers and sisters’ lives and humbly accept God’s will. David was always aware of God in his life and always attempted to do what God wanted. Isaiah 62 is an example of the thing that should always be on our minds and in our prayers. This chapter is again about God’s restoration of his people and his land that ultimately ends in the kingdom. It is all possible, as we know, through Jesus, verse 10 gives us a hint of this, in that the “banner” is a possible picture of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Isaiah 11:10, 49:22 and John 12:32) all these things are a reminder of God’s plan that includes us. So, like we see in David’s later life he always prayed for God’s future restoration of his kingdom, we should do the same. Verse 6-7, we are those “who call on the Lord” therefore we should always be praying for the kingdom and for Jesus’s return. Because we know that this promise is real we should listen to what Jesus says to us. Matthew 7 continues with his first preaching and in verses 1-6 he is reminding us of our own tendency to sin and how we should be humble and not judge others with a view to condemn. We are all weak, only Jesus did not sin, David was sinful the same as us, so we must always examine ourselves and keep a block on our human tendencies. If we try to be godly and try to obey God we can confidently ask, verses 7-12. We can ask for what God wants. We have a choice as to whether we are in the kingdom or not, verse 13-14, God does not force us to do anything, but if we want to be in God’s kingdom we have to do what God wants. Saul’s actions showed what was in his heart, David and Jonathan’s actions the same and it is the same for us. Jesus uses plants with good and bad fruit to make this point. If we are genuine in our belief in God we people will see by our thoughts and actions if we look like Jesus, if we are not others will see that too. God and Jesus certainly see. It is important for us to remember this because Jesus can still turn around and say that he does not know us, verse 21-23. So the lesson is to be a wise builder, verse 24-27. God has given us all an opportunity to be in the kingdom, he wants us to be there, we will be there if we trust and try our best and we have confidence in Jesus because he covers our failures, but if we are pretending (hypocritical) then our salvation is at risk. So together let us all produce good fruit. July

July 7th.

It is always very sad when people who have been given opportunity to know God and to benefit from his salvation, ultimately in Jesus, turn away. This is exactly what Saul is doing in 1 Samuel 19, he should have been glad that David had, through God’s power, overcome the Philistines, verse 4-5. Jonathan certainly understood and appreciated this and for a time he successfully changed Saul’s mind. But Saul was so jealous of David and because he was ungodly all he wanted to do was to take revenge and again he tries to kill David, verse 9-10. This is the problem when you forget what God does for us and disrespect his commands and requirements, you will only focus on your self and God will arrange things that accelerate the consequences of your bad actions. In this case Saul’s unchecked anger causes him to throw a spear at David. And things start getting worse for Saul and Michal, his daughter, turns against him, verse 17, his men do the same, verse 20-21. God was clearly at work here in influencing the men and also Saul, verse 23, in protecting David and also showing how powerful God himself is. God brought to nothing the perceived power of the ungodly Saul and worked through events to ensure that David was OK. David continued to have faith in God throughout all this, demonstrated by his immediate turning to Samuel, the man of God, when Saul was trying to kill him. A lesson for us is not to rely on our own ideas and strength but to always turn to God. Our reading in Isaiah 63 again talks about the salvation of God, eg verse 5, 9 and 16. We know that salvation is through Jesus and we do have little pictures of Jesus in this chapter. The practical lessons for us have to be the reminders of when the children of Israel rebelled against God, verses 11-14. Despite them seeing God’s wonderful power they still rebelled and suffered the consequences, Saul rebelled and suffered the consequences so we should be aware that there will be consequences if we are rebelling. But Isaiah pleads on his people’s behalf to be compassionate, verses 15-19. And we thank God that he is compassionate and we experience the affect of this in Jesus. Matthew 8 shows us examples of this compassion. The man with leprosy (a symbol of sin) asks Jesus for healing, and Jesus heals him, verse 1-4. Jesus touches the man, no one else would for fear of becoming a leper themselves. Jesus can and will heal our sins if we repent and ask. The humble, faithful centurion asks for healing for his servant, verses 5-13, and Jesus is impressed by his faith. He knew that Jesus could heal from a distance, indeed Jesus healed many, verse 14-17. But Jesus’s main priority was to teach about repentance and the kingdom of God, yes our suffering will end in the kingdom, maybe sometimes we experience healing now but Jesus does say that there is a cost of following him, verse 18-22. We should expect difficulties as these 2 examples show, ie having no home and caring for old or sick relatives and the fear that Jesus’s disciples experienced in the boat is the same fear that we experience when we go through troubles, verse 22-27. With faith Jesus does calm the difficulties around us too… sometimes we may lose everything as David did when he fled but God and Jesus are aware and with the right attitude we will ultimately be brought to the kingdom. Sometimes we cannot see God working in our lives because it is not obvious, I think we have a demonstration of this in the healing of the so called demon possessed man, verses 28-34. This man was probably what we know today as a schizophrenic ie having multiple sides to his personality, notice the man said “us”. He needed a demonstration that he was in fact healed which is why Jesus used the pigs to show the man that he was healed. Events around show us that God is in control, he was in control of the events around David, he has always been in control of our salvation, Jesus is in control of healing and giving forgiveness and God is in control of our lives too if we are open to him and try to follow him. July

July 8th.

The 1 Samuel 20 reading brings the effect of ungodliness into a clear contrast to godliness. The ungodly Saul shows where his human priority was, verse 31. He had disregarded what God had said and was trying to go against him by wanting David dead so that his family, Jonathan, would have the kingly inheritance! He was so determined to get his own way that he ignored God. By contrast, the godly Jonathan sided with the godly David, he had total respect for God and was not interested in his human inheritance, he was just interested in what God wanted, even if it meant a new king from a different family. This chapter shows us just how low humans can be when they have disregard for God as Saul demonstrated. Jonathan wanted to do the right thing and he rightly went against his father because he respected God more. This is how we should be too, we should put God first, even above our family, tribe, nationality – all these are worthless compared to the family of God. We have a prayer of Israel in Isaiah 64, that should be ours too. A prayer for God to show his power and to save those who respect him, verse 5. Notice it says “help those who gladly do right and remember your ways”. Again we see the help that we have from God as being conditional, we can not expect help if we are ungodly as Saul was. Being godly involves us wanting to change, verse 8, we see God as the Potter who is making a pot in the shape that he wants, we are the clay and God is changing us into the people who he wants us to be. The experiences that we go through in our lives, mold us and change us, if we trust God and do not rebel against him. God’s plan for us very much involves Jesus because we cannot be saved without him because we can never be sinless. Matthew 9 shows us how Jesus has authority to forgive sins, verse 6 and we take great comfort from this because we do all need forgiving. Verse 12-13 shows that Jesus has come to heal the spiritually sick, ie sinners and to bring mercy. God is merciful, demonstrated by him giving us Jesus. The examples in the old testament show us how weak willed humans are, even David sinned, but he looked forward with trust in God to the time of Jesus when those who trust in him can have their sins forgiven. Putting a patch on the old will not work, we have to have a new way of doing things, and this is in Jesus, verse 16-17. Jesus has changed the way that we can look at things, for example death is now a sleep, verse 24, Jesus has the power to raise the dead, verse 25. We all will continue to experience difficulties in our lives but with faith we come to Jesus for help, verses 22 and 29. For these examples healing was immediate, this may or may not happen for us before Jesus comes back, but we have confidence that our lives are in God’s hands and he will help as he sees fit. It is sad that some people, despite all the warnings and examples, still reject God and Jesus, verse 34. The Pharisees were so “blind” that they could not even see with their Bible knowledge that Jesus was the son of God. We have a wonderful hope, one that we should want to share, so our prayer should also be, verse 39. We need to pray that we can teach others the wonderful message of Jesus and the coming Kingdom. July

July 9th.

In our first reading today (1 Samuel 21&22), David appears to do his best to protect Ahimelech the priest when David saw that one of Saul’s men was there, verse 7. David did not want the priest to be accused, by Saul, of helping him which would have put his life at risk. So David made up a story in verse 2-3. Sadly Saul was unwilling to accept this story after Doeg told him, 1Sam22:16, David blamed himself for this sad event, 1Sam22:22 and he writes his thoughts in Psalm 52. Here he shows the contrast between godly and ungodly people – the ungodly will be brought down, verse 5, the righteous will see justice, verse 2-7 and will have a future, verses 8-9. Jesus does not condemn David for his “story”, in fact he uses part of this acount to try and get the Pharisees to understand that we will come across occasions when we have to make spiritual decisions, Matthew 12:3-4 and 1Sam21:6. Saul and Doeg are both so far away from God, even Saul’s men refuse to carry out Saul’s command, verse 17. Doeg has no principles and kills the priests, verse 18. Many times we see there are consequences for people who are just Christians for their own selfish benefit, like Saul and Doeg, and Isaiah 65 reminds us yet again of this, verse 13-16. God’s servants are those who try to follow God in everything and seek him, verse 10. Therefore servants get the things that those who “forsake” God crave, verse 11. So if we are just pretend worshiping God and lying to our brothers and sisters and just making money for ourselves then we are amongst those who are in verse 12. God’s appeal to the Israelites, as it is to us, is to turn and seek him. Only then will we be part of the promised kingdom that we see a picture of in verses 17-25. Jesus sends his disciples out to teach others in Matthew 10. This same responsibility to teach is given to us too and we are told to expect difficulties, eg verses 16-23. But Jesus says not to be afraid, verse 26. He says not to hold back on teaching, verse 27-28. Do not be afraid of humans just be afraid of God who has the power to leave us in the grave. God is very much aware of the situations that we are in, verses 29-30, we may not have peace now, but we will in the kingdom. Jesus says something that should make us all think about how we live our lives in verse 32-33. We can only acknowledge Jesus if we are teaching about him, obeying him and acting like him. If we are trying to be like him in everything that we do then he will acknowledge us before God and we have life in the kingdom, but if we do not acknowledge Jesus we put our salvation at risk. Yes, we are saved by grace, but we acknowledge too that Jesus is coming to judge, verse 34. He has hard teachings in verses 37-39, but we have to put God and Jesus first, above our family and above ourselves, even if this means suffering for a while as David did. We have been promised a reward for following Jesus and obeying him and doing the things that he teaches so let us not exclude ourselves from this reward, verses 40-42. July

July 10th.

In our first reading of today we are still looking at David and how God has protected him from all his enemies, including the jealous king Saul. In 1 Samuel 23 verse 1-2, we learn how God uses David to save Keilah from the Philistines, and it is so obvious from the words written that David is very focused on God.  This is demonstrated by him asking God for guidance, verse 2 and 4, for example. God can save us all against our enemies if we do what is right and what God requires us to do, but above all David was prayerful to God so we also need to imitate his life as we too try to do what God wants us to do. In verse 4, we see that it was God who fought for David and his men as God said that he would give the Philistines into David’s hand. This is exactly what happened, verse 5, however in verse 11-12 we also see that the citizens of Keilah, whom David had saved, were now willing to surrender him to Saul. Even in this situation David still asked God, and God confirms what their plans were. This is quite an incredible reminder that it is so unwise to trust a human being, indeed this shows how humans really behave and this shows the true human nature –  trying to get the best selfish advantage. They were happy for David to save them, yet they were just as happy to surrender their saviour to Saul.  This is similar to how Jesus Christ was also rejected = out of selfish ambition Jesus was killed. But more interestingly we see Jonathan coming in to save David and help him find more strength in the lord in verse 16-17, encouraging him not to be afraid, knowing that both of them would be rulers of Israel one day. So in life we need to trust God in every situation, even if things do not appear to turn out in the way that we would prefer. Even as Saul was closing in on David and things seemed hopeless, verse 26, events prevented Saul from capturing David, verse 27, so God is still working to save those who are faithful. Isaiah 66 confirms that God is in control of everything and that he “esteems” those who have the right attitude as David did, verse 1–2. In verse 2 the Hebrew word translated “contrite” here in Isaiah is very interesting. It is used three times in the old testament. The word contrite is used to describe the affliction of a particular person. The Hebrew word literally means smitten, crippled, maimed, lame or dejected. Therefore the verse means God desires the spiritually lame. if someone says to you that you are so lame spiritually say “thank you!”. God is looking for those that can see this and those that are “contrite” and who are “broken in spirit”. This is how David acted, he completely relied upon God and although he did not receive the ultimate promises, he will, with us, when Jesus comes back and the picture that we get in the rest of this chapter confirms to us that there is a future hope, verse 12-16 and 22-23. Throughout Isaiah we have seen a demonstration of sin, repentance and then salvation, and we have seen a confidence in the future for those who put their trust in and try to follow God. Jesus in Matthew 11 talks about humility and those with the right frame of mind, verse 28-29, “come to me” says Jesus “and I will give you rest”. Jesus does not say that we will not experience any form of suffering in our lives, but he says that in him we have a peace and a joy as we wait for him to return to set up his father’s kingdom. Just as John’s disciples were witnesses of the good things that Jesus was doing, verse 4-6, we too can see these things and know with confidence that ultimately all suffering will end because sin and our human mortality will have ended in the kingdom. So this wonderful hope and confidence that we have should give us this “rest” and peace of mind as we cope with the challenges of our daily struggles. July

July 11th.

In 1 Samuel 24 we have David running for his life with the king, Saul, in pursuit.  Saul is trying to kill David and has believed reports that David was trying to hurt him (v9).  It happens that David is in a position to kill Saul while he is in a cave.  David refuses.  It could be argued that God allowed the opportunity to appear, but David still refuses.  God chose Saul as king and God is the only one with the right to stop Saul being king.  David will not hurt the king .  David has such a clear undertanding of right from wrong that he can make a clear decision even when others cannot.  It comes from David accepting that God is in control of his life.  David trusts in God to care for him, even in such dangerous circumstances.  David choose to do the right thing even in a moment of extreme pressure.  This is a great example to us.  Can we understand right from wrong in a time where we have so much to lose and when it would be easy to make an emotional response?  The actions of David teach us something very very important. Even if other people are doing evil to us, we should not return evil on them. The one who does evil is in the wrong, but if we turn to doing evil ourselves, then we sink to their level and become an evil-doer ourselves.  David makes a great point, “From evildoers come evil deeds”.  (v13).  If he had taken an opportunity to do evil on Saul, he would have become an evildoer. He would have become king like Saul, but then he would have become an evil king like Saul.  David was not evil, but good.  We might also say, “From gooddoers come good deeds.”  This was David.  The righteous man knows that it is God who brings about revenge (Hebrews 10:30) and it is generally not a privilage of the righteous. Let us be like David.  Let us refuse to do evil and do good.  Let us trust in God.  Jeremiah 1 tells us how God chose Jeremiah as a prophet.  He was chosen before he was born (v5) to take God’s word to the nations (v10)!  We do not understand such foresight because we do not have it.  However, God is able to see the future and plan accordingly. In this respect, Jeremiah is like the apostle Paul, who was also chosen before he was born (Isaiah 49:1) to take God’s word to the nations (Isaiah 49:6).  God sends His word to the nations because the nations are also part of His plan and they also need to be preached to.  Both Jeremiah and Paul came across a lot of opposition and trouble.  Generally people do not want to hear the message of God.  God told Jeremiah that He would look after him despite people fighting him.  The same was true of the apostle Paul.  We may have similar problems and usually not to the same extent.  When we are witnesses to God’s message, we should accept that people generally do not want to hear it.  If we are faithful in delivering God’s message, then God will be faithful in standing by us.  Matthew 12 explains the reaction of people to the gospel message.  Jesus had sent out the twelve disciples to preach the gospel in chapter 10, and in chapters 11 and 12 we have the response to it.  There were two big things that the Jews did not like.  They did not like Jesus’ attitude to the sabbath (v1-14). And they did not like his miracles (v22-37).  In the case of the sabbath laws, Jesus did not follow their sabbath traditions.  He followed the law which said that you must not do you day job on the sabbath.  Picking and eating corn was not the day job.  The second case, the case of miracles is even more bazaar.  Why did the Pharisees not rejoice with the person who was healed?   God sent His prophet to do good deeds and perform miracles and the religious heads hated it!  Then they have the blindness to ask for a sign (v38) despite all the other miraclous signs that were being seen!  You can understand God being upset with His people.  In fact, the blindness of his people was predicted.  The parable of the seven spirits (v43-45) shows that that generation did start to listen to the gospel and did reform a bit.  They got rid of their evil spirit (that is, evil thinking and evil ways).  However, in the end they would end up seven-times worse.  This they did when they put Jesus to death.  The chapter ends with an encounter with Jesus’s family (v40-50).  It raises the question as to who are his family.  Were they the Pharisees and the evil generation?  No. The family of Jesus are those who do the will of God. It is those who hear his teaching and follow it.  If we listen to the words of Jesus and his disciples and follow them, then we are the family of Jesus.  Like David and Jeremiah, this means being different from most of the people around us.  This includes those who claim to be on God’s side and use His name.  We show that we are the family of Jesus by avoiding the evildeeds of evil doers and doing what is good and right. July

July 12th.

The David, Nabal, Abigail account in 1 Samuel 25 show the best and worst of human characteristics. Nabal was completely ungrateful for the help that David gave him. He was selfish, spiteful and disrespectful, worst of all he was unwilling to share with others the things that God had given him in the first place. Verse 10-11 shows his human pride and foolish nature. David’s reaction to Nabal’s rejection shows a lack of judgement here too, his first reaction was anger and he was determined to go and destroy Nabal, verse 13 and then verse 22, shows how angry David was. He justified his anger and actions because he expected something in return for his protection of Nabal’s sheep, verse 21. This is a natural human reaction, but we must be careful not to be like this, we should not give help to others expecting a reward from them, our motivation should be that we help others because it is what God wants us to do. David recognises this as soon as Abigail confronts him, verse 32-34. Abigail is the good conscience here and she stops David from taking matters into his own hand and from sinning. This is such an important lesson for us that we should be willing to challenge and to listen to each other. The godly Abigail is aware of God’s plan for David and respects him, she demonstrated her knowledge of and respect of God in her challenge of David, verse 24-31. This is another lesson for us, we need to be sensitive when we do challenge others and to always do it in a loving and Godly way. Another big lesson here is that God is always the one to take revenge if that is what is needed, and in this case, Nabal had a fatal heart attack when Abigail told him, verse 37-38. We should always leave things to God and do not take things into our own hands. Another message comes out of this is the impression that our actions have on others, notice how Nabal’s servants had no respect for him because they knew he was wicked, but notice too how nice Abigail was because they were free to talk to her, verse 14-17, we need to have a character like Abigail, David saw her good character and married her. Jeremiah 2, shows us how deceptive our human nature is again. The children of Israel forgot that God had given them the land and rescued them from Egypt, verse 6. All the good things that God had done for them were forgotten and God was replaced with worthless idols, verse 27-28. Nabal’s idol was his fine living and drink and that did not protect him at all, so we too need to be careful not to replace God with idols, whatever form this takes. This is a recurring theme in the prophets, Isaiah reminded us of this too. Jeremiah shows us how sinful we are when we replace him after all he has done for us, verse 13. Unlike David, God can expect us to respond to his love and care, if we do not respond he will cut us off. Jesus in Matthew 13 reminds us in the parables that we do have to respond, his explanation to the disciples, verse 18-23, shows that we do have to respond to God’s love and produce a crop. His explanation in verses 36-43 shows too that Jesus and his angels will judge us when he comes back, we pray that all of us produce good crops now. We have seen numerous times before that we are saved by grace and we thank God for this, but we still have to respond and try to live lives that are like the way that Jesus showed us. July

July 13th.

Saul again demonstrates that he can not be trusted in 1 Samuel 26 because he again pursues David, verse 2. David again seeks an opportunity to demonstrate to Saul that he is not a threat by going into Saul’s camp, verse 6. David had no intention of hurting Saul, verse 9-11, he just wanted to demonstrate that he was to be trusted and just took his spear and water bottle, verse 12. This shows us again just how trustworthy and godly David was. Notice that God had caused the soldiers to be in a deep sleep, so we clearly have God working with David because David was acting in a godly way. This aspect is also included in our reading in Jeremiah 3. The context is the unfaithful people of both Israel and Judah who were half hearted in their following of God, verse 4-5. God is criticising them for calling on God, saying that he is their friend and expecting God to help them when in fact they are doing evil. They were pretending to be godly, verse 10. This is what Saul did and the lesson here is for us not to pretend either, because God will not be happy with us. It is clear that all the suffering of Israel is because of their ungodliness. God is pleading with them to change, ie repent, verse 12-13. This is the message to us too, because God is always the same, we cannot be half-hearted or pretend we are godly, we have to be fully committed and demonstrate our faith, so if we are pretending we have the opportunity to repent. We cannot pretend and still expect to be in the kingdom! In Matthew 14 we have another example of someone who is clearly ungodly, this is Herod. John the baptist tried to change his attitude, verse 3-5. We know from the account that John was killed because of a stupid oath that Herod had made, verse 9, he was not willing to show human weakness in front of his guests. A warning for is not to get ourselves into situations that we cannot get out of! Unlike others, Jesus always had compassion on others because he followed his father, verse 14. Same with the feeding of the 5000 men, verse 21. This is such a contrast to both Saul and Herod. David showed compassion and so should we. The account of Jesus walking on water is a great lesson for us to have faith throughout all the difficulties of our lives. This was a real account of what happened to the disciples in that they were in a boat in a storm in the middle of the lake, verse 24. Jesus appears and Peter goes out to meet Jesus, verse 29-30. This is a picture of our lives too with all our worries and suffering, sometimes we get overwhelmed by events and we start to sink. This is really when faith helps as we ask the same thing as Peter said “Lord save me”. Verse 31. We will have difficulties in our lives, David’s experiences show us that, so did John the Baptist and the disciples, we may not be given peace immediately as happened here with the disciples but we will have peace in the kingdom. Peace really will come when Jesus is with us, verse 32. July

July 14th.

We have a potentially confusing account in 1 Samuel 28 about the “witch” or “medium” of Endor. We know from our Bible understanding that when someone dies, good or bad, they are no more, there is no “spirit” that lives on. We also know that it is wrong to consult any medium and we also know from Leviticus 20:27 that anyone who practices should be put to death. So the events here are very likely God using the woman to reaffirm what God had already told him via Samuel. David was in a potentially difficult situation living with the Philistines who were now at war with Israel, verse 1-2, what would David do if he had to fight against his country men? Because Saul was only pretending to follow God, he only expelled the mediums, verse 3. Samuel would have told him to kill them, but maybe Saul was keeping his options open in case he needed them! We already know from Isaiah and Jeremiah that idols and so called spirits are worthless so by keeping these Saul was demonstrating a complete lack of faith and disrespect of God. Because of Saul’s ungodliness God was not answering him anymore, verse 6 and Saul further sinned and consulted a medium, verse 8. The response was not one that Saul expected, it only confirmed what he already knew that God was not with him and added more information that he and his sons would be killed, verse 19. A sad end for an ungodly man. In Jeremiah 4 we also see warnings and lessons for us. Notice that the destruction that was coming was because the people did not listen to God, it was their fault that they were going to suffer, verse 14, 18 and 22. The Babylonian army was on the move to bring about God’s judgment but despite this, God was still appealing to his people to repent, verse 4 and 8. This shows God’s mercy, but also his severity that if we do not follow him we will potentially suffer. It is clear that God’s mercy is conditional, verse 1&2, we cannot pretend to follow him we have to be wholehearted in our response. In Matthew 15 we have this same message from Jesus, verse 7-9. Jesus was quoting Isaiah and applying it to the Pharisees but it can as easily be applied to us too if we are not sincere in our Christian life. Jesus makes it clear to us that all the bad things come from within us, verse 18-20, these are what makes us unclean before God. If we are unclean we need to repent, ie change. The account of the Canaanite woman, verses 21-28 shows how she persisted in coming to Jesus for help, she did not allow anything to stop her, ending in Jesus in commending her for her faith, verse 28. She put all her faith in Jesus, willing to accept anything that he gave her, verse 27. Providing we are not pretending we can be confident of Jesus’s and God’s patience and compassion. There are many lessons in the feeding of the 4000, but I like the lesson from the disciples’ reaction, verse 32-33. They had such short memories, they had already forgotten what had happened with the 5000! But Jesus gently reminded them what he could do and likewise we should trust him in every aspect of our lives and not try to take control ourselves like Saul did. July

July 15th.

We are not actually told that God was in control of the situation that David found himself in, ie being part of the Philistine army as it went up to attack Israel, but I am confident that God arranged the events to get David away. 1 Samuel 29:11. We do sometimes find ourselves in difficult situations, but if we are godly and trying to put God first he will help us as he sees fit. It was not all happiness because whilst David and his men were away their homes had been attacked and all that they had was taken. This is terrible and the response of everyone is understandable, 1 Samuel 30:6. The first thing that David does is pray, verse 7. David has so far been a good example of a man of prayer and is an example that we should follow. The natural thing would be to run after these Amalekites, but David stopped to pray. David’s attitude is right at the end of this account too, he ensured that all his men benefited, verse 23 and he shared what God had given him, verse 26. All these things show others that he was a man who followed God. We are not called on to fight as David was, in fact we are told not to, but we can have the same attitude as David had in how he responded to different situations. In Jeremiah 5 we sadly see the wrong attitudes of the people and the Jewish leaders. There was not a single person who was honest and tried to follow God in Jerusalem, verse 1. There was no one who was willing to repent, verse 3. The people and the prophets lied about God, verse 12-13. And the prophets actually told lies and the priests did their own thing and the Jews liked it this way, verse 30-31. This is a terrible situation to get into it was no surprise that God was going to destroy the land and take the people captive into Babylon! The warning for us surely has to be to always try to obey God, to be honest, to repent when we fail, to respect what God says, to not tell lies, to follow what God wants in our services and to lovingly challenge when things are not right. Our Christianity should not be centered around what we want, but what God wants. Jesus always did what his father wanted and he always challenged those who were not right. The example in Matthew 16 is in verses 1-4, the pharisees were pretending and Jesus knew this and said that he would not give them a sign other than that of Jonah. If you look at Mt 12:38-45 we can probably conclude that Jesus was referring to his own death and resurrection that would soon come. Jesus then warns his disciples about the teachings of the pharisees, verse 12. This is why it is important for us to read the Bible and to check things that we are told, be careful is the message. The Jews in Jeremiah liked the lies they were taught, Jesus tells us to be careful and to check! The confession of Peter, verse 16, is our confession too and because of this we have a wonderful future in the kingdom promised to us. We already know from Isaiah that God’s ways are not our ways, we will not always understand, but we have to trust as David did and as Peter had to learn when he tried to stop Jesus going to Jerusalem, verse 22. At the time Peter did not understand and Jesus had to remind him that he should have the mind of God, verse 23. Like Peter, we gave to have the mind of God, we have to obey and learn from Jesus, it should be our constant prayer as we look forward to the kingdom. We have to change our minds from thinking in human terms to thinking in God’s terms , verse 24-27. July

July 16th.

It is a sad end in 1 Samuel 31 with the death of Saul and Jonathan and Saul’s other sons. What God had said would happen, happened, and with the death of Saul and his sons, and therefore Saul’s heirs, the way is now open for David to be made king. Although sad because Saul did not follow God properly, we see how God deals with those who disobey him and Saul ends up without the thing that he wanted most, ie his family to be on the throne. The lesson for us is surely to seek the things of God and his kingdom first! In Jeremiah 6 we continue with the prophecy of the impending destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. In verse 13 we see one of the reasons why – the people were greedy for money, property and other personal gain, just like Saul. Their prophets and priests were just the same, and were not setting a good example, and God said that they “all practise deceit”. Verse 15 shows how far the people had gone away from God because they had no shame, and they were not embarrassed by their godless acts.  This is terrible, may we learn never to become corrupt! This is why it is so important that we challenge each other, in love, when we see others acting in ungodly ways, because naturally humans will rebel, verse 28 and our hearts become hard and we move further away from God. In the end God will reject all rebels, verse 30. In Matthew 17 we have the record of the transfiguration where Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus, how this actually happened we can only speculate, but Peter, James and John were privileged to witness this “vision”. We are privileged to also see pictures of the kingdom in the bible – we often do not understand them fully and Jesus says to us the same as he said to the disciples, “do not be afraid”, verse 7. The other disciples could not understand why they could not heal the ill boy and Jesus answers them when they question him, verse 20. The point that is important to me here is not the healing but faith.  We have to have faith, faith in God, in Jesus and in the Kingdom. This has to be our aim in life. We know that Jesus paid the price for our salvation in his death and resurrection and Jesus tries to prepare his disciples for it, verse 22-23. Despite all of the good things that Jesus did, he knew he would be rejected and killed. We pray that God will strengthen our faith too, but that also we can demonstrate our faith. This last example in this chapter, ie Mt17:24-27, brings out something that should make us think in that it demonstrates our faith. I think Jesus is basically saying that he was exempt from paying temple tax because he was the son of God and in God’s land. But notice that Jesus says the taxes have to be paid so as not to offend. The temple taxes were required to help maintain the building and do the various jobs; this is the case with us too, we need to maintain our halls where they exist, and to help in preaching, etc, so we too should also be willing to contribute from what God has given us. Saul’s priority was to build a human legacy, but our priority should be to carry out God’s work. July

July 17th.

Forgiveness is the practical thought from today’s readings. 2 Samuel 1 is the account of David learning about Saul’s and Jonathan’s death. His sadness about Jonathan is easy to understand, but humanly speaking, less so about Saul because of all that Saul had done to him. But there is not even a hint of disrespect for Saul in David’s lament, verses 17-27, in fact David credits Saul with things, verses 23 and 24 and 25. David had forgiven Saul for everything that he had done to him; he did this because Saul was the Lord’s anointed and he loved him as such and David was godly. We know how much respect David had for this in the way that he dealt with the young Amalekite who lied about him being the one who killed Saul, verse 15. There are at least two lessons here: do not lie, especially to make yourself look better in others eyes, and also forgive. Jeremiah 7 shows again how we need to repent to have forgiveness from God. The people were being punished because they were pretending in their worship of God, verse 9-10. They were deliberately sinning and living ungodly lives, yet still going to worship. They were completely disrespectful of God, and he reminds them that he is aware and watching, verse 11. God had repeatedly asked the people to repent, ie change, verse 3-7, but they refused and trusted in lies, verse 8. Notice all the way through this section that God will forgive if only the people change their ways. The clear message here is that you cannot expect God to help us and listen to us if we are not trying to do the right things and to repent. God says again in verse 23 to obey him, and then he will be their God. God is patient but we cannot presume that he will always be patient with us, he will stop listening, verse 16. Matthew 18 carries on with this theme. As Christians we should be growing, like a natural child we need to grow. 1 Corinthians 13 verse 11 and 1 Peter 2 verse 1-3 show us that we should not be pretending (being hypocrites) as the Jews were. Hebrews 5 verse 11-14 depicts our “growing” as moving from milk to meat as we mature, like David – we should be trying to start thinking like God. A little bit of pride appears to have crept in with the disciples in Matthew 18 when we read that they asked about who would be the greatest, verse 1. Jesus makes it clear that we all have to be humble, verse 2-4, in this respect we have to be like children. We must not be looking for high positions as Christians, we must be humble as David was during this part of his life. Pride is a big problem in stopping us being godly, but it is other things too, so we have to examine ourselves to see if there are things that are making us ungodly, verses 7-9. This is the same message that was given to the people in Jeremiah. Look at how much God wants us to change, verses 10-14. Because of Jesus, all we have to do is to try, sadly we will continue to sin and make mistakes, but we pray that none of us is actually rebelling against God and that we do repent. We will occasionally sin against a brother or sister, verse 15 – Jesus tells us what to do in these situations, notice it is a conversation with the brother or sister where this process starts. Other church members are only involved if a resolution has not been found, verse 16, so a small number of witnesses are involved.  If that does not work, then the church becomes involved, verse 17. These are clear stages that demonstrate love and respect for others. Even if there is not reconciliation there is still love, because Jesus taught the tax collectors and sinners in the first place, and that us what we should do too to those who we judge as being at fault. Jesus then gives us the parable of the unmerciful servant, verses 21-34. We are the servants, Jesus is the king, the kingdom of heaven is our Christian life now. The 2 servants in this story both owed a debt, our debt is the sins that we commit as well as our human nature. We have had forgiveness from Jesus and therefore from God for our sins, verse 27. We have all been forgiven a huge debt and this should provoke love in us for our brothers and sisters and we should forgive them too, from the heart, ie 70×7! This servant who was forgiven by his king (Jesus) was sadly ungodly, he did not forgive his brother’s debt, or sin, verse 28-30. His master was not happy with his attitude, verse 32-34. The thing for us to remember is that God will treat us in the same way if we do not forgive, verse 35. Forgiveness is an important part of a Christian’s life, we are forgiven, therefore we should also forgive. We sin and we need to repent to have our sins forgiven by God. We are not told to wait for the repentance of our brothers and sisters and not forgive them until they repent. We must always be ready to forgive others because we have been forgiven a massive debt in the first place! July

July 18th.

2 Samuel:1 suggests the humility of David as he does not appear to rush to take over the kingdom of Israel even though he knew it was what God had said would happen. He prays and God answers. His first reaction was prayer. He then moves all his men’s families back to within the borders of Israel. Verse 2-3. Even then David allowed events, under God’s control, to happen, he still did not rush to take what was his. He was only anointed King when others heard he was back, verse 4. This is humility, he did not push himself forwards. Likewise we should not push ourselves forward, we should humbly wait. David starts off his kingship in Judah by trying to make peace with the remnants of Saul’s army, verse 4-7. He again showed no anger towards Saul’s men, in fact he even said he would show favour towards them because they had given Saul a proper burial. Unfortunately, Abner, Saul’s army commander had other ideas, going against what God wanted and made Ish-Bosheth, king of Israel, verse 8-9. This was the start of a war between the two sides of God’s people. A sad situation that arose all because the Israel side did not do what God wanted. Men on both sides lost their lives because not everyone checked what God wanted. Jeremiah 8 continues with the sad consequences of people disregarding God, verses 5-6 shows us that the people went their own way, they did not turn or repent. The people were pretending and listening to lies, verse 8&10 and God asks the question if they were even sorry, no they were not, verse 12. Jeremiah sums up the sad situation in verse 14, the people had rebelled against God and sinned against him. This is why they were going to suffer, they changed the things that God had said and listened to lies. We can take warnings from this as we try to live our lives in Jesus. Matthew 19 talks about divorce and how when we get married it should be for life, verse 6. The account of the rich young man is also a good lesson for us. The young man was generally good, he said that he followed the commandments that Jesus highlighted, verse 18-19 and 20. But there was still something lacking, verse 21. The young man relied on his wealth for his standing in the community. Perhaps there was a bit of pride too in how he answered Jesus about the commands that he kept and he went away sad, verse 22. Before we start thinking that this is a something that does not apply to us because we are not rich notice how the disciples responded, verse 25. They had left everything to follow Jesus and yet they still associated with what Jesus said by asking “who can be saved”. The lesson here is who or what do we trust in! As Jesus said it is impossible to be saved without God, verse 26. The message here for us is again to put God first as David did, we should not be like the people in Jeremiah who believed lies, but we should try to be like the character that Jesus suggested to the rich young man. Our priorities have to be on God; our reliance has to be on God and we have to treat whatever little wealth we have as being given by God and so use it in his service. Verse 29-30. July

July 19th.

There are again a few practical lessons for us in today’s readings that we can use to help us in our everyday lives. It was inevitable that David would become stronger than the remaining family of Saul, 2 Samuel 3:1 and it is no surprise that Abner was thinking about his own position, verse 6-7. I am not sure what his motives were when he went to David, verse 12, maybe they were genuine or maybe they were just self preservation again, either way David demonstrated forgiveness towards him, verse 13-14. David took this as an opportunity of peace within Israel and to again get his wife back! There was certainly peace in David’s heart when he sent Abner back to put the plan into action, verse 21. This surely has to be how we act too when there are disputes between us, we need to find a common ground and not to keep thinking about past problems between us. Providing both parties are trying to put God first, then there can be a reunion. Sadly in this case Joab did not see it that way and he wanted to settle his disagreement with Abner by killing him, verse 26-27. Joab was bitter since Abner killed his brother and he wanted revenge. But there were consequences for this, verse 28-29. The best course of action is always forgiveness, if we keep remembering times when brothers and sisters have wronged us then there will never be peace and unity. Jeremiah 9 shows us again how ungodly human beings can become if we do not try our best to follow what God wants. Verses 3-6 is a terrible description by God of his people, notice the lies and deception. Pretending to be godly is not right, we have to always try to live godly lives, verse 7-8. God is always aware of our motives and actions and he was clear in explaining why Israel at this time was being punished, verse 13-14. The warning for us here is not to forsake God’s law and to not do the selfish things that our human hearts desire. God is very clear that we should not be boasting in human wisdom as both Abner and Joab were doing but our “boasting” should be about God and his kindness and righteousness, verse 23-24. We have to always try to think of God first. Circumcision is only an outward sign of a man’s nationality, what God is looking for in us all is a heart that demonstrates the character of God himself, verse 25. The parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20 is how Jesus explains how our hearts should be. Those workers who complained were not satisfied with what they were given, verse 11-12. They were not interested in unity, they did not think about the stress that the workers who were not originally hired were going through during the day, wondering if they would be able to earn any money that day so they could eat that night. Neither did they praise the land owner for his love! Being godly means that we have to turn things around and to think of others and not ourselves, like David did in the examples earlier. The men who waited all day demonstrated patience despite their real concern about how they would pay for food for their own family at the end of the day. All of us need grace and mercy to be in the kingdom which is what the denarius signifies, so let us all praise God for this and not look at others in judgement. Jesus again reminds us of the price that will be paid for salvation, verse 17-19. It is sad that James and John at this stage had not grasped the lesson of the vineyard or the price that was needed for all of us and asked a very human request to be either side of Jesus in the kingdom, verse 21. Their request caused disunity with their brothers, verse 24. And Jesus gets them all together to remind them about humility, love, peace and being a servant, verse 25-28. These are great lessons for us to try to follow every day. We are to be humble, appreciative, forgiving, tolerant, obey God and aware that we all need Jesus and that none of us are better than the other. July

July 20th.

And the practical thoughts follow on. James 1 says if you look intently into the bible and do not do what it says then you have wasted your time! We are therefore looking at examples in the bible and learning from them. Our first reading in 2 Samuel 4&5 has a few examples for us to learn from. Baanah and Recab knew that Ish-Bosheth was weakened after the death of Abner and decided to change sides and to try to impress David. 2Sam4:8 shows how they thought. There are a number of things that they had forgotten 1, God is in control, 2, they should not take the law into their own hands, 3, they did not remember David’s respect for Saul’s family, 4, they did not remember forgiveness, 5, they were proud of what they had done. Verses 9-12 shows us what David thought of this and he had the 2 proud men killed. David knew that he would be king of all Israel, but he left all this to God he had faith it would happen, but he did not manipulate or allow others to manipulate events. All Israel was alarmed, presumably because the leaders were now weak, 1Sam4:1, they were not afraid of David because they mainly respected him and made him king over Israel, 2Sam5:1-3. So David became king of both Judah and Israel, God worked with the events and David did not have to take the kingdom by force, he waited for God’s time. Patience is something that we have to also remember, things do not happen in our time, it is God’s time that we should wait for. God was with David, verse 10 and he gave him victory over the tribes that were still in the land that was promised to the Israelites, eg the taking of Jerusalem, verse 6-8. David moved there, verse 9, this being significant in the plan and purpose of God. David always prayed to ask God for guidance, verse 19&23 and God answered and gave him Victory at these times. Sadly we know that the people rejected God in a big way and went their own way, inventing things (idols) to replace the God who made everything and worked in David’s life to start to establish his kingdom. Jeremiah 10 reminds us yet again how worthless these “idols” are, verses 1-5. Any idol or custom that replaces God or is given credit for the things that God gives us is worthless. God is so much more powerful than anything else, verse 2-8 and verses 12-13&16. It is so important that we remember this because God through, Jeremiah, keeps repeating how worthless these idols are, verse 11&14-15. The people had rejected God so much that he was bringing destruction upon them! Jeremiah’s prayer should be ours too, verses 23-25. Matthew 21 shows another triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the City of David. The people were expecting a king and excitedly shouted the appropriate greeting, verse 9. This was a great time, but the nation was not fully committed to God, they had turned his temple into a market, verse 12-13. The people were more interested in what they could make from others rather than having respect for God. The chief priests completely rejected Jesus as being the son of God, verse 15. The chief priests should have been leading the people towards God and towards Jesus but they disregarded bible teachings and the prophecies that they would have known. Even when Jesus told the parable of the tenants (verses 33-44) they knew that Jesus was talking about them, verse 45-46. They were determined to get rid of him. This is something that all of us who are elders in our community have to be careful about, we must not ignore God’s teachings, neither must we take advantage of the servant role that we have been given to give us human advantage, for example to make money or to have authority over others. To do so is clearly wrong. Jesus was very critical of the priests and the religious leaders, for example verses 28-32, he was saying that the priests etc were not repentant. Even the withering fig tree in verse 19 is a picture of the leaders and others, who did not produce fruit. All of us have a responsibility to put God’s teachings into practice in out daily lives, we must not use our religion to improve our human standards, we must repent, we must not take matters into our own hands but be patient and neither must we replace God with anything. July

July 21st.

There is a theme of “checking what God wants” in all of our readings today. In 2 Samuel 6 David does what he thinks is right, but it is clearly wrong and there are consequences. It would seem to be the right thing for the ark to be brought to Jerusalem, verse 1-2. But they put the ark incorrectly on a cart, verse 3. You can imagine the human thought process that took place in this decision. Even though it was a long time ago, the people and David would have known of the account of the ark being returned from the Philistines on a cart, see 1 Samuel 6 verse 12. The ark was transported on a cart then, it was obvious that God was with that event because the ark ended up in the right place, so why not now? could have been their thinking. But they had not researched what God really wanted his people to do to transport the ark, ie those instruction in Exodus 24 verse 14. Thinking it was the right thing to bring the ark back on a cart, they were celebrating and worshipping God, verse 5. But the ark was being moved incorrectly and when the ark wobbled on the cart Uzzah reached out his hand to steady it but died, verse 6-7. God was angry because the ark was not moved as it should have been. David was then himself also angry because of God’s wrath, verse 8, he was “afraid” now of God and wondered how he was ever going to bring the ark back. This is a serious situation; we all have to check that the things we do in worship are what God wants, we cannot simply expect to do things our own way. The second attempt is successful because David checked and ensured that the ark was carried this time, verse 13. It is interesting in the lead up to this second attempt that David heard that the house of Obed-Edom was blessed and this restored David’s confidence that God was indeed still present, it is inconceivable that David was jealous of Obed-Edom, this was a clear case of restored confidence. The ark was successfully transported to Jerusalem together with singing and praise. However, David’s wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter), had no respect for either God or David and she despised David, verse 16, and challenged him, verse 20. David’s response clearly demonstrates that his first consideration is for God and the things of God, verse 21-22. I do not know if the consequence for Michal’s disrespect was from God or if David simply did not sleep with her again, verse 23, but either way there was a sad consequence for Michal and a reminder for her and others of her disrespect. Made even more sad because Michal had previously loved David, 1 Samuel 18 verse 28. Many years after David in Jeremiah 11, we have God speaking about the broken covenant, or contract, between God himself and his people (Israel and Judah) verse 1-5. Because God saved the Jews from certain death in Egypt they were to obey his commands as a response to being his people. They agreed the covenant (Jeremiah 28) but they disobeyed, in fact they rebelled against God and refused to repent so much that it was God’s determination to bring judgment on them. He said that Jeremiah should not pray for them, verse 14. So like David the Jews should have checked and responded to what God wanted. We all have to teach about God and Jesus, sometimes people do not listen and often this is family and friends, this was the case with Jeremiah, verse 21. Anathoth is where Jeremiah came from, Jeremiah 1 verse 1, so these people who were threatening Jeremiah were his family! Not only were they his family, they were the priests, ie the religious teachers. This was also similar to Jesus’s experiences too in that he was rejected by his family, Matthew 13 verse 57 and John 4 verse 44. The priests just did not want to listen to what God was saying, Jeremiah 11 verse 21, and this can be our experience too that people and our close families do not want to listen, but we still have to teach and check what God wants and take action. Jesus’s parable of the wedding banquet in Matthew 22 verses 1-14 has the same message. The first group who should have come to the wedding (invitation to the kingdom) of his son (Jesus) were the Jews, verse 4. But they refused to come, verse 5-7; this is very similar to what was happening in Jeremiah’s time, the Jews repeatedly rejected God, despite all he had done for them. So the king (God) sent his servants to the streets to invite more, verse 8-10, this is the message to the gentiles, ie us! When the king sees the guests he noticed a guest in the wrong clothes, verse 11-12. The man was not in the right clothes, he had not checked what God and Jesus wanted. It is serious because if we do not try our best to follow God we could be rejected by God, verse 13. So the thought today is to check what God wants. We all have to be sure how we are worshipping, behaving and respecting God’s requirements. We need to learn from other’s mistakes and put what God wants into practice in our lives, it is no good just simply doing what we think is right, we have to check by prayerful reading of the Bible. Jesus replied to the Sadducees, after they had tried to make fun of the resurrection, that they “did not know the scriptures”, verse 29; Jesus also silenced the Pharisees who were trying to trick him by quoting scripture that they should have known, ie verse 43-45, so all of God’s word needs to be respected. David clearly loved God as well as his neighbours and Jesus confirms that this has to be our motivation in everything when he responded to the Pharisees earlier, verse 37-40. It is love of God and of our neighbour that should motivate all of our actions, it is love that motivates us to check that what we are doing is right. July

July 22nd.

Today’s practical thoughts from the readings is one of respect for God. 2 Samuel 7 shows that David’s heart is in the right place, he was thinking of God and the ark, verse 1-2. He was concerned that he had a palace but God did not. David did the right thing and asked Nathan. God’s answer may not have been what both David and Nathan would have expected, verse 5-7, so at this stage God did not want one built. However, God went on to make a wonderful and important promise to David, that ultimately was about Jesus and the kingdom being established for ever, verse 13. David acknowledged that God was always with him, verse 9, by fully respecting him. This respect continues in David’s prayer where he is humble, verse 18-19; acknowledges God’s plan, verse 20; acknowledges God’s greatness, verse 22-24; acknowledges his wonderful promises, verses 25-26 and acknowledges his wonderful blessings, verse 27-29. Although Jeremiah does not understand why God is acting in a particular way, he still shows respect by acknowledging that he is righteous, Jeremiah 12:1. Jeremiah is concerned why the wicked appear to prosper and he asks God why, verses 1-4. Because Jeremiah respects, God answers but explains why the punishment will come to all – it is because no one cares, verse 11 – no one respects. There is always hope though because God will not cut off for ever, he will show compassion, but there has to be respect for everything that God stands for, verses 15-16. Notice that God’s kingship is conditional. Those who continue to disrespect are uprooted again, verse 17. In Matthew 23, Jesus criticised the Pharisees and teachers because they did not respect God. They did things for show and were not humble, verse 5-7. They did not do what they preached, verse 3. They were always pretending with no respect. Jesus makes to clear to us that we are to be humble in everything, we are not to call anyone “father” in the religious sense because we only have one father, ie God and neither are we to call anyone “teacher” in a religious sense because we only have one teacher, ie Jesus, verses 8-12. This is humility and respect. The Pharisees stopped people being saved, verse 13-14; they set bad examples, verse 15; they did not respect God’s ways of doing things, verse 16-22; they did not show justice, mercy and faithfulness, verse 23-24; they were greedy and self indulgent, verse 25-26; they were always pretending, verse 27-28 and they covered up past sins , verse 29-32. They had no respect! We need to constantly respect God and what he stands for in every aspect of our lives and not to be like the Pharisees. We need to be respectful like David and Jeremiah. God is merciful but he will bring judgement in his time, verses 33-36. Jesus is compassionate and he will save those who respect him and his father, verse 37-39. So let us respect! July

July 23rd.

Having a godly attitude comes across in today’s readings starting with David’s in 2 Samuel 8&9. War seems to be the inevitable situation as the land of Israel is made safe from its enemies, but unlike other successful leaders, David still puts God first. He acknowledged that God was working in his life, 2Sam8:6 and he responded by dedicating the precious materials gained in war to God, verse 11. He was determined that anything that he gained was kept for using for things to do with God, he did not keep them for himself. Our “wars” are nothing like David’s were, we are not getting rid of physical enemies from the land, in fact we are told not to fight, but we do have opportunities to gain physical things, money from employment for example, so do we dedicate this to God? All things that we have are God’s anyway, so how much do we keep back for ourselves? It was God who gave David victory, verse 14, it is God who gives us success too, do we acknowledge this? Verse 15 is a lesson for all of us, we have to do what is right for the people, ie not to be selfish and do things for ourselves, we have to think of our brothers and sisters. Chapter 9 is a great example of how David thought of others, he became aware of Mephibosheth and ensured that he was provided for for the rest of his life. David certainly thought of God first! The people in Jeremiah 13 just had not listened to God’s teaching, verse 11. They were arrogant, verse 15, they were proud, verse 17 and they did not give glory to Him, verse 16. This is completely opposite to how David acted in the examples we have just seen and God is condemning them because of their many sins, verse 22. The sad thing is that they had basically forgotten Him, verse 25. God is patient with us, but he does want us to be doing the godly thing and to have a godly attitude. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 24 no one knows when Jesus is coming back, verse 36. It is therefore important that we watch how we live our lives, verse 42. We need to be recognised as Godly by how we act and now is the opportunity that we have to demonstrate that we act in godly ways. We all know that Jesus is coming back, this chapter suggests things that will be apparent before Jesus comes back, maybe we are very close to the return of Jesus now, but we do not know, even if we think we have some idea when, it will still be a surprise, verse 50. These last verses in this chapter, ie from verse 45, record Jesus’s teaching and warnings that we have to be doing our best to do the things that our master, Jesus, wants us to. This includes following God’s teachings. We have this responsibility to do the best for “the people” as David did and as Jesus wants us to. We are given clear teachings in the bible on how to live and how to expect Jesus to return. When he does come back we will all know so we must not get convinced by people who say he is in different forms or different places, verses 24-27. Have faith that we will know, our focus has to be on how we live now. July

July 24th.

The practical thoughts from today’s readings will focus on how we as Christians respond to certain situations. In 2 Samuel 10 David shows a good attitude in his wanting to show kindness to the Ammonites, verse 2. The delegation that he sent was misunderstood, verse 3-4 and David’s men were sent away humiliated. David again comes out of this well by being caring about others, verse 5. These are good attributes for all of us to have. Unfortunately in this case war resulted but it was a time when Israel’s borders were being made secure and Joab was probably right in his evaluation in verse 12, ie God was in control. Our actions have to be godly all the time so that no one can accuse us of starting a problem because of our ungodly motives. A phrase in Jeremiah 14 sums up the attitude of those who are not godly, verse 10. We have to “restrain” ourselves for God to accept us, we always have to check our motives and perhaps we should ask “what would Jesus do” in all situations. Jeremiah himself was demonstrating his godly attitude in the way that he responded to each of God’s judgments on his people, verse 7-9; 13 and 19-22. He associated himself with Israel’s sin, he acknowledged that the prophets were lying and he tried to mediate for his fellow countrymen. God knows the hearts of these people and has remained with his plan of destruction, verse 11. Jeremiah, however remains godly. Coming to Matthew 25 we see how Jesus views our attitudes and motives. Both God and Jesus are merciful with us all but there is still a judgement of our actions. All of the virgins in this parable, verse 1-13 were waiting for Jesus, bridegroom, so they were all apparent Christians looking for their Lord to come. All had fallen asleep, so all were in the same situation. Only one group was better prepared with oil which was required for the lamps. There are many suggestions as to what the oil represents, but clearly it has to do with preparation for the return of Jesus, because without you can not be allowed in the kingdom. Whilst the foolish virgins were off getting oil the bridegroom came, the wise were invited in and the door was closed, verse 10. It was too late for the foolish ones, verse 12, therefore we have to be prepared now, verse 13. The way that we live now has an impact on how we are judged when Jesus returns. The parable of the talents, verses 14-30, suggests that we have to work at our preparation. We all have God given opportunities and capabilities and we are expected to use them and therefore benefit our master. This may be preaching, encouraging, being recognised as godly in every aspect of our lives and taking opportunities to set example to others as David tried. We can not expect anything other than criticism if we do not use the “talents” that we are given. As Christians, we can not sit back and expect salvation just because we are baptised. Jesus’s condemnation of the servant who did not use his talent is strong, verse 26-30. The final parable here, verses 31-46 shows us how we should be naturally helping others, because in so doing we are helping Jesus. Jesus will take all our kind actions as if we have done them for him. The opposite is true if we do not help, Jesus takes it that we have not helped. All of us, no matter what we have, can help, we are all responsible, we all have to be prepared for when Jesus comes back and we all have to use the abilities that we have been given. Our prayer is that verse 34 is the invite for all of us. July

July 25th.

Up until now David has been acting in godly ways, but 2 Samuel 11 captures a big mistake for David that left lasting consequences. It also shows us the depth of God’s mercy too when David acknowledged his sin. The situation appears to arise because David relaxed. He should have been with his troops, but he stayed behind in Jerusalem, verse 1. Maybe he was proud of his achievements, maybe he became lazy, either way he was in a place where he should not have been. We have to be aware of situations where we allow our guard to drop and relax. David relaxed, he was tempted and he gave into temptation, verses 2-4. This is a real warning for everyone of us when we become comfortable in what we were setting out to achieve. David perhaps felt that he had achieved his goal and then let others carry on. The fact is our goal is the kingdom and we should not relax before then! In a single act of lust, David then set off a list of unhappy events that got him further in to trouble. When he discovered that Bathsheba was pregnant, verse 5, he tried to cover up. First he sent for Uriah and suggested that he spent the night with his wife, verse 6-7. Uriah was principled and did not do as David suggested, verse 9. David tried again, verse 10 and Uriah explains why, verse 11. David tries another plan, verse 12-13. When this does not work David becomes desperate and plans Uriah’s murder, verse 14-15. One sin leads to an elaborate cover-up as David becomes more and more desperate. David did know better, he knew God’s commands and here he is breaking at least 4 of them, ie coveting, adultery, killing and stealing. Contrast this with Uriah who was a gentile, he would not have grown up with God’s laws yet his actions and response to David showed that he had principles and he was not willing to enjoy himself with his wife whilst his army colleagues were away fighting. Uriah was killed, verse 17. Joab also knew of David’s scheming which would be remembered in the future, verse 16. This is an event with consequences as we will see over the next week’s readings. With the news of Uriah’s death, David marries Bathsheba, verse 27. But God was displeased! We have to guard against temptation and sin and always keep on seeking the kingdom and not relaxing. When we come to Jeremiah 15 we again see how God treated the Israelites who were rebelling against him, verse 6. Jeremiah’s statement to God in verse 10, prompts a promise from God, verse 11 and again verses 19-21. God has promised all those who follow him a wonderful future, so we must not relax until we reach it. David sinned, as we all do, David was forgiven because he acknowledged his sin and we too have our sins forgiven because of what Jesus has done for us. Matthew 26 is a sad chapter of plotting, betrayal and denying, some were forgiven, eg Peter, others were not, eg priests and Judas. Jesus knew Peter’s heart as God knew David’s. When we come to the breaking of bread service we should be remembering many things, verse 26-29. Our forgiveness, our future in the kingdom, the pain that Jesus went through to achieve this should all be remembered when we take the bread and the wine each Sunday. We should want to be part of it and to be in fellowship with Jesus and with each other. We all sin, like David, we all need forgiveness because none of us is perfect, but we must always try our best not to let both God and Jesus down when we are tempted and sin. July

July 26th.

David still had not thought that he had sinned during his adultery and murder until God sent Nathan to challenge him on 2 Samuel 12. Nathan starts with a parable, verses 1-4. David’s reaction in verse 5-6 is exactly the same kind of reaction as ours is when we read this. The man in the parable is clearly wrong. It is always easier to see sins in other people rather than in ourselves which is why we should lovingly challenge each other and when we are challenged humbly listen. Nathan then says, after David has already condemned the man in the story, that the man was David, verse 7. Nathan then continues to remind David that God gave him everything, verse 7-8. Yet David was not content with what God gave him, by his actions he “despised the word of God”, verse 9. This is serious because what David did was not only a sin by David but it also caused other people who knew what happened to disrespect God. There were therefore consequences for David’s sin as there are for our sins, verse 10-12 and verse 14. We can have forgiveness for our sins if we repent, but there are consequences and we cannot change that. Sometimes these consequences are a recurring feeling of guilt that we have or they can be having to support other children if we have been adulterous, or it could be a bad reputation if we have lied or stolen money. David certainly suffered many consequences as we will remind ourselves over the next few days. Because David immediately recognised his guilt, acknowledged his sin and repented (we know this from David’s Psalm 51) he was forgiven, verse 13. The consequences for David were immediate, verse 15 and verse 27, here David’s authority was already being undermined by Joab, who knew exactly what David had done. Clearly David remained faithful after this event, the way that he responded to the death of his baby demonstrates that, verse 22-23. There are consequences too for the sins of the Israelites in Jeremiah 16:11-13. In the same way that David wanted more for himself than what God had given him, the Israelites wanted more and disobeyed God. The difference between David and the Israelites was that David repented and the people did not. In the terrible account of Jesus’s death in Matthew 27 there are serious consequences too for actions. It may be too late for Judas to experience the wonderful forgiveness of God, verses 3-5. Judas realised that what he had done in betraying Jesus was a mistake that he regretted, but it was too late. He killed himself because unlike David, he did not repent and seek forgiveness. It is important therefore, for us to acknowledge our sins and sinful human nature before both God and Jesus. Pilate’s wife suffered consequences of the actions of the priests and the lack of leadership of her husband, verse 19. Verse 25 is a very significant verse that did bring consequences. In AD70 there was a lot of blood shed as the Romans expelled the Jews from Israel so the “blood of Jesus was very much on them and their children”. Our sins do have consequences. We can have forgiveness if we repent, but our actions can start things that we have no control over. Although the crucifixion of Jesus was terrible it brought about our way to salvation and under God’s control we, and others, are made righteous and we can have the wonderful confidence that we do have our sins forgiven when we have the right attitude. The chief priests mocked Jesus on the cross, verse 41-44 they had absolutely no respect for God, unlike the Roman Centurion who declared that Jesus was the son of God, verse 54. The account here in Matthew shows the ungodly scheming of human beings, there was good that came out of David’s scheming in that he repented, in Jeremiah God promises a future when he will bring the Jews back to him, Jer16:14-15 and we know that in Jesus’s death and resurrection there is hope. July

July 27th.

The consequences of David’s sin continue to be seen in 2 Samuel 13. God told David as a consequence that there would be real disharmony within his family because of what he did and this is exactly what happens. David schemed to cover up his sin and this is exactly what his family did to get what they wanted. This is something that we should remember too, if we scheme now to get things that we want then we are likely to experience the same in return because of the bad example that we set. David lost his family’s respect and they did the same as he did! It should be no surprise that if the parents act in bad ways then the children are likely to do the same as well. The opposite is true too, if parents act in good ways then it is more likely that the children will too, so we have a responsibility to set a good, godly example. Notice in this chapter how many times family relationships are used, ie brother, sister, son, as if God is reminding us that the consequences have started with the family. Amnon lusts after his sister Tamar, verse 2; Jonadab comes up with a scheme and tempts Amnon, verse 5; Amnon rapes his sister, verse 14; David is furious, verse 21; Absalom hates him, verse 21 and then kills him, verse 28-29. The impact of one sin produces so many consequences that impact more and more people. Tamar was the innocent party here, she tried to stop her brother, verse 12-13, even after she was raped she tried to do the right thing, verse 16 and she ended up not being able to marry, verse 20. Our sins do have consequences! David was forgiven but he suffered consequences, presumably he would have blamed himself for all this as he knew he had triggered it because God said it would happen, but he was also tricked into arranging events, verse 6-7 and verse 26-27, he would forever feel guilty for this. Perhaps too he regretted all his wives and all the half brothers and sisters he had fathered! We can continue the same theme in second reading in Jeremiah 17. By their ungodly actions it was the israelites’ fault that they were being handed over to their enemies, verse 4. God is always clear through the Bible that if we disobey we will suffer consequences, verse 5-6, how this happens will be in God’s way; however he is also clear that if we try to put God first we will be blessed, verse 7-8. This does not mean that we will never suffer, but when suffering comes we will not fear because God has promised us a future in the kingdom. We always have to be aware that our human nature is sinful and we always have to read the Bible and pray and always have God in our mind to counter the temptations that result, verse 9-11. Jeremiah prays, verse 12-18, notice he starts by fully respecting God and acknowledging how great and right he is. He then asks for forgiveness, ie healing, because he realises who he really is. He says things that God already knows, eg how people around him do not respect him, verse 15 (similar to 1 Peter 3:3) and he prays that God will carry out his will. God then asks Jeremiah to again try to teach the people to respect, verse 24 and then blessings will follow, verse 25-26. Even though the chief priests were presented with the evidence of Jesus’s resurrection in Matthew 28:11-15 they still schemed to have a lie publicised. This is how low human beings can be. As Christians we need to be better than this and through Jesus’s death and resurrection and our belief in him and our trying to follow him, we are better than those who scheme. Reading about Jesus’s resurrection has to fill us with joy, as it did the women when they were told, verse 8. Their joy increased when they actually saw Jesus, verse 9-10. This was a wonderful time for those who believed, as it should be for us now, because despite our tendency to sin we are made clean in Jesus by demonstrating our faith and trying to be like him. The resurrection changed the world, we can now, through Jesus, come to our father confidently… we do have freedom in Jesus, but it also brings a responsibility to try our best, verse 16-20. We have just read about a new start, so this is also an appeal to all of us to also start again, if we are scheming, then stop. We can have forgiveness if we repent. July

July 28th.

In our first reading, 2 Samuel 14, we have the continued manipulation of David by Joab. Joab has an advantage over David because of what he knows about David causing the death of Uriah, so for David the consequences continue, Joab knows David’s weakness, verse 1. Absalom was David’s heir and because he had killed Amnon he was banished. The story that Joab gets the woman from Tekoa to say has a similar outcome to the situation with Absalom, and David is basically tricked into allowing Absalom back, verse 21. It seems that Joab was manipulating David, presumably for his own benefit, and David was a weaker person (humanly speaking) and therefore also a weaker king, because of his sin. This is a continuing reminder for David and also for us. The section about Absalom in verses 25-26 suggests pride in the way that he looks, he was proud in his hair because he weighed it! His complaint about him not being allowed to see the king, verse 32, also suggests a lack of humility for what he has done in killing his brother. He justified his actions in his own mind because of what Amnon had did to his sister and his naming his own daughter Tamar, verse 27, suggests that what Amnon did was very much on his mind. Taking things into our own hands and not allowing God to bring justice always results in more complications. In Jeremiah 18 God reminds Jeremiah and the people of Israel that it is he that is in control, verse 6. Just as a potter makes different shapes from clay, so God controls what happens in nations, verse 7. But even though God brings disaster for those who do not follow him he still gives opportunities, verse 8 and verse 11. David took the opportunity and repented, although he still suffered the consequences, he was still forgiven; Absalom, on the other hand did not allow room for God’s judgement and took the matters into his own hands. God leaves the choices of doing right or wrong to us, he has set out the way that we should go, but if we say what the Israelites said in verse 12 that we will continue with our “own plans” and “follow the stubbornness of our own heart” then God will turn his back on us, verse 17. God provided everything for his people, even water all year round, verse 14, yet they still rejected him and turned to other gods! They even rejected Jeremiah who God had sent to try and turn their hearts, verse 18. As soon as we turn away from God’s teachings, disaster will result. Romans 1 verse 1-6 shows us just how loving God is by giving us life through Jesus. Only in Jesus’ resurrection can we be confident of life because we have forgiveness , for this we thank God. In these 2 chapters in Romans 1&2 we are reminded how we should act as Christians. Paul is a good example for us in how determined he was in doing the right thing, verse 9, 11 and verse 13. He serves with “all of his heart”, he “constantly” remembers others in prayers, he “longs to see” other brothers and sisters and he is “eager to preach”. This is a description of a committed Christian, one who people can look at and see what kind of person he now was. This is how we should be trying to be too. Paul reminds us too that we do still have a responsibility to obey God, verse 28-32. All those things that we should not be and we have to keep checking to make sure that what we are doing God is pleased with. In Romans 2 we are reminded how we should act every day, verse 7 says that if we “persist” in doing good we will have life, Verse 8 says that if we are “self-seeking”, ie just doing things for ourselves we will suffer God’s “wrath and anger”. The message throughout the Bible is the same – we have to try and obey God, verse 13. As Christians we have to act in the same way as we preach, this is how we get respect, even if people do not accept our message– we have to act in godly ways, verse 21-24. If we act in ungodly ways God himself will not be respected by others. The “heart” needs to be right, verse 28-29, this means that we have to try our best to follow God in everything. July

July 29th.

Our practical thought for today starts with Absalom and his actions in 2 Samuel 15, our first reading. It is clear from his actions that they demonstrate to us how a person behaves when he has no respect for God. Verse 1 shows that he is proud. He has a chariot to stand in, so that he can be seen by anyone around, and he has a guard of honour running ahead of him, so that wherever he goes no one can miss that he is moving around – it is very much like a president of any country today when they move! This is a man who is proud and who is trying to set himself up as important by basing his thinking on human ways. He was making the most (humanly speaking) of his stature and good looks! He is clearly not humble as God wants us all to be. He was also clearly setting himself up as greater than David and he was in fact undermining his father’s position, forgetting that David was put in his position by God. In effect Absalom was going against God and was trying to build up support like a politician, verse 2-4, no doubt be was justifying his actions because of what he witnessed his father doing re Bathsheba and Uriah. So not only did Absalom not have respect for his father, he had no respect for God either, he had completely disregarded the fact that it was God who appointed his father as king in the first place! Absalom was conspiring against God as well as his father! Absalom knew how to get people on his side by making himself appear more approachable, and it worked as the people’s hearts were more open to him, verses 5-6. The problem with this was though that Absalom was not godly so the people were being influenced by a proud, ungodly man. Even when Absalom had David’s blessing to go to Hebron all he did was assemble an army, verses 7-12. His excuse for going there was to worship God.  These are not the actions of a godly man, he was pretending. David knew this too because when he was told about the uprising he fled, verse 13-14. The situation was obviously made worse because David was now a weak leader because of his own mistakes with Bathsheba and Uriah; however, David’s godliness and love come through because he fled to save the city and the people from the impact of a war, verse 14, he basically walked away to save others. He obviously prayed about his situation, for example verse 31, but he also did his bit too and sent the priests and Hushai back to Jerusalem to work with Absalom but to report back what was happening, verse 33-36. Jeremiah 19 reminds us why the people were in a mess, it was because they had “forsaken” God, verse 4 and not listened to his words, verse 15. We see this so many times in the bible, if we stop listening to God and doing what he wants, disasters will result. And the disaster that is predicted here is terrible, the events would be so bad that people would even eat their own children to stay alive, verse 9. The graphically smashed pot, verse 10-11, shows us just how bad this destruction would be for these people, ie it could not be “repaired”. This is the result when God is forsaken and rejected! It is when we get to Romans 3&4 that we are reminded that no one is righteous, Romans 3 verse 10-18. The Jewish believers were incorrectly saying that they were righteous because they were Jews, ie descendants of Abraham and David, but Paul is saying that this is not right. The only way to be righteous is in Jesus, verse 21-26. We must have real faith in Christ Jesus, ie believing in God’s grace, but we cannot ask for forgiveness and then carry on doing the same thing, we must try and change and try our best to do what God wants. David was very very repentant for what he had done and he was forgiven, so we have confidence too that if we recognise that we are sinners and also repent of our sins and try to change we too are forgiven. Understanding our sinful nature and God’s grace puts us in a wonderful position, Romans 4 verse 7-8, there is a blessing that our sins are not counted against us. For us to have this wonderful grace and mercy that we have been promises we have to recognise that we are naturally sinful as in the, verse 10-18, once we humbly acknowledge this and believe it (=faith) then we are able to rely completely on God’s grace and mercy. David humbly repented and was shown mercy; Absalom was proud and God brought about his destruction, just as he did with his unfaithful people in Jeremiah’s time. So the lesson is clear for us, if we want this grace and mercy we have to humbly confess our sinful nature and our individual sins, and have faith in God’s grace to forgive us, and thank him for that, but never take this grace for granted by deliberately continuing to sin. These accounts demonstrate to us the real need for Jesus because human beings will always fail no matter how hard we all try, so again we thank God for Jesus! July

July 30th.

2 Samuel 16 continues with David’s escape from his son Absalom and again brings out the different godly characteristics of the different people in the account. We should always be looking at the example of how others respond to events to find if there are godly lessons to learn from. David previously gave Ziba the responsibility to look after Mephibosheth back in 2 Samuel 9 and Ziba remembered the kindness that David showed to others then, especially to those who were rejected by many, as was the case with the disabled Mephibosheth. Ziba came out to help David, verse 1-2. This appears to be a great example of how we should also be helping each other when circumstances change in others’ lives, presumably Ziba was risking his own life by helping David, who was now a refugee in his own country, but he went out of his way to help him. Sadly this appears not to be the case with Mephibosheth who apparently forgot the help that David gave to him all those years ago and all he now appears to be interested in is his own power and standing as he had the objective of becoming king as he was Saul’s grandson, verse 3-4. If what Ziba was saying was correct, he forgot that it was God who removed Saul from the kingdom and gave it to David. (We need to see 2 Samuel 19 verse 26-28 for the next part of this account. What is more obvious is the taking full advantage of the opportunity by Shimei who came out and cursed David, verses 5-8 and 13-14, he was also a relative of Saul and he incorrectly thought that David had taken the kingdom by force, whereas in fact David respected Saul’s family, demonstrated by his care of Mephibosheth in fact, but that the kingdom was given to David by God because of Saul’s ungodliness! A lesson here is to accept that God is working in events and not to take events into our own hands for our own selfish gain. David’s response here helps us to understand how we should respond to upsetting situations as he stopped his men from killing Shimei, verse 10-12. David accepted that the cursing may have been from God because he knew that it was because of his sin that he was now a refugee, he felt guilty of what he had done and he was humble in his response. This is a good attitude for all of us to have when we consider how sinful we all are and how bad sin is, there are consequences, but also hope as we see from Romans. Ahithophel is another character in this account in Samuel who is no longer acting in a godly way, although what he suggests to Absalom is exactly what God said would happen because of David’s sin, verse 21-22. This sad event weakened David further in the eyes of the people and for a while, made Absalom look stronger. Sometimes it is difficult for us to know who is telling the truth and who to believe, which is why we need to always read and pray and check using the scriptures what we are told. Because David had lost credibility in the eyes of most of the people and he was now basically a weak king, he ended up making some decisions that perhaps were not thought out well, eg giving the land to Ziba. Ahithophel appears to now be giving bad advice but the people were taking his advice as if it was coming from God. It is the same when we come to Jeremiah 20 – the priest Pashhur was saying different things to what Jeremiah was saying, verse 1-6. Jeremiah confirms that Pashhur was teaching lies (v6). The people preferred what Pashhur was saying because he was not teaching that the people would be taken into exile. We need to be careful not to just listen to the things that we like to listen to, but check and to think about what everyone says to see if it is likely to be from God or not, or true or not. The people should have realised that punishment was coming because they were pretending to follow and to worship God. Jeremiah was a little bit frustrated that what he had been teaching had not yet come true so he made a complaint to God, verse 7-10, but the difference with Jeremiah and also with David was that they still saw God working, 11-12 and Jeremiah even praises God, verse 13. This can be hard for us, but we should try to see God working in all of our lives and see that God is in control, perhaps we can then accept our suffering a bit better. God knows how we suffer and knows how sometimes we feel like giving up, as Jeremiah did when he wished that he had not been born, verse 14-18, but he maintained his faith and trust in God. There is an interesting use of names by God in this chapter too: Pashhur means “Freedom” in the Hebrew language, presumably his parents liked the name when they named him or there was some significance at the time of his birth that made them choose this, but the significance here is that God renamed him Magor-Missabib which means “terror on every side”, verse 3. This would have been a powerful reminded to Pashhur of his lies and ungodliness when he was in exile in Babylon, verse 6. It is faith that God wants and in Romans 5 and 6 we see that faith brings peace, chapter 5 verse 1-2. Both David and Jeremiah were suffering, but they had peace that God was in control. They could see that they were in fact growing in faith because of what they suffered and Paul says the same thing to us, verse 3-5. It seems a strange thing to say “rejoice in our sufferings”, but suffering makes us into more godly characters, in suffering we are reminded that our sin eventually brings death; we also get to see just a little bit of how much Jesus suffered for us to give us life! Jesus died for sinners and God showed us his love, verse 6-8. Knowing this should make us want to be godly in everything that we do. So in Jesus our sins and our sinful nature are not “counted” against us, chapter 6 verse 11-14, this does not mean that we can just sin and assume that God will forgive us, it means that we should recognise how bad sin is and therefore recognise how much grace is required to forgive the sin, chapter 5 verse 20. Paul is very clear that we should always try not to sin, chapter 6 verse 15-18, and that because we recognise that we have been saved by grace we have to respect God and Jesus and their love for us, and “wholeheartedly obey” what God teaches. If we do not pretend to be godly and then try to obey all the time then when we sin (because we will always sin) we can be sure of forgiveness, and this is the confidence that faith and grace give us. With the right attitude we can have the confidence that there is always a bit more grace than our sins so we are sinless before God because of Jesus, but with the wrong attitude there is no grace and sins remain. July

July 31st.

Today’s practical thought starts in 2 Samuel 17. We are thinking about an individual’s actions again and considering pride. Ahithophel was the advisor who changed sides and he went with Absalom, he was viewed as “one who enquires of God” (2Sam16:23), these words may give us a clue as to Ahithophel’s attitude. He made a suggestion to Absalom, chapter 17 verse 1-3, Absalom was happy, but he wanted the advice of Hushai too which turned out to be different to Ahithophel’s, verse 7-13. Absalom took this second advice which upset Ahithophel a lot, so much so that he took his own life, verse 23. Ahithophel appears proud and was not willing to accept that someone else’s advice was perhaps better than his, he also did not consider that God was working in the advice that was given. Perhaps he felt jealous of Hushai because Ahithophel was first to change his allegiance to Absalom from David and should have been the main advisor. God was indeed working to frustrate Ahithophel’s advice, verse 14. The lesson for us all is that if we believe that God is in control of our lives and in our community then we should all be willing to accept each other’s suggestions and humbly respect the outcome that may or may not be what we originally want. Humility is key to how we live our Christian lives. We know from 2Sam15 that Hushai was in fact working for David, and also David had prayed that God would frustrate Ahithophel’s advice, but we should still take the lesson that pride does not work. Psalm 55 appears to have been written by David to reflect this event and we see from this that David was upset that his own friend (Ahithophel) turned against him. It is likely that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba and if so would explain his reaction to David and his loss of friendship and support. But even in times of suffering and upset, for example David being a refugee again, there is still the need for respect of God’s ways, the examples of Hushai and the priests helping David (verse 15-16) and of Shobi, Machir and Barzillai helping him (verse 27-29) are demonstrations of this, Ahithophel disregarded God’s ways in preference of his own revenge, understandable though it may be humanly speaking. The others all had a continuing respect for David because God had anointed him as king, they knew that this was God’s way, even though it did not appear to be going according to plan at the moment, because of David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah! This is why it is always so important to try to understand God’s plan and to try and work out what is right and wrong, we have the bible and prayer to help us do this. Jeremiah 21 has a few lessons that carry on with this theme of pride and trying to find out what God wants. The king Zedekiah, despite being ungodly, incorrectly turned to God to expect him to help in their distress, verse 1-2. This is too late and with the wrong attitude, we cannot expect God to help any of us if we are disregarding him in our lives and only turn to him when we need something! Jeremiah’s response from God was clear, verse 3 and 4. It is too late when disaster comes, the king and the people should have been godly, they should have been doing the good things in verse 12, sadly they were doing “evil” and God brought the disaster that he had promised. The people chose pride and their own way, rather than humility and God’s way. Romans 7 and 8 shows us how difficult it is not to sin and it is a struggle not to give in to temptation. Because we are aware of God’s commands we are more aware of sin, this then makes us more aware of how sinful we are, but then we realise how much we rely on God’s grace! Paul describes himself as a wretched man, chapter 7 verse 24, because of his knowledge of his sinful nature and tendencies. He knows that there is nothing good in him, verse 18, and acknowledges that there is no hope for him or for us because of our human nature. However, he then recognises that there is a hope, there is a rescuer, it is Jesus, verse 25. So therefore “in Jesus” there is “no condemnation”, chapter 8 verse 1-2 which gives us all confidence because without this there is no hope. However, this does not mean that we can act like Zedekiah and the people or like Ahithophel and Absalom and presume that God will show us mercy and grace, we have to try to “produce fruit”, chapter 7 verse 4 and we have to “have our minds set on what the spirit desires”, chapter 8 verse 5. Paul is clear that those who are controlled by sinful nature cannot please God, verse 8. Chapter 8 has the contrast between life and death, those who try to follow God have life and have confidence in it, but those who just follow human things have death. If we want life, we have to change, verse 13. If we do our best to continue to follow God and Jesus, if we are humble, if we try to understand what God wants and if we always try to remain faithful “nothing will separate us from the love of God”, verse 39. Even though David sinned, he repented and nothing separates him from God’s love, Ahithophel, although very upset with David, took things into his own hands rather than leaving God direct things, so we too should try to do right in humility, but leave judging to God and to Jesus. July

August 1st.

We are continuing the story of Absalom and his rebellion against David and, by his actions, against God, in 2 Samuel 18 and there are plenty of lessons for us to learn so that we can try to respond differently to others in similar situations that we experience in our every day lives. All of this persecution of David happened because of his sins with Bathsheba and Uriah, God said that there would be consequences (2Sam12:11-12) and there were – perhaps David learnt from one of the lessons in his life shown by him not wanting to stay behind, verse 2, but the advice of his soldiers was to stay on “this occasion”, verse 3. David did not want to stay, perhaps for 2 reasons: 1, he wanted to be with his men, which is very likely, and 2, he did not want to have any further temptations whilst his men were out, in fact on this occasion he stayed by the city gate, verse 4. This is an interesting point as on this occasion David was a refugee, he was running for his life so he was alert and responsive to the situation that he was in, previously in chapter 11 he was content and at ease – a big warning and a lesson for us to be careful when we are in easier situations.  We must never stop thinking about God and Jesus. David was a human being like the rest of us and he continued to make mistakes and this is perhaps another mistake that he made re Absalom in verse 5. Under the law Absalom should have been killed because he had killed his brother and Absalom was trying to kill the “Lord’s anointed”, ie David, yet David was protecting him and he was not consistent, for example he killed the Amalekite in 1Sam1 for killing Saul, the “Lord’s anointed”, 1Sam1:14-16. So why was David protecting his son, why did he react so harshly when someone said that he had killed Saul? We all have to be careful and humble when we condemn others for their actions and think about possible consequences when we experience the same thing, David was clearly protecting his son too like any father would, but he was very quick to kill another father’s Amalekite’s son! Let us be slow to condemn and check to see if the action is what God wants. David clearly loved his son as we read after David hears of the report of Absalom’s death, verse 33, perhaps David was more distraught because he was thinking back to his killing of Uriah and the condemnation that David received from God – again David knew that under the law he should have been put to death, but God spared him but with consequences and Absalom’s death was one of those consequences. Not that Absalom did not deserve it because he was a godless proud man, he had no respect for God as well as his father, the Lord’s anointed. It was the thing that Absalom was most proud of that caused his death – his hair, verse 9. The thing that he was most proud off became his downfall and this is so often the case the lives of human beings – pride is often present before a fall! Absalom showed off to others, he even made a memorial pillar for himself and erected it in the King’s Valley and he was not even a confirmed king, verse 18. Other characters in this chapter are things for us to think about too, David’s men had respect for David, verse 12-13, however, Joab did not, verse 14-17, in the case of Joab he lost respect in David because of what David had done, he was not forgiving and he was positioning himself to gain the most advantage. Jeremiah 22 is a reminder of the ungodly actions of the kings of Israel that resulted in the people’s captivity, they are all the ungodly actions that we see in human beings, verse 9, 13, 17 and verse 22. We need to look at what God has done for us, eg 15-16. God warned them, verse 21 – all these things we have to guard against, we need to remember what God has done for us, be careful when we think we are secure and always remember to do what is right and just, verse 3-4. If we go our own way God will cut us off, verse 5. Romans 9 helps us to understand some of the suffering and apparent strange things that happen in our lives and also in others’ lives too. Paul sets out a theoretical conversation from verses 6-29 where he discusses similar things to the whole book of Job. God can basically do what he wants, he does not have to answer to us, we have no right to question the way that he does things we have to simply trust. We may not understand everything, but God is saying to trust him, we have no right to question, we cannot blame God for our sinful nature or for situations that we are in, verse 19-21. It is normal for us to have questions, eg verse 14 and 19, but we have to trust! Paul was a wonderful character for us to learn from, he was absolutely distraught that his fellow countrymen, the Jews, had not accepted Jesus and he prayed for them, verses 1-5. We even prayed that he be “cut off” rather than them, similar to David re Absalom, yet the Jews had rejected Paul’s teachings about Jesus and wanted him dead, Acts 23:12-15, but like David he would have preferred that they be saved. A lot of lessons for us to think about and for us to try to copy the godly parts in our lives but to reject the ungodly actions and so become a little bit more like Jesus. August

August 2nd.

In our first reading in 2 Samuel 19 we can again see practical lessons from those characters who responded in different ways to the different situations that they found themselves in. We can take lessons from these as we try to act like Jesus in our daily lives. David’s continued mourning the loss of Absalom is understandable – David had lost a son and he had lost an heir, more significantly it was his fault that this had happened, verse 4. However, David’s actions were having a very bad effect on his men who had saved his life and had returned the kingdom to him, verse 1-3 and 5-7. We all have to be aware of how our actions impact on others, we may feel justified in acting in a particular way, but others may see this completely differently – David had to be reminded by Joab that he also had a commitment to his men, and he followed his advice, verse 8. The lesson here is for all of us to remember that we do have an impact on others by what we do, therefore our actions need to be godly. There are 3 other characters in this chapter who we can learn from too. Shimei who cursed David when he was fleeing from Absalom comes to say that he is sorry, verse 16-20. It is a good thing to make peace with others, but it was wrong to make enemies of your brother in the first place. Shimei should not have cursed David when David was low because he was now in a vulnerable position now that David was back in power. David forgave him and protected him again, verse 21-23. David showed the right character here in showing forgiveness and protecting Shimei. Mephibosheth’s response is interesting here, verse 24-30. Maybe Mephibosheth is telling the truth to David here and that it was his servant Ziba who lied about him wanting to be king when David fled – the way that he responded whilst David was an exile appears to suggest this, verse 24. The way that he stayed in the same clothes and did not care for himself suggests mourning, so maybe his story is correct and Ziba did lie about him. David believed him, verse 29 and look how Mephibosheth responded, verse 30 – this shows humility and forgiveness on the part of Mephibosheth too. This being the case, this is a good lesson for us, even when we are wronged we should remain humble and forgiving. A lesson from David too, he was quick to judge Mephibosheth in 2 Sam16:1-4 – David could not check the story so he should have waited before he condemned, we need to always try to check stories too and not make immediate judgements – we learn that there are often 2 sides to a story, even when 1 side sounds very plausible. The lesson here is to always check what we are told before we make conclusions. Barzillai always supported David and David continued to show him favour. How we act has an impact! Jeremiah 23 contains a wonderful prophecy about Jesus, verse 3-8 – Jesus will “reign wisely” and do “what is just and right” – he is the only person who we can really trust which is why we look forward to his return so much, but also we try to be like him in our lives. This picture contrasts so much with the false shepherds and the lying prophets Jeremiah tells us about in the rest of the chapter. The prophets were teachers, the priests were religious leaders, they have a responsibility to teach and lead in godly ways; we know if they are speaking truth or lies by the way that they behave and what they say, another reason why we have to check! God hears what they say, verse 25 and he says do not listen to them, verse 16 and God says he will punish them, verse 15. While we wait for Jesus to come back we need to learn from him in our reading of the Bible and pray that we try to be like Jesus. We have to be very careful not to trust those who say that they have messages from God and say that they have dreams – Jeremiah is clear here that those referred to here are liars! Romans 10 and 11 helps to put things into perspective. Rom8:8-13 teaches us where our confidence should be, it should be in Jesus – it also means that we have to “believe from the heart” and this includes how we act as well.  God is “kind” but he is also “stern” too, we have to respect God in all aspects of our lives, Rom11:22-24. Israel was punished for their unbelief and rebellion. We as gentiles were given an opportunity to be saved by Jesus, which shows God’s “kindness”, but we have to try and obey him otherwise he will show us his “sternness” too. Paul is very much warning us as Christians to continue to respect his ways and his commands and he concludes this section in verses 33-36 by a prayer, recognising how great God is, how we cannot ever understand all of his ways now but we continue to praise and respect him! August

August 3rd.

2 Samuel 20 and 21 continues with the account of David having to cope with further unrest on all sides. He had people opposing him from everywhere, just as God had said it would, his family, his countrymen, his army  and the Philistines. These 2 chapters start and end with challenges and this typified David’s life from the time he committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed Uriah. 2 Sam 20:1 shows us the rebellion of Sheba who incited the Israel army to move to his side, verse 2 and thus started another problem for David. He had appointed Amasa as commander of his army (2Sam19:12) to replace Joab, presumably because he trusted him more than Joab, however, both were family members (both Amasa and Joab were David’s nephews). The events that played out in chapter 20 again demonstrate that just because people are related it does not mean that they can be trusted or show respect to each other. For some reason Amasa took longer to assemble Judah, verse 5, so David sent Abishai, and therefore the demoted Joab in pursuit of Sheba, verse 6-7. However,  Joab took the opportunity to kill Amasa, verse 9-10, this is a terrible thing to do as it was simply jealousy that triggered this response, there was no finding out what the delay was. Maybe Joab was “punishing” him for siding with Absalom, but either way Joab no longer had respect for David who had appointed Amasa to replace him in the first place. All these people were related in some way and demonstrates how bad things can get when there are family and personality disputes within the family, in David’s case consequences of his adultery and murder. The consequences of mistakes are shown in 2Sam21 too when David seeks help from God following the 3 successive years of drought, verse 1. Saul had incorrectly tried to annihilate the Gibeonites who were protected by oath (Joshua 9:16). So God was not pleased that there was no recompense paid for this attempted genocide and David has a difficult thing to do to select members of Saul’s family to take the punishment that was decided upon, verse 9. The upset and distress that this caused to Rizpah, verse 10 is a reminder yet again that mistakes bring consequences. This is a blood thirsty extreme, but we have to remember that there are always consequences to our bad actions, consequences on our family and friends maybe years later! God answered prayers when all was sorted, verse 14. There was continued war with the Philistines in David’s later years and although he wanted to go and be with his men (probably because he regretted staying behind when he saw Bathsheba) he was too old and was becoming a liability, verse 17. There are just 2 choices in Jeremiah 24, one group would listen to God and Jeremiah and demonstrate faith by going into captivity and therefore life, verse 4-7 and there was the other group who rejected God and what Jeremiah was saying and attempted to rely on their own strength and stayed at Jerusalem and died, verse 8-10. The lesson for us is to always listen to God and to check what others are saying. It was obvious that the lying prophets and priests in Jeremiah’s time were false because they were giving credit to false gods for the good things that God gave and they were not living a life that demonstrated their professed faith – another lesson for us to remember. The section on love in Romans 12, ie verse 9-21, is a characteristic that the people who went into exile may have demonstrated to the Babylonian army who were taking them into captivity. These people trusted what Jeremiah was saying and gave up their homes without a fight, this would have impressed the Babylonians as Paul says here, verse 17-20 and this is how we should respond to any situation that we are in, we have to “overcome evil with good”, verse 21. We have to love – it has to be sincere, verse 9. All of these Christian attributes have to describe us! Read verses 10 to 16 slowly – is this describing you? It should be! We know that God and Jesus save us by grace, and thank God that this is the case, David was shown grace and was saved, we are shown grace and are saved, BUT we have to change our ways (repent); we must not “conform to the world” anymore;  we must “renew” our minds, verses 1-2. Because we have been promised life by grace we have to respond and try to be like Jesus. We have been brought into a family in Jesus, we all have different tasks in the body of Jesus so we have to work together in unity, no infighting like happened in David’s family, no rejecting God’s true teachers as happened in Jeremiah, but all working together, respecting each other and respecting both God and Jesus, verse 3-8. Not all of us can do the same things, therefore we must humbly accept our abilities from God and praise him for the grace he has shown to all of us! Paul is saying in Romans to do our best in using the abilities that God has given us to all work together in the body of Jesus. August

August 4th

We have David’s song of praise in 2 Samuel 22, his song was after God had delivered him from Saul, verse 1. The same praise would still have been sung by David at the end of his life too as it can be sung by us in our lives if we have put God first as David did. David gives all the credit for his victories to God, verse 17-20 and this has to be true for us too in our lives when we go through problems and suffering, if we are faithful then God rescues us too. The problem with most of us though is that we expect God to rescue us from all our problems now, but God does not work like that. He is interested in our end salvation, ie when Jesus comes back. David shows that he was looking forward to this in verse 51. The “descendants for ever” can only be referring to Jesus and those who accept him. It is natural for us to want saving now, David did when he was suffering, verse 7, God did rescue David and God sometimes rescues us now, but his main aim is to bring salvation, verse 2-3, this permanent salvation is the kingdom. David  describes God as the “deliverer”, “refuge” and for this he gives praise, verse 4. This is where we should also start in prayer, praising God for being all these things for us. David reminds us that God’s salvation is conditional, verse 26-27 – if we want God’s salvation we have to be “faithful” and “pure”. We know that David sinned and we sin too, but if we continually confess our sins and repent we are also “blameless” and “righteous” and “clean”, verse 21-25. God “delights” in us as he did in David if we try our best to follow his ways and throughout David’s life he did try his best, verse 20. Yes he sinned and we do too, but if we confess and repent we are also blameless (1John1:5-10). God is patient with us and the rest of mankind, we read in Jeremiah 25 that God sent prophets, including Jeremiah, to encourage the people to repent and to follow God with all of their heart, verse 5-6, but they did not listen, verse 3, 4, 7 and 8 and therefore God punished them. God is only patient up to a point and none of us should rely on God’s grace if we are not willing to repent and to change. From verse 15 of this chapter we read of God’s wrath on all of mankind if they do not accept God and repent. However, as always with God’s plan and purpose there is always a hope, and God promised that the Jews would return to the land after 70 years and this happened in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. The context of Romans 13 and 14 is salvation too, Ro13:11, we feel that Jesus’ return is very soon and this is when God will bring about his ultimate salvation, the time that David looked forward too. So in these 2 chapters we see lessons for our daily lives for how we should act and how we should demonstrate that we are faithful, righteous and pure. For example we should submit to the government, verse 1, because God has put them there! If we rebel we are rebelling against God, verse 2. The Jews who went to Babylon would have impressed them and set good examples, we need to do this too. No “debts”, no “adultery”, no “murder”, no “stealing”, no “coveting”, verse 8-9, Jesus says that we must not even think of these things or be angry, we are to “love our neighbour as ourselves”. There’s more, no “orgies”, no “drunkenness”, no “sexual immorality”, no “debauchery”, no “dissension”, no “jealousy”, no “gratifying self”, verse 13, we are to look like Jesus, verse 14 and to behave decently. We have recently seen how Saul, Absalom and the Jews were only doing things for themselves and we know what happened to them. As we see the time of Jesus returning we should be making more effort to do all these things. Romans 14 is further advice on how we should respect and love each other, we have to “build” each other up, verse 19 and not to destroy each other. All of us will have to give an account to God of how we have dealt with each other, verse 10-12. We are in our “church” to help each other, verse 7-9, and Jesus died for all of us to bring salvation for all of us who try our best to follow God. August

August 5th.

In the 2 Samuel 23 reading for today we see David’s respect for God and how David thought of the character of a person who does everything in righteousness and in the fear of God. In David’s case he was ruling in the fear of God, but the same applies to us too in whatever we do, verse 3-4. The description in verse 4 is of peace and things being right. David shows that he is also interested in his salvation, verse 5, he is thinking about the future “everlasting covenant”, ie the time when Jesus comes back, so his priorities were a) being righteous, b) fearing God and c) looking to his salvation.  These should be our priorities too. David contrasts the godly person with the evil person in verse 6-7 and he says that the evil are like thorns that are not even touched, but burned up and destroyed. In the section that tells us about David’s “mighty men”, verse 8 to the end, although we see how these men were, in human terms, mighty, David always gave the credit to God, verse 10 and verse 12. Even when three of his men risked their lives and brought him water, David praised God for it and worshipped and gave thanks, verse 16-17. David tried to put God first at all times, he suffered, he experienced good times, he sinned, he repented but throughout all he learnt to respect God in all things and to look for his future salvation. This is how we should be too, we all experience difficulties, whether this is food or health, we experience happiness and joy, we sin and we should acknowledge this and repent, but we should also be looking towards our salvation when Jesus comes back as a priority. We need to try and always put God first and to not be like the Jews in Jeremiah 26 (our second reading) who many times rejected God’s patience and his constant reminders and opportunities that he gave for them to repent, verse 3, even at the last moment God was still prepared to change his plan and relent! But he is also clear if we do not change then there will be disaster, verse 4-5. The appeal to repent is constant because God wants us all to come to salvation, verse 13. The people who opposed Jeremiah just did not like what he was saying and they even challenged him in the temple, God’s House, but they did not respect God’s words even though they were pretending to worship, verse 7-9. A lesson for us again is that we have to check what God wants and to use past experiences and other events to determine if what we read or are told is right. Some of the elders checked what Jeremiah was saying, verse 17-19, they remembered what the prophet Micah had said during the time of king Hezekiah and God relented for a time. The same message is repeated in Romans 15 verse 4, we have to use all of the events in Scripture to learn from as we try our best to follow what God wants with the purpose of gaining encouragement and having a hope. We are to encourage and to challenge each other, verse 1-3, we are to put others first just as Jesus did. In both Romans 15 and 16, our third reading for today, we have a picture of unity, Rom15:5-6 and Rom16:17-18 and together with the examples of the Christian brothers and sisters working together for a common goal is important. We should also aim to be united in our CBM churches, we should be together with our brothers and sisters and not allow personalities to cause divisions, notice in Rom16:18 that those who cause divisions are not serving our Lord Jesus – these people are often those who can speak very well and have convincing arguments, but we have to check to see if what they are saying is what God and Jesus want. Both David and Jeremiah put God first, so did Paul, for example his “ambition” was to always preach, Ro15:20, the gentiles were “pleased” to help the Jews when they were in need, verse 27. None of these godly people were half hearted, they all wanted to do the right things for God they wanted to do the right things to “bring praise to God”, verse 7-13. Notice how many times Paul makes reference to the old testament, again confirming that we should use all scripture for lessons. Paul suffered in his work for God and for Jesus and he encourages his brothers and sisters to pray for him, verse 30-33, and this is the same request for us too, we should be praying for each other as we all go through the various sufferings that we experience. Part of our prayer has to be that of Paul’s in Romans 16:25-27, we should be praying that all will believe and obey and therefore be brought to salvation, the same salvation that David really wanted. Our Christian life in Jesus should be believing and obeying, confessing and repenting when we make mistakes and by God’s grace we do have salvation. August

August 6th.

2 Samuel ends with David counting his army to see how strong the nation was because Israel had sinned. It would appear that the people of Israel in general were again starting to act in ungodly ways and were proud because God was not pleased with them, chapter 24:1. God was angry with Israel and God allowed this situation to arise, this is just the same as happened in Job 1 and also with Jesus in Mark 1. Unlike Jesus, David gave into the temptation, even despite Joab advising against this action, verse 3. David did not listen and the fighting men were counted, verse 4. It is interesting that even though it was the people who God was angry with in the first place David associated with their original sin and he was certainly repentant when Joab came back and reported the number, verse 10. It is very clear that David blamed no one for this sin but himself. He was tempted by a situation and he gave into the temptation and as a result sinned, he now acknowledged it and asks for forgiveness. However, there were consequences again and God gave David 3 options to bring about the necessary humility in the people and in David. David was wise in his response, verse 14, he “fell into the hands of God”, this is trust in God’s mercy and a willingness to take whatever consequences God decided upon, this is humility and so too was the result. Note that this option was the only option that David could suffered the same fate as the people, there was no protection for anyone in a plague, but David being a king would have likely have been protected from the other options. 70,000 people died because of the plague, all because of the people’s pride – David showed his “strength”, God demonstrated that his strength was not in David’s army it was in God. David accepted this sin, verse 17 and he also ensured that it cost him something too, verse 24. These very vivid lessons are applicable to our lives too, we should control our pride, we should try not to give into temptation, we should accept when we make mistakes, repent and ask for forgiveness and then accept the consequences, if necessary at whatever cost. The people in Jeremiah 27 were tempted to listen to the lying prophets (verse 9, 14 and 16) who only said the things that they knew the people wanted to hear, ie that they would not be taken to Babylon. However, God was clearly saying through Jeremiah that that was exactly what would happen to those who were going to be saved in the end! Our natural human responses are always opposite to what God wants, we have to become like Jesus in how we respond to situations and trust in God. We do get this complete contrast in Mark 1 when Jesus did not give in to temptation in the desert when God allowed the situation for temptation to arise, verse 12-13. We know from the other gospels that Jesus did not give in to the temptation that he was presented with. Acknowledging our sins, as David did, is so fundamental to our Christian life. John taught “repentance for the forgiveness of sins”, verse 4; Jesus immediately taught people to “repent and believe the good news”, verse 15. Those who followed Jesus trusted in him, verse 18 and 20. They left everything to follow Jesus and this demonstrated their trust. We are not asked to leave everything, but we should still trust in the same way, just as David did. In the healings that Jesus then carried out we have little pictures of Jesus’ power to overcome sin. In the healing of the man with a mental illness in verses 25-27 we can see a picture of Jesus helping those who give into temptation that the Bible uses the word “satan” to describe any adversary. In the healing of the man with leprosy, verse 40-42, leprosy is often used in the Bible to depict sin, and like the man who came on his knees asking to be “made clean”, we do the same asking for our sins to be forgiven. The Bible does not teach that illnesses are a result of sin, but we can see a picture of sin in illnesses as a reminder that we are all sinners and sin brings death. So we should all rely on both God and on Jesus, we come to Jesus for forgiveness and we can confidently accept that healing if we repent. August

August 7th.

The first reading, 1 Kings 1, includes David’s son, Adonijah, claiming to be king, verse 5-7. This has similarities to the time that his elder brother Absalom also had aspirations of becoming King. However he did seek advice from Abiathar the priest and also from Joab. Joab supported his actions, presumably because he wanted the best for himself as usual, and he obviously knew so much about David’s past mistakes and now saw him as weak; it is not so obvious why Abiathar supported him too, presumably he had not had a revelation from God at this time. What is clear is that discord would continue in David’s family as God had promised it would, following David’s sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. It is easy to understand why Adonijah assumed that he would be king himself as he was the oldest surviving heir and was impatient because his father was now very old and frail, demonstrated by David being unable to keep himself warm any more, verse 1-4. Bathsheba and Nathan tell king David what is happening and David immediately makes Solomon king, verse 32-35. It is clearly in God’s plan that Solomon was to be king, although it is recorded here that David swore on oath that Solomon would be king. 2 Samuel 12 verse 24-25 tells us that God loved Solomon and we see from the next few days’ readings that God was with Solomon. Because Adonijah had gone against his father and also God by setting himself up as king, he expected punishment, 49-51, but Solomon was wise in his response, giving Adonijah an opportunity to prove himself, verse 52-53. Solomon was already showing his wise and Godly character in how he responded to this situation. Even right at the end of David’s life we continue to see consequences of his mistakes, he was a weak king and so many of those who were close to him saw his weakness and vulnerabilities. God remained with David, despite his faults, because David was humble.  The same thing cannot be said for the false prophet Hananiah in Jeremiah 28 as he “preached rebellion against the Lord”, verse 16. Like so many people before him, he rebelled against God and there is only one result when people do this, verse 17. Hananiah would have known that he was not saying what God said, he knew that he was lying, he was only interested in what he could gain from what he said because the people preferred his message to that of Jeremiah, verse 1-4. He was so confident in his own deceit that he even took the visual picture of a yoke from off Jeremiah’s neck and broke it, verse 10-11. God had told Jeremiah to wear this in Jeremiah 27 verse 2, so for Hananiah to go against what God had said was completely wrong and punishable, Jeremiah 28 verse 12-14, and we are back to consequences again. Because Hananiah rebelled, others were going to suffer more because of what he did and said – a lesson again for us to remind us that when we sin and rebel there are consequences for others, and Hananiah died knowing that his pride and arrogance was making things worse for others. All of us have responsibilities to teach what is right, if we teach lies we will be condemned by God, verse 15, therefore, like Hananiah, we will be removed. God is a God of love and grace and mercy, but we should respect what he says. Mark 2 brings us to Jesus again and the big confident message that comes out here is that Jesus forgives sins, verse 5 and verse 10. This is the message that Jesus appears to want to get across in the healing of the man who was paralysed, verse 1-12. Again in this healing our minds are made to realise that we all need healing from sin and only Jesus can do this for us via our belief in him. Levi was impressed by Jesus’ teaching, verses 13-17 and followed Jesus, who again reiterated that Jesus came to save sinners, verse 17. All of us have to accept that we are sinful and that we do need Jesus because we cannot have forgiveness without him, but to fulfil our agreement with him we have to follow him and try and be like him, having the right attitude. The Pharisees did not have the right attitude, they were critical of Jesus and his disciples for not following the exact letter of the law as they saw it, eg not fasting (verse 18) and working on sabbath (verse 23-34) but Jesus pointed out the more important things, ie his death, verse 20 and through his death and resurrection he was the “rest” for all those who follow him, verse 27. All of us have suffered some kind of bad experience with others, it is part of human life, but how do we react to these things? Naturally we try to have some kind of vengeance or retribution when we have been wronged and this natural, human way is shown in parable of the 2 people who owed debts in Matthew 18 verse 21-35, the wrong servant demanded his retribution, verse 28-30. But also in the parable we have a request for forgiveness, ie a debt, verse 26-27. This worked in the parable. The master renounces his right to the debt – he writes off the debt, he forgets it, he forgives it. So what does this parable mean? The “master” is God, the “debt” means the sins. God forgives us without requiring retribution, ie he absorbs our sins without wanting them to rebound back on us! The condition, therefore is that we should admit that we have a “debt” and ask for “forgiveness” and then to try to be like God in the ways that we continue to live. In Luke 15 the Prodigal son expected that there would be some kind of punishment when he returned, so did the other son, but the father did not punish him, ie he bore the pain, the costs and the public shame of his son sinning and wandering off. The mistake that we make in understanding forgiveness is thinking that it is easy and God will forgive no matter what, but it is not as easy as it seems. The forgiven individual has to have a change of heart. Mark 2 verse 7, says “forgiven” and verse 14 says “follow me”, no reference here to any punishment but there are painful consequences for Jesus. As a result of his love and mercy he draws really bad criticism from others, eg verse 6-7 and 16. Jesus is always in conflict with the priests and authorities and this reaches a climax in chapter 3 verse 6, this is the start of the process that ultimately ends in his death. This really demonstrates the opposition of men who rejected the mercy of God! This same insult on Jesus was also applied to God, ie rejecting God’s mercy, this is the human way of thinking! So what are we seeing when we picture Jesus on the cross? We see all the evil that men, including us, have inflicted on both God and on Jesus, this is the ultimate picture of sin. Peter confirms this in Acts 2 verse 23 and chapter 3 verse 13-15. But he does not leave the image here, he gets us to think of the resurrection, ie Acts 2 verse 15 and chapter 3 verse 15. So in the resurrection what has happened to all the horror, the answer that it has all been removed. Both Micah and Isaiah describe this removal as sins cast into depths of sea (Micah 7:19) and cast behind [God’s] back (Isaiah 38:17) – ie sins have gone! Peter then says in Acts 2 and 3 “repent”, ie admit your sins and allow yourself to be transformed and to be more like God. Prophesying about Jesus, Isaiah says that Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, by his wounds we are healed – Isaiah 53 verse 4-6. This is what the consequences of sin are, therefore we should want to demonstrate our gratitude for this price for forgiveness by wanting to do our best to be like both God and Jesus. So true repentance is a “change of behaviour” and we should also forgive those who have wronged us, just as Solomon did to Adonijah, unlike Abiathar and Joab not forgiving David! August

August 8th.

David continues to recognise that Solomon was wise and godly in 1 Kings 2 and he passes on his own advice to his son who is now on the throne as king, verse 1-4.  He is very keen that Solomon obeys God and his laws, and Solomon did just that in the early part of his rule. David also asks Solomon to deal wisely with all those who had opposed David, a task that David could not do because he did not have the moral authority to punish them as they deserved because of his own sins with Bathsheba and Uriah. But all these people did oppose David at some stage or another: Joab took revenge on Abner and Amasa and he supported Adonijah, verse 5-6 and Abiathar sided with Adonijah too, verse 26-27; his replacement also was a fulfilment of what God had said about Eli’s house. Both of these showed lack of respect for David, God’s anointed. Adonijah and Shimei were pretending to have respect for Solomon and for David. Solomon had said in 1Ki1:52-53 that Adonijah would be fine if he demonstrated that he was humble and godly, however, by asking for Abishag to be his wife he was proving that all he wanted was the kingdom, because he would be taking what everyone would have thought was a wife or concubine of David, demonstrating that he was the conqueror. Although Bathsheba was taken in by this request, Solomon saw that this was a deceit verse 23-25. Same with Shimei – he opposed David and then apologised, but David obviously did not fully trust him but left the decision to Solomon, verse 8-9. Shimei proved that he had not changed because he showed no respect for God and the oath, or the promise that he made, verse 41-46. This is a lesson for us all, our bad actions will be exposed at some time during our lives and we are likely to suffer consequences, no matter how long that time takes. All of these people suffered because of the previous ungodly choices that they had made. But under God’s direction the kingdom was now “firmly established in Solomon’s hands”. It is so important that we keep checking what God wants and for us to also remind others just as Jeremiah did in Jeremiah 29 when he wrote letters to the exiles in Babylon to remind them how they should act at all times. God’s advice to the people was to settle in Babylon, verse 4-6; to pray for their captors, verse 7 and to stop listening to those who were telling lies, verse 8-9. All those in 1Kings2 listened to wrong advice and rebelled against God and suffered as a consequence – the message remains the same, always check what God wants. God has a plan for all of us, just as he had for the exiles in Babylon, verse 10-14. We have to be careful not to listen to lies but to listen to God! In Mark 3 Jesus helps us to understand this a little better when he was told that his mother and brothers were outside, verse 31-35. Perhaps they had come to try to “protect” him because others were saying that he was “out of his mind”, verse 21, but in Jesus’s response he completely changed who we, as Christians, should consider as our family. Our “spiritual” family should be of a higher priority than our natural one because Jesus says that his “brother”, “sister” and “mother” are those who “do God’s will”. This is an important lesson for us to always remember, if we want to be Jesus’ family we have to do God’s will. This means that we have to learn about what God’s will is, we have to obey and we have to follow Jesus. It is easy for us to understand what Jesus means by being his “brother” and “sister” because that is what we call ourselves when we are baptised, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus, but how can we become his “mother”? We know from other scriptures that we have to try to become like Jesus, ie we have to try to do what Jesus does, so in a sense we are trying to allow the attitude of Jesus to “be formed” in us (Galatians4:19), so in this sense we are Jesus’ “mother”. As Christians we have to always try to be like Jesus in the way that we think, speak and act, we have to be recognised as brothers and sisters of Jesus. So in our daily lives we have to demonstrate this, unlike Joab, Adonijah, Abiathar and Shimei who all acted like human beings with human priorities to seek their own ambitions, rather we should look like Jesus who always put his father and others first. The Pharisees were always looking for ways to criticise Jesus and they even started looking for ways to kill him at an early stage in his ministry, verse, 6, even though Jesus had said it was better to do good on the Sabbath, verse 4. So message again is to always try to obey God. August

August 9th.

1 Kings 3 teaches us a great lesson from the life of Solomon. Solomon had just been made king, but he did not know how to reign.  He considered himself a “little child” (v7).  This is a good start for all of us.  Speaking about the kingdom of God, Jesus said that “anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Mark 10:15).  Solomon had received the kingdom of Israel from God as a little child.  A little child is humble, listens to others, learns and grows.  All these things we must do.  A little child is not after power or great riches.  Neither should we. Solomon was granted a gift from God of whatever he wished (v5). This is an exceptional gift.  How many of us would choose wisdom as Solomon did?  In his choice Solomon behaved like a little child.  He wanted to learn more.  In 1 Kings 3 Solomon judges the case of two women fighting over a child.  He used his wisdom to get to the truth.  As the wise man himself says, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (Proverbs 20:5).  And Solomon was that man of understanding who found out what was in the heart.  Think how much joy Solomon’s judgment brought to the mother.  This is the benefit of wisdom. It brings joy.  Let us be like little children and choose to find the wisdom of God.  For our joy and for the joy of others. Jeremiah chapter 30 is set 7 years before the end of the kingdom of Solomon’s sons.  It is the time of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah (Jeremiah 28:1).  The kingdom had turned from a spiritual height at the time of Solomon to the lowest depth at the time of Zedekiah.  They had lost the wisdom and humility of a little child.  When Jeremiah was first sent to Israel, he was also a child (Jeremiah 1:7).  God sent Jeremiah with a message of warning about the potential end of the kingdom.  Would king Zedekiah be a little child and listen?  Here in chapter 30 we have a positive message about the future.  In a future time, they would have another king, like king David (v9).    God would again be their God and they will be His people (v22).   Even though there were to be troubles, God has always provided good news for His people. The wise can take this to heart and find comfort. Mark 4 tells us about God’s future kingdom, which Jeremiah spoke of.  It contains a number of parables teaching us aspects of the kingdom of God (v11).  The key parable is the parable of the sower.  The seed represents the word of God, which is heard by people.   But what will the people do when they hear the word of God?  In this respect we are like Zedekiah, who also had a choice as to whether to listen to the word of God.  And what will we do? Will we ignore it, enjoy it for a bit or make it a lifelong choice.  Let us make no mistake.  The kingdom of God is coming. God will ensure that it does.  It has already started.  The parable of the growing seed (v26-29) only occurs in Mark’s gospel.  The kingdom is slowly coming – so slowly that we are not able to see the changes.  But it is coming. One day we will wake up and it will be there.  Let us get ready for it.  We must not be like Zedekiah who ignored it.  Or Solomon who started well but ended badly.  We are wise if we follow the word of God to the end and produce fruit to the end. August

August 10th.

Solomon continues to demonstrate his wisdom in 1Kings4 by those he chose as his chief officials, for example, those in verse 5 are the sons of Nathan the prophet, so they had a good background. This has to be a lesson for us when we choose brothers to be elders in our community, those with a good spiritual background are more likely to serve us better. It is not always the case, Eli’s sons, for example, were not good examples; however, like Solomon, we have to choose wisely. When Solomon asked for wisdom (1Ki3:9) he was thinking about others first, he was unselfish and certainly put God first and God gave him his request, verse 29-34. Solomon used his wisdom in the right way and no doubt praised God for the wonders of his creation! Solomon was a wealthy man, but he shared what he had, verse 27, another lesson for us. Whether we are wealthy or not, we have to share what God has given us. Like his father David, Solomon credited all of the achievements in Israel to God (1Ki3:3) and God granted him and the people peace and security, verse 24-25 and the people were “happy”, verse 20. Solomon was able to prepare the material for the building of the temple, 1Kings5, and with his God given wisdom there was cooperation between Solomon and Hiram, verse 12. How we deal with others always has a lasting impact, we have seen examples of how bad things generated more bad things, but here we have a good thing, verse 1. David set a good example to Hiram and future generations benefited, another lesson for us to always set good godly examples. Jeremiah 31 is a great picture of future hope when God promised that despite the rebellion of his people, he would “build them up again”, verse 4. There is always hope because of the love of God, verse 3. God is always just and he will discipline those who continually reject his ways, for example, Jer30:11, but he will restore, Jer30:17. We need to try and remember at all times that there is always this hope and as God says in Jeremiah 31:16 we will have cause to suffer now and to weep, but we should try to look to the future when our faithfulness is rewarded. God will turn our suffering into joy, verse 13. There was distress in Bethlehem after Jesus was born when the king Herod killed all the boys under 2 years old and this verse in Jeremiah 31:15 was quoted by Matthew (2:17-18). There has always been suffering, there always will be until Jesus comes back, so we are encouraged to always look forward to that time of joy that will come as God promised. God promised Solomon that his son would build the temple and that there would be a time of joy when that happened, so because God’s promises have come true before we are confident that they will come true again. Jeremiah was pleased with the message from God re the return of the Jews to the land, verse 26, so we should be pleased with the message that Jesus will return and set up the kingdom for ever, verse 31-34! These verses will ultimately be fulfilled when Jesus comes back. Mark 5 tells us about 3 healings of Jesus, the first one, verses 1-20 is a very dramatic one when the man with a mental illness was healed, he probably was what we call a schizophrenic today so Jesus needed to demonstrate that the illness had gone by the demonstration of the pigs drowning in the lake. It also demonstrates that Jesus has the power to heal whatever the problem, whether physical or mental. The woman who was constantly bleeding for 12 years, verse 25-29, showed a tremendous faith, she already knew how powerful Jesus was and knew that all she had to do was to touch his clothes, probably the hem of his robe. Jesus wanted to speak to and encourage her too and to remove the stigma of being “unclean” according to the law, so he asked who had touched him, verse 32-34. Jesus wanted to also encourage her as he did with the man who was mentally ill. Jesus and his father are interested in us as individuals, they know that we are suffering and will do the right thing for us at the time. We may not always understand why things happen, and the 3^rd healing would have had this upset and confusion about it. Jairus had asked Jesus for help to heal his daughter, verse 22-24. He would have been very concerned and upset when Jesus was delayed by the woman who was bleeding, this delay may have contributed to his daughter’s death, verse 35. But Jesus said, “just believe”, verse 36. Jesus teaches us another lesson here. For those who are going to be raised Jesus describes their death as “asleep”, verse 39, this conveys the strong message that it is temporary and if someone is ill it is often the case that when they sleep they will wake up feeling better. Jesus brings this girl back to life, verse 42, again demonstrating his power and his love. His real concern for individuals is demonstrated in the last verse, 43, in his protection of the girl who would otherwise have become a unwilling focal point for people who learnt about this miracle. So to bring the lessons together, Solomon demonstrated that with wisdom from God there can be joy and happiness, Jeremiah’s message was of hope, yes we would suffer the consequences of our sins/mistakes, but God will never leave us – we have been promised a future in the kingdom, Jesus demonstrates individual attention to all those who have a trust and believe in him and in his father. All this should help us as we go through our different levels of suffering which is temporary and if our suffering results in death, that too is temporary, Jesus sees it as a “sleep”! August

August 11th.

In 1Kings 6 we have the account of Solomon building the Temple. It was a wonderful structure and we have a lot of detail here about how it looked. But the way that it was built and the amount of money that was used show the character and dedication of Solomon and this is where we can learn lessons from, in the things that we do for God. Solomon was dedicated and spared no expense in his service to God, and it took 7 years to complete, verse 38. Before we look at some practical examples we need to put all this into perspective. God was happy that the temple was built because it was a recognition of service to God, but the more important thing was the individual’s attitude, verse 12-13. God requires all of his children to “follow his decrees”, “carry out regulations”, “keep all his commands” and “to obey them” then God will do what he has promised. This is what God is looking for in us, we will not be able to achieve all this because of our natural sinfulness, but we should be aiming for this, and also relying on God’s mercy because we are saved by Jesus. Our attitude has to be one of respect for God and trying to obey him and all the other things that we do, like Solomon building the temple, have to demonstrate this same respect. Notice that the stones used to make the temple were cut in the quarry, verse 7, not on the building site. This demonstrates Solomon’s respect for God and a realisation that what he was building was a quiet place of prayer so he kept the place quiet. This would have had an impact on those working there too and they would have tried to be quiet as they worked. Another lesson to consider is the amount of gold that was used, everything inside was covered in gold, verse 28-35; this must have looked spectacular with the light reflecting on it all, including the golden tabernacle articles that were moved in on completion. There was no expense spared in creating a place that reflected, as best as man could, the glory of God! So do we do our best for the things we do for God? The wonderful picture that we have of Solomon building the temple is contrasted so much in Jeremiah 32 because all of this would be completely destroyed, all that work and care would be ruined and all the last remnants of the gold in the temple would be removed all because the people did not “follow his decrees”, “carry out regulations”, “keep all his commands” and “obey them”, verse 23 and 32. God did what he said he would do if the people rebelled against him, this is a warning to us too, if we do not repent and try our best to follow Jesus’ example we too may risk the promise that God has given to us. Jeremiah’s prayer, verse 17-25 is a good example of a prayer for us too. He starts with a recognition of God’s power, how he created the world and then saved the Jews from Egypt and brought them into a good land with plenty. Then Jeremiah acknowledges that the people sinned so much and that they rightly deserved punishment, and then he gets to the point of his prayer to ask about the seemingly odd request to buy land. Again this prayer shows the same respect that Solomon showed to God in the building of the temple. God always provides a hope to those who really love him, no matter how bad the collective sin is, verse 37-44. So Jeremiah’s purchase of the land was a picture, or parable, that the Jews would return to Israel and again buy and sell in the land. God always fulfils his promises. When we get to Mark 6 we see that Jesus was also rejected by his wider family just as Jeremiah was (Jeremiah 26), verse 4-6 and it is so sad that even those who should know better reject the message from God! When Jesus sent out the disciples to preach “two by two”, verse 6, he gave them instructions on what to do and they started by telling people to “repent”, verse 12, this is the important message for all of us, we all need to change and repent! The way that Jesus sent out the disciples is a good lesson for us and one that we should try and take his advice from too, so when we go out to preach we should go with another brother or sister. The account of how John the Baptist was beheaded is interesting for us too. John the baptised rightly criticised Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, 17-18. Herodias was not happy, verse 19-20 and she wanted John killed, but Herod protected him. Neither Herod nor Herodias were godly people, but nevertheless we can learn from how they responded. Herodias “bore a grudge” against John that ended in John’s death – we need to be careful that we do not bear grudges against a brother or sister, or anyone else for that matter, because it can take over our thoughts and it too could end in disaster. We should forgive when someone has wronged us. Herod was like many of Israel’s leaders in that he was more interested in his own personal gain and standing rather than interested in God – he knew that John was a “righteous and holy man”, but he did not respect his teachings and what he was. He was also very foolish when he made a very unwise promise to his step daughter, verse 22-23. The girl’s response was not what Herod expected, verse 24-28, so as not to look weak before his guests he had to carry out his promise! This is why Herod felt very guilty for what he had done and as a result he mistakenly believed that Jesus was a resurrected John the Baptist, verse 16. Again we are reminded that there are consequences to all of our actions! Jesus knows our needs, the biggest need that we have is the forgiveness of our sins and the eventual removal of our human nature. The feeding of the 5,000 demonstrates Jesus’ compassion, verse 34, he would have taught about salvation, the kingdom, repentance and how to live godly lives but he was also concerned about their food for that day too and provided for them, verse 42-44. But the main purpose of this miracle was for the benefit of his disciples, see John 6:6, they failed the test, Mark6:52. Even though they were following Jesus they were still not sure about their faith in him and this is another lesson for us. If we are trying our best to follow Jesus we can have faith in him, he knows what is happening in our lives, sometimes we struggle as the disciples were here, verse 47-48, but Jesus is close to us as he was here, verse 49. The disciples wrongly thought he was a ghost, verse 50. However, Jesus responded and there was calm, verse 51-52. Things may not happen as we expect, sometimes our expectations are not what God and Jesus want for us but what we can be sure about is that both God and Jesus are close to us to encourage us to the kingdom, and because of this we can be calm! August

August 12th.

Solomon spent 13 years building the ‘palace of the Forest of Lebanon’ (1 Kings 7:1).  The palace was the place of justice (verse 7) where Solomon sat to judge the most difficult cases in the land.  This palace got its name because it looked a bit like a forest, because there were four rows of cedar columns.  The palace itself was presumably at Jerusalem.  We note that there is no description of gold or silver in the palace, as there was in God’s temple  – just wood and stone.  Most of 1 Kings 7 are descriptions of items to go into the Lord’s temple.  We note that the key builder was someone from Tyre, a Gentile city.  It is significant that a Gentile (half-Gentile actually) played a critical part in the building.  We know that Gentiles will be included in the future temple building of God  – the one made out of people (1 Corinthians 3:16).  The temple built in Solomon’s time was much more ornate than the original Tabernacle. There was more furniture.  There were two special pillars at the front, the laver was now a large ‘sea’ and there were ten moveable stands of bronze.  The pillars and the laver were not in the original Tabernacle.  The movable stands were used for washing the animals used for burnt offerings (2 Chronicles 4:6).  This means that the washing of animals and priests were segregated in temple worship. The stands were unusual because they had wheels and had patterns of palm trees, cherubim, lions and bulls on them.  This reminds us of the cherubim in Ezekiel 1.  What is clear is that God was very particular about what was drawn on His temple.  In Ezekiel 8:10, we are told about other drawings of animals that were later added and God was displeased with this.   Palm trees remind us of the righteous (Psalm 92:12).   Cherubim reminds us of heavenly men.   Lions remind us of God’s kingship and bulls remind us of God’s strength.  We note that the temple had a number of other plants also not found in the original Tabernacle.  There were lilies, gourds and pomegranates. The presence of the animals and plants remind us of the Garden of Eden where man was in fellowship with God.  This is the purpose of the temple.  It was a place where man and God could be in fellowship.  The time of Jeremiah was a contrast with Solomon’s time.  The time of Solomon was the start of the temple whereas Jeremiah describes its destruction.  This was not what God wanted, but it had to be that way because the people had turned bad.   Jeremiah 33 makes a great contrast.  God was the creator and maker of the earth (verse 2) but now He was going to kill His people (verse 5).  The royal palaces that were in Jerusalem, like Solomon’s, would be pulled down (verse 4).   Yet Jeremiah 33 is a lovely chapter.  God did not want to do what He had to do, but He spoke of a time where He would again be happy with His people in the land.  In order to do this, God would have to heal His people (verse 6) and cleanse them of their sins (verse 8).  The result would be joy and peace (verse 6) and Jerusalem would become the praise of the earth (verse 9).  There is a picture of joy, where the people are truly thankful to God for what He has done (verse 11).  There would be a king from the line of David and the promises to Abraham and David would be fulfilled (verse 26).  When this happens, the city Jerusalem would take on a new name.  It would be called ‘The Lord our Righteousness’ (verse 16).  In other words, the city will be known by the God who lives there, and by the righteousness found there.  This is confirmed by the name of the city given at the end of Ezekiel, ‘The Lord is there’ (Ezekiel 48:35).  What a place this will be!  The people who live there will be really really blessed.  Jesus was a man who brought healing and cleansed the people of their sins.  We read this in Mark 7.  Jesus was the one who would bring about the fulfilment of God’s promises to Abraham and David.  Jesus will bring about the future time spoken in Jeremiah 33.  In Mark 7 we have a debate about what is meant by ‘clean.’  The Pharisees argued that you needed to wash your hands before eating to be clean.  In contrast, Jesus argued that you needed to keep God’s commands in order to be clean.  Jesus also pointed out that the Pharisees had prevented the people becoming clean because they actually taught not to keep some of the commands of God.  The people needed to focus on getting their heart right if they wanted to be clean.  It is the heart that can make them unclean because all sorts of evil comes out of it (verse 20-23).  We can imagine that a similar thing had happened in Jeremiah’s day.  The people in those days were also focused on the outward keeping of the law, but in reality their hearts were not right with God and they produced much sin from their hearts.  The account in Mark 7 then tells us about a Gentile (verses 24-30).  The Pharisees would have said she was unclean because she was a Gentile. Yet she showed that her heart was right in an act of humility and faith.  She knew she did not deserve the benefits of God’s people.  But then she had the faith and humility that are features of God’s true people.  And so Jesus healed her daughter. This was a foretaste of the healing of the Gentiles that Jesus would do in the future.  Mark 7 introduces us to another person that would have been considered unclean.  A man who was deaf and could barely talk (verses 31-37).  His sickness would have been considered evidence of sin by the Pharisees. We note that it took place in Decapolis which was a Gentile area.  Was this another Gentile that Jesus healed?  In this case, the man was healed because of the faith of his companions.  We are thankful that faith and humility is recognised by God and Jesus, no matter what our nationality.  They recognise whether our heart is right regardless of race. Providing our heart is right, we will enjoy the blessings of Jeremiah 33.  We will be part of that spiritual temple made of believers in which we will have fellowship with God.  Thanks be to God for such a great hope! August

August 13th.

After the magnificent temple was completed, Solomon now brings the ark to the new place in 1 Kings 8.  God was obviously pleased that this had taken place as the “glory of the Lord filled the temple”, verse 10-11. There is complete respect by Solomon and the people for the thing that they were doing, demonstrated by the sacrifices that they made as the ark was being moved, verse 3-5. This same respect is shown to his father David as Solomon recognised the significance of everything that he was doing, verse 14-21. He recognised the significance of the ark and it symbolising the presence of God with them. The prayer of Solomon as he dedicated the temple has some reminder lessons for us today. Solomon prays that he and the people will “continue wholeheartedly in God’s way”, verse 23, this means that we have to try our best to do what God wants us to, it is a promise that we made when we were baptised. Solomon acknowledges that God’s favour and his own promise is conditional, verse 25, it means that God will ensure that the kingdom of Israel will continue if they obey. Solomon also acknowledges that mistakes and sins happen but he knows that he and the people have to repent, verse 33, 35 and 48, because he knows that no one is perfect, verse 46. Repentance is important for us too, we all sin, we must try not to, but when we do we must recognise that we have sinned and repent, ie change what we have been doing and go in the opposite direction. Then God will forgive, 39 and 50. Solomon ensured that all the people heard the important lessons in verses 56 – 61, he recognised that God kept his promises (56), he said that God would help with us repenting (58) but he reminds us all what our attitude should be (61). Our hearts must be “fully committed” to God and we must “live by and obey his commands”. Sadly the Jews did not and Jeremiah continues with the consequences of this rebellion and breaking the contract that they (and we) have made with God, verse 17-20. This “passing between the pieces of calf” is a contract – it first happened in Gen 15 and was a contract or covenant with God. If we try our best to follow God then he will do what he has promised, if we fail to obey him he will carry out his punishment. Solomon said that the people should be “wholehearted” and this example in Jeremiah shows us what “half-hearted” means. They agreed to follow God’s commands and free their fellow Jews who had become temporary slaves to their countrymen, the law allowed for this but they should all be made free after 6 years, verse 14. However, after the people setting them free they then made them slaves again, verse 11. They had repented, verse 15 but God was not happy that they changed their minds again, verse 16. They “profaned” the name of God, ie they had no respect and God punished them further, verse 17. God showed them a different freedom. In yesterday’s reading there was the important verses pointing towards the promise of Jesus, Jeremiah 33:15-16 and thank God we do have Jesus because of our continued sinning we can have forgiveness in Jesus who is our only hope.  Yes we should try, but we do fail, but the same godly rules apply and when we repent we are forgiven. Mark 8 reminds us how forgetful we are and how often we forget the good things that have been done for us, eg the disciples, verse 17-21 – we need the reminders of Jesus to help us to remember, we get these reminders by reading, discussing and praying. Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd that they need to change their lives if they want to follow Jesus, verse 34-38. As Solomon said in his prayer, we must change our natural way of life and put God first, we basically have to change the way that we naturally live our lives, because we will lose it anyway when we die, but if we change our lives and dedicate it to Jesus then we will save our life when we are resurrected. The point that Jesus is making here is what is the point in living our lives now to gain as much as we can, whether this is money or power or land without God and Jesus in our lives and then lose their opportunity when Jesus comes back. Our only hope is in Jesus so we need to act like Jesus and try and be honest and godly in everything that we do. One of the problems with the people that we have read about in the old Testament was that they pretended and they also tried to do the things that people around them did in eg their worship, I think what Jesus is saying here is do not do that. If we are “ashamed” or reject God’s and Jesus’ words now and pretend, then when Jesus comes back he will be “ashamed” of us. We have a wonderful promise and a wonderful future so let us be wholehearted in the way that we follow both God and Jesus. August

August 14th

We are so reliant on God’s grace, it means that we can have forgiveness and a promised life in God’s kingdom even though we do not deserve it. The amount of grace that God gives to us is demonstrated by the death and then the resurrection of Jesus.  We are so thankful for this, because without this grace we do not have a hope, because we are so sinful and need to always repent. God remains the same, however, and because of grace he expects us to try our best to obey him and this is made clear yet again in God’s response to Solomon’s prayer. God keeps on repeating these lessons and makes it clear that his grace and mercy does demand a response from us, otherwise there are consequences. 1 Kings 9 verse 4-5 God is clear that “if” Solomon and his descendants “walk in God’s ways” then they will be blessed, in Solomon’s case with a descendant on the throne and in our case with a place in the kingdom. However, if “you or your sons turn away”, verse 6-9 then God will “cut off” the descendants and the people from the land all “because they have forsaken the Lord”. Sadly this is exactly what happened as we are continuing to read in Jeremiah which is telling us how they were “cut off” and Jerusalem destroyed. The lesson that we immediately see is that human beings so easily reject God, which is why we need the reminders all the time and which is why we need Jesus. Solomon’s power grew and at this stage Solomon walked with God, but he too allowed his wealth to come between himself and God. In Jeremiah 35 we have a lesson in the example of the Recabites who God used as a living example to the other people who had rebelled against him. The Recabites stuck to the principles of their family, verse 6-11. They never drank alcohol, they did not own land or house and all the descendants stuck to this principle. God did not demand that they do this, but they decided that this was the right thing to do and they stuck to it and God uses this good example to contrast with the Jews who rebelled against the all-powerful God. God wanted them and us to learn a lesson from the Recabites, verse 13. Verse 14-17 says multiple times that the people failed to listen to him, despite God sending prophets many times to get them to repent, verse 14-15 and 17. This is a big lesson for us, not that God does not want us to have fields and homes but we need to live as if we do not have them, in other words we must not rely on our homes and fields more than we rely on God, we have to keep them in perspective. Also we need to learn that we have committed ourselves to God and promised to follow and obey him, therefore the lesson from the Recabites is that we should have the same commitment to the promise that we made when we were baptised. It is interesting that the Olympics started in 8^th BC, therefore they were around during part of O/T and all of the N/T. Paul uses an example in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24-27, where the emphasis is on only 1 person who can get the winner’s prize, which was a garland that was “corruptible”, but we can get the lessons from the preparation and self-sacrifices that the athletes made otherwise no one can win. But in the race for life all are winners and receive a non-corruptible crown, ie life – this does not fade away! Think about the ambitious athlete, he or she was “treating their body harshly” and letting nothing get in the way before the race day. In Mark 9 verse 43- 50, Jesus picks up on this harsh treatment of the body to stop things getting in the way of the kingdom! The “hell” here is Gehenna that was the rubbish dump around Jerusalem that always burnt. Mark 10 tomorrow is a more practical example for us rather than actually cutting off bits of our body, verse 22, he was rich, but Jesus said in 21 to sell all and donate, ie the equivalent to his eye or hand as this was stopping him getting to the kingdom. We therefore all have to identify the obstacles that get in the way to the kingdom, eg work, friendships, etc. Psalm 50 verse 5, this talks about those godly people who sacrificed aspects of their lives so that they would always serve God, just like the athlete. Paul in Romans 12, talks about a living sacrifice, ie describing a baptised person who stops doing things that take them away from God. This is exactly what the Recabites did. In Mark 9 we also read of the disciples arguing amongst themselves as to who was the greatest, verse 33-37. Why they were doing this is as a consequence of human pride, the disciples should have been humble in all that they did, not trying to say that one was better than the other. The only leader that we have is Jesus, so all of us are equal in the way that we should view each other, we have to put others before ourselves. The demonstration that Jesus showed in the child is how we should welcome anyone, we should care and look after and not think that we are greater! Jesus is so concerned that we do not cause each other to sin that he gave us that very drastic set of actions that we should be thinking about when we think about how we sin. This is clearly not intended to be literal, but it shows just how bad we should view sin and just how much we should work at preventing it – maybe the Recabites thought that having land and homes was a trigger for pride, drink would have made their minds fuzzy, so they decided to abstain. The disciples perhaps became proud over the things that they were involved in and therefore sinned, so Jesus is saying if you steal, for example, then you should take drastic action to stop, if you walk into sins, eg a drinking place to get drunk, then you need to take drastic actions to stop; if you keep looking at other things or people to lust, then you should take drastic actions to stop looking! The point that Jesus appears to be making is that if you continue doing these bad things then you will end up being destroyed, you will forfeit the life in the kingdom we have been promised. So we should do our very best to change so that we can be part of this promised life. God wants us to be in the kingdom so he has given us so many warnings to try and change and to act more like Jesus in everything that we do. August

August 15th

In today’s first reading, 1Kings10,  we have Solomon the king showing and sharing his wisdom from God and the things that he had – he obviously gave credit to God for these because the Queen of Sheba acknowledged and praised God, 1 and 9. She also saw that because Solomon was godly and happy, those who worked for him were also happy, verse 8. This is a lesson for us too – that if we are also godly and trust and are doing our best we can be happy and also this happiness will be passed onto others as well. The chapter also tells us just how much wealth Solomon had and because Solomon asked God for wisdom above everything else, then God blessed Solomon with these things so that the whole nation, God’s people, benefited and were happy! At this stage Solomon used this great reputation and wealth well. However when we get to Jeremiah 36 the king of God’s people had complete disregard for God and the things that he stood for.  He had so much contempt towards God that he actually burnt the things that he was being told, verse 23-25, he in fact tried to capture Jeremiah and Baruch, verse 26. Not only did God protect them he very much noticed what the king had done, verse 30-31. The “wickedness” that God refers to here appears to include the complete contempt that the king and his officials had for God and his commands. Clearly we have to listen to what God wants, we have to respect and we have to try and do what he says. It is clear that we have to make the effort to follow God. God knows that we find it hard and that we need reminding which is why he kept sending Jeremiah to remind the people; the whole point of these reminders was to try and get the people to repent, verse 3.  This demonstrates God’s patience and even at this late stage God would forgive and not bring about the punishment that he had promised. God repeats this again in verse 7 – he wants them to turn from their wicked ways. The unfortunate thing was that the people were pretending – they were coming to the temple, verse 6, so they were still appearing to worship God, but it was clear that they were not serious, and now this has to be a lesson and a warning for us too. We have to respect God and what he says, the writing of all of Jeremiah’s warnings took at least 1 year, started in 4^th year of Jekoiakim, verse 1, and completed in 5^th year, verse 9, so this is the same as the whole Bible for us, we have to respect and try to do what it says. Jeremiah and Baruch certainly respected God’s words, it was an effort for them to complete this work, some of the people respected it because they willingly went into captivity and some of the religious officials respected it, verse 11-15 and 25. We should do too.  Solomon did at the stage in his life that we are reading about and he passed on that respect to his fellow countrymen and on to the Queen of Sheba. Our 3^rd reading in Mark 10 gives Jesus’ teachings on some very human problems that we all come across, if not experience, and which if the kings that we have just read about had followed, would have helped them remain godly. Divorce or taking additional wives, or husbands if a woman, is something that we all come across. Jesus is clear what the Bible teaching is, verse 6-9, a man must only have one wife, likewise the woman must only have one husband, when each are “joined” they are one flesh and they should not be “separated”. That is the ideal, so that is what we should be trying to aim for. Jesus reminded them that it was only because of their “hard hearts” that in the law of Moses there was a possibility of divorce (Dt24:1-4), verse 4-5, so we too should be trying to obey God and to take marriage seriously. Marriage is used by God as a pattern within the Bible to show his people and to also show Jesus as the husband; and the church is represented by the wife – this is a serious pattern in the Bible. Jesus makes this plain to the disciples later, verse 10-12 – clearly if someone divorces his wife or marries an extra one, he commits adultery. The rich young man in verse 17 asks how he can “inherit eternal life” and Jesus answers with the list in verses 21, and this man achieved all of these. But Jesus identified something in his life that was preventing him from following, he trusted in his wealth, verse 21-22. Now it is important to remember that the disciples, who had left everything to follow Jesus (28), also were surprised by Jesus’ reply because they asked “how could anyone be saved”, verse 24 and 26. Jesus acknowledged that this was impossible without God, verse 27. The lesson here is that we should have the right priorities in our lives, our trust should be in God and not in anything else that may replace him. Our priority should always be the Kingdom, verse 29-31. The interesting account in this chapter is that the blind man Bartimaeus, verses 46-52, had nothing and what he did have he threw away to follow Jesus, verse 50, our attitude should be like this in that he put Jesus first! We are not asked to get rid of everything, because Solomon obviously had wealth, but we must not trust in it and we must also share what we have. The other lesson in this chapter is what we get from the request of James and John, verse 37. Firstly Jesus says that it is not his to give, verse 40 and secondly he taught that all the disciples and we too should be servants, verse 42-45, we should not be wanting “special” places, neither should we be jealous of those who are given “special” places but we should all be “servants”. We should all remember too that our requests or our actions can have a detrimental impact on others, verse 41. Maybe James and John’s request was godly, but it caused a rift between their fellow disciples. The lessons in today’s readings are respect, trust and follow Jesus, because Jesus has died for us, verse 33-34 and his resurrection means that if we trust and try our best, we have this wonderful promised life. August

August 16th.

It is a very sad reading for us today in 1Kings11, sadly Solomon did all the things wrong that God warned about in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. It is very telling that the things that led Solomon astray were the human things that he accumulated to demonstrate his domination and wealth, he allowed these things to come between him and God, verse 1-8. Despite the wisdom that he had asked for he did not use it all for the right things and the things that he did were described as “evil”, verse 6, and the warning/lesson that we get for ourselves from this is that Solomon did not “fully devote” himself to God, verse 4. We should try to be “fully devoted” to God and all his ways, if we are not we too will turn away and do evil and not “keep the lord’s commands” which will make God angry with us as he was with Solomon, verse 9-11. God appeared to Solomon twice and despite this he still turned away and had the wrong “attitude” and did not keep God’s commands. There were consequences and God raised up adversaries who opposed Solomon, verses 14, 23 and 27. Solomon’s wrong attitude also caused him to go against what God had said too in that he tried to kill Jeroboam after he had learned that Jeroboam was to take Israel from Solomon’s family line, verse 40. This is quite a human move for Solomon in that he was trying to change what God had said would happen and this is not possible. Solomon turned from God and there were consequences, Solomon’s kingdom would be split up. One of the lessons that Solomon forgot was pride, Deut17:20 tells a king, or anyone in a responsible position, that they are not to consider themselves as being above their fellow people, Solomon became proud and he sinned. Pride and arrogance affected king Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, in Jeremiah 37 he “paid no attention” to what Jeremiah said, verse 2. He also had the wrong attitude because even though he did not listen to Jeremiah and therefore God, he still expected Jeremiah to pray for him and Jerusalem, verse 3. He also helped Jeremiah at the end of the chapter, verse 21, perhaps trying to change the outcome that God had said would happen, but like in Solomon’s case it was too late. King Zedekiah and the people just did as they pleased, but still expected God to help, Solomon did what he pleased at the end of his life and was disappointed that the kingdom would be torn from his family. The big lessons are that we have to respect God and everything that he says. In the Kings reading today and in recent Jeremiah readings God promised that for David’s sake he would not totally cut off Judah and Israel for ever and the promise of Jesus’ return is the main part of this promise. In Mark 11 we have the people welcoming Jesus as king, verse 9-10, it was not part of God’s plan that this would happen then as Jesus would be killed and then resurrected so that all of us today can benefit. It is sad though that the religious leaders of Israel were still rebelling against God despite all that he had done for them in the past, they had not learned from the lessons in their history or from the prophets like Jeremiah. Jesus visited the temple, verse 11 and saw all of the bad things that were going on there. Because it was late during that visit he returned the following day, verse 15-17 and totally cleared the temple area. The people had the wrong attitude – they were making money out of their worship of God, they were pretending, just as we have seen in Jeremiah and in Kings. This is not what God wants, we are not to be “making” out of our Christian worship, whether this is money or power, it is clearly wrong and Jesus rebukes the people at “thieves”. This is such an obvious lesson for us too, we should not be accused as “thieves” by Jesus! Jesus condemned the leaders too for not leading the people in the right way.  This is displayed in the account of the fig tree, verse 12-14. The fig tree is often used as a symbol of the Jews in the Bible and Jesus was looking for fruit, ie good works, and he found nothing so he said to the tree that no one would find fruit on it again. Verse 20-21 is a graphic demonstration that there is an end to the fig tree, symbolising the end of the Jewish religion being replaced by Jesus. God remains the same, however, and the lessons are still relevant for us today, we have to follow God, as did Jesus, we will fail, but remaining faithful to Jesus and to God will bring us to the kingdom, verse 22-25. We have forgiveness from God, therefore we have to forgive those who sin against us! August

August 17th.

1Kings12 tells us how Israel was split into 2, ie Judah and Israel. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, was the king of Judah (2 tribes Judah and Benjamin) and Jeroboam became the king of Israel (10 tribes). From now on in the history of the kings all Israel’s kings were bad and ungodly, only some of Judah’s kings were godly, we can take lessons from all of them. In this chapter we see Jeroboam immediately rejecting God’s advice given in 1Kings11:38.  He created other places of worship at Bethel and Dan, verse 28-33 and by doing this he “caused Israel to sin”; we will read this phrase a lot as we progress through Kings. Jeroboam disobeyed and rejected God. A lesson for us is from the reasons that Jeroboam gives for creating false gods, verse 26, shows that he was worried about losing his power if the people went to worship at Jerusalem in Judah. Also verse 28 indicates that he found it too great a commitment to go to Jerusalem to worship, so he changed what God wanted to make it easier for himself. We should also be careful not to change things just to make life easier, we need to always be sure of what God wants us to do and to work with each other to do the right things. God was very critical of Jeroboam’s actions. The split of the kingdom was as a consequence of Solomon’s actions in turning away from God, this is confirmed for us in verse 15. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, showed his pride by trying to make the tasks harder for the people of Israel, verse 12-14, he had listened to the unwise advise of the younger advisors, however we do see God working through his pride. His mistake did bring out humility and he did listen to God in verse 22-24 and not attack their brothers in Israel. This is the sad split of the great kingdom of Israel, all because the people did not listen to and obey God. Zedekiah became the last king of Judah and Jeremiah 38 shows how weak he had become and how he still did not listen to Jeremiah and God’s words, he did not stand up to his officials who wanted to kill Jeremiah, verse 4-5 and neither did he want them to know that he had spoken to Jeremiah, verse 24-26. On the other hand Ebed-Melech helped and cared for Jeremiah, verse 7 and 12. He went out of his way to show kindness, he probably put his own life at risk in doing so, but he was willing to give it to help others, he was not only interested in his own safety and prosperity. Jeremiah suffered for doing God’s work, in this chapter we read that he was put in a cistern, verse 6, this, I think is a pit latrine! God uses the actions of others to bring about his purpose, Ebed-Melech rescued Jeremiah and Rehoboam’s actions triggered the split of Israel. Mark 12 starts with the parable of the Tenants, verse 1-11 and is a picture of how God (the land owner), sent servants (the prophets) to the tenants (the kings, priests and people of Israel) to collect the fruit (godly works). We read how these prophets were mistreated (like Jeremiah) and killed and how they did not respect and eventually killed his son (Jesus) and the owner (God) kills those tenants (Jews) and gives the land to others (followers of Jesus). This is a dramatic summary of all that we have been reading about in the Old Testament so far and makes the message that we have real for us because we have been given the opportunity to obey God and accept Jesus! The Jewish leaders were only interested in trying to trick Jesus and to make fun of the resurrection, they were rebelling against God. The biggest lesson that we can learn is what Jesus said to one of the teachers of the law who asked a question, verse 28, Jesus said to “love God with all heart, soul, mind and strength” and to also love your neighbour, verse 29-31. Jesus is reemphasising that we have to always do our best, we cannot pretend as Jeroboam did by setting up false gods or as Zedekiah did by secretly speaking to Jeremiah, we have to openly love God and set good examples by acting like Jesus and loving our neighbour. Christianity is not about pride and power as the Pharisees were trying to obtain, verse 38-40 – we need to be careful too, otherwise we risk being “punished most severely” too. Christianity is about giving all that we have like the widow’s offering, verse 41-44. The rich who gave money still had plenty, but the widow gave her last shilling to God, she showed trust, she showed faith, she gave everything to God – she had the right attitude. This is loving God with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength and loving her neighbour as herself! She was not asked to give, she voluntarily gave to God. So what do others see in us? Do they see the widow who gave everything? Or do they see the pretend Christian who likes to be greeted in the market place and likes the important seats? August

August 18th.

The word of the Lord is truly wonderful. The words come from God and are given to mankind for one reason. .salvation. “The word of the Lord” is mentioned many times in our first reading  1 Kings 13  and we can see how each individual reacted to that word.. JEROBOAM – By the word of the Lord Jeroboam was told that God had chosen him to be king because of the disobedience and idolatry of Solomon (1Kings11). But Jeroboam was also disobedient to that word, and created his own “gods” (1Kings12). In today’s chapter God is reminding Jeroboam that the Lord God rules in the kingdoms of men, both in the now and in the future (even eternity) and Jeroboam had no authority except that given him by God. Jeroboam’s response was only selfish, he had no thoughts for God, all he wanted was his stricken hand to be restored, no confession , no wish for forgiveness , no turning from his evil way,… compare with the spirit of David In Psalm 51 !! Which spirit do we have,  David or Jeroboam ?     “A MAN OF GOD” (v1) Another man chosen of God, sent to a hostile land and king, to proclaim God’s word. He was faithful to that word when facing Jeroboam, but was not faithful when he was “resting” and believing his task had been done. Maybe, because of hunger and thirst the false prophet’s words were more attractive than the word of the Lord, and so he believed in a lie. We too must be on our guard, there are false prophets, we need to “test the spirits”, and above all we must never, never,  justify  disobedience.    OLD PROPHET   it would seem that he believed that the Lord had worked through the man of God and he wanted to hear more of that word. He even told a lie in order to hear more of that word. Why didn’t he say “Can I stay with you to hear more of God’s word ? “ I believe the old prophet wanted to hear, but not to follow.. he was seeking academic knowledge instead of seeking to be changed  by that word. Do we just read the word of the Lord ? Far better to listen to that word and be  “ transformed by the renewing of your mind” Rom 12:1-2. 2nd reading Jeremiah 39: Everything that God said through Jeremiah happened exactly as He said it would. When God tells us what will happen in the future, He means it, and it will happen whether mankind likes it or not. This theme is there from the beginning in Genesis 1  “and God said…and it was so “. The world is in turmoil, with no vision and very little hope, but the Lord has promised us a righteous, just king. And He has left us in no doubt who that is. JESUS. We can listen to Jesus.. what a good reason to give thanks to God for His word. In Mark 13:4 four of the disciples asked Jesus “ Tell us, when will these things happen ?” Jesus prophesies many events , and some have already happened. He leaves us in no doubt, He will return to rule the world with peace and justice. However, He does not tell us WHEN. Instead of being concerned with “when”, Jesus’ concern is that we are ready when He comes. Verse 5: “ watch out that no-one deceives you” v 21-23 “false Christs and false prophets will appear .. so be on your guard” v33 “Be on your guard, be alert”   v6 “do not be alarmed” – concerning events in the world  v13 “He who stands firm to the end will be saved”. These instructions from Jesus are more important than the “signs” of His coming. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, stay faithful, be on your guard, and do not fear for the Lord is near. August

August 19th.

In 1Kings 14 we have people pretending to do different things, but God always sees what is the truth. Jeroboam, king of Israel, asked his wife to pretend to be someone different to ask Ahijah the prophet about his sick son, verse 1-4. She did, but God knows everything, there is nothing hidden from him, there is nothing that he does not know – we have to remember this as we live our daily lives – God (and Jesus) know exactly what we are doing. God tells Ahijah to expect the wife of Jeroboam, verse 5 and when she arrives he immediately challenges her, verse 6 – “why this pretence?”. Not only did Ahijah say that their son would die, verse 12-13, he also prophesised against Jeroboam and his family because he was “evil”, verse 9 and 15-16. This is a terrible thing that Jeroboam did, causing Israel to sin.  The lesson here for us elders is that we have a massive responsibility to encourage all our brothers and sisters in the right way, ie to try to do what God wants, if we are not good examples then we can only expect God’s displeasure. The other person who pretended was Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and king of Judah, during his reign Judah also did evil and replaced God, verse 22-24. God did not protect them when the king of Egypt attacked and carried off the treasures of the temple and palace, 26. Rehoboam pretended to worship God by going to the “Lord’s temple”, verse 28, when he also worshiped in the “high places” which was part of the “detestable practices” of the nations around. God expects us to worship him with all of our heart, soul, strength and mind and not to pretend, because he knows! There were 2 examples in Jeremiah 39 of how God protected those who trusted in him and did not pretend, Jeremiah himself was actually protected by the Babylonians, verse 12-14 and also Ebed-Melech. Ebed-Melech respected God, he cared for Jeremiah and rescued him from the cistern (Jer 38) and God rewarded him, verse 16-18. In our reading for today, ie Jeremiah 40 we continue with the protection of Jeremiah because he remained loyal to God and did not pretend, verse 4-5. Yes, Jeremiah had lost everything, but he still had his life and some provisions and now freedom and he stayed with the people who were left in the land, verse 6. It would appear that the Babylonian commander knew of Jeremiah and because Jeremiah always acted in a godly way he earned respect, verse 2-3; even though he was an “enemy” Jeremiah made an impression on him such that the enemy respected God too. Lesson for us in how we live our lives, do we earn the respect of those who are not followers of God by the things that we do? There were people who “pretended” in Mark 14 too. The chief priest and teachers of the law looked for a “sly” way to kill Jesus, verse 1, but not during the feast because they feared the people may riot, verse 2, so they “pretended” to tolerate Jesus. Judas also pretended, he was one of Jesus disciples and “pretended” to be one of them, in fact he was a thief, he wanted personal gain out of his apparent support of Jesus and he betrayed him, verse 10-11. But nothing was hidden from Jesus (and God), he knew what the chief priests and teachers were doing, verse 8 and he knew what Judas was going to do, verse 18-21. Judas continued his pretence in the garden of Gethsemane by kissing Jesus in loving greeting as his sign of betrayal, verse 44-46. He also knew that Peter would disown him, verse 27-31 – despite Peter’s insistence that he would not deny Jesus he pretended not to know him, verse 66-71. The difference between Peter’s response and the others who pretended was that Peter remembered and repented, verse 72. Like Peter we all make mistakes and act in ungodly ways, the disciples did the same when they tried to resist Jesus’ arrest, verse 47, we know from the record of the same event in Matthew 26:52-54 that it was the wrong thing to do, but with the right attitude and repentance we are forgiven and we thank God that we are. So often we let Jesus down in similar ways to the disciples such as when they kept sleeping when Jesus needed their support, and in Peter’s case he needed to have been praying that he would not deny Jesus, verse 37-41. Each Sunday we should focus on what Jesus did for us to give us the confidence of forgiveness and salvation and the words in verses 22-25 must be very familiar to us.  Jesus was not pretending when he said that he would die and be resurrected and the bread and the wine help us to focus on the massive price that was paid for us so that we can be saved, if we have the right attitude. The bread is a sign of his body, and we are part of this body and we recognise that we are mortal and will sin and die without Jesus; the wine is a sign of his blood that he willingly gave for us so that we can have life – an immortal life when Jesus comes back, this is a sign of fellowship and joyfulness. So God wants honesty, he wants us to be saved and he allowed Jesus to die so that we can be saved – so there must be no way that we can pretend! August

August 20th.

The reading in 1Kings 15 gives us more practical warnings as well as confidence. Abijah was king of Judah and he was a bad King, verse 3, his heart was “not fully devoted to God”, in other words he was pretending to be a follower, he was a hypocrite. God repeatedly warns us about pretending and we have seen so many examples in the old Testament of this, we have also seen examples from Jesus’ teaching in the new Testament too. We have to be fully committed to God and to Jesus, if we are pretending God knows. Abijah had a good example in his great grandfather to follow, but he did not, he followed his father, Rehoboam and sinned. Even though David sinned, he later understood what he had done and he repented, verse 5, there were still consequences for that sin and that in itself should be a continued warning for us, but we can have great confidence from this example because if we have the right attitude (and God knows if we do) then when we sin we can be confident of forgiveness. Acknowledgement of sin and repentance is so important and the next king, Asa, was good and part of his “goodness” involved him recognising that his father and his grandmother and Judah had sinned in what they were doing and God described him as “doing right”, verse 11-13. He saw what was wrong and changed direction, he “expelled” the male shrine prostitutes, he “got rid” of the idols and he even “deposed” his grandmother because of what she had done. This is exactly what we should be doing in our lives – correcting the things that are ungodly and wrong.  Even if we are not completely successful, we have to try, verse 14, the important part is that our hearts are “fully committed” to God. Things appeared to be going well and he was able to put some silver and gold back into the temple, verse 15. There were consequences of past mistakes by Judah, the ongoing war with Israel for one example, but Asa still tried and so must we even when we are in difficult times, we still need to respect that God is in control, even if we do not fully understand why things happen. I am always surprised why Asa did not turn to God in prayer when he felt under threat from Israel, verse 16-17, instead he turned to the king of Syria, verse 18-19, this cost him the articles from the temple – a human solution to a human problem is not ideal – another lesson for us – whenever we are in trouble we should turn to God first. Meanwhile in Israel we see 2 evil kings, verse 25-26 and 33-34, Nadab was killed along with all his family by Baasha, verse 28-29, this again being a consequence of Jeroboam, Nadab’s father, not following God, and what God said came about. Israel did not have a “royal line” and a respect of their forefathers, and therefore God, and very quickly fell into a nation that was led by men who just happened to be powerful at the time and the nation would basically do what the king said. This is a lesson for us too if we lose our godly “heritage” and do not have God’s word as our guide to always follow, so it is important that we have to try to continually do what God wants. The unhappy stage that we read about in Jeremiah 41 is yet another reminder of how bad things get when God is forgotten and when people rebel against God. The remnants of the nation of Judah was all that was left of the original unified Israel; it had fallen from the powerful position under David and then Solomon to a group of people who were basically engaged in civil war all because of sin and then God’s punishment. Maybe Ishmael thought that he had a claim to be the “leader” because he was of the royal line, verse 1, but he was ignoring what God had said would happen. Gedaliah appeared to be a good leader, he certainly respected others, he in fact defended Ishmael, (Jer40:16) as he tried to keep the people who remained in the land together. But Ishmael had no such respect for anyone, he killed Gedaliah and the Jews who were with him, verse 2-3, he tricked those who came to worship, verse 6-7, he pretended and he also showed his greed and his priorities for self-gain, verse 8 and he enslaved the people, verse 10. Even despite these barbaric, ungodly actions we see a little bit of confidence that the Bible is true because we see reference to king Asa and king Baasha in verse 9 – a cistern that Asa had built many many years before when he was fighting against Baasha. The consequences of Ishmael’s actions are then played out as Johanan set out to defeat Ishmael and his men, verse 11-15 and sadly then starts the journey back to Egypt because there were so afraid of the consequences from the Babylonians, verse 18. God brought his people out of Egypt under Moses, he made them into a great nation under David and Solomon and now because of their sin and ungodliness they were now intent on going back to Egypt. A lesson for us is to try to follow God so that we “do not go back to Egypt” which in the Bible is symbolic of death. Man’s ungodliness and corruption is again demonstrated in Mark 15, not only did the chief priests and the people want to get rid of Jesus they wanted him to die a barbaric death of crucifixion, verse 13-14. They also cruelly mocked him, verse 16-19, 20, 29 and 31-32; they even replaced his clothes, verse 20. Yes we know that this was all prophesised by God in the old Testament but nevertheless it demonstrates to us just how cruel human beings can be! They were killing the king of the Jews, the man with royal blood in him, there was no respect for David nor of God as the religious leaders condemned him to death and rejected him. Even as the Jews stooped so low as to kill God’s son there is hope recorded here, the centurion who saw all this acknowledged both God and Jesus, verse 39; the women watched and wondered, verse 40 and Joseph demonstrated his faith, verse 42-46. The amazing thing about this is that by God being compassionate in allowing Jesus to die so soon to take away his pain and suffering it also destroyed one of the possible lies that Jesus recovered in the tomb because he was not really dead when he was taken from the cross. The Centurion who would never make this mistake, confirmed that he was dead. The only man who ever lived who did not sin was killed by the cruel, ungodly religious leaders because they did not really know God, they had the wrong attitude, they were just interested in their own power and standing, they were just pretending! Thank God the story does not end here because God has the wonderful plan to save us from death and give us life in Jesus. August

August 21st

1 Kings 16 is a sad sequence of evil kings.  The dynasty of Jeroboam had ended to be replaced by the dynasty of Baasha.  But the problem remained.  Israel was committed to following idols. In particular, the golden calves set up by Jeroboam were not removed.  Baasha was as bad as Jeroboam.  Therefore Baasha had to be removed like Jeroboam.  God sent a prophet to Baasha to tell him this (verse 1).  We notice that God was the one who set Baasha up as king (verse 2), just as He had done for Jeroboam.  Baasha and his men would be burnt like dung is burnt (verse 3 and 1 Kings 14:10).  Dogs and birds would eat their carcases, just as they did for Jeroboam (verse 4 and 1 Kings 14:11).  The person who brought this judgment on Baasha and his family was Zimri, who was in his army.  But Zimri was no better and lasted only seven days.  He was killed by the commander of the army, Omri.  Omri became king instead and established a dynasty of kings.  Omri was no better than those who went before, nor was his son Ahab.  In fact, king Ahab was the worst king there had been (verse 30).  The key factor was his marriage to Jezebel. Jezebel systematically started introducing Baal and Asherah worship across Israel in place of God.  At the same time she persecuted those who followed the one true God and killed God’s prophets.  Things had got so bad that God did not just let things happen.  He intervened.  He sent Elijah, which is the subject of the next chapter.  Jeremiah 42 continues describing the events following the defeat of the kingdom of Judah.  It records how the remaining leaders of the people wanted God’s advice.  They went to Jeremiah and asked him to ask God for them what they should do.  They made a promise to do whatever God advised them through Jeremiah.  God did not reply for 10 days.  Then he gave them an answer.  They were to stay in the land of Israel and serve the king of Babylon (verses 7-12).  If they did this then they would be blessed.  But if they chose to go to Egypt to avoid the king of Babylon, this would be a disaster for them.  The advice God gave them follows the advice of God over the centuries which was to not go back to Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16, Isaiah 31:1).  The choice they were to make was described as a life or death choice.  Life if they remain in the land and serve Babylon, death if they went to Egypt.   It does not matter which land we serve God in today.  But we still have a life or death choice.  Do we obey God and live?  Or do we disobey which would result in our death?  It makes sense for us to choose life and obey the commands of God.  Mark 16 tells us how hard it is for people to believe in the resurrection.  Even though Jesus had spoken about the resurrection on several occasions, the disciples were not prepared for it. Even though they had seen Jesus raise the dead on several occasions, they did not think that Jesus would be raised.  The woman were not expecting Jesus to be raised.  Even when an angel told them he had risen, the women did not believe the angel (verse 8).  Mary Magdalene was given the privilage of seeing the risen Jesus first.  When she told the disciples, they did not believe (verse 11).  When two others witnessed to the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples did not believe it (verse 13).  It was only when they saw Jesus for themselves did they believe.  Not surprisingly, Jesus rebuked them for not believing in the resurrection (verse 14).  There were many others who did not believe in the resurrection – for example, the Sadducees (Mark 12:18).  We still have the same problem today. People do not understand the teaching of the resurrection.  We need to go and tell them about it.  Jesus told us all to preach about this good news (verse 15).  Our message is that death does not have to be the end, because there is a hope in life after death through the resurrection of the dead.  Let us go and tell others this good news. August

August 22nd

The spiritual decline of Israel created the reasons for God to send Elijah.  He arrives suddenly in 1 Kings 17.  His first action seems strange until one understands the context.  The context is the Ahab was converting the nation of Israel away from God  and to the idol Baal. Baal was supposed to be the god of the weather, bringing rain, wind and lightning.  This means that people wanted rain they would pray to Baal. Elijah knew that they did not deserve rain.  So he prayed to God to prevent the rain.  That way Israel would learn that rain comes from God, not from Baal.  There was another reason for stopping the rain.  Israel had sinned by serving idols.  This was predicted as a reason for them not to have rain (1 Kings 8:35-36).  God kept Elijah alive in the famine that followed.  Firstly, by the miraculous provision of bread and meat from ravens.  Secondly, by a widow at Zarephath.  The widow was amazing.  Although she lived in a Gentile area, she had faith in the God of Israel, which is more than many of the Israelites did.  She had an amazing faith.  She was prepared to give a prophet of God her last meal before she died of hunger.  How many of us would have done that? She was blessed with as much flour and oil as she needed.  She had an amazing understanding.  She knew that sin brought death and she accepted that her sin would bring her death (verse 18).  When her son died, it was a double trajedy because it also meant her future help in her old age was lost.  But God had a purpose.  For the first time in the BIble, someone was raised from the dead.  Elijah bought her son to life.  The widow had understood about sin and death, but now she understood about resurrection and life. Imagine her joy in the Lord!  We can also imagine the joy of that the future resurrection will bring.  Jeremiah also went through sad times.  Jeremiah 43 particularly.  Jeremiah had been asked by the leaders of the people to speak to God for them.  They committed to doing whatever God said (Jeremiah 42:5-6).  Yet when God gave them the answer, they rejected it and called Jeremiah a liar (Jeremiah 43:2)!  Jeremiah had shown himself to be a true prophet of God by the words he spoke about the destruction of Jerusalem coming true.  All the other false prophets had been shown to be false.  Despite this evidence, the people call Jeremiah a liar!   God gave Jeremiah another prophecy for them, which warned them of disaster.  The one they feared, the king of Babylon, would come and find them in Egypt and punish them.  It seems that the leaders of the people had already made their mind up before they asked Jeremiah the question.  In their rebellion, they took Jeremiah down to Egypt with them.  This is a lesson on what not to do.  We must not stop listening to God and we must not stubbornly go our own way.  1 Corinthians starts in challenging way.  Corinth was close to the capital Athens.  The letter to Corinth was the letter written to those of a Greek culture.  The Greeks were concerned about wisdom.  Their wisdom was admired and adopted by the Romans who them spread it throughout the Roman empire.  But Paul makes it clear that the wisdom of this world is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:20).  There is a lot of Greek and Roman wisdom in the modern world today.  If Paul was around today he would be saying the same thing to us.  The wisdom of this world is only foolishness and there is a better way.  This is the wisdom of God.  Even the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom (verse 25).  God uses things which are considered weak by the world to bring about His purpose.  We see this in God’s choices.  He chose Moses who was very meek and a bad speaker.  He chose weak people at the time of the Judges to save His people.  He chose Saul from the smallest tribe, and David, the smallest in the family.  And he chose Jesus.  The world did not understand or value Jesus.   It did not understand the cross.  It was through the death of the meekest that victory was achieved.  The Jews struggled to see this too. They wanted signs to convince them (verse 22).  On the positive side, we do know that some Jews and Greeks were convinced. Crispus (verse 15) and Sosthenes (verse 1) were rulers of the synagogue who were converted (Acts 18).  1 Corinthians 2 moves on from wisdom to consider spirit.  Just like there is a wisdom of the world and a wisdom of God, so there is a spirit of the world and a spirit of God (verse 12).  The spirit of the world is the thinking of the world and the spirit of God is the thinking of God. We need to make sure that we follow the spirit that is from God and the wisdom that is from God.  This wisdom has been hidden from many but it has revealed to us through the Bible for our glory (verse 7).  We cannot expect the world to understand this.   The best of the Greeks wisdom is nothing compared to God’s.  It is the same with the wisdom of today. The best of man’s wisdom today is foolishness with God.  It does not remove sin or produce life.  But the crucified Christ does.  Let us follow that wisdom and that spirit. August

August 23rd

In 1 Kings 18 we have the great account of the demonstration of the only power, ie God. Obadiah, in verses 1-15 is a great example of a faithful follower of God who had natural doubts and was fearful of what would happen to him. But even though he had doubts he demonstrated faith in God. He was clearly a Godly man with great faith and great courage because he hid all those prophets, verse 3-4, but when given the task to actually give a message about Elijah to Ahab, verse 8, he really feared, verse 9. We all have doubts and fears, it is a natural reaction to situations, but we need to try to always trust in God, no matter what happens in our lives. When Ahab did eventually meet Elijah, his accusation made to Elijah, verse 17, shows just how ungodly Ahab was and Elijah makes it clear that it was Ahab who was the problem, verse 18. He had “abandoned” God by not obeying God’s commands and by following a worthless idol – we have to be careful not to make idols too, eg personal belongings, witchcraft, village culture, homes, family, etc. This is an important lesson because if we do the same we will end up pretending and being undecided which we will follow, verse 21. The people reached a point in their lives when they did not really know God. This is a bad situation to get into. When Elijah set the task up to prove God’s power and the futility of idols, the people thought it a good idea, verse 24. Perhaps the people were afraid of the authorities, perhaps the people were convinced by their idols, perhaps they really wanted a proof that God existed, but what it shows us is that the people had stopped putting God first – a dangerous position! The “demonstration” of power is a real great lesson for us, because there is no power in anything other than God. Elijah made fun of the lack of response of Baal, verse 27, this triggered the false prophets to shout louder, verse 28-29. Nothing happened, and this is the point, there is no power except God, nothing can replace him, therefore we should not make anything that could potentially take our time away from God. Elijah made the task of creating fire harder by making his own sacrifice wet, verse 33-35. He then prayed, verse 36-37. There was no loud noise, there was no shouting, there was no dancing there was just the sound of respectful prayer, a prayer that acknowledged who God was and acknowledging that the purpose of the task was for God to get the people to repent! And fire came from God and burnt everything, verse 38. It was obvious who the true God was and who the false prophets were, verse 40. Anything that opposes God will be destroyed, because it has no power at all. Jeremiah 44 emphasises what happens when people do not listen to God and replace his requirements with human thinking. Despite God’s continued patience they rejected him, verse 3, 5 and 8-9 – they were so arrogant that they even said that they would not listen, verse 16. This is complete rejection of God and they are therefore promised only one thing, verse 26-28, destruction. The reason is clear, verse 23, ie they did not obey and they worshiped the gods of Egypt, the very place where they should not have gone to. But it was their choice, verse 25, they made to choice to turn away from God and to turn back to the place where they originally feared and God had rescued them. But our choice should be to try to be a house, or temple of God, 1 Corinthians 3 verse 16. Each one of us who professes to follow Jesus makes up this “temple” and anyone who destroys a part of that temple will be destroyed themselves, verse 17. This shows us why Elijah destroyed the false prophets and why Jeremiah said that the people who had gone to Egypt would be destroyed, it is because they were leading God’s children into wrong ways and causing them to sin. This is why the teaching in this chapter about how wrong disunity is is such a powerful lesson for us. There should not be quarrels in our community, verse 1-4. Paul describes those who quarrel as “worldly” meaning that they are thinking like humans and not like God, they are not being recognised as following God. All of us should be building our own part of the temple with foundations on Jesus, verse 10-15, ie we should be doing what Jesus does. We should be building with thoughts, ideas and actions that will stand the test of God’s “fire”. In Elijah’s time the test was God’s fire, it will be the same when Jesus comes back. If we try our best to be like Jesus, even if our “building” is burned up we will suffer loss but we will be saved, this is grace. So the lessons are to be humble, follow God,  try to please God and not to replace him with anything, verse 18-23. The human mind is so deceptive, just like it was in Jeremiah’s time when the people convinced themselves of the lie that when they prayed to the fictitious queen of the air they had food, we too can end up believing lies if we do not base all of our beliefs on God. So as Paul says in those last verses of 1 Corinthians do not rely on human beings or thoughts, because they will just bring destruction. August

August 24th

Elijah’s emotions in 1 Kings 19 are very typical of the emotions that we all go through in our Christian life. After the end of the drought and the removal of the Baal prophets in chapter 18 Elijah would have been on a spiritual high, everything that God had said would happen happened and the people had turned to accept God – this was a great moment. But, as happens in all our lives, our emotions completely change because of events – Jezebel swore that she would kill him and what is more she knew where he was because her messenger found him, verse 2. So from a high point, Elijah now crashes to a low point and he runs in fear of his life, verse 3. He sees only one way out of his predicament, even though he has just seen the mighty power of God! He wants God to take his life, verse 4, he has reasoned that death is the right thing for him anyway because he recognises that he is as sinful as all his ancestors anyway. He falls asleep from exhaustion, verse 5, but God is still there and an angel provides food so that he is strengthened, verse 5-7. This is the lesson for us, no matter how low we feel, God is still there, he still knows what is best for us and perhaps we need these low moments so that we can see God better. Verse 8-9, it was at Horeb (which is a very significant place with respect to Moses and the law) that he hears God, but not as Elijah would have expected. God was in the “gentle whisper”, verse 12, God was not in the wind, earthquake or fire, but these demonstrated God’s power.  He was in the gentle whisper – we need to be quiet to hear God, not loud and shouting like some churches, just quiet! Elijah presents his problem to God twice, verse 10 and then in verse 14 after God has appeared in the quiet. God tells Elijah that there is a future work for him, one that develops the work that Elijah has been doing for God, verse 15-18 and he tells Elijah that things are not as bad as he thought, there were 7,000 more who remained fully godly. We are reminded, as Elijah was, that we need to look at the positives and remember our highs that God gives us when we are low, God is always with us, even if sometimes we do not recognise this, but he is always there. There is a similar message to Baruch in Jeremiah 45, it is obvious that the godly Baruch was suffering because of God’s judgement on Israel and Judah but God is clear that he is with him and will look after him, verse 5 – it is the same with us, we suffer many things, but if we stay faithful, God will remain with us and will bring about his ultimate plan of life in the kingdom. We can not expect God to change the situation that we are in, but we can be sure that God will never leave us. Jeremiah 46:27-28 shows this same hope, even though they were driven from their own land and in exile, God promised them that their future would be better. Even Egypt, an ungodly nation, was promised a rebuilding at some time in the future, verse 26, presumably this would be when they accepted God. So the message so far for us is even in our worst suffering and in our big lows, God is still there, we have to wait quietly for him. 1 Corinthians 4 gives us a little bit of information of how Paul and his companions suffered because of their faith, verse 9-13, he uses this to forcefully challenge the brothers and sisters in the church at Corinth because they had become arrogant, verse 18-19, they were not humble as Paul was and were trying to elevate themselves above others and were making judgements of Paul, verse 3-5, which is clearly wrong, verse 1-2. Paul is trying to get them to imitate Paul, 16-17. This is the humbling lesson for us all, we have to be like Jesus, as Paul was, Jesus suffered to save us, Paul suffered because of his allegiance to Jesus and likewise we suffer, but through all of this suffering we can bring glory to God. I Cor 5 tells us how far the brothers and sisters at Corinth had fallen because they were accepting very bad sexual practice amongst the members and Paul says that that brother should be expelled, verse 12-13 and verse 6-8. So Paul used his sufferings to bring the members back to God and to Jesus and to change their actions. So sometimes suffering is a discipline from God, sometimes it is for us to gain lessons and sometimes it just happens, but we should all see suffering as a lesson and try to learn from it and always know that God is with us. August

August 25th

1 KINGS 20 – an eventful chapter showing God at work in the kingdoms of men. What I would like us to focus on today in this reading is mercy and the responses to that mercy. AHAB: recorded in the word of God as a wicked king. One who was guilty of idolatry all his life, and one who persecuted  and killed the Lord’s prophets, even though the Lord had been merciful to him many times. We see God’s mercy once again to Ahab in 1 Kings 20. Despite Ahab wishing the prophets of the Lord to be destroyed, the Lord sends one to Ahab so that Ahab might know the mercy and authority of the Lord. ( verses 13,14,22 and 28) Ahab, and all the people with him faced a certain death, but through the Lord’s mercy and guidance they were rescued .No doubt, they would have known that they had been rescued by the one true God. But did they remember His mercy ?  Did that mercy have a lasting effect ?  Did it cause them to re-dedicate their lives to the merciful God, to ask for forgiveness, to ask for strength, to seek to live with their Lord each new day? How much do we value God’s mercy ? Ben-Hadad – A man who had total confidence in himself and his army. In verse 30 we see the all powerful Ben-Hadad stripped of his army , humbled and hiding to try and escape death. He receives some hope from his officials “We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful …. Perhaps he will spare your life” Because Ahab could benefit from being at peace with Ben-Hadad, he spared his life, called him his brother and agreed a treaty “on the basis of a treaty I will set you free” Ahab made a treaty with a wicked king and yet all his life chose to forget the treaty the Lord made with Israel and their kings. Although Ahab showed some mercy to Ben-Hadad, he did not have the authority to do so. This is shown in v 38-42 where the Lord says “ You have set free a man I  had determined should die” Ahab had not sought  to be guided in this matter and in v43 we see Ahab’s reaction “Sullen and angry… he went to his palace in Samaria”  .. something he would not have been able to do had it not been for God’s mercy not long before ! So how long does the mercy of God stay in our hearts and minds ? When we have been rescued from our dilemmas, how long before we choose to walk alone ? And when we think about Jesus, he would have been and still is, ever conscious of the mercy of God.. to the unrighteous. We might just think of Jesus at the crucifixion, but in truth , it was throughout his whole life, the preaching of the gospel, his encouraging words, everything was lived out so that we might know, and see always, the will of God, the mercy of God. God is merciful, but not that we should continue to sin, but that we are inspired to say no to sin. Mercy and justice… have a look at Exodus 34:6-7. JEREMIAH 47 – Once again history has shown the words of the Lord to be true. History and scripture tells us what happens, only scripture tells us why. To those who heard the word, and believed the word, there was hope and comfort. The comfort of knowing that despite the wars and rumours of wars, God’s plan would be fulfilled. In His mercy, he wants mankind to seek HIS way of salvation. Brothers and sisters , we are in a good place, when we (like Peter) realise there is nowhere else to go. “Lord, to whom shall we go ? You have the words of eternal life” John 6:6-8. 1 COR 6 – The ecclesia is intended to be the temple of the Lord, both in each individual and collectively. The Bible and the ecclesia are witnesses of God and his son Jesus. Very often, the world only chooses to look at the ecclesia to see if there truly is a better way to live. How often have we contradicted  our faith , our saviour by the way we live ? In the first 7 verses of this chapter  Paul asks 7 questions.. As Jesus does, Paul gives them questions  that when they thought about it, would reveal the answer. “Why not rather be wronged ?”… because you do not love or show mercy to your brother/sister. This changes one’s thinking, realising that you are the “one who has a plank in his eye” and guilty of sin. Jesus tells us what to do in Matt 18:15-17. How many times has the first verse (v15) been ignored ? Yes, it might have been difficult to do , but with a sincere prayer and a will to heal, you will be following the teacher.( do not simply do what is instructed, but do with the spirit of re-conciliation and forgiveness). 1 COR 6:9-11   If we claim to be saved by baptism, by faith, by believing in the word of God and yet sin wilfully and conscience free… do we really love the Lord ? If we continually talk about the grace of God and yet continually abuse it, are we really preaching the gospel ? Aren’t we putting a stumbling block to people’s salvation ? If we pray for the kingdom to come  but at the same time have lives of drunkenness, stealing, sexual immorality etc .. then even the world will know we are “frauds”. As Jesus says “By their fruits you will know them”. There is a stark choice here. Do we seek to live according to our own will, leading to “the wages of sin is death” or do we seek to have the spirit of the Lord, and serve, honouring God in our lives always looking to the “gift of God which is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” How we value God’s mercy will determine our choice. August

August 26th

Consequences of sin and the wonderful forgiveness of God are again both demonstrated to us in 1Kings21. We have the account of Naboth’s vineyard in this chapter and it is a demonstration of the terrible human lust and the evil scheming of Abab’s wife, Jezebel, and it all had consequences. Ahab was an evil king, he disobeyed God and he took advantage of his position as king to exploit others, his wife was selfish and evil too. There are stages in this sin that we should all be careful about and take lessons from. Ahab lusted after Naboth’s property, verse 2; Naboth gave a valid and godly reason for not selling him the vineyard, verse 3; Ahab had no  respect for Naboth’s reasoning and did not understand it, in fact he let the lust consume his life, verse 4; instead of being a godly companion and advisor for Ahab, Jezebel became a slanderer (devil), verse 7; Jezebel then developed a scheme to get the land for Ahab and abused her and Ahab’s position, verse 9-11; the elders of the people were evil too, verse 12; the scheme spread the evil to more people, implicating them and a killing was committed based on a lie, thus abusing God’s law for human purposes, verse 13; the sinful deed is then completed, verse 15-16 and both Ahab and Jezebel think that they have got what they wanted. This is what happens when people lust over anything, sin comes, which is why we are told in the bible not to covet and lust – so that we are not tempted to commit sin. God sent Elijah to condemn both Ahab and Jezebel so this shows exactly what God thinks of the situation, verse 17-19. Verse 20-24 continues the condemnation, so there are consequences of sin. Ahab is described as very evil, verse 24-26, everything that he did was evil, he caused others to do evil and he listened to evil, yet God was willing to forgive! This is an incredible thing, no matter how bad our sins we can have forgiveness if we truly repent and demonstrate humility as Ahab did here, verse 27 and God notices, verse 28-29. There are still consequences of our sin, but we can be forgiven if we acknowledge and repent – this gives us comfort when we do fail, but also gives us warning about consequences and the danger of coveting other people’s things. The judgement on Moab in Jeremiah 48 gives the reasons for their destruction and these reasons are similar to those that led to the condemnation of Ahab and his descendants – God is aware of everyone’s actions and motives. The nation and people of Moab trusted in their wealth and in their ability, verse 7 and 29-30 and God was going to bring them down from their “glory”, verse 18. It does not matter who you are, nation, king, non godly people, godly people, God sees and will humble the pride. Anyone who trusts in human wealth, wisdom or abilities will be humbled, this is what God says, verse 15. Judgement will come, verse 21, it is the same for us all, so a lesson for us. Moab in particular deserved the judgement because they “defied” the Lord, verse 26 and 42 and they “ridiculed” God’s people, verse 27, a lesson for us that God will punish those who make fun of us because we are God’s people too. It is God who will bring the judgement, not us, so we learn to cope with people who abuse us, because they will be brought low at some stage. Even though the nation of Moab had no respect for God at all, they worshipped other gods, verse 35, but God will still give opportunity for forgiveness as he did with Ahab, verse 47. God is a wonderful forgiver if we repent, no matter what we have done wrong! Paul answers specific questions that the brothers and sisters at Corinth asked him about but we can still get lessons from them because they are all inspired words. It would appear that the church was suffering extreme persecution and troubles, verse 29-31, so the time was “short”. This could be a similar situation to the time we are in now because we have so much suffering in the world and Jesus’ return could be imminent. So if this is a similar situation then we should be learning the lessons from the answers to marriage that Paul gives here. Paul’s advice is to “remain as you are”, in this case unmarried, but if you cannot control yourself sexually then marry and do not commit adultery. But once married then your responsibilities become shared between God and your wife or husband. This applies to many situations, eg education, new job, rebuilding house, nursery at the ecclesial hall, farming project, sewing machine project, maize project – all these things have advantages, but they also mean that you have to share your time between God and the project. Paul is saying that if you do not marry then you can devote all your time to God, verse 32-36. The same applies to any other activity, ie loyalty is divided. If marriage or any activity is done with God in mind it is not sin, verse 28, it just adds an extra dimension to life and when time is short it may not be ideal. Paul is giving us advice that he has learned during his life and he basically lived as a travelling preacher without any roots, he had no temptations like Ahab had, nor did he build up wealth like Moab! The thing that really counts is obeying God, verse 19, this has to be our priority in everyday life and to be content in the situation that God has put us in, verse 17-24, he is saying to accept what you have from God and try not to have a priority to improve the situation, like Ahab, he was not content with the palace that he had he wanted something else and he then sinned and suffered consequences. This is a difficult thing to do to be content, there is nothing wrong in education, or a new job, or building another house, but it can take us away from God. Sadly I have seen it too often in Uganda where brothers and sisters have had good education and they have drifted away from God, this is sad. So we all need to think about where our priorities are and always put God first, try to be content with what has given us, realise that there are consequences when we make mistakes, but there is also forgiveness if we repent. August

August 27th

In 1 Kings 22 there was a problem that needed resolving and the godly king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, worked with the ungodly king of Israel, Ahab, to try to resolve it. Perhaps not the best way of doing things because good did not really come out of this alliance – Jehoshaphat nearly lost his life, verse 32-33. However, the account shows us the stark differences between a godly ruler and an ungodly one. The first thing that Jehoshaphat wanted to do was to seek God’s advice, verse 5. Ahab had not even considered this. Ahab then brings together his false prophets who just said what the king wanted anyway, verse 6 and 12. Jehoshaphat recognised that these prophets were not from God and challenged what Ahab was doing, verse 7, Jehoshaphat knew that this was not the way that God did things, Jehoshaphat expected a single prophet not a noisy group of prophets that Ahab had assembled. We have to understand the ways of God to be confident in what we are told, a good lesson for us! Ahab’s reply shows his complete lack of genuine respect for God and his prophets, verse 8, and this contrasts with Jehoshaphat’s full respect in the way that he challenged Ahab. Even though Ahab humbled himself after what he had done to Naboth, he quickly turned to his disrespectful ways! Ahab sends for Micaiah, verse 9. Ahab’s messengers were also only interested in Micaiah only saying what Ahab wanted to hear when they asked him to say the same thing as the false prophets were saying, verse 13, this is human thinking and again shows how people prefer to listen to human things rather than to God’s ways – we have to be careful to also want to listen to God’s ways. Micaiah’s response should always be our response…. when we have to make a decision we have to check that our ideas comply with what is written in the Bible as well as praying for guidance, verse 14. Micaiah’s answer was the same as the false prophets’ answer, only because God was in control, verse 23, but Micaiah’s prophecy went further because he predicted Ahab’s death, verse 26-28. Even at this stage Ahab still tried to change what God had said and tried to dictate events by disguising himself and also using Jehoshaphat as his decoy, verse 30. Not only was he trying to alter what God had said, he put his ally at risk, and had it not been for God working in the battle he would have been killed. However, God caused the random arrow to reach his intended target, verse 34 and Ahab died just as God had said, verse 37-38. God is in control, he wants respect and he wants us to follow his ways. Jehoshaphat tried, verse 43 and 46, he was not perfect because the ungodly high places remained, but largely he followed God. On the other hand Ahab was more interested in his own human ways and pride rather than God. God’s ways always prevail, again confirmed by Jeremiah 49 with respect to the prophecies about the countries surrounding Israel (and Judah). In most cases it is because of their pride that they are destroyed, verse 4, 16 and 31, they were trusting in their riches, wisdom or location and when this happens they end up with no respect for God and his judgements will come in God’s own time. There is nothing physically that we can do to change God’s plan so our lesson is to always humbly follow God. Again God’s forgiveness and long suffering comes through in these prophecies in that he will restore a few of these nations, verse 6 and 39, but he will not restore all. God is interested in all people, yes Israel/Judah is considered a special people by God, not because of any good that they have done but because they are a witness for him and because of the faithful people like David. There is a statement in 1Corinthians 8 that we should all remember, verse 1-3, Paul is saying that we must not be proud (“puffed up”) that we must be humble in everything that we do. “The man who thinks he knows something”, in fact he does not actually know anything! Humility and loving God is what counts, it is clear that Ahab did not love God and was proud, the nations in Jeremiah were proud and trusted in their knowledge without a love for God, so this is a clear warning for us. In everything we should be humble. This is the way that Paul starts to answer the questions asked by the brothers and sisters at Corinth, he starts his answer by reminding all that they should not be proud, but humble. Paul is saying that because idols are nothing then it is logical that the food “sacrificed” to them is also nothing, therefore a believer can eat it with a clear conscience, verse 4-6. But not everyone knows this, verse 7-8 and we should respect our brothers and sisters who may have a problem with something that we do and it causes them to lose faith, verse 9-13. I think that we have to have the right humble attitude to respect those of our brothers and sisters who may have the same biblical understanding as we do, remembering that Jesus died for them too. Humility has to be the key here, even if we are convinced we are right, we have to give the other brother or sister the opportunity to demonstrate from the Bible their interpretation. It was clear that Ahab’s prophets were not godly and Jehoshaphat could clearly see that and he challenged correctly because it was wrong not to ask God. In the example we have here about meat it is not so clear cut because it does not matter whether we eat it or not, verse 8, but if eating it upsets a brother or sister we must not eat it. Some of our brothers and sisters, for example, do not thing that we should eat pork because of valid reasons in the Old Testament, others argue that it is OK to eat pork because we are no longer under the law and a biblical argument could demonstrate that too, but if a brother or sister eating pork causes another brother or sister to stumble then we should not eat pork because of our love for that other brother or sister and because of humility. It is our attitude and asking “what would Jesus do?”, verse 13. In 1Cor9 Paul reminds us not to use our “rights” because of love for others, verse 12 and verse 15, Paul does not use this “right” because it may have hindered the gospel – he was putting others first and therefore putting God first, just like Jehoshaphat did. The big lesson for us here is humility! Compared to the knowledge of both God and Jesus we know nothing! In humility we preach, in humility we encourage others and in humility we stop doing those things that some may argue from the Bible as wrong and causes them to be offended, eg eating pork. Wherever Paul taught he became like the people he was teaching, verse 19-23, he obviously did not disobey God’s teachings by what he did, but he came as close as he could to set an impression to “win them over”. Jehoshaphat rightly challenged Ahab because he was not seeking God properly, he clearly did not become like Ahab then because Ahab was clearly wrong, but Paul is saying that we respect others whilst always obeying God. In our Christian life we must not lose our focus. We have to constantly “train” and prepare for the race that will get us to the kingdom, it involves being aware of those around us, it involves always remembering where we are heading and we have to practice and keep on trying, verse 24-27. Ahab lost his focus many times and drifted, Jehoshaphat and Paul maintained their focus and remained godly. August

August 28th

We know that Ahaziah was an evil king (1Kings22:52-53) he was about to die with no family just as God had told Ahab, his father, he would (1Kings21:21). Ahaziah continued to reject God and worship Baal and sent messengers to consult with Baal to see if he would recover or not, 2Kings1:2, but the messengers were met by Elijah to ask “is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal?”, verse 3, 6 and 16 – Elijah says the same thing to the king as God had instructed him. Ahaziah was told that he would die and indeed he did, verse 17. His death and the end of this family line was as a direct result of replacing God with other “gods”, his father was evil, he was evil and therefore the people were, including the soldiers who went out to get Elijah. It is interesting that Ahaziah sent soldiers to get Elijah and only messengers to “consult” with Baal, presumably he was going to arrest Elijah. The apparent hard destruction of the 2 lots of soldiers was a very graphic demonstration of God’s power and also of the weakness of human power that Ahaziah was proud of. Two groups were destroyed, verse 9-10 and 11-12. The 3^rd captain learnt respect and humbled himself before Elijah, verse 13-14, unlike his previous colleagues who expected Elijah to obey him. This also brought about a change in heart in Ahaziah who then talked with Elijah himself and Elijah was not detained, verse 15-16. A graphic account but it again shows the consequences of replacing and not respecting God. 2Kings3 is another dramatic account of Elisha taking over from Elijah, the event had to be a memorable one for the benefit of Elisha and the 50 prophets who had served Elijah and would now have to serve Elisha. The very graphic events that took place in front of the prophets convinced them, verse 15. There are some unexpected events in this chapter that has led to confusion in many people who incorrectly think that Elijah was taken to heaven where God is – he was clearly not taken to heaven where God is – many other verses in the Bible tell us that. The 50 prophets certainly did not believe that, and they were there to witness, because they looked for him, verse 16-18. The word “heaven” here can be interpreted as “sky” where the birds fly, so God moved Elijah from one place to another, just as what happened to Phillip in Acts 8 – it is also what happened a lot to Elijah as confirmed by Obadiah (1Kings18:12) and we see happened to Elijah (1Kings18:46). So Elijah was not taken to heaven where God is, he was transported through the sky. Sometimes God does things that appear strange to us, but we have to view this in the context of the whole Bible, God does not intentionally confuse us, there are reasons for doing things in a particular way. Elisha knew that God was going to take Elijah at some stage, verse 3 and 5, but he took every opportunity to stay with him, 3 times Elijah said he was going to go somewhere, each time Elisha insisted that he went with him, verse 2, 4 and 6. A lesson for us is to take every opportunity to learn about the Bible from others and use every moment as if it is our last. Elisha also asked for a double portion of the same spirit as Elijah, verse 9. Elisha’s heart was in the right place, he was ready to take over from Elijah. Jeremiah 50 is the prophecy about Babylon, God said that they would be destroyed and never to be inhabited again because they were proud, verse 31-32, they trusted in their own wisdom and power and God was going to destroy it. They had no respect for God, their land was full of false prophets and idols, verse 36-38. God said that he would punish Babylon, verse 18 because of all the evil that they had done, ie they “rejoiced” when they defeated God’s people, verse 11; they destroyed the temple, verse 28; they sinned against God, verse 14 and they opposed God, verse 24. So God brought on them the things that they did to the nations that they cruelly dealt with, verse 15 and 29. Again a lesson for us that God is aware of all the evil that is done and God will deal with it but also a massive hope for us because God said that he would bring his people back when they repent and forgive them, verse 4-5, 19-20 and verse 33-34 and this hope is all through the Bible, God will never leave his people even though he punishes and allows consequences to continue with the purpose to bring sinners back to him. The lessons from the Old Testament are so clear to us and Paul makes it plain in 1Corinthians 10 that we have to look at these examples and learn, verse 6 and 11. The whole purpose of us reading and learning is that we should try not to make the same mistakes, verse 6-10, replacing God with idols, committing adultery, testing God and grumbling are just the 4 examples used here, but all the examples we learn about have to be a lesson to us to try harder to obey God. God is consistent in the old and the new testaments and his response to our “evil” will be the same too, verse 1-5, so do not misuse the salvation that we have in Jesus. All of us who have been baptised into Jesus’ saving name have made a commitment to try to follow and each week when we have the bread and the wine we remember that we have associated with Jesus’ death and resurrection and therefore are part of his body, therefore we must “flee from idolatry”, verse 14-17. Idolatry is basically human nature and replacing God with human things, so be careful to always put God first, we cannot serve God and “demons” (idols/human nature), verse 21-22. We have been given a wonderful promise of a future in the kingdom, but it requires us to serve God and God only. Part of serving God is always putting others first, verse 23-24 and 31-33. This is how people know that we are trying to follow God when they see all of us putting others first. Do not be proud like Ahaziah or the Babylonians, be humble like Elijah, Elisha and Paul and obviously Jesus. August

August 29th

2Kings 3 helps us to start thinking about human attitudes. Joram, king of Israel was described as “evil”, verse 2; he did get rid of the sacred stone of Baal, but this was not good enough, verse 3, we have to be wholehearted in following God and this is the theme of today’s thought, ie having an complete godly attitude. The nation of Moab rebelled against Israel, and Joram asked Jehoshaphat for help in attacking them, verse 7-8. However, on the way a problem occurred, verse 9, water had run out and Joram incorrectly blamed God, verse 10, this contrasts Jehoshaphat’s first reaction because he wanted to ask God, verse 11. Elisha reminded Joram that because of his way of life he could not expect God’s help, verse 13, but that a godly influence does help in situations, verse 14. It is important that the impressions that we give are good, and if they are godly we can influence things for the good and in this case God brought about a victory. Jeremiah 51 continues with the prophecy against Babylon for all the wrong and evil it had done to the nations, especially to Israel/Judah, verse 24 and 49. Also for its pride, verse 13 and its idolatry, verse 17-18. In God’s own time he will punish, verse 6, 11 and 56, but he will definitely do it as he will always carry out his plans, verse 12 and 40 and even at this late stage there is still opportunity for repentance, verse 8, but the message to God’s people is to “run”, verse 6 and 45.  The lesson here  for us now is to stay away from those who are ungodly, we must “run” from those who set bad examples and lead us astray, we are to only rely on both God and on Jesus because God never “forsakes” us, verse 5.  The 1 Corinthians 11 reading is very significant in our practical thoughts and demonstrates that God never forsakes us but he does require a change in heart. We are all familiar with the words relating to the breaking of bread service, verse 23-26, because we break bread and drink wine each Sunday as we remember Jesus. There is a warning here for us because if we “eat the bread and drink the wine” with the wrong attitude then we are “guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord”, verse 27. Being “guilty” of symbolically crucifying Jesus again is serious because we would be rejecting and disrespecting everything that Jesus did, verse 29. Therefore we have to consider what the right attitude is and “examine” ourselves and “judge” ourselves before we eat the bread and the wine, verse 28 and 31, otherwise we risk God’s judgement, which may take different forms, eg verse 30. The purpose of all God’s judgements on us is for us to learn, verse 32, so we should take opportunities to learn and try better to do the right things. Paul’s conclusion to this chapter suggests what eating the bread and drinking the wine in an “unworthy manner” is, verse 33-34. It seems that when the brothers and sisters were coming together for the breaking of bread they were not considering others and were not remembering that all the brothers and sisters were part of Jesus’ spiritual body (1Cor6:15). Paul made it very clear that he was not happy with the situation that the brothers and sisters were in, verse 17. Originally the breaking of bread service was at the same time as a meal that all the brothers came together to share in fellowship; however, they allowed social differences to dictate who had the better meal and who ate the best, verse 18-22. The result was that there were multiple tiers of brothers and sisters eating the meal and Paul was “certainly not” happy with the situation because they were deliberately differentiating between the rich and the poor/Jews and gentiles/black and white, etc. The brothers and sisters had forgotten that all were part of the body – they should have abandoned their prejudices and remembered that Christ died for their brothers and sisters too! The start of the chapter, verses 2-16, also shows an underlying disrespect for each other and the impression that they were creating for others. At the time this letter was written apparently people in society recognised a man with long hair as being someone who was a homosexual and a woman who had her hair loose and flowing was someone who was liberal, involved in idolatry or sexually available. Therefore Paul was including in his reasoning that brothers and sisters should always be aware of the impression that they give to others. Perhaps he is suggesting here that this is another way of eating and drinking “unworthily” by not remembering that we have to demonstrate Jesus in everything we do. The things that we do or wear today gives different impressions in today’s society but nevertheless we must be aware because we are supposed to always behave like Jesus, ie be seen as him, treating our brothers and sisters as him and rejecting human ways. Any conduct that is not controlled is eating and drinking “unworthily”. We all need each other, verse 11.  August

August 30th

The practical lessons from 2Kings 4 are really helpful for us when we think about suffering. The section from  verse 1-7 is about the account of God giving help in a way that was not expected by the widow and her sons. She was the wife of one of the prophets who worked with Elisha, and Elijah before him, verse 1. He was a godly man and no doubt spent a lot of time doing God’s work and therefore had to rely on people lending him money to feed his family; his widow now was desperate because those who lent him money now wanted repaying. His widow was desperate and “cried out” to Elisha but only when she had nothing left in the house except for a “little oil”, verse 2. This was definitely a crisis, she had just lost her husband, was fearful that her 2 sons would be taken and probably feared for her own life too because she had no food to feed on. Elisha’s response required faith on her part, a response from her sons and also the neighbours to help out, verse 3-4. She did exactly what Elisha said, verse 5-6, and the oil kept pouring into the jars that she had borrowed. When all the jars were full, the oil stopped flowing and she reported to Elisha who told her to sell it to pay the debt and to have money to support her and her sons, verse 7. This is a great lesson because God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want, presumably she would have wanted her husband back, for the creditors to cancel the debt  and for her to be given food. None of this happened, but instead God provided her with an opportunity that she had to be part of, she had to demonstrate faith and take action, she enlisted the support of her sons and neighbours, then she had to pour the oil and then sell it, so was fully involved in the solution. The account of the Shunammite’s son’s death and healing was also a surprise. The woman and her husband always looked after Elisha when he visited their area and she provided a room for him, verse 10. They too were godly and respectful of Elisha and therefore God, she did not go to Elisha with a request for a child, the faithful Shunammite woman had learnt to be content in her situation, when Elisha asked what he could do for her she said she was content as she was, ie without a child. It is a good lesson for us from both of them – Elisha was trying to show gratitude for what she had done for him while the woman is demonstrating godliness with contentment which Paul recommends to us in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6. It was Gehazi who pointed out to Elisha that she had no son and Elisha then called her in to tell her she would have a child. She did have a son, verse 17, but he became ill and died, verse 18-21. God had given her joy by allowing her to have a son and then he allowed her son to become ill and die. Sometimes we cannot understand why things happen in our lives, we cannot find a reason why God allows certain things to happen that perhaps contradict another situation that was obviously from God. Like the woman we are confused by events, verse 28. But the lesson here is that she turned to God through Elisha, she had the faith that Elisha would bring about what God wanted. Elisha sets the example by praying, verse 33 and her son was restored, verse 36-37. Events happen in our lives, but through all we can give glory to God. All these people that we have looked at were completely opposite to Zedekiah who was described as evil in Jeremiah 52 verse 3, everything that happened to Judah was because of this evil – a reminder that God watches the good and the evil. A sad chapter when you see all of the wonderful things in the temple that had been dedicated to God by the faithful people of the past now completely destroyed along with Jerusalem because of the actions of the unfaithful people at the time. The 2 chapters in 1Corinthians 12 and 13 talk about the different abilities that God gives us, the body working together for a common aim and love. We saw elements of all 3 in the account in Kings, there were different abilities demonstrated, we saw an example of people working together for a common aim and we saw love – God does not change his ways. God decides what our abilities are, verse 11 and we have the different examples on verse 8-10, ie wisdom in interpreting bible teachings and events, bible knowledge, examples of faith, appropriate prayers, teaching, resolving conflicts, being able to speak in different languages and being able to understand different languages. All of these abilities are given for the “common good”, ie working to the same aim. The problem with us human beings is that we incorrectly think that some abilities make us better than other brothers and sisters with different abilities and it is clearly wrong to think like this. The picture of the body and the different parts, verses 12-30, clearly show us that there is no difference in the importance of any function. We are all part of the body, arranged by God, all working together in unity to make the body function well. There is not a single part of the body that can function on its own, it is just not possible, therefore we should consider everyone of us in our community as having a vital role to play to make everything work properly. Our own bodies are an excellent living picture to show how the church works together, everyone has an important role. The body is only able to work together if everyone shows love, chapter 13. Think carefully about the words in verse 4-7, these are all the things that demonstrate love, are we all of these? Elisha, the widow and the Shunammite woman all showed love, we saw protection (widow protected her sons), trust ( all examples show this), hope (the Shunammite hoped in Elisha and God) and perseverance (all of them persevered), these have to be lessons for us too when we are living our Christian lives. Love has to be our defining characteristic. The practical lessons from 2Kings 4 are really helpful for us when we think about suffering. The section from  verse 1-7 is about the account of God giving help in a way that was not expected by the widow and her sons. She was the wife of one of the prophets who worked with Elisha, and Elijah before him, verse 1. He was a godly man and no doubt spent a lot of time doing God’s work and therefore had to rely on people lending him money to feed his family; his widow now was desperate because those who lent him money now wanted repaying. His widow was desperate and “cried out” to Elisha but only when she had nothing left in the house except for a “little oil”, verse 2. This was definitely a crisis, she had just lost her husband, was fearful that her 2 sons would be taken and probably feared for her own life too because she had no food to feed on. Elisha’s response required faith on her part, a response from her sons and also the neighbours to help out, verse 3-4. She did exactly what Elisha said, verse 5-6, and the oil kept pouring into the jars that she had borrowed. When all the jars were full, the oil stopped flowing and she reported to Elisha who told her to sell it to pay the debt and to have money to support her and her sons, verse 7. This is a great lesson because God gives us what we need, not necessarily what we want, presumably she would have wanted her husband back, for the creditors to cancel the debt  and for her to be given food. None of this happened, but instead God provided her with an opportunity that she had to be part of, she had to demonstrate faith and take action, she enlisted the support of her sons and neighbours, then she had to pour the oil and then sell it, so was fully involved in the solution. The account of the Shunammite’s son’s death and healing was also a surprise. The woman and her husband always looked after Elisha when he visited their area and she provided a room for him, verse 10. They too were godly and respectful of Elisha and therefore God, she did not go to Elisha with a request for a child, the faithful Shunammite woman had learnt to be content in her situation, when Elisha asked what he could do for her she said she was content as she was, ie without a child. It is a good lesson for us from both of them – Elisha was trying to show gratitude for what she had done for him while the woman is demonstrating godliness with contentment which Paul recommends to us in 1 Timothy 6 verse 6. It was Gehazi who pointed out to Elisha that she had no son and Elisha then called her in to tell her she would have a child. She did have a son, verse 17, but he became ill and died, verse 18-21. God had given her joy by allowing her to have a son and then he allowed her son to become ill and die. Sometimes we cannot understand why things happen in our lives, we cannot find a reason why God allows certain things to happen that perhaps contradict another situation that was obviously from God. Like the woman we are confused by events, verse 28. But the lesson here is that she turned to God through Elisha, she had the faith that Elisha would bring about what God wanted. Elisha sets the example by praying, verse 33 and her son was restored, verse 36-37. Events happen in our lives, but through all we can give glory to God. All these people that we have looked at were completely opposite to Zedekiah who was described as evil in Jeremiah 52 verse 3, everything that happened to Judah was because of this evil – a reminder that God watches the good and the evil. A sad chapter when you see all of the wonderful things in the temple that had been dedicated to God by the faithful people of the past now completely destroyed along with Jerusalem because of the actions of the unfaithful people at the time. The 2 chapters in 1Corinthians 12 and 13 talk about the different abilities that God gives us, the body working together for a common aim and love. We saw elements of all 3 in the account in Kings, there were different abilities demonstrated, we saw an example of people working together for a common aim and we saw love – God does not change his ways. God decides what our abilities are, verse 11 and we have the different examples on verse 8-10, ie wisdom in interpreting bible teachings and events, bible knowledge, examples of faith, appropriate prayers, teaching, resolving conflicts, being able to speak in different languages and being able to understand different languages. All of these abilities are given for the “common good”, ie working to the same aim. The problem with us human beings is that we incorrectly think that some abilities make us better than other brothers and sisters with different abilities and it is clearly wrong to think like this. The picture of the body and the different parts, verses 12-30, clearly show us that there is no difference in the importance of any function. We are all part of the body, arranged by God, all working together in unity to make the body function well. There is not a single part of the body that can function on its own, it is just not possible, therefore we should consider everyone of us in our community as having a vital role to play to make everything work properly. Our own bodies are an excellent living picture to show how the church works together, everyone has an important role. The body is only able to work together if everyone shows love, chapter 13. Think carefully about the words in verse 4-7, these are all the things that demonstrate love, are we all of these? Elisha, the widow and the Shunammite woman all showed love, we saw protection (widow protected her sons), trust ( all examples show this), hope (the Shunammite hoped in Elisha and God) and perseverance (all of them persevered), these have to be lessons for us too when we are living our Christian lives. Love has to be our defining characteristic. August

August 31st

2Kings5 is the account of Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, being cured of his leprosy and we remember the account for that, perhaps missing a big lesson from it that we really should think about. Gehazi, although a declared follower of God, showed no respect for God’s work, he showed discrimination, he was greedy, he came up with a selfish plan, he lied to both Naaman and to his fellow brother, he tried to cover his deceit and he forgot that God was aware of his actions. He was found out and suffered the consequences, verse 25-27. Even after all the wonderful things that happened in this account, Gehazi sinned! All of us are in a wonderful position with our belief in Jesus, we have a promise of a future, but with that comes responsibilities to he honest in all of our dealings – Gehazi should have been glad that Naaman had been healed, verse 14, he should have praised God that Naaman came and confessed before Elisha that there was one God, verse 15, he should have had the same humble attitude as Elisha in not accepting any gift because it was God’s work not Elisha’s, he should have praised God for the work and faith of the slave girl who clearly loved her mistress and master, verse 2-3. But he did not have any compassion or praise, he was selfish and greedy and suffered for it. A big lesson for all of us when we are tasked with giving out God’s money, or distributing food, clothes and project materials! We have to be trustworthy in all things. Leprosy is seen as a symbol of sin in the Bible. Naaman, although reluctant at first, washed in the Jordan and was healed – he went away full of joy and praising God. Gehazi on the other hand should have known better, and really was full of sin and became leprous. The impression that I get from this account is that Naaman had a small area of his body that was leprous, verse 11, whereas when Gehazi was made leprous by God it was all over his body, verse 27. Surely there are serious consequences when we deceive God. Lamentations 1 starts the sad reflections by Jeremiah on what has happened to Jerusalem and Judah as a consequence of the people’s sins. Jeremiah recognises the reason for the complete destruction of Jerusalem, eg verse 5 “many sins”, verse 14, 18, 20 and 22. Like Gehazi, the people of Judah did not think about their future, verse 9, all they were interested in was their present life and how they could benefit themselves. As a consequence the people perished by the plague and sword or were taken into exile- there are always consequences for sin. The start of the path to forgiveness is an acknowledgement of sin then repentance. With the right attitude we are complete in God and in Jesus and then have a future. 1Corinthians14 continues to teach us about the right attitude – the example discussed here is speaking in different languages, including personal prayers when words are incoherent to others, verse 2, and even to the person saying them, verse 14, ie making a sound that even the person making that sound is not benefiting from. Paul’s argument is that when we teach (prophesy) we have to benefit others, verse 3-5, so we should concentrate on building the church up, verse 12; everyone has to understand what we say and do – this is why you always interpret the words that we say when we come to Africa! When we pray, you translate for us so all can understand and say “amen”, verse 16. A follower of God has to always think of others and build up, if they do not there are consequences, Gehazi and Judah for example. The chapter concludes with Paul telling us that our worship should be “orderly”, verse 40, all our services should be understood by those who attend, we should not be excluding anyone from understanding, because God is a God of “order”, verse 33. The practical advice here is to all learn together in submission to each other. Gehazi caused confusion when he went against Elisha -he was not at “one” with what God had done so it is right and proper for us not to create confusion with any aspect of our Christianity. August

September 1st

The account of Elisha blinding the Arameans in 2Kings6 is full of practical lessons for us to put into practice every day. It starts off with the king of Aram being frustrated because Elisha was telling the king of Israel every time the Arameans had planed an attack, verse 10. The king of Aram was told that it was Elisha and he sent men to capture him, verse 12-14. Even though the king of Aram and his men were not godly it was good that Elisha’s reputation was known by others, a small lesson for us – we should be known by others for our godly ways, whether those people are godly or not. As a side point, I wonder if the person who advised the king of Aram about Elisha was Naaman? God was interested in protecting the people and he used Elisha to pass on the messages, same in our lives now, God is interested and he protects as he sees fit. This is the lesson that Elisha’s servant learnt when he panicked when he saw all the Arameans surrounding the city, he had to learn that God and his angels were there, verse 17. We are often in desperate situations in our lives when perhaps we think that God is not there, but he is. Elisha’s request of God to make the soldiers blind was a good and effective plan that demonstrated God’s power and had a massive impact on Aram, for a period at least, verse 18-19. Elisha had led them to Samaria where the king of Israel was, who immediately wanted to kill them, verse 20-21. This is a typically human reaction given the circumstances, they were the enemy and this was a wonderful opportunity to seek revenge, but Elisha’s and God’s reaction is to show kindness to those who had been captured, verse 22-23. This kind and merciful reaction brought about a better result than if the king of Israel had killed them, the Arameans “stopped raiding Israel’s territory”. The right Christian course of action is to act in mercy and often the outcome is similar to this; Elisha’s reaction had a far better result than if the king of Israel had killed the soldiers because more would have been sent. These merciful and godly responses are often surprises to the people who are affected by them, in other words the soldiers – when their eyes were opened again, they would have expected death, they certainly would not have expected a meal and then to have been set free! But like the mercy that was shown to Naaman, these soldiers would have told everyone when they returned home. This contrasts with what the false prophets did as recorded in Lamentations 2 verse 14, they only said what the people wanted to hear and they did not learn what God wanted and they were not challenged in their thinking, so as a consequence they suffered the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. All of this chapter continues with Jeremiah’s lamentation about the state that God’s land was now in, how everything was destroyed and a sad picture it is. The first chapters of this book are in the form of poems with each of the verses starting with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, known as acrostic poems. These were designed to help the people’s memory to remember the words, therefore these lamentations were designed to be remembered so that the people would not make the same mistakes again in the future. We learn a lot by reading this important message so that we too apply the lessons. Especially in times of distress we are reminded to pray, eg verse 19, we may not be able to have the situation changed, but we can still be sure that God is with us and we can pray for strength to cope with whatever the situation was. Jeremiah still had to experience the sad destruction of Jerusalem for example. 1Corinthians 15 is one of those wonderful chapters in the Bible that reminds us of the hope that we have because it talks about our resurrection and the return of Jesus. It talks about the destruction of death and the change that all those who follow Jesus will experience, from being mortal, to becoming immortal. This is the whole point of our Christian life, and this is what we suffer for.  Our faith in Jesus is not for any gain in this life as Paul says in verse 19, it is for having a part in the future life, verse 20-23. Paul starts off his lesson in this chapter by reminding the brothers and sisters that they are saved “if” they “hold firmly” to what was taught them in the first place, verse 1-2. He also reminds us in verse 33-34 that we have to be careful who we associate with and to come back to God’s teachings. The brothers and sisters had started to incorrectly believe that there was no resurrection, they were probably influenced by the Jewish Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, and Paul is reminding them and us now, that we have to always come back to God’s teaching. He ends this chapter by saying not to let anything “move” us, verse 38, we are to “stand firm”, eg having a strong faith, being sure what God wants from us, always remembering that we are saved by grace and that there will be a resurrection. All of this has been possible because of what Jesus has done and is doing for us, verse 57. Because of the resurrection the fear of death is gone, it is no longer the end, it is the start of a new life that is symbolised by baptism, verse 54-56. This chapter is all about the resurrection, it also confirms to us the relationship between God and Jesus, how we are saved in Jesus and how we will be with Jesus when he returns to the earth, this is our wonderful hope!  September

September 2nd

In yesterday’s reading in 2Kings6 we were introduced to the famine in Samaria because the king of Aram (Syria) was besieging the city. Chapter 7 shows that the situation was desperate; this was not a minor shortage of food, this was virtually no food, the animals were virtually all dead, verse 13 suggests this. The people were desperate, eg the lepers outside the walls knew that they were as good as dead so did not fear going to the Syrian camp, verse 3-4; the authorities acknowledged that the risk of looking for the Syrians was no greater than staying in the city, verse 13. So we can safely conclude that this was a desperate situation. There are some good lessons here for us. We should trust God, no matter how desperate the situation. Elisha said that the siege, and therefore the famine, would be over the next day, verse 1. The king’s righthand man ridiculed Elisha and God, verse 2, causing Elisha to say that he would not see it, verse 3, and this is exactly what happened when the siege was lifted, verse 17-20. We have to continually trust and respect God, no matter what the situation. God will always bring about a solution for his people and those who trust him and just as Elisha had said, the siege was ended, verse 5-7, this deliverance was achieved by God alone. There is no reason, ever, to justify turning away from God and his commandments and principles – the lepers when they went to the camp saw that the Syrians had abandoned the camp and started to take things for themselves, verse 8. This is a natural human reaction, this was their opportunity to get things for themselves from the plunder that was there for them to take. Lepers were outcasts from the people, they lived outside and ate from the rubbish tips. So they saw an opportunity, but it was wrong and when they thought about it they knew it was wrong, verse 9. The lesson is clear to us, we must be honest in all of our actions. The king and the elders of the city certainly did not have trust in God and disbelieved Elisha, so when they were told that the Syrians had fled, they did not believe the reports and suspected a trap, verse 12. The lesson for us is to trust God and trust what he says. Just as Elisha had prophesised, the drought ended and the people were able to take the things that the Syrians had abandoned, verse 16. In Lamentations 3, Jeremiah is telling us how bad he feels because of all his suffering, he was ridiculed, he was beaten, he was left to die and all because he did what God told him to do – Jeremiah certainly suffered in his life. But through his suffering he came to think about the hope that he had, verse 19-20. He saw God, even in his sufferings, verse 22-27, he saw beyond his suffering and saw the bigger picture and God’s ultimate aim and plan. He saw a reason in the suffering that he and his fellow Israelites were going through, verse 31-33. Jeremiah knew the reasons for the people’s suffering; sometimes we do not when we suffer, but the fact is God knows and we have to trust him, as Jeremiah did and know that God does not “cast off for ever”. We should accept both good and bad from God and we should praise him in whatever situation, verse 37-39. Like Jeremiah, none of us should complain about the situation that we are in, God knows all of our situations and he has a reason, and in any case, we are all sinful and we only deserve death. Jeremiah exhorts us to repent and examine our ways and turn back towards God, verse 40-42. This is just what the lepers did, they repented and turned from their selfish actions. When we are suffering we need to try and remember the situations that have happened in our lives in the past when God has helped and brought our suffering to an end, this is what Jeremiah did, he thought of the time that he was in the pit latrine and remembered God’s salvation, verse 52-66. This gave him renewed strength to see God’s hand at work and he left all judgement to God for those who had wronged him. God works in our lives, let us leave all things to him. The lessons for us continue in 1Corinthians16 where Paul is saying to us to “stand firm” in the faith, to be people of “courage”, to be “strong” and to “love”, verse 13. We learn examples from others who were “devoted” to God’s work, verse 15-18, and how we should “submit” and “recognise” such brothers and sisters. As always, love is the key. Jeremiah loved the Lord, the lepers eventually showed that they loved the Lord, Elisha loved the Lord and so must we, verse 22. Because if we do not love and are selfish in our actions we are cursed. The example in verses 1-4 is a demonstration of love – Paul suggests how all brothers and sisters should save money to help others who are in need, and we too are called upon to share even the little that we have. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen” (verse 23-24). September

September 3rd

The account of the Shunammite woman in 2Kings 8 helps us with a number of practical thoughts and comfort that can benefit our lives. Verse 1 should help us all knowing that God is interested in us as individuals – as well as working in the “big” things in the world he cares for the small just as much. The woman listened to, and more importantly trusted in, what God had said and avoided the worst part of the famine, verse 2. Potentially the woman and her family could have lost all of their property whilst they were away, but here too God was working. Just at the moment when the woman arrived back and went to see the king, the king had been talking to Gehazi about Elisha and the subject of bringing her son back to life was talked about, verse 4-5. God was working in this event too because she arrived just at the right moment. The benefit of this trust did not only result in her getting her land back but she also received the income from the land that she would have had if she had stayed, verse 6. The blessings from God are many, even if it does not appear to be the case at the time. Before we continue with this theme in Lamentations and then again in 2Corinthians there are 2 other simple practical lessons in this chapter. Elisha was a great example of a godly person who treated everyone with respect, even if they were an enemy. Ben-Hadad, king of Aram (Syria) was an enemy of Israel, although at this point a humiliated enemy after their defeat in 2Kings7 at Samaria, but Elisha was still prepared to speak to Hazael, verse 7-10. We know that Ben-Hadad had learnt his lesson that God was in control and he was humble because he referred to himself as Elisha’s “son” – interesting that Naaman had referred to Elisha as his “father” (2Ki5:13), so was this still Naaman’s influence too? Jesus tells us to love our enemies, this is often hard for us to do, but we should love our enemies. The other lesson is about being careful about not mixing with ungodly people. Ahaziah was an evil king of Judah and it is likely that he was influenced by the evil king Ahab because he married his daughter, verse 25-27. We really do have to be careful who we mix with because the people we mix with will influence us (Psalm 1 and 45). We know the background to Lamentations 4, how God is punishing his people by sending them into exile from his land and destroying Jerusalem, verse 11. We are reminded how desperate the situation was and how much suffering the people experienced, verse 10. But Jeremiah acknowledges that this all happened because of their sins, verse 13 and God had “scattered” them, verse 16. One of the easiest traps for all of us to fall into is complacency. The Jews thought that because they were the “Lord’s anointed”, so they thought they would be safe wherever they were, verse 20, but they forgot that this privileged position was only possible if they continued to obey God. However, despite all this suffering there is always hope, verse 22 – “O Daughter of Zion, your punishment will end”. I think that these are the exact same sentiments as written by Paul in 2Corinthians1, verse 3-11. Followers of Jesus are not immune from suffering and “trouble”, but because we suffer we are then able to experience and give “comfort”. The sufferings that we all experience equip us to be able to comfort others in their similar sufferings. The comfort that we give is the hope that we have of the kingdom and to encourage all of us to rely on God and not on ourselves, verse 9. We have read a lot about sin recently and we have seen the consequences of sin, but in this we also have “comfort” because we know that there is forgiveness and hope, verse 5-11. God is always interested in individuals, the Shunammite woman trusted and received a blessing, Jeremiah recognised a hope amongst his and his fellows’ suffering and now Paul says that we experience comfort in the face of suffering. September

September 4th

We see how God holds people accountable for their actions in 2 Kings 9. Even kings do not get away with evil.  The dynasty of Ahab had been the most evil yet, and God had warned them of punishment (1 Kings 21:22). They were to be destroyed in the same way that the dynasties of Jeroboam and Baasha were destroyed.  It was prophesied that Jehu would do this (1 Kings 19:15-18).  This happened in 2 Kings 9.  Jehu was anointed king and killed Joram, the king of Israel who was the son of Ahab.  Joram was killed on land that had belonged to Naboth.  This was a just punishment, because Ahab had previously killed Naboth’s family and had stolen his land (1 Kings 21).  But Jehu went beyond the command he had received from God.  Not only did he kill Joram king of Israel, but he also killed Ahaziah king of Judah who was there too (2 Kings 9:27-29).  God speaks about this crime through the prophet Hosea (Hosea  1:4-5).  Israel was to be punished for this unauthorised killing.  The other side of this event is with the lifestyle of Ahaziah king of Judah. What was Ahaziah doing helping the evil Joram fight his battles? The root of the problem was when a king of Judah married into the family of Ahab.  This means that were brothers. This was used as a reasoning by Ahaziah for helping Joram fight (2 Kings 3:7). Ahaziah had not learnt God’s advice in the time of his father King Jehoshaphat.  God told him, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” (2 Chronicles 19:2).  We have a clear principle that believers are not to love wickedness.  Believers are not to love everything which includes wickedness.  This is a common mistake.  If the king of Judah had not been with the wicked king of Israel, then he would not have been killed.  There is an important lesson for us.  We need to be careful how we choose our friends.  We should not love those who hate God.  Eventually Israel became so bad that God sent enemies to destroy it. Lamentations 5 is the final chapter of weeping for the loss of the kingdom of Israel.  There was no aspect of their life that was not touched with hardship or trouble.  All joy and dancing had gone. Instead there was a desperate plite to just get enough to eat each day. Boys struggled with the workload of men.  Old people had passed away because of hardship.  The people lived life as refugees.  They recognised that it was because of their sins that they were punished (verse 16).  They were not complaining that God was unjust.  They were complaining about the hardship. But they were not able to change their situation.  Only God could do that (verse 21).  The lamentations ends with a plea for restoration.  God is the hope of the lowest of people, even those who have sinned.  God did change the situation for His people Israel.  At the right time, He sent Jesus.  In 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 we are told to focus on Jesus. There are two things that could stop us seeing Jesus clearly.  One is the Law of Moses, which is a problem for Jews (3:14).  If they concentrate only on the Law of Moses, they are living with a veil over their face so they cannot see Jesus clearly.  The second thing that stops us seeing Jesus clearly is the world (4:4).  We must avoid the thinking of the world which interferes with our ability to see Jesus.  If we keep our eyes on Jesus, then we will be able to grow to be more like him (3:18). This growth into Jesus is not easy, but we are helped by the light of the knowledge of Jesus shining inside us (4:6).  When we are oppressed, we should see it as like bearing the sufferings of Jesus (4:10).  When this happens, it carries the promise that we will also carry the glorious life of Christ in the future (4:11).  The troubles of our short life time are resulting in an eternal glory for us (4:17).  The troubles of life may make us look old and worn, but spiritually we are renewed every day (4:16).  It is not what we look like on the outside that is important, but what we are like spiritually on the inside.  This means we can look worn out to others, but fresh and young to God.   So let us fix our eyes on Jesus and on the things which are eternal (4:18).  We should not focus on the temporary troubles of our lives, but on the eternal glorious future beyond.  Then we will be better able to get the troubles of today. September

September 5th

The 4th and 5th September readings in 2 Kings 9 and 10 have the account of Jehu, king of Israel. Jehu was made king by God, 2 Kings 9 verse 2-3 and 6. He had a purpose given to him by God, verse 7-10. He then carried this out, 2 Kings 10 verse 11 and 17 and he also destroyed the Baal ministers, verse 25-27. He also showed some allegiance to God in the way that he spoke to Joram in that he criticized the idolatry and witchcraft, 2 Kings 9 verse 22. He also thought about the things he had previously heard with respect to Ahab, verse 25 and 36-37. God acknowledged this and Jehu benefited in having his descendants on the throne for 4 generations, verse 30. The lesson for us is that God will always carry out his plans. However, Jehu was not fully committed to the ways of God because he left ungodly things in Israel, verse 29 and 31 neither was he “careful to keep the law of the Lord”. He also appears to have deviated from what God told him to do by also killing the king of Judah. Hosea 1 verse 4, where it was prophesised that Jehu disobeyed by going too far by killing the king of Judah and some of his party, explains this further and confirms 2 Kings 10 verse 13-15. So the lessons for us are to always remember that God will carry out what he says and we should always try to be careful to keep the law of the Lord. Also we should not be friends with the wicked (like Ahab’s family) because we are likely to be mixed up with their life and the consequences of it, as was the case with the king of Judah (Ahaziah) who lost his life. In Ezekiel 1 we see that God did do what he said he would do, ie the people were in exile, but he still spoke to them by sending a prophet, ie Ezekiel. The lesson here is that God never abandons his people, even when he is punishing them for their sins. This picture described here in this chapter was before the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, this is the place where God had previously “met with his people”. So this is a picture of God coming to his people wherever they are. The picture does include words of judgement on his people, but he has not forgotten his promise of peace. Whatever we think these pictures actually represent, we can be confident that God’s plan will always be worked out and his plan right from the beginning of the bible will always be worked out in different times of history. Perhaps this is depicted by the motion of the image in that it goes where God wants it to go, so the lesson for us is that we should always be willing to do God’s will and to respect his authority even if we do not understand the message. This applies to whatever situation we are in, eg the first Israelites who went into captivity into Babylon were given this message by Ezekiel. There are lots of references to creation in this chapter too, eg verse 25 and 28, which point to a new creation and we are actually in a “new creation” now as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 17. Wherever we are we should want God to be with us, verse 1-5. Some translations incorrectly suggest that the “eternal house is in heaven” (verse 1), however, the correct interpretation from the original language is “out off” or “from” heaven, meaning that just like God (from heaven) was with the people in Ezekiel, God is with us too if we let him. We have confidence in God’s grace and mercy because we are reconciled to God, verse 18, and we are also to be like him in helping others to be reconciled with God, verse 20, this means teaching and encouraging those who have sinned or left our community to repent and return. We have to remember that we are ambassadors, ie we represent both God and Jesus, so we have to try to be like them as best as we can. Chapter 6 verse 14-18 is a reminder that as Christians we should not be close friends with those who do not believe, Ahaziah had not learned this message from God and he suffered the consequences of this friendship with Ahab and his family. We are the “temple of the living God” and God does not want us to be influenced by wickedness and therefore defile ourselves. The beliefs and life style of a believer can be influenced in the wrong way if they have a partnership with unbelievers, this could be business partners, friends, marriage, all of which can be compromised if the believer is “yoked” (“mis-mated”)  with an unbeliever (verse 14). It is clear from chapter 7 verse 1 that we should “purify” ourselves and this is harder to do if we are mixing with unbelievers, not that we should isolate ourselves, but we should not be so involved with them that their ungodly standards influence us. All Christians suffer hardships, eg chapter 6 verse 4-10, also those in exile in Ezekiel, but the lesson for us is that God is in all situations with us and we should not lose heart, chapter 7 verse 6. Notice that the comfort was provided by a fellow believer, ie Titus, so God uses us to comfort each other too. God wants us to be saved and this is why he gives us the opportunity of repentance, verse 10, but we always have to acknowledge and repent to have salvation which is why we have so many messages in the Bible pleading with us all to repent and change. September

September 6th

In 2 Kings 11 and 12 we read that the death of Ahaziah, king of Israel, was seen as an opportunity to take power by his mother, Athaliah.  She did this in a ruthless way, killing other members of her family.  In this tragic period of history, two individual shone out.  One was an aunt.  By hiding baby Joash in the temple for 7 years, she preserved the line of kings of David.  The other was the High Priest Jehoiada, who helped bring up the child and made him king.  Both people used their position to do what was right, even though much of what was around them was evil.  When we live in dark times, we must do what we can to shine our light when we have opportunity.  We need to remember that these times do not last for ever and that God is in control.  These times were also a pattern of the future work of Jesus.  It took 7 periods (in this case years) to establish the true king and temple workship, to cleanse the nation and to remove what was unholy.  This resulted in joy for the people.  Joash built the temple of God, which was a feature of good kings.  However, in later life he stole from the temple of God (12:18). He did not retain his faithfulness.  Joash is an example of a number of good kings who did not end their reign so well.  The lesson is clear for us.  When we are older, we must continue to serve God faithfully.   If we turn away from the right way when we are old, we will undo all the good we have done before.  We must perservere faithfully to the end.  In Ezekiel 2 we have another pattern of Jesus.  Ezekiel is called ‘son of man’.  The only other use of this title is when Jesus referred to himself.  Like Ezekiel, Jesus was sent to a obstinate and stubborn people.  Like Ezekiel, Jesus had to speak whether the people listened or not.  There were both prophets who encounter dangerous people, who were dangerous animals like scorpions or snakes.  They were not to be afraid of these people.  They were to speak out God’s words, so that the people would know that God had spoken to them through a prophet.  Both saw revelations of God. Both had to present a message of woe, because their message was largely ignored.  2 Corinthians 8 and 9 is about faithful building work, but this time it is about building of God’s people.  In these chapters, it is about sending support for needy brothers and sisters, which included needy missionaries.  These chapters contain the best advice about the topic of giving in the whole of the Bible.  The first thing to notice is that those who give have the quality of grace.  This is the quality that Jesus had by giving his life for others (8:9).  We should also have this quality of giving.  It is called the ‘grace of giving’ (8:7).  We should give as individuals as well as ecclesias.  If we do not give to the needy, then we do not have the quality of grace and we do not have this evidence of our love for God.   We notice what Christian giving should be.  It should be voluntary (8:3, 9:7).  Forcing people to give is not right, but encouraging people to give voluntarily is ok. Everyone must decide for themselves how much to give (9:7).  We cannot decide for other people.  People cannot give what they do not have (8:12).  There is an important principle here.  We will reap what we sow (9:6).  If we sow nothing we will reap nothing. That is, if we give nothing to needy brothers and sisters, then we will receive nothing in our time of need. But those who give will be blessed by God for doing so (9:8-10).  The way we give is very important.  We should not cause arguments or criticism by the way one ecclesia gives to another (8:20-21).  We should make sure that everyone is happy with the process of distribution.  In the example described, Paul made sure that someone from the ecclesia accompanied the gift so they knew it had been given to the right person.  We too must make sure there are no reasonable complaints when we distribute the gift.  When done in the right way, everyone benefits from the grace of giving.  The receiver receives what they need.  The receiver will then praise, pray to and thank God, which benefits both God, the giver and the receiver.  God will then ensure that the giver reaps what they sow.  Giving to the needy is such a wonder thing to do, that Paul says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift” (9:15). The act of giving is such a wonderful gift.  Surely we all wish to benefit from being able to give help to our needy brothers and sisters. We note that this passage does not talk about giving to the needy in our own family, which we should do anyway.  The quality of a Christian is someone who gives for their Christian brother or sister when they are in need. September

September 7th

The accounts of the 2 kings of Israel in 2Kings13 give us interesting lessons for us to think about and to try not to be like them. Both kings did have some kind of respect for God, Jehoahaz did pray to God, verse 4 and Jehoash did have respect for Elisha, verse 14. They both knew who God was but they responded in a half-hearted way and both were described as “evil”, verse 2 and 11. This is why we should really consider what our attitude towards God is, are we just pretending to be Christians just to get advantages from our brothers and sisters, perhaps some kind of elevated standing or perhaps more money, or are we genuine in our Christian faith? The thing that we must remember is that God knows if we are “evil” or not. We can pretend to our brothers and sisters and sometimes get away with it, but we cannot pretend to God and get away with it! So Jehoahaz was “half-hearted” when he prayed to God, he only prayed because he was desperate, he did not really mean it to be a life changing moment. God did provide a deliverer, verse 5, but the people did not turn away from their evil, verse 6. Similarly with the next King, Jehoash, he went to visit Elisha when Elisha was ill and Elisha passed on a message from God, verse 15-17. Despite this, Jehoash did not really commit himself, he remained half-hearted because when he was told to beat the ground with the arrows, he only did it 3 times, verse 18. In our lives, we have to respond to excellent messages from God with enthusiasm, eg we have been told that Jesus is coming back to deliver us, so we have to be enthusiastic in our response. Jehoash was told that God was going to give deliverance from their greatest enemy so he should have been beating the ground in enthusiastic joy! Elisha was angry, verse 19 and Jehoash suffered the consequences of his lack of enthusiasm. A big lesson for us! God always gives us opportunities to be enthusiastic about him, we see the sun and the rain, we see animals and birds, we see new life and we have the breaking of bread as a weekly reminder. The account here of the dead man being thrown into the tomb of Elisha and him coming back to life is a very graphic reminder from God that he exists, verse 20-21. There is no “magic” in Elisha’s bones, he is just like the rest of us, when we all die we return to dust, our only hope is the resurrection, but God was using this as an opportunity to remind his people that he was God. Ezekiel 3 continues with God’s instructions to Ezekiel regarding how he was going to preach to God’s people in captivity because of their sins. Ezekiel eats the scroll as God had instructed, verse 3, and this is a picture of how “sweet” God’s word is, the message that we have in the Bible is the best message that we could ever want and it too should be “sweet” for us as we read it and make it part of our lives. Ezekiel had to go and teach the people, but God warned him that the people would not listen, verse 7. This would be very distressing and upsetting for Ezekiel but he still did what God said, and thank God that he did because we can benefit from his words now when we read the Bible. God told Ezekiel not to be afraid, verse 9 so he confidently went out and did what God said and when he experienced God’s power actually around him he praised, verse 12. Like Ezekiel, we have a responsibility to teach others, we have to warn others that Jesus is coming back and they have to be prepared, the choice of obeying and following God is up to them, but we still have to speak out. Verses 17-21 says this and confirms that if we do not teach others we will be held accountable by God for not teaching; this is very serious.  But if we do teach others but they still reject God, we are not accountable and also, if we teach and others change then we have been part of the salvation of a life. So we have responsibilities to teach others, including our brothers and sisters who are sinning, our commission is to bring others to repentance. This is what Paul was doing in his letter in 2Corinthians 10 and 11 – he was trying to change the attitude of his fellow Christians because they were sinning. They were showing disrespect to Paul himself, verse 7-11. They were also making comparisons between each other to see who was greater, verse 12 and Paul is saying that this is “not wise”. Paul is saying that we should not “boast” but to be humble, verse 13, we should only compare ourselves to Jesus and when we do we see how weak and sinful we are! Paul allows himself to “boast” just to attempt to convince us that Paul did have every human right to boast because of all the things that he suffered – he lists these in 11:21-30. Paul really did suffer for his faith, yet he still carried on teaching others the good news of the gospel, as did Ezekiel, neither were half-hearted in the way that they responded to God’s love, mercy and grace, even though they experienced disappointments, they kept going, verse 12. Those who boast in the things that they do and who are not humble are “false”, verse 13-15. The “satan” (opposer) here are those who pretend to be godly, ie “angels” (messengers of God), so the kings in our first reading were “opposers” and not “messengers of God” like both Ezekiel and Paul were. So the lessons for us in today’s readings are to not be half-hearted, to confidently teach others and to only compare ourselves with Jesus and then we will see how much we need him for our own salvation. September

September 8th

The more we know God’s word, the more we understand what has been written, and more importantly why. In our first reading 2 KINGS 14:1-20 we have the life of Amaziah. The words seem to have been recorded as a news reporter would. Just “facts”, no record of God at work, no record of why these events occurred, and nothing written that the reader might gain teaching and understanding of the Lord. 2 CHRONICLES 25 records the same events but gives extra information, so that we might know why these things were happening, to recognize that God is always at work in the kingdoms of men. So today I will basing my thoughts on 2 KINGS 14:1-20 by looking at 2 CHRONICLES 25. We read in v2 “Amaziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly” In truth, no-one except Jesus has done this. So many people think they live “good lives” believing they do those things that are right in their own eyes. But it is what is right in the eyes of the Lord that matters, not according to our own understanding. If we love the Lord, we will seek to know Him, to know what is right in HIS eyes , that we might be one with Him. The bible is the only way that we can find out those things that please the Lord, and those things that do not. V3-4 Amaziah follows instruction from God’s word (Deut 24:16) at this stage in his life…but is he conscious of his sins throughout his life ? David was very conscious of his and sought the Lord for help. One of the benefits of our bibles is to make us conscious of our sins; why ?.. so that we might turn to the Lord and seek forgiveness. The bible reveals our “illness” and shows the way to healing. V5-16  In these verses we have so much more information than in 2KINGS 14. Amaziah receives instruction from God through a prophet concerning 100,000 fighting men from Israel that the king had hired for 100 talents of silver. The prophet was reminding Amaziah what God’s will was and why, and how much more rewarding it was to be one with the Lord. When we make plans, do we seek guidance and wisdom from the Lord… and follow HIS instructions? In verse 10 it seems strange that the hired troops from Ephraim were furious, as they had been paid without having to fight. However, their anger might be explained by verse 13. It would seem that they expected their wages as well as the “great quantities of plunder”. Although Amaziah had heard the word of the Lord “The Lord can give you much more than that” and he had believed that word; did that word stay with him? I suspect that the reason Amaziah brought back the “gods” of the people of Seir is that he saw value in those idols; gold,silver, and other desirable materials. Here was recompense for the “Wasted” 100 talents of silver. He didn’t question his actions, ( am I doing God’s will ?) and he may have even justified his actions in thinking this is what the Lord meant by giving him more ! One small bit of justification can easily cause us to discard all the instructions and  loving guidance we have been  given from the Lord! In verse 15 the Lord tries to change Amaziah’s heart , by revealing his heart to himself. “Why do you… ?”…. those three words are said often in the bible and are always very revealing WHEN THOUGHT ABOUT. But Amaziah refuses to listen. Amaziah without the word, showed his natural self, one of arrogance and pride. But not only did he suffer but his kingdom also and his city, Jerusalem. That which he sought by his own ways, was taken away from him v24 .. gold,silver,treasures. All these things happened and the reason is given.. in v27  because Amaziah turned away from following the Lord. The reason is there that we might learn, be strengthened, and never turn away from the Lord. The bible is not just a history book… it’s a book concerning mankind’s past and OUR now and OUR future. EZEKIEL 4  If we were an exile at the time of Ezekiel 4  .. what would we have seen ? As believers, we would know that the Jewish nation would be in Babylon for 70 years before returning to Jerusalem, and so our hearts would be looking forward to that time to come. For non-believers, or even doubters, it would have been natural to yearn for the lives they had before in Jerusalem and to mourn “if only we were back in Jerusalem !” Their hope was still Jerusalem… not in the Lord. Very often in our lives we are “stripped” of what we value in our lives, why ? To learn a better way, to put the Lord and His kingdom in His time .. First. Ezekiel doesn’t reveal God’s will for Jerusalem through words, but through the same daily peculiar actions for more than 14 months. Although most people would have mocked Ezekiel, and some would have only been temporarily interested, some … just a few, would have been attracted by Ezekiel’s dedication. His willingness to starve himself for more than 14 months, to suffer physically for the sake of others, to not be disillusioned by all the mockers. And if they recognized the message was only possible through God.. then they would KNOW.. the present Jerusalem was not where their hope should be..  but their hope and hearts were to be with the Lord and the future New Jerusalem. We too are witnesses of the truth of the word. Witnesses in what we say, how we think, but also what we do and what we value. And whilst we know that the Lord knows our hearts, do we realise we are “watched” by non-believers, doubters, and by those who are seeking a hope? Ezekiel did ! 2 COR 12:   Paul’s authority was constantly challenged by some in Corinth, and he appeals to the ecclesia through his words , reminding them of his love, his dedication etc. This wasn’t Paul’s message .. he was the Lord’s messenger. In ch 2 v1-10 it is so easy to get distracted with questions in these verses. Some , I believe are easily answered..”the man in Christ” in v2 is Paul. “The thorn in the flesh”.. all I know, and need to know is that Paul writes .. it was to “keep me from being conceited”  And in v10 “to delight in weaknesses… in difficulties. For when I am weak , then I am strong “. How often in our lives have we received strength in our weakest moments, when we had given up of hope in ourselves but had prayed  for the Lord to come alongside. V19-20   “Everything we do , dear friends, is for your strengthening” ..look at some of the behaviours  that WEAKEN the ecclesia,  quarrelling, jealousy, anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder. 2 COR 13   v5   “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith, test yourselves” This is repeated teaching in the scriptures “Examine yourself”. Matt 7:1-5 “For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged”. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye.. ?” 1 COR 11 v27-32    “A man ought to examine HIMSELF before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup..” “But if we judged ourselves we would not come under judgement. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined SO THAT we will not be condemned with the world”. 2 COR 13:11-14  Paul’s closing words reveal what God’s will is (v14) and how that will happen (v!). God’s will …. “May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with you all”. THE PROMISE   if this is so, and you are of one mind (of the Lord) , and live in peace, the God of love and peace will be with you. September

September 9th

Our first reading today is 2Kings15.  The Kings record continues to take us through the order of the kings of both Israel and Judah, the kings of Judah are mainly good, but the kings of Israel are always bad. The consequences of the kings of Israel being “bad” is that there is not a family line of kings, nearly all the kings are people who take over from the preceding king via assassinations and takeovers, eg verse 14 and 25. There was an exception to this with Jehu’s family line because Jehu did show some respect for God and God said that he would have family on the Israel throne for 4 generations as a result, verse 12. So because of the “evil” of the kings of Israel, eg verse 9, 18, 24 and 28 there was always uncertainty in Israel, no one would have known what was going to happen next, and this is a reminder to us too that if we have ungodly elders then our ecclesias will be weak. On the other hand the kings of Judah did follow the family line and all the kings could trace their ancestry back to David, God kept this line going because of the sake of David, it did mean though that there was more certainty with the people, they knew who would be the successors, therefore Judah is a more stable setup. We have 2 kings of Judah mentioned here, Azariah (verse 1), also known as Uzziah (verse 13) and Jotham, both were “good”, verse 3 and 34, however, they still incorrectly allowed some evil practice in Judah to continue, verse 4 and 35 – this was always a problem to the nation and obviously God was not pleased and it resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah. We read that Azariah became leprous, verse 5, and we read in the parallel chapter in 2Chronicles26:16 the reason for this is because he became proud. God was also aware of bad practice in Jotham’s reign too because he “raised up” a nation to attack them, verse 37. We too must all remember that God is aware of what we are doing in our daily lives and how devoted we are to him, he is obviously interested in each one of us too – God is always working! Ezekiel had a difficult time in his prophecies to the Jews in captivity in Babylon and Ezekiel 5 gives the graphical account of what Ezekiel did with his hair, verse 1-4, like all of Ezekiel’s prophecies up until now, this was visual, ie people could see and hopefully learn. From verse 5 we see that this is a prophecy about the people of Israel being dispersed throughout the world because of their sins, verse 6-7, the punishment is clear, verses 10 and 15. This is exactly what happened in AD70 when the Romans destroyed what was left of Jerusalem and the country of Israel, all because the people would not listen to God! When God says something it will happen, verse 13 and 17. The people were so corrupt they were even worse than the nations around them! We thank God that the story does not end there and in Luke 1 we have the excitement of the prophecies about John the Baptist and Jesus, and how Jesus was to be the saviour, verse 31-33. This was what all godly people who knew what God had foretold, were looking for to happen. Both Zechariah and Mary were godly people, they respected God and respected his laws and commands – Zechariah was a priest and trying to do his priestly duty, verse 8-10, and Mary “found favour” with God, verse 28. Both were afraid when the angel appeared, verse 12 and 29 and both had to be calmed down by the angel, verse 13 and 30. We would be no different if these things happened to us! Both asked a question after they were told the message, verse 18 and 34 because they did not understand the situation, Zechariah said that both he and his wife were old and Mary said how can it happen because I am a virgin. We may think that both are reasonable questions as they are so similar, but the response of God, via the angel, was different. There was a consequence for Zechariah, verse 19-22, he stopped being able to speak because he doubted God’s wonderful message. The response to Mary was different because her question was not of doubt that it would happen but a confusion over how it would happen, verse 35-37. A lesson perhaps for us is that it is OK for us not to understand how things will happen, but we are encouraged not to doubt, thankfully Zechariah being unable to speak was temporary. He demonstrated a confident understanding later in his prophecy, first about Jesus, verse 68-75 and then about John, verse 76-79. Mary demonstrated her understanding in her song, verse 46-55. Both understood that Jesus was the saviour, verse 47 and 69. All the godly people we have read about today demonstrated a respect for God a desire to do what he says; although there were failures there was forgiveness in Jesus and we are part of this wonderful hope that we have read about when all of those people who want to follow him are restored to God’s kingdom when Jesus returns. September

September 10th

We have a number of individuals in today’s readings who reacted differently to God’s message. In Kings we have the bad example, in Ezekiel we see what happened as a consequence, before we get to the good examples in Luke.  Thinking of the examples in Luke will get us to really focus on the bread and on the wine. Ahaz was one of the evil kings of Judah, we read of this in 2Kings 16 (verse 2). He was so bad that he even sacrificed his son (verse 3). We can take lessons from everything that Ahaz did to show us what not to do in our Christian lives. We have to be careful not to fall into the trap of trying to be like the people around us just to fit in. As Christians, God expects us to try to be like Jesus, therefore, we are expected to be different from those others around us. The example of Ahaz shows that he had no respect for God because he corrupted what God wanted in order to fit in with his own ideas and desires, he “offered sacrifices and burned incense in the high places” (verse 4). This is not what God said to do. He was in trouble with the nations of Israel and Aram who were making war against him, so instead of turning to God he turned to man (verse 7). Something that we should not forget when we are in difficulties – we should always turn to God for his help and not to rely on human help. As payment to the king of Assyria, he took articles from the temple (verse 8). This is serious evidence of his disrespect for God and the temple implements that God said were to be used for the worship of him. We should always respect the things of God and not treat them as something to treat with disrespect or sell or use as payment. When Ahaz went to Damascus he saw the altars to the false gods there and he sent messengers to the priests in Judah for them to build a replica before he got back home (verse 10). This is showing further corruption of Judah’s worship and religious practices, even the priests obeyed the king rather than God. Ahaz went further to show total disrespect for God, he presumably gave the credit for himself and Judah winning the war to the false gods of Damascus by altering God’s requirements for sacrifices (verses 11-14). He was bringing in ungodly practices to the worship of God and corrupting the religion, something that we have to be careful to avoid too. He went further in his corruption by moving the altar that God had given instructions for and replacing it with a false one, but he attempted to retain the “bronze altar”, approved by God, to seek guidance (verse 15)! A total corruption of what God wanted! He also removed the valuable materials in the temple, including the supports for the sea and the Sabbath canopy to pay more to the king of Assyria (verse 17-18). In all Ahaz showed complete disrespect for God and completely corrupted the worship of God by bringing in false customs. Yet he still arrogantly expected God to listen to him when he wanted guidance! This is an extreme example for us to take lessons from. But we too have to be careful not to corrupt our worship of God. We have to always ensure that we are doing our best to follow God’s ways in our worship and not doing things our own way, because we prefer them or because those around us think we are odd in the things that we do in worship! Neither must we expect God to answer us when we are doing our own thing. We do not worship at a temple now, we worship as described in the New Testament, but the lesson remains clear, we are to fully respect both God and Jesus in our worship and not to corrupt it in anyway. The sad thing is that Israel and Judah continued to corrupt God’s ways and the consequences are evident in Ezekiel, because the kings did not remove the false altars and idols as they should have, and in Ahaz’s case added more! God says that he will destroy them in Ezekiel 6:3-7. This eventually happened because the people still did not respect God, despite his many warnings and acts of love in him reminding them to repent! The whole point of God’s warnings and judgement was to get the people “to know that I am the Lord”, verse 7. This phrase occurs many times in Ezekiel, in this chapter it appears in verse 10, 13 and 14. God wants us to really know him, to respect him and to worship him and not to replace him with anything, whatever that personal idol could be. And repeating this phrase shows us the importance and purpose of all of God’s messages. That is his aim in all our lives, so that we will know him – really know him! This was why God prescribed the acts of worship. The reason for destruction is clear, it is because of their “wicked and detestable practices”, verse 11. It was because they corrupted the ways of God and lived ungodly lives, surely a reminder to us to always be careful and to recognise that our natural human self is sinful. This is a picture of the natural difference between God’s ways and human ways! Yet despite all this God is still patient with us and willing to forgive us, he did not punish all the people, verse 8, he allowed opportunity for repentance, verse 9. God is always to be respected, he is the Creator after all, and his ways are always right and he expects us to do our best, yet he still does show compassion and allows for repentance. The demonstration of how much God’s compassion extends is shown in Luke 2 with the birth of Jesus our “saviour”, verse 11, 30 and 39. Our sinful human nature requires a saviour and God directed events so that this would be possible. It was God who caused Caesar Augustus to arrange a census (verse 1). It was God who arranged it so that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem (verse 4). It was God who arranged the right time for Mary to give birth (verse 6). All this, so prophecy was fulfilled and that we would have a route to salvation. God is interested in individual people, eg the shepherds (verse 8-14). Simeon (verse 25-28). And Anna (verse 36-38). These people were looking for something better, they respected God and praised him (verse 20, 29-32 and 38). Joseph and Mary were the right people to bring up God’s son, they truly respected God, they followed all the laws involved in a birth (verse 21-24). Their offering of the 2 young doves or pigeons shows that they were a poor, yet humble family. And they did their best to comply with God’s laws (verse 39-40), by “every year” going to Jerusalem to worship (verse 41). They were committed to doing the right thing, like we should be. Like us, they did not always understand and were confused by circumstances, eg 19, 33, 48 and 50, yet they trusted in God. When Jesus went missing in Jerusalem it took them 3 days to go to the temple (verse 46), presumably to pray. They would have been desperate by this time and panicking over their lost son, did they try to find him themselves before turning to God in prayer? We do not know, but unlike Ahaz, they did turn to God in prayer when they were in trouble. All the faithful characters in Luke 2 respected and trusted God as they looked forward to the promised salvation that we are part of too. We thank God that Jesus obeyed his father at all times and “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.” (verse 52). We thank God for having Jesus to take away the sin of the world. And we thank God that Jesus did this and became our perfect sacrifice who we remember in the bread and in the wine. His life that was dedicated to his father and to us, that he willingly gave. Because of grace that life was given. And because of his resurrection, that life is new and we also have that same hope in a new life! So what is our character like? If we were like Ahaz, in that his actions showed he had no respect for God then we know the consequences will be destruction, as the examples in Ezekiel show us. But we are more like the Godly characters in Luke 2, who trusted in God, even though they were sometimes confused, but they received a blessing in that they saw evidence of the salvation brought about by Jesus, and because we see this evidence too, we trust and try our best to please God. September

September 11th

In the first reading today (2 Kings 17) we read about in verse 12-23 how the people were punished, not only because they did things that displeased God, but also because they would not listen to God and to repent of their sins. In the second reading (Ezekiel 7), we read in verse 24-27 of punishments again that God would use to turn the people back to wanting to hear from the prophets of God. In the third reading (Luke 3), we read the message in verse 10-17 of John the Baptist, who called those who would listen, to repent. Again in this 3rd reading we see a quote from Isaiah, verse 4-6; it talks about valleys being “filled in” and mountains being made “low”, this gives a picture of a levelling process, ie the land being made level. These words are clearly making us think about the “voice calling in the wilderness” as being John the Baptist “preparing the way for the Lord”, ie Jesus, so Isaiah is asking us to think about people. We therefore appear to have here a picture of people being on the same level, ie there is no person more important than another when both are in Jesus. This is a picture of humility. In verse 2 we are reminded of priests, ie Annas and Caiaphas and also Zechariah. In verse 23 we are told that Jesus began his ministry at the age of 30 – this is the same age when Jewish priests started their religious work. Interestingly Ezekiel was also 30 years of age when he started his work, Ezekiel 1 verse 1, the reference to 30 there suggests his age, and like Ezekiel, Jesus “levelled” the people. All are sinners, there is no one better than another and all need salvation. It does not matter if someone is rich or poor, black or white, male or female, all need Jesus. God was “well pleased” with Jesus, verse 22, because Jesus made salvation possible and Jesus demonstrated this via his own baptism, he did not actually need baptism, because he did not sin, but he outwardly demonstrated that he was going to obey his father and that he would overcome death. The message of John in this chapter is for people to repent and to change the way that they live their lives – he says to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance”, verse 8. This means that our actions are to demonstrate that we are repentant and trying to be like Jesus. We cannot say that we are “in Jesus” if we are living lives that are not the same as Jesus’, our “fruit” has to be the same as Jesus’ “fruit”. Like the Jews, who said that they were Abraham’s descendants and therefore they were saved, we cannot say that we are saved just because we are baptised. John warns that the “axe is at the door”, ie the “tree” that should be producing good “fruit” will be cut down, or made level. In other words unless we try to be like Jesus we will not be saved. John then goes on to give examples of how we can be like Jesus, verse 11-14. We have to share what we have; we must not cheat or steal; we must be content with what we have and not try to get more by devious means. These 3 examples are indicators to demonstrate what kind of fruit we produce – if bad we will fail, if good we will be saved. Sadly the Jewish priests, at this stage in the Jewish history, were not producing good fruit, Zechariah was an exception, and the contrast between them and Jesus was big. Jesus is our high priest and our king, the genealogy in verses 24-38 confirms that Jesus is of the line of king David and is the king. He is the perfect priest and king and brings our salvation when he returns to the earth, therefore we should act in such a way that demonstrates that we are repentant of our sins. So in humility we thank God for Jesus. It is true that we all have habits and rituals. The word “ritual” is used in its broadest meaning, ie a repeated sequence of actions. An example is the sequence of things that we do when we get up every the morning. Do we start with a prayer? I hope that we all give a prayer of thanks before our first meal of the day. Habits and rituals are part of the identity of each of us. They tell of who we are as an individual and also of our culture. We should all be trying to have a daily habit of reading the Bible, which is what these thoughts aim to help with. There are many good habits that we should have, such as starting and ending the day with a prayer. We should have the habit of arriving at the breaking of bread early but before it starts. If we join a few minutes late, we miss the all-important opening prayer. There may of course be good reasons for being late, but we should have the habit of being early because this is what pleases God. In the reading from 2 Kings 7, the people had developed bad habits and rituals. They got into the habit of worshipping idols that they could see and touch, instead of a God that they couldn’t see. Instead of prayer they turned to witchcraft. Practices such as consulting people who said they could speak to the dead. They became comfortable with these bad habits and rituals and refused to hear when prophets called them to repent. In Ezekiel 7 we read of how severe punishments would change them so that they would again remember their God and want to hear the voice of His prophets. God would break their bad habits, doing it the hard way. In Luke 3, John the Baptist called people to repent to prepare the way for the coming of Jesus. He told people that they had to change their bad habits. They had to have good habits, as we should too. This would not be easy. They had to hear and obey, if they wanted to be saved. Those who were in the habit of collecting lots of possessions, were to share with the poor. Tax collectors were typically in the habit of defrauding people – the resultant reduction in their income would hit hard. Soldiers who were in the habit of abusing their authority had to stop, and also they had to be contented with their wages. They needed to hear the voice of John, and change their habitual behaviour. We are in a similar position to those people. I am sure that we all have habits that we need to change. I am sure that we all have a need to develop new good habits, like daily Bible reading and doing our very best to be there at the start of meetings. Israel, in 2 Kings 17 fell down at the first hurdle, ie verse 13-14. They failed to hear and obey the word of God that was spoken by the prophets. Jesus told a parable about hearing, ie the parable of the sower. We tend to think of the ground as representing different types of people, but perhaps we should think of each of ourselves as being a mixture of each type of ground at the different stages in our lives. Is there not some of the wayside in each of us? We do not always concentrate and we forget what we have learnt – the seed that was left lying on the wayside has gone. Then there is the shallow stony ground. Are you, and am I, stirred up by something in an exhortation, perhaps we are encouraged to tell others about the gospel message, and then when someone rejects our message, we give up. We are enthusiastic until we face some slight difficulties. There is the thorny ground. We hear, but then find that there is a price that we are not willing pay. It is a question of whether we value eternal things more than the passing moments of this life. I hope that we are all predominantly made of the good ground, ie hearing, responding, bearing seed. In James 1 verse 22-24 we are warned to “do” after we have heard. We share the bread and the wine each week because it is so easy to forget. It is a good habit that we must not neglect. It is a time to each remember the example of Jesus who heard and obeyed His Father always. He was victorious over the flesh and gave his own blood that we may have life. We are instructed to examine ourselves, this includes considering it we have good or bad habits! September

September 12th

Hezekiah was a good king, he did what is right, 2 Kings 18 verse 3. His actions in removing the ungodly things and the things that caused temptations demonstrate his godliness, verse 4. He trusted in God, verse 5 and held fast and always obeyed, verse 6. This is how we should be in the way we live our lives too. Because of Hezekiah’s faith he was rewarded, verse 7-8. God is with those who trust in him and follow him, even though it may not always seem like it as Hezekiah would experience later, but God is working for the best. The faithfulness of Hezekiah contrasts with the unfaithfulness of their neighbours Israel, verse 12. They were taken into captivity because of their ungodly actions, verse 11. The contrast is a lesson for us too, if we follow God we are blessed, if we disobey God we suffer the consequences. The king of Assyria became confident after his destruction of Israel and he came to attack Judah too, verse 13. Hezekiah attempted to pay him off and tried to trust in humanity, verse 16. There is no record here of Hezekiah praying to God and perhaps he did react too quickly in an attempt to avert a disaster. The king of Assyria did know a lot about God and his promises to Israel/Judah because he made reference to them, eg verse 25 and 32. But he had no respect, verse 35. The lesson here is good too because sometimes human promises do look attractive, sometimes they can be made to look “godly” which is why we should always check to see what God actually wants. In Ezekiel 8 we see just how corrupt the people and the religious leaders of Judah did become, another warning for us when we allow human thinking to replace God’s thinking. There appears to be stages in the corruption of the people starting with idols, verse 5. The start is always replacing God with something, this causes jealousy – God’s jealousy – because he does not want to “share” us with ungodly things. Secondly God shows Ezekiel their even more detestable actions, verse 9-11, they were worshipping the idols and corrupting what God had put in place. Thirdly it gets worse, the elders were involved, verse 12. The fourth thing is again worse still, verse 14-15. When we get to the fifth stage the people had turned their backs completely on God, verse 16. If we allow even the seemingly small ungodly thing to come between us and God it will eventually replace him and we cannot see him because we have turned our backs on him. When this happens God will not even listen, verse 18. The message here is to learn from what happened to the people of both Israel and Judah and not allow God to be replaced and the worship of him corrupted. It is clear from the Bible that none of us can always do what God wants because we have human nature, this is why we need Jesus and only he did not sin. His temptations in Luke 4 show us how he did not give in. He was hungry and was tempted to change stones into bread to overcome his hunger, but he stopped his ungodly thoughts, verse 4. He had the power and ability then to take control of the kingdoms but he resisted his thoughts, verse 8. He wanted to test his power, but he resisted this too, verse 12. Each time he quoted from the Bible, each time he checked to see what God wanted. We most definitely can learn from Jesus. We have to try to be like him. As Hezekiah found out, human thinking just cannot be trusted. When Jesus was teaching in the synagogue the people initially were amazed at his teaching, verse 22, but they very quickly turned on him when they did not like what he said to them, verse 28-29. Not all people can accept what God wants and sometimes we will face opposition, in fact Jesus tells us to expect this. Just as Jesus heals illnesses he has the power to forgive our sins and his priority in teaching was about the kingdom, verse 42-44. So our lessons again today are to always try to follow God and obviously Jesus and to not put our trust in human things because they will fail. September

September 13th

All the way through the Bible we see how human beings always oppose God in one way or another and all of this reminds us just how much we need Jesus. In today’s readings, although we start with reminders of our sinful nature, we end with Jesus and how only in him do we have forgiveness. So the lessons will be reminders how we should try to live our lives day by day. In 2 Kings 19 we continue with the account of the king of Assyria’s arrogance and pride in trying to attack and take Jerusalem, in this account we see how the godly Hezekiah responds to the situation. The king of Assyria had no respect for God, he ridiculed God’s power by saying that God would not protect Judah.  Verses 4, 10-13, 16, 22-24 all show how arrogant and proud the king of Assyria was. We always have to take care not to become proud in what we think are our achievements. The king of Assyria knew of God’s prophecies and words and he manipulated them for his own purpose and he had either forgotten or did not consider that it was God himself who raised up the king of Assyria to humble Israel because of Israel’s sins, verse 25-26. God is in control of everything and he does as he alone sees fit. God is always aware of everyone’s actions and thoughts and he always listens and sees, he made a judgement on the king of Assyria, verse 27-28 and 32-34. What God said would happen took place, verse 35-37. As well as remembering that God hears and sees we also need to respond like Hezekiah did when he was faced with problems. Immediately after hearing what the Assyrians were saying in 2 Kings 18, Hezekiah prayed, verse 1. He then sent attendants to Isaiah to find out what God wanted him to do, verse 2. Later when Hezekiah received the letter from the Assyrians he went to the temple and “spread it out before the Lord” and prayed, verse 14-15. God obviously already knew what was in the letter so he did not have to see it again, but the very act of Hezekiah showing it to God again showed humility on Hezekiah’s part and demonstrates acknowledgement that prayer is real and that we should think of God as being close to us. This is good practice for us to learn from and these actions of Hezekiah were effective as God answered and said that Judah would be saved at this time, verse 29-34. Ezekiel 9 shows what happens when people do not acknowledge that God can see everything, verse 9-10. If we want God to have pity on us then we have to always remember that God sees our actions and knows our thoughts and words. Hezekiah’s concern for their safety also included concern for the name of God that was being blasphemed, the same is true of people in Ezekiel’s time as God sent the angels to “mark” those who grieved over the godless acts that were taking place in Judah at this stage, verse 4. A question for you (and me!) – do you (do I) “grieve” because people around us and the world are ungodly, or do we ignore it and try to get on with our lives? We should be upset when God is ignored and replaced and we should pray as Hezekiah did and the people in Ezekiel’s time who received this “mark”. It was those with the “mark” who were spared by the angels. In Luke 5 we see how Jesus taught forgiveness – Peter responded when he heard and then experienced the wonderful catch of fish, verse 8-9, he recognised that he was a sinner and Jesus responded by saying “do not be afraid”, verse 10. Peter and his partners “left everything” and followed Jesus, verse 11. These are the stages of acknowledging God and Jesus and remembering that only in them can we have forgiveness, but it does mean leaving “everything” to follow – we interpret this as putting God first. We have seen that leprosy is like sin and the healing of the man is a visual account of how Jesus forgives and heals. Notice the man acknowledges that Jesus can do these things, verse 12, and Jesus came close and “touched” and made the man clean, verse 13. If there is any doubt that Jesus’ healing physical and mental illnesses has a picture connection with sin, then look at verse 24. Jesus is keen to emphasise this link – it is not that sin causes illnesses, it is that illnesses are a reminder that we are sinful and illness does end in death, which is the picture of sin, because sin brings death. Jesus said to the paralytic man that his sins were forgiven first, verse 20. He came to Jesus and Jesus forgave him, and in order to demonstrate that his sins were forgiven he healed him too. This healing and forgiveness took place “immediately”, verse 25. The connection between sin and illness is made again in the “saving” of Levi (Matthew), verse 31. Jesus talks about illness and doctors when the context is clearly “eating with sinners” and Jesus said to Levi to follow him, not because he was ill, but because he was a sinner, verse 27. Like Simon (Peter), Levi “left everything”, verse 18. In other words he put Jesus and God first. The parable about the wineskins, verse 36-39, appears to be Jesus saying that it is just not possible to “patch” up the old law and human nature, it just does not work – the people turning to God in Hezekiah’s time was temporary, by the time we get to Ezekiel there are very few left who were godly, so Jesus and those who follow him became the “new wine skin” and the “new wine” signifying Jesus was the only way to have forgiveness and to be saved. This does not mean that God has changed – he still demands respect and obedience, but it does mean that when we fail, as we often will, if we try our best and then repent when we fail, we confidently have forgiveness and life. We thank God for this and we should show this thankfulness by putting him first. September

September 14th

We read of Hezekiah’s illness in 2Kings20. God tells him that his illness was going to lead to his death, verse 1. Hezekiah is advised to prepare for this. The character of Hezekiah means that he immediately turns to God in prayer, verse 2-3, his request is completely understandable and even though we know that we have a wonderful promise in the kingdom, we still naturally want to cling to the life that we have. God responded because he saw that Hezekiah was genuine and although God’s plan was to punish Judah because of their sin, but he delayed because of the faith and godliness of Hezekiah, verse 5-6. God specifically said that he would deliver the city from the hand of Assyria in his response, something that would now happen in Hezekiah’s lifetime with the extension of his life for 15 years. Obviously, God saw Hezekiah’s godly character and said he would extend his life, but after Isaiah told him that his life would be extended Hezekiah actually doubted, verse 8. I am sure that most of us would doubt too, even though he had already been healed, verse 7, so it is OK to doubt and in this case God provided a sign to convince him further, verse 9-10, giving Hezekiah to option to choose. It was good that Hezekiah’s choice was something humble and where he wouldn’t gain from, other than having greater confidence. However, now that Hezekiah knows that he is going to live for an extra 15 years he now appears to have lost the uncertainty of life because he does a foolish thing when he has visitors from Babylon, verse 13. He allows his human pride to take over his humility and this is why we have to also be careful in controlling our pride and showing off our achievements. This was a subtle “temptation” for him because he was obviously pleased that he was well and when the Babylonians came to visit he allowed his pleasure to then show off. It makes me realise that we all need the uncertainty of life to keep us godly, we do not know what is around the corner so we have an incentive to always try to do what God wants, but if this uncertainty is taken away we would allow ourselves to relax. This is why we suffer – it is a reminder for us to always try to stay close to God. God told Hezekiah through Isaiah that all that Hezekiah had shown would be taken to Babylon, verse 18. Hezekiah’s response to this is interesting too, verse 19 – it is a selfish comment because he thought that it would not be in his lifetime! He appears not to have any thought of God’s land, God’s city or God’s people. Hezekiah was an interesting person, like all of us he has good and bad points, all of which we can take lessons from. Ezekiel 10 is another of those sad chapters in the Bible – this is the picture of God’s glory departing from the temple. The vision that Ezekiel saw is described in the best way for us to try to picture the event and it is a dramatic event where God has left his people because of all their rebellion and sin. For Ezekiel this would be very painful because the land of Judah/Israel and Jerusalem would be uninhabited until the people returned from the exile where he and the survivors were, ie in Babylon. Little pictures like this show to us the accuracy of the Bible, Hezekiah was told that all the items that he showed to the Babylonians would be taken to Babylon and Ezekiel was witness to this actually taking place all those years later. Luke 6 confirms that God has not left his people because he sent Jesus and Jesus teaches us how to behave as well as being our saviour who takes away doubts and sin. All that Jesus said was right, he showed the priests that keeping the Sabbath and having no regard for doing godly things was wrong, verse 5 and 9. Jesus shows us that worship INCLUDES doing good, it is no good just observing the formal worship or  just resting on the Sabbath and ignoring people’s needs, we have to always take opportunities to do good too. Like Hezekiah, Jesus prayed before important events eg he spent all night praying before appointing the 12 apostles, verse 12-16, a big lesson for us in our lives, always pray! Jesus clearly says that those who are poor, hungry, sad and hated are all really blessed because we know that when Jesus does come back to the earth all this suffering will come to an end, verse 20-22. The suffering is a reminder of sin and human nature, but also a reminder that it will pass, verse 23. It is so easy for us to sometime resent the ungodly who appear to suffer less than us but Jesus has a message for them too, verse 24-26, all those things that they trusted in will end. But we should not “hate our enemies”, verse 27. Jesus gives us examples of love and how we can help our enemies, verse 28-35, all these things do not come naturally to us, but this is what we should be doing as Christians, we are here to set an example and to also recognise that we have been given everything by God even though we are sinful (ie enemies of God!). We have to be merciful, just as our father is, verse 36. The messages recorded in the gospels often seem to provide an answer to a previous statement, eg how do you judge who is an “enemy”, the answer is immediately given, verse 37. We are told not to judge, therefore it is hard then for us to decide who an enemy is! We do have to make “judgements” as to what is right and wrong, but to judge to condemn is not right. Helping and giving is something that has to come naturally to us as Christians because these opportunities are presented to us to help determine our reward in the kingdom, verse 38. All of us are sinners so judging to condemn others is not something we should do as the humorous parable in verse 41-42 shows! How can I with a plank in my eye see clearly to get the speck out of your eye! It is not possible, so none of us should try, we should all be challenging each other in love with a view to bringing repentance when we see something wrong. The good fruit from a tree shows that the tree is good, bad fruit shows that the tree is bad, it is the same with us, if our actions are good we are good, if actions are bad we are bad, verse 43-45. This is a big lesson for us because what we say and do shows us who we are! We have to build our lives on a solid foundation which again INCLUDES putting what we learn into practice. The simple parable in verse 46-49 is so clear – we have to put into practice what we learn, if we do not we will fail. If however, we are putting into practice what we learn we have reached a situation where our faith is strong because we really believe it and when troubles come we will stay strong with God’s help. Good actions show that we are God’s, sadly there are many people who say they are God’s when it is clear from their actions that they are not serious, interestingly there is a connection back to Ezekiel 13 re “foolish builders”, but that will wait for a few days’ time! We are God’s people, therefore we have to try to demonstrate at all times that we are his people, when we fail we need to repent and we can confidently do this in Jesus. September

September 15th

Some people may not see the relevance of these words in 2 Kings 21 to their own lives, thinking that they do not practice idolatry like Manasseh did, but remember Col 3 verse 5-6. Despite experiencing 29 years from the righteous king Hezekiah, Judah still had idolatry within their hearts, verse 15. Within the nation there had always been those who were faithful, those who were not, and those who could be led to be faithful. Hezekiah was faithful and led the nation in such a way as to encourage and inspire faithfulness in the one, true God. But when he died, those who had faith in Hezekiah, rather than in God as encouraged by Hezekiah, would go astray, unless they were led by another righteous king. Manasseh, however, “did evil in the eyes of the Lord”. His reign started when he was only 12 years old, he was too young to impose his will on Judah, so this verse shows us that Manasseh’s actions in his younger life mirrored the “heart” of Judah, and Manasseh, as he got older, actually encouraged their idolatry, taking them further away from God and His word. Verse 7-9 shows how stupid the people of Judah were, God reminds them of the nation’s history and promises and what the temple represented – it was all because of God’s relationship with the nation. But contrast this with what Manasseh put in the temple: a carved, dead piece of wood! It was the same physical temple but a totally different and corrupt worship. This message does have relevance for us today: 1 Cor 6:19. We are the temple. But the people in Manasseh’s time did not listen and were punished. We must continue to listen to God, otherwise we too will go astray. In the parallel passage in 2 Chronicles 33 verse 10-19 we have an amazing addition to the King’s record, we see Manasseh had a change of heart and repented. In his captivity, he considered himself as no longer a king but a lowly servant, and he humbled himself, conscious of his terrible sins, he had the spirit of the prodigal son who we read of in the New Testament. This too should be our beginning of a Christian life, ie having the right spirit, being humble and being willing servants. God was moved by Manasseh’s prayer and restored him as king of Jerusalem. By God’s mercy and forgiveness, Manasseh was inspired to serve the Lord with a new heart, getting rid of the idols and restoring worship to the Lord. If Manasseh can be forgiven, so can we be forgiven if we are sincere, repentant, wanting to have a new life, having a spirit of humility, love, faithfulness and being prayerful. Ezekiel 11 shows us that once again the people did not listen. The Lord repeatedly sent them prophets, eg Jeremiah, Isaiah etc. and some of the prophecies had already been fulfilled by the time of this chapter, but the people refused to listen, despite their desperate situation. The elders of the people of Jerusalem incorrectly believed that they were “saved” because at that time they had not been taken into exile. We see in verse 2 that they were actually plotting evil and giving wicked advice, saying, “will it not soon be time to build houses?”, ie to settle again in Jerusalem. They likened recent events to a cooking pot with meat and water in it. It came to the boil and the scum (exiles) was taken out so it would not corrupt the meat (themselves). This is totally opposite to the word of God later recorded in Ezekiel 24 verse 1-14 (also Jerimiah 29). This is how we recognise the false prophets, we are able to “test the spirits” according to the word of the Lord (Bible). Verse 6, by plotting evil and giving wicked advice, the elders were responsible for many deaths in the city, either directly or indirectly (denying salvation by telling lies). Verse 7 the Lord corrects them, saying that they were actually the deposit left in the bottom of the pot after emptying it, spoken of in Ezekiel 24. “Woe to city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted whose deposit will not go away! (verse 6) “set the empty pot on the coals until it becomes hot, so it’s impurities may be melted and it’s deposit burned away” (v11). Verse 11 says that it is they who would be removed from the pot, ie Jerusalem, by intense heat, ie judgement, because they had “conformed to the standards of the nations around them”, and actually done worse! Verse 16-20 the promise from the Lord was that Israel would eventually return to Jerusalem but with a “new spirit” within them (like Manasseh!). These “gifts” given by God are possible too for Christians through the new covenant in Christ, ie an undivided heart, new spirit, etc. and the promise “they will be my people, and I will be their God” will apply to faithful Christians. Ezekiel 11 really asks all of us who do we want to love and serve? The world or the loving Lord God and His chosen King? Luke 7 verse 1-10 tells us that the faith of the centurion caused Jesus to be amazed, verse 9. The good deeds of the centurion, verse 5, caused the elders of the Jews to say “he deserves to have his servant healed”. But Jesus saw greater qualities in this man, ie humility, verse 6, faith, verse 7: ”say the word, and my servant will be healed”. Then in verse 8 he reveals his reasoning for his faith in Jesus. The centurions’ authority was given to him by Rome and he could see the authority of God had been given to Jesus, so he acknowledged that Jesus only had to give the command and it would be done. We notice in verse 6 “the centurion sent friends to say to Him”, Luke is talking about delegated authority. As Christadelphians, we do not believe in a trinity, but we do recognise the delegated authority that Jesus has been given from his father. This aspect of faith found in the centurion “amazed Jesus” and Jesus said “I tell you; I have not found such great faith even in Israel”. Verse 11-17, Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead, this is further proof of a delegated authority because the Jews that witnessed the event confessed by praising God, verse 16. Jesus says in John 5 verse 19 “The Son can do nothing by himself”, all power and authority had been given to him by his father, verse 21: ”For just as the Father raises the dead and given them life, so the son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it”. Jesus continues in John 5 to talk about John the Baptist and so does Luke 7 verse 18-35. Jesus has great respect for John the Baptist and yet John, in his darkest moments needed help from Jesus. It is interesting which words Jesus chose to strengthen John, he said “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me”. I think, Jesus is reminding John of Isaiah 35, a chapter that finishes with the words: “sorrow and sighing will flee away”. The chapter begins talking about a desert, something that John would relate to as that is where he lived for a time, then verse 3-4 speak of strengthening with the promise that God is coming to save you verse 5-6 and heal you. I suspect John’s mind had been on Isaiah 35 and when Jesus spoke to him, through John’s disciples, it revealed that Jesus knew John’s doubts and graciously gave a very personal message with words of encouragement from that very same chapter. Verse 36-50 is a contrast between the hearts of Simon, a Pharisee, and a sinful woman, perhaps a prostitute and the lesson is that we should all have the same attitude as this woman. Verse 47 is very revealing: “her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much”. Love, of it’s own does not bring forgiveness, it is by faith we are saved, however, if we love we will not want anything, eg sin, to come between us and the Lord, the more we love the Lord, the more we want to be like him and will want complete, total, forgiveness. So because she loved much, she sought forgiveness for her many sins and one-ness with Jesus and because of having that spirit she was forgiven, totally. She knew this and so continued to love. In contrast, “He who has been forgiven little, loves little”. If we, like Simon, loves little, then forgiveness is not so important to us, maybe because of our grief, not Jesus’, we might ask to be “let off” our sins, that is not love, that is not one-ness with the Lord. And if we have been forgiven little then we in turn will love little. Jesus doesn’t condemn Simon, he is trying to help him. Simon and all of mankind, will only know one-ness when they are aware of the depth of the love that is in Jesus and also in God, and when we come to know that love then we grow in love for them and we too can hear the words “Your sins are forgiven, your faith has saved you; go in peace”. September

September 16th

We read in 2Kings22 that Josiah was a good king, verse 2. He was considered to be good by God even during the first 18 years of his reign when he and the people were still not completely right in the sight of God. We should not use this as an excuse for our failures because that would clearly not be right, but Josiah did his best during those first 18 years with the knowledge and understanding that he had. His order to repair the temple is confirmation that he did his best with the knowledge that he had, verse 4-6. The people and all those involved were also acting honestly, verse 7, again giving an indication that the people were trying with knowledge that they had – this is the attitude that everyone should have, ie being honest and acting faithfully when dealing with money and in everything else! (All of us should have a faithful attitude and never keep the things that God has given to us as only for us!). As soon as Josiah knew of what was written in the law of God he immediately took action, verse 11-13. He immediately acknowledged that he and the people were wrong. The priests had also failed in their work to ensure that God’s word was checked daily and followed and it confirms that if the elders and religious leaders are bad then the people will also be bad. There were clear consequences for the people’s sin and God was not going to change his mind, but because of his love he was going to spare Josiah from seeing the disaster, verse 19-20. It was because Josiah listened and “humbled” himself that God protected him from seeing this destruction. Josiah’s godly attitude is further demonstrated by how he responded to this news from God, he did not do what Hezekiah did, ie just be pleased that it would not happen in his day, he actually more fully complied with what God wanted. In 2Kings23 we see all the good that he did in restoring the correct ways to worship God. He destroyed all of the idols and false gods that his predecessors had set up or not destroyed – Josiah was a man who wholeheartedly followed God, he did not pretend, he got rid of all the temptations, he got rid of all of the things that took people away from the things that distracted them from the things of God. God describes his godly attitude in verse 25. Josiah had full respect for God and what God said, the sad thing is that the priests and the people and the kings before Josiah did not have the same respect. When Josiah asked about some of the tombs that were around, verse 16, he was told that the one tomb was of the man of God who had prophesised all those years before that a king named Josiah would do all these things, verse 17-18. This shows respect and it also shows how accurate God’s Bible is, things that were said in 1Kings13:2 came true, we too should respect God’s word! The situation that the Jews were now in because of their sins had consequences and despite all of the reforms that Josiah carried out the damage was done, verse 26-28. If it was not for Jesus and God’s grace and mercy the consequences of sin would be so damaging for us too; however we still have to learn and try our very best as Josiah did. The book of Ezekiel is not in chronological order and Ezekiel 12 is probably before king Zedekiah was taken into exile – verse 12-13 suggests this, ie the king (prince) tried to escape from Jerusalem (break through wall) but was captured (net) and made blind by the Babylonians (would not see), but the lessons are nevertheless real for us now. God has always been patient with all of his people, he gives us all opportunities to repent, but there will come a time when God’s patience will run out. The problem is that people mistook God’s patience as God not carrying out what he said would happen, and they introduced a saying, verse 22. They did not believe that all the punishment God had planned would come about, but God changes those incorrect words of theirs to verse 23, ie that what God said would happen, would happen! We must not mistake God’s patience as God not fulfilling the things that he said would happen, he will do what he says he will, therefore we have to be ready and trying out best all of the time, verse 24-25. We can so easily deceive ourselves and think that life will carry on as it is, but it will not! We need to be like Josiah who tried to respect God at all times. The parable of the sower in Luke 8 has a message about checking what God wants and how to always try our best. In Jesus’ explanation in verse 15 he says that we should have a “noble and good heart”, this means trying our best to do the right godly things; we should “hear the word”, ie listen to or read what God says (Bible); “retain it”, ie remember what God says and to check checking and then to “persevere and to produce a crop”, ie we have to keep trying to be like Jesus and therefore like God. The kings and priests of Judah (and Israel) forgot what God wanted, they didn’t check what God wanted they did not produce good fruit (except Josiah) and therefore they did not have a “noble and good heart”. God makes it very clear what he expects, verse 16-18, he hides nothing from us, he tells us what he wants us to do and he makes it clear what our future is if we follow him. We are asked to “consider carefully” because there will be consequences if we are not wholehearted in following God. So many times Jesus reminded us that we should do as he says, eg verse 21, we have to “put into practice” what we learn. The example then of Jesus calming the storm is another way of putting into practice what we learn, ie have faith, verse 25 – we will experience difficulties in our lives, but we should have faith that we will be saved and be with Jesus when he comes back. We have the healing of the man who had a mental illness; Jesus dramatically demonstrated to him and those around him that the man was healed, and therefore Jesus could also forgive sins. Jesus told the man to teach others – this is another way of “putting into practice”. The same is true of Jairus’ daughter and the woman who had a constant bleeding, both were healed and in both cases faith was demonstrated. Many difficulties happen in our lives, spiritual storms, confusion, illness and death and Jesus tells us all not to be “afraid”, verse 50. This is one of the points of our Christian life – we are asked to believe and to trust and to try our best to obey God, but we will fail, so do not be afraid because we are shown grace and mercy and together with Josiah and Ezekiel and other faithful people we will be in the kingdom with Jesus when he comes back. All we have to do is to try our best! September

September 17th

All that God was saying during the times of the kings of Israel and Judah and spoken via the prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel has now happened and Jerusalem has fallen. 2Kings24 and 25 bring us to the sad end of this beautiful city that God called his own – all because of the people’s sins. They did not listen to God’s warnings despite him warning them time and time again. The leaders of the people were punished severely for this, 2Kings25:18-21, they were taken captive to Babylon and then the king put them to death and “Judah went into captivity, away from her land”. Just a few words described how everything was over for this generation. A warning again for us, especially those of us who are elders, we have a very great responsibility to set godly examples to our brothers and sisters and to everyone else – God and Jesus expect us to be good examples! The last 3 kings of Judah were evil they had no respect for God and in fact they had no respect for the king of Babylon either, they just demonstrated how arrogant and proud they were; even though they had been attacked by a powerful king, they still rebelled, 2Kings24:1 and 20. Rather they should have been humble and accepted what God had brought against them eg 2Kings24:2-4 and 12-13. Humility should also be our aim in our Christian life! Everything that David and Solomon and the rest of the kings had worked for was carried off to Babylon and the buildings destroyed, 2Kings25:13-17. These verses are a reminder of how great the temple and palace were and now they were totally and utterly destroyed – everything that had been built up was gone! A very good reminder that everything we build up, whatever it is, should be built on God and never motivated by human pride. The cause of the defiance of the people and the leaders is confirmed for us in Ezekiel 13. The false prophets were telling lies, these are the ones who opposed Jeremiah and Ezekiel is making perfectly clear that they were liars, verse 2. God also makes it clear that they will be punished, verse 3. This is why we have to be sure of what God wants before we believe and teach something – our reading of the Bible and our praying for guidance prepares us for this. One of the problems with human beings is that we do not like bad news about ourselves and we make things up to tell a better story, but God has a description for false prophets and liars, verse 4-7. God says that his “hand will be against them”, verse 8-9. It is always amazing how deceptive the human mind is, these people would have convinced themselves that they were speaking the truth, yet they were not, this is why we all have to check what we are told by others to see if it is the truth. The difference between Jeremiah and the false prophets was that Jeremiah was able to demonstrate from the teachings of God through Moses that what he was saying was right.  So when they disobeyed God the punishment should not have been a surprise, whereas the false prophets were just saying what they knew others wanted to hear. Sometimes we have to say things that others do not want to hear, because if they continue to believe a lie then they will end up not pleasing God, verse 8-9. A big lesson for all of us, especially the elders, is that we should take care not to “lead our brothers and sisters astray” by telling them things that are not in the Bible and not correctly challenging brothers and sisters who may be doing things wrong. Ezekiel uses the phrase “covering with whitewash” – he is saying that the false prophets were not being honest and that they were hiding the truth, in the example here, the big cracks in the wall. We too have to be careful about not covering up cracks and sins just to make us look good. Jesus criticised the Pharisees in Matt23:27 for being like “whitewashed” tombs, ie they look good and religious on the outside, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones, ie sinful and defiled. Ezekiel says that the wind and the rain from God will destroy the walls. We all know that if a wall is not protected properly it will get washed away, paint will not save it! Jesus also used this teaching in the parable in Luke 6:46-end to explain what happens to a house that is not on a firm foundation. I suspect that the Pharisees in Jesus’ time would have made a connection with what Ezekiel said and what Jesus was saying, in other words that they were false and lying prophets! Verse 13-16, God will show that the false prophets are liars. All the way through this chapter in Ezekiel, God is saying all these things so that they will know that God is “the Lord”, so even amongst this punishment of God, his purpose is for people to recognise him. In Luke 9 we have the excitement of the 12 disciples going off preaching and healing; notice that they were in twos and they took very few things with them, verse 1-6. They would have been excited by this experience so when they returned Jesus took them away from everyone, presumably so that he could calm their excitement down and stop them from becoming proud of what they were able to do, verse 10. This is why we should always keep the things that we do in perspective and remain humble, always checking what God wants from us. There is no surprise that the feeding of the 5000 comes next, because this is a humbling experience for the disciples as Jesus demonstrated that the power that Jesus gave them at the time to teach and heal was not important. The disciples did not know how to feed the people, verse 13, and when they saw the results, verse 17, they would have been humbled. Jesus always cared for his disciples – an example of this is in verse 18, Jesus was giving the example of prayer to them, and how important it was because not even Jesus could do things on his own, he needed his father’s help. It was the humility to ask and to be sure of what God wanted, that prevented Jesus from deviating from God’s ways. The false prophets that Ezekiel was talking about allowed themselves to become proud and to want the favour of men – Jesus did not, he always wanted to please his father and likewise we should. There was bad news for the disciples because they expected Jesus to set up the kingdom immediately, but Jesus warned them that he would be killed, verse 21; they did not understand this, but Jesus told them the truth, he did not “whitewash” the reality. It is far better to always say what the truth is. The “transfiguration” was a wonderful event for Peter, John and James in how they witnessed Jesus meeting Moses and Elijah in some sort of event that we can only be amazed at. They also witnessed God saying to listen to Jesus, verse 35 and this is what we should always try to do – we have to always check our beliefs and actions to ensure that they are what Jesus would do. Jesus emphasised the importance of listening to him again in verse 44 when he said again that he would be betrayed. At this stage the disciples did not understand, verse 45, and it is telling that the next event recorded is that the disciples were arguing about who would be the greatest, verse 46. This is amazing really – Jesus had already taught them to be humble and now they were arguing about who would be the greatest! Maybe Peter, James and John thought that they were the greatest as it was them who Jesus took to the mountain and who witnessed the transfiguration, verse 28, but Jesus is clear that there is no “greatest”, it is the welcoming of Jesus that is important and the example that Jesus gives is the welcoming of a little child, verse 47-48, that determines anyone’s standing before Jesus. We have to be as little children, accepting whatever their father says, and trusting him fully.  The smallest role we may be given has no bearing on the standing that anyone has before Jesus. Jesus responding to John’s criticism of someone healing in the name of Jesus, verse 49-50, shows us not to be jealous of what anyone else is doing, just worry about yourselves and doing what God wants. There is a cost to following Jesus – you may not have a home, you may not be able to work on your parent’s land, you may not be able to have a family, but Jesus is saying to put him first if we want to be in the kingdom and not regret what you may be missing, because what God has promised is better, verse 57-62. So we have to trust God, we must not lie or cover over the problems, we must “listen carefully” and we must humble ourselves if we want to be in the kingdom. September

September 18th

In Chronicles we get some more details of the history of the kings of Judah than we did in Kings, so there is a repeat of some details. In addition we will also see some more of the detail that we read in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, etc. However, the Kings of Israel are not mentioned at all. It is interesting to compare the differences as we build on our knowledge of the things of God. 1 Chronicles 1 is a list of names and maybe our practical lessons are harder to find amongst them, but what I always find of benefit is to think that all these names are real people, some we are familiar with, others perhaps we cannot remember reading about before but the chapters show the history of God’s people, good and bad. Reading the names reminds us of events, eg Noah, verse 4, and how God saved those who followed him; Abraham who was the father of Israel (Jacob) and Esau, verse 34; we see little bits of how names of tribes and cities came about, eg verse 12 and 17. It is all significant even if we do not understand it, and over time we will be able to find lessons from every section of God’s word. Throughout the history of God’s people we have seen examples of the good and the bad, and in Ezekiel 14 we are reminded yet again why people become bad – it is always when they replace God with other things. Here these other things are described as “idols” and it was true that the people replaced God with what we traditionally know as idols. In Africa you perhaps come across traditional “idols” more than we do in Europe for example BUT we must not restrict the word “idol” to just traditional idols – “idols” is anything that replaces God. Ezekiel talks about “idols in their heart”, verse 3-4 and 7 which replaced loving God “with all of our heart”, which is what we are supposed to do – the answer of the expert of the law in Luke 10 verse 27 is correct, verse 28. So setting up “idols” of any sort is not loving God! Ezekiel describes these “idols” as “stumbling blocks”, these are things that cause people to fall and trip over. So setting up idols in our own hearts is actually causing us to fall and to fail! The big practical lesson for us then is that we should have the right attitude and love God, we cannot love God and the things of the “world”, ie those things described in the New testament as “money” or “man”. These elders that Ezekiel were describing actually believed that they could serve their idols and also serve God at the same time.  God says that this cannot happen, verse 4. God said that the elders should “repent” of their “detestable practices” and to “turn from their idols”, verse 6. This is so terrible that God himself answers, verse 4 and 7-8, with his main purpose being to bring these ungodly elders back to him. Even in serious situations there is hope, but this does not mean that we can deliberately provoke God to anger by replacing him with any sort of “idol”. Remember that these “idols” can be anything that replaces God, even your family if you put them before God. The lesson is also real for teachers too because if we teach anything that is contrary to what God wants we will be guilty, verse 9-11. It is very wrong that some religious leaders teach that you can love money and big houses and lots of worldly goods as well as love God, it is not possible, Ezekiel is clear if you do this you will stumble! The message in verse 12-23 shows us how serious it is if we are unfaithful, there will be a judgement! Jesus was very keen that the people in his time repented from their ungodliness and in Luke 10 we see Jesus sending out the 72 disciples to teach and to prepare them for when Jesus himself would visit to teach, verse 1. Just as he told the 12 disciples in Luke 9 he said not to take luggage with them and not to “greet anyone on the way”, verse 4. This had nothing to do with being unkind to anyone it was all to do with urgency in passing on the message of Jesus. Greetings took a long time in Middle Eastern cultures, it is the same in African cultures and in some European countries where people spend time just asking how each other is and giving greetings to everyone. Jesus tells them not to do this because his gospel is urgent. When we visit Africa we are always rushing around to fit in all the things that we want to do so we do not have time for lengthy introductions and greetings and this is perhaps the urgency that we all should have all the time as we teach others to repent and to accept Jesus! There are many lessons for us in the instructions that Jesus gave the 72, but the main lesson to think about now is how Jesus protected them when they came back from their preaching trip. Like the 12 disciples before them they were excited by what they had achieved, verse 17. There was a danger here that the 72 were a bit proud of what they had achieved and Jesus puts their achievements into perspective, verse 18-20. The thing that we should be pleased about is that our “names are written in heaven”, ie in God’s “book of life” meaning that when Jesus comes back we will be in the kingdom. Jesus’ use of the words “satan” and “heaven” appears to be similar to the use in Isaiah 14 where the proud king of Babylon was humiliated from his powerful position. It is a similar picture in Isaiah 2 where the proud will be humbled. Apparently the city of Capernaum was a very proud city and Jesus says “no, you will be humiliated”, verse 15. So the message we have here is that Jesus saw the proud being brought low by the teaching, this is why Jesus said when he sent out the 72 that they would be like “lambs among wolves”, verse 3. This verse 14 has nothing to do with a powerful supernatural evil being falling from the sky, this is false teaching, we can confirm that it is false teaching by checking the context and understanding what God says. The words of Ezekiel are important in this context too, because if we add another “idol” (powerful supernatural evil being) alongside God, it will become a “stumbling block” for us. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a well known teaching of Jesus to show an example of “loving our neighbour”. The expert in the law answered well when he said that the most important part of the law was to love, verse 27. But in his checking who his “neighbour” was he and we discover that the one who has mercy is the neighbour, verse 37, and Jesus says to go and do the same. There are many aspects to this, all of which are important: we should help anyone in need, we should allow anyone to help us when we are need; we should not discriminate; we should not make excuses not to help, even if we are rushing to teach others! We should also be like Jesus, because Jesus always acted like the Samaritan in this story, he was and is merciful, therefore we should be too. The actions of Martha and Mary help us to understand priorities. Martha complained to Jesus that Mary was not helping her in the kitchen to prepare food, verse 40. Jesus puts the work into perspective, verse 41-42. He does not condemn Martha for cooking and presumably Jesus benefited from the meal afterwards, but he says that Mary “chose the better” by listening to Jesus. Our priorities need to be learning and checking to understand what both God and Jesus want from us. We have to eat otherwise we will become ineffective in everything, but there are times when eating is not a priority and we have to give way to those events that God brings our way from time to time – food can become an “idol” too if we let it! These 2 examples in Luke help us to be more like Jesus every day. It is interesting that the lawyer actually “tested” Jesus, verse 25, this could indicate that he had the wrong attitude. He actually did give the right answer as we saw earlier and Matthew 22 records that Jesus actually repeated what the lawyer had said in his subsequent reply. But the point here is that you cannot achieve the kingdom by what you actually do – salvation can only come by grace, but we have to try out best to follow what God and Jesus want – Ephesians 2:8. Already seen in verse 29 of Luke 10 that the lawyer wanted to justify himself by asked another question and Jesus’ answer shows that our faith is demonstrated by our love for each other, eg 1 John 1 – ie, “if we claim to love God but hate our brother then we are a liar”. So the example of the Samaritan is a key answer by Jesus – love has to be shown in everything, love is not the adherence to a religious ritual, but it includes being at one with both God and Jesus. The practical outworking that came next in verse 38-42 helps us to understand this. Mary was right to listen, but that Martha was not quite in the same thinking as Jesus at that time – we have to build in faith by reading and learning as well as lovingly sharing with others. Our priorities need to be right – not leaving anything undone! We need to reflect on our priorities just as David did in Psalm 27 “One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (verse 4). September

September 19th

In the Ezekiel 15 reading today we read about the vine. Israel, God’s people, are described as the vine and when properly tended a vine will produce excellent fruit, ie grapes. If a vine is incorrectly cared for it will produce bad fruit. This picture is used many times in the old and new testament by both God and Jesus to describe the good and the bad of God’s people. Here in Ezekiel the vine is described as bad and the only thing that you can do with a bad vine is just destroy it, verse 6. Unlike any other tree the wood is useless. It cannot be used to make things, it cannot be used as a stick, it cannot even be used as a fire to keep warm or cook or give light. So a vine is only useful when it is looked after and put in the right place and feeding from good roots. The good vine producing good fruits is a great picture of us Christians feeding from Jesus, the pruning, to keep it in good shape, is done by each of us to each other (this is a priority role for elders) and when we prune and when we allow ourselves to be pruned, we will produce good fruits. Often in our lives, as a vine, both God and Jesus prune us by the different situations that we experience, to help us produce good fruit. So a vine is very useful when it is feeding via good roots from good soil and being pruned so that all the broken and damaged branches are cut off. When all of the different good parts are working well together there will be a good crop. However, if a vine is not looked after very well, or is unwilling to be looked after, then it can become wild very quickly. If the elders do not do a good job in pruning then the same result will happen. Sadly the vine that Ezekiel was describing was useless because the elders and the people did not feed from God, they did not produce good fruit. Our fruits tell whether we are good or bad, if bad and there is no pruning, then all of the vine will become bad and in the end the vine will be burned. This is a powerful lesson for us because simply put the only useful thing from us is our fruit. In other words our only hope is in Jesus, without him we are useless, we cannot save ourselves. So fruit is what counts in the end and all of us should make the effort to produce fruit. In the Luke 11 reading we see Jesus setting the example by praying, verse, this prompted the disciples to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. We then get the example of what we now know as the “Lord’s prayer”, verse 2-4. Jesus appears to be setting out our priorities for prayer, ie first is praise of God, then we have 4 requests, 1, for the kingdom to come, 2, our daily food, 3, our forgiveness, 4, to not be tempted. Jesus then goes on to tell us to ask and trust and we have graphical pictures of how fathers and friends are asked and that they give, so if these human people do this then God will surely give us what we ask for, verse 5-13. But what was Jesus meaning here? Was he meaning that we should only ask for the things in his “template” prayer? These are proper things to ask for because he will grant us these if we are producing fruit, ie Kingdom, forgiveness and not leading us into temptation. All these things are God’s will. So what about the other things we pray about? Should we ask them? In Philippians we are told to pray about anything,  so we can pray for safe journeys, a home, education, health, family, etc. John in his letter tells us to pray and the things according to his will will happen. So it appears to me that things like kingdom, daily food, forgiveness and help in temptation will always happen when we ask. Those others things will still only happen if it is God’s will that they will. It maybe that God does not want us to be educated, have a family, have a job or home, he may have other plans for us. So we ask in faith, some things we know will be granted us, others we do not know so we have to accept God’s will and answers and continue to show faith. God wants us to produce fruit and he will put us in positions where we are best suited to produce this fruit. He may be pruning us by answering prayers in ways that we do not expect at the time. But Jesus set the pattern for our prayers for our good, to help us in our walk to the kingdom, this is the priority. September

September 20th

Ezekiel 16 is a picture story of “unfaithful Jerusalem”.  The context shows us that the story is about the people, and God had asked Ezekiel to “confront” them because of their “detestable practices”, verse 2. The story reflects the history of Judah from their start and really to the future, it starts with God’s pity on them and he saves them, he demonstrates his love for them by providing them with all of the things that they needed, and more, but the people became proud and trusted in themselves and turned away from God in a way that no other nation would. They forgot, verse 43, about all the love that God had shown to them in the past and demonstrated an ungrateful heart and replaced God with other things, verse 36. As a consequence God brought all these nations against Jerusalem and destroyed it and left Jerusalem “naked”, verse 39 (just as they were when God “found” them, verse 6-7). God says that he will deal with them as they deserve and then they will repent (be ashamed), verse 59-63, and God will forgive. God uses some very strong language in this story to make an impact. The picture of a husband (God) and his wife (the people) and how the wife became a prostitute and left her husband. We all know how bad prostitution is in our experiences today and how painful the consequences are when a wife or husband is unfaithful to the person who they are married to. The picture is to make us all think about our own actions and if we betray God and replace him we are acting like a prostitute. We were nothing before God called us and saved us through Jesus, we had no hope at all, yet God showed pity on us and said I want to save you and provide you with all the things that you need. This should make us content and to set an example to those around us – we should not want to look for other things because all we need is from God. And just as happens in this “parable”, there are consequences for us if we do, verse 48. We need to always remember what God has done for us in saving us, verse 43, this is why we need to read God’s word (or have it read to us), to meet together to teach and encourage and to break bread and wine each Sunday. All these things help us to remember what God has done for us. If we fail to remember there is a real danger that we also become like a “prostitute”. In our Luke 12 reading we are again presented with very practical lessons by Jesus. The parable of the rich fool, verse 16- 21, was in response to an inappropriate request for help by someone in the crowd, verse 13, in this one question the wrong attitude was demonstrated, exactly the same attitude as the people Ezekiel was talking about. Jesus sets the context of the parable showing that he is not a judge to resolve envy between brothers over money and makes it clear that “greed” and lots of “possessions” is not what our life should be about, verse 14-16. Just like the people in Jerusalem looked for more than what God had given them, the man in the parable did the same, he was not content with what he had and in the end he lost everything. Jesus says the same will happen to us if our priorities are wrong, verse 21. Being “materialistic” and wanting more and more of the things to make us rich now brings its own problems and worries, one of which is envy. God puts us in certain situations and gives us what we need, just like he did with the people of Jerusalem. Jesus knows that often we do have worries about clothes and food, verse 22, it is normal to be worried about these things, but Jesus is saying to us to try not to worry, verse 23-26. Think about the things that God does do, eg how God provides for the flowers, verse 27-31. “Do not be afraid” and “do not worry” are mentioned a few times by Jesus in this chapter and the message is clear to trust in God and this is where our priority should be, verse 32-34. God wants to give us the kingdom, he wanted to save that baby in the picture in Ezekiel, he wants us to trust him and not to go looking for other pleasures elsewhere because he knows that these will corrupt us, no matter how innocent they may look at the time! Jesus is telling us to “watch” – watch how we live our life – because we do not know when Jesus, the “master”, comes back and when he does come back he needs to find us doing the things that he and his father want us to be doing, verse 35-40. Peter asks the questions about who do these things refer to, verse 41. In Jesus’ answer, verse 42-48, he is saying it refers to everyone who is looking for Jesus to return. There are consequences if we are not following Jesus, but just as in Ezekiel there is always hope of repentance because God wants us in the kingdom. So the lesson is where are our priorities in life, are they God or are they proud, selfish ambition? Of these 2 things the one that we “treasure” the most will be where our “heart” is and that will become our priority. In Ezekiel’s story the people’s “treasure” was idols and riches and power; Jesus is teaching us to trust fully in what God does for us and to be content with what we have. September

September 21st

We have a number of parables in the Ezekiel and Luke readings again today. Parables are intended to be memorable stories so that we can remember the past event (example in Ezekiel), the practical lesson and preparation for the kingdom (examples in Luke). These stories are intended to be retold as a constant reminder of the things that both God and Jesus are teaching us. The parable in Ezekiel 17 is a memorable story for the Jews in exile in Babylon so that they can remember the mistakes that they made and learn from them. The parable is from verse 3-10. We have a cedar tree, some seed from the land, a vine and 2 eagles. The explanation is in verse 11-15, so we see that the 1 eagle is the king of Babylon and the other is the king of Egypt; the cedar branch and the seed are the Jews and the Jewish leaders who were eventually carried off to Babylon after they had rebelled against the first “eagle” by going to the “second”. This appears to be about the record of Zedekiah who was installed as king in Judah by the king of Babylon who then rebelled and asked for help from the king of Egypt, so the king of Babylon came and crushed the rebellion and brought Zedekiah to Babylon. God confirms this in verse 16-18. This rebellion was really against God, because God said that they should not rely on Egypt, Jeremiah repeatedly told them that the people should surrender to Babylon if they wanted to spare their lives, sadly a remnant went to Egypt. God again confirms this in verse 19-21. The lesson for us surely has to be not to rebel against God and to humbly accept his will, including if this is a punishment for sins, as was the case with the Jews. Zedekiah was not humble, he did not accept God’s “punishment” and again turned to a human deliverer and not to God. We cannot leave this account in Ezekiel without thinking about the wonderful hope here that is amongst all this pain and suffering. God will always do better than man and in this concluding parable he will break off a shoot from the top of a cedar and plant it in the mountains of Israel, it will become a “splendid cedar” where all the birds of the air will come and shelter, verse 22-24. God has promised that he will bring the Jews back to the land of Israel where he will make them flourish – this parable is not completed yet, it will be when Jesus comes back! The parables continue in Luke 13 and 14. The first one is a reminder that we have to produce fruit to demonstrate our repentance. The parable of the fig tree follows the discussion with Jesus about a link between death and sin, Luke 13 verse 1-4. The incorrect connection was made by the people who heard about the murder of Galileans by Pilate’s men and an accident when a tower fell on people and killed them. They thought that they died such an awful death because they had been bad sinners.  Jesus clearly says that these people who died were no more sinful than others, but he says if we do not repent of our sins then we will also perish without a hope, verse 5. So the parable is somehow linked to this, verse 6-9. The man is looking for fruit, for 3 years there has been none so he wants to cut it down, the gardener suggests another year of trying, but then agrees that it is cut down. There appears to be a strong link to the 3 year period of teaching by Jesus here, but the point is if there is no fruit then the vineyard (Jews) will be destroyed. The sad thing is that the Jewish religious leaders did not understand what “fruit” meant, their insistence that Jesus should not be healing, ie doing good, on a Sabbath demonstrates their pride, verse 14, they could not understand that giving water to their own donkey on a sabbath was hypocritical, verse 15 -16. In Luke 14 Jesus is again confronted with the issue of healing on the sabbath, verse 1-4. This time Jesus extends the example of giving water to their donkey by adding a son and an ox who had fallen, verse 5-6 – of course they would have helped, so it was hypocritical to criticise Jesus for healing. We have to also be careful in not singling out one action for criticism of others and just being proud in our own actions as the Pharisees were. Jesus watched the guests arriving and taking their places at the table for a meal and his next parable here is about humility, verse 7-11 – the lesson for us is not to think that we are better than our brother or sister, in fact we are to all always think that we are lower. The fruit that we produce is also demonstrated by the people who we associate with and invite to dinner or help, we should not be sharing with those who we know can share with us, we should be sharing with those who cannot share with us in return, verse 12-14, again the lesson is not to want a reward now, our reward is when Jesus comes back. The parable about the great banquet, verse 16-24, is about Jesus inviting people to the kingdom, sadly there are people who made their excuses, the reasons they give are all inward looking, land, oxen and a wife, so others are invited, those who do not have any distractions. The sad thing is that the Jews were invited first, but they rejected the offer, the good thing is that we have been given the opportunity to be saved, so we must not now make excuses to do other things! September

September 22nd

1 CHRON 5:1-2 – Birthright of the firstborn. Usually, the oldest son of an ancient family became head of the family upon his father’s death and also received a larger share of the inheritance (double) than the other children. But Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob, had “slept” with his father’s concubine (Bilhah Gen 35:22) Because of this despicable act, he lost the birthright. Instead, Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen 48:15-22). The birthright assigned to Joseph and his sons did not carry with it the right to rule the tribes and nation, that privilege was granted to Judah (Gen 49:10) by God’s will. Judah was to be the tribe through which His messianic deliver and king would come, ie eventually Jesus. The ruler from Judah would come from David and his dynasty. The other role of the firstborn was the priest for the family. The priesthood by God’s will, was given to the tribe of Levi. All of mankind have failed to do God’s will, even when blessed, or a chosen priesthood, or a chosen ruler of God’s kingdom, all have failed except one, ie Jesus. Adam, the firstborn of God (Luke 3:38) failed. Priesthood and Kings, failed, eg Ezekiel 21:26-27: “Take off the turban (priesthood), remove the crown (King) it will not be as it was, it will not be restored until he comes to whom it rightfully belongs; to him I will give it.” JESUS, the second son of God, who did God’s will and did not sin (1Pet 2:22). The chosen priest, who sacrificed himself to God’s will (Heb 7-10), the chosen King (Luke 1:33). There are many references to Jesus relating to the firstborn, Col 1:15-18. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. He is the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.  Psalm 89:27-28: “I will appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him for ever, and my covenant with him will never fail.” Phil 2:8-11 He (Jesus) humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross. Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, and at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  We all should so look forward to that time, “Thy kingdom come”. EZEKIEL 18:  The people of Israel were suffering and blaming their situation on their ancestors. Of course, this is the nature of man, to blame someone else instead of examining themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions.  Remember Adam in the garden of Eden. Gen 3:12 “The woman YOU put here with me, SHE gave some fruit from the tree, and I ate it”. There were terrible consequences. ”Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, BECAUSE ALL SINNED.” (Rom 5:12). This is individual responsibility, “I have sinned.” Without the love, grace and forgiveness of the Lord, I am destined to die (forever). Ezekiel 18 reveals God’s will for all of mankind, summarized in verses 30-32, ”I will judge you, each one according to HIS WAYS, Repent! Turn away from all of your offences; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, AND get a new heart and a new spirit, I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, Repent and live!” Rom 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man (Jesus) the many will be made righteous. God’s mercy offers righteousness to us, by the unrighteous having faith in the righteous one (Jesus). It’s not just faith, but having the will to be “right” in the eyes of the Lord, we will do this if we love, love causes willing servants and the will to obey, Ezek 18:27: “If a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed AND DOES WHAT IS JUST AND RIGHT, he will save his life.” We must continue until He comes, “he who stands firm to the end will be saved” Matt 10:22. In LUKE 15 there are 3 parables with a common theme of lost and found. The parables were relevant to the people then, and to mankind today. The chapter begins by telling us who Jesus was talking to, ie there were 2 groups, Jesus was with tax collectors and “Sinners”, and, separate from that group, certainly in their own minds, the Pharisees and teachers of the law. The criticism from the Pharisees was that Jesus welcomed sinners, no doubt with joy, and ate with them. Jesus tells a parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd and he asks the question “If you were a shepherd what would you do?” Some might argue that they wouldn’t leave the 99 in the open country, but maybe he had left them with his friends and neighbours (v6). The sheep that is lost is so VALUABLE to the shepherd and he has such a strong relationship for that helpless sheep that he will do all he can to find it, and he will never feel “complete” until he has found it. When he does find it, he rejoices “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep”. All of those who listened would have understood the actions and sentiments of the shepherd. But then, Jesus elevates the story to a heavenly understanding, v7 “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent”. The “sinners” hearts realized they were the lost sheep and Jesus was the shepherd. The Pharisees’ hearts considered THEMSELVES righteous and saw everyone else with a critical spirit, including Jesus, they were distancing themselves from the shepherd and were lost, not realizing their need to repent. What about ourselves in the ecclesia, do we welcome ALL, to bring them to Jesus, remembering that we have all sinned, we should therefore welcome, even encourage, ALL to come to Jesus. But, we come to Jesus NEEDING TO BE CHANGED, to be given a new heart and spirit (mind), to be inspired to CHANGE our ways to his ways. Many came to Jesus, but not all were changed, the failure was not the Lord’s, it was that SOME DID NOT WANT TO BE changed. In the parable of the 2 sons and the father. We see the spirit (attitudes) in all 3 characters. The youngest son represented the “sinners”. The father represents God (and His will was being done by Jesus for repentant sinners). The eldest son was the Pharisees. So although the tax collectors and sinners were “lost” like the youngest son, by coming to Jesus AND changing their lives, they had been found. “They were dead, but now alive, they were lost but now found”. The Pharisees (the eldest son) did not have the same spirit as the father (God), v 20 -23, ”But while he (the youngest) was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “let’s have a feast and celebrate…”” If the Pharisees (and us) do not have the same spirit as God, we are lost, we are separate from God and we are “slaving” for the Lord instead of “serving” the Lord because of love, and muttering and moaning instead of rejoicing! The eldest son’s thinking was totally selfish, no consideration for his brother (even a denial that he was his brother) and no consideration for the father, this brings my mind back to Joseph, his brothers, and the relationship with his father. It was thought that Joseph was “lost”, but it was his brothers who were lost! September

September 23rd

The practical thoughts from all 3 readings today are responsibilities. In 1Chronicles 6 we have the genealogies of the Levites, and specifically the Kohathites, who were a sub section of Levites. The Levites were the priests and the Kohathites were the musicians, each group of people had their responsibilities in the worship of God. The accurate recording of the generations shows how important these responsibilities were and the lesson for us is that we should take all of our responsibilities seriously too, taking as much care as those who recorded all these names through the generations. We know from the recent readings that God’s people did not take their responsibilities seriously enough and they allowed human thinking and ways into their worship that eventually replaced their dedication to God. Ezekiel describes the results and Ezekiel 19 records a “lament” for us all to remember and to reflect on what happens when we drift away from what God wants. We have the picture in this chapter of 2 lions who each were taken captive – this represents the kings of Israel and Judah who were taken into captivities by their enemies who God brought against them as judgement for not fulfilling responsibilities. These lions were strong and powerful, but they were brought low by God and this is the sad thing, that they were made strong by God and all God wanted in return was for them to respect and obey him, if they did God would bless them. But as the verses 10-14 says the outcome was the complete opposite because of their sins. The point of a “lament” is to think about the words and to be sad and to regret what we have just read. It is a sad reading, but should trigger a determination to take our godly responsibilities seriously. There are 2 parables in Luke 16.  The first is what, I think, is incorrectly called in my Bible, the parable of the shrewd manager (it should be called the parable of the dishonest manager) and the 2nd is about the rich man and Lazarus. Both parables are aimed at those who have godly responsibilities but who do not take them seriously, both parables are about how not to act. (We know that both are parables because they both start in the same way, ie “there was a rich man”, some people confuse the 2^nd parable as, wrongly, being literal.) Jesus was probably aiming these parables at the Pharisees who should have known their responsibilities and carried them out to set examples to the people, but they also apply to all those who listen to God’s word. So these parables also are warnings for us. So the first parable is about a dishonest manager who was found out by his employer that he was dishonest, verse 1-2. This manager should have been keeping accurate financial records and managing his employer’s affairs honestly, but he was only interested in himself and how much he could gain for himself. We know that he was self centred by the way that he thought, verse 3-4. So he came up with a deceitful plan so that he could at least try and make some friends of the people who owed his employer money, verse 5-7, when, as he expected, his employer sacked him. His plan involved further deceit, but one that gave advantage to the people who owed money, it gave advantage to the manager and it also enabled the “rich owner” to get some of his money back. In fact the owner “commended” the manager for his actions, verse 8. Jesus is making a distinction here though between the “people of this world” and the “people of the light”, the people of the world are deceptive in their dealings with each other, even the owner approved of the deception in the end (perhaps sarcastically?), but this is not how the people of the light should act. Verse 9, I think, is Jesus being sarcastic, he is saying, “OK then, be deceptive in the world and gain friends but when all your advantages have gone you will die and stay dead, ie ‘welcomed into eternal dwellings’”. Jesus then goes on to say exactly what happens with those who take their responsibilities seriously and those who are dishonest, verse 10-12. Jesus is clear that if you are trusted in everything then you will always be trusted, but if you are dishonest in anything then you will never be trusted! The lesson for us is clear also – we have to always deal honestly with any responsibilities that we have, whether this is work, family or with God’s things, like halls, money, Bibles, etc. Jesus goes on to say that you cannot serve both God and money, verse 13.  No matter how hard you try, you cannot because you will be devoted to the one that you love. So the question for us is do we act honestly in everything that we do? Do we take our responsibilities seriously? Or do we think like the Pharisees did that Jesus was wrong when he said these things, verse 14. The Pharisees “loved” money and they wrongly justified their love of money by the way that men saw them, verse 15. They ignored the fact that God could see what was in their hearts. Do we ignore the fact that God sees what is in our hearts and he knows if we love him or money! The second parable again focuses on our responsibilities and how we treat others around us. There is a massive contrast pictured by Jesus here between the richness of the rich man and the poorness of the poor man, verse 19-21. The rich man never helped the poor man. They both died and would both have been buried. Jesus creates a picture of the poor man being at Abraham’s side and the rich man being in “hell” where there was an imaginary fire. These are clearly pictures and not real just to make the important lessons – Abraham died a long time before this and we know that when we are dead we are dead and hell is simply the grave where we are all buried when we die, but the point of Jesus’ parable is well made by this graphic picture. An imaginary and far fetched conversation takes place between Abraham and the rich man, verse 22-31. And this is the point of the story – it is when we are alive that we should take our responsibilities seriously, because when we are dead it is too late for us and also too late for those who we should have been teaching in our families. The rich man had the opportunity to help Lazarus every day, but he chose not to use his wealth in a good way and prevented Lazarus from having any good things. In this imaginary picture, Lazarus was now given the good things and the rich man the bad. So the lesson for all of us, rich or poor, is to make the most of our lives now by doing what God wants. It is assumed by some that Jesus is actually meaning that the rich man is the high priest who at the time had 5 brothers who also had the same opportunities to do good but chose not to – they knew the teachings of Moses and the prophets but chose to ignore the lessons. They were completely blind to God’s teachings and even when they saw the real Lazarus raised from the dead in John 11 they proved Jesus’ words true because even then they did not believe! So let us all take our responsibilities seriously now whilst we have the opportunity. September

September 24th

We all know that God is a forgiving and a long suffering God and when we read verses like Ezekiel 20:2-3 we are sometimes surprised, after all the elders did come to ask Ezekiel to “enquire of God”, verse 1. What happens here has to have an impact on our lives and the way that we act in everything. In explanation God says why he will not listen, verse 4, it is as a consequence of their “detestable practices”. And God gives further reasons, explaining what makes up their “detestable practices”. We get a summary of Israel’s history from when they were in Egypt.  Even before they tried to please God, God promised them that he would bring them out of the land, verse 6 and he said that they should respond by getting rid of their “vile images”, verse 7. In the same way God has promised us the kingdom, he says that we are very welcome there, but we have to respond by getting rid of the things in our lives that could replace God. The Israelites ignored and rebelled God, they still kept their idols, verse 8. But God still helped them in his love and to stop his own name from being ridiculed by the nations around, verse 9. He taught them, verse 10-12, he gave them things to remind them of the love and the contract between them and God, eg the Sabbath.  It is the same with us – we are given things to remind us of God and Jesus’ love, eg the Breaking of Bread and we are taught via our reading of the Bible and events in our lives. But the people still rebelled, verse 13, but God still remained faithful and helped, verse 14. This happened time and time again, verse 16, 21, 24 and 27 and each time God still helped, up until a point, verse 30-31. God’s patience does eventually run out, so we need to always remember this, we cannot continue to presume that God will always forgive us, because at some stage he will not. The problem that we all have is that we want to be “like the world” as well as trying to serve God – we know that we cannot do both, it will not work, verse 32.  God wants us to be fully dedicated to him, verse 33. He will do all he can to bring us to him and there are some wonderful words in Ezekiel from verse 33 to show us that God will attempt to call his people back to him. We will see that things other than God will not help us, verse 39, only God can help us so we still do have an opportunity to repent, verse 43-44. There is no surprise that Jesus’ teaching in Luke 17 picks up on some of the points made by God to Ezekiel. Jesus acknowledges that we will get carried away by the things of the world, verse 1, temptation and sin will come, but there is a warning to us that we should not be the cause of that temptation and sin for other people, verse 2. We have responsibilities to protect and to challenge each other because we have been promised the kingdom. Verse 3-5 shows us clearly how we must lovingly challenge and encourage repentance and to forgive each other, exactly the same way that God forgave the people of their sins and gave the opportunity of repentance. This does not mean that we can just deliberately continue sinning just so that we can repent and then get forgiveness, there has to be a response from us just as there was with one of the 10 lepers who were healed, verse 11-19. We all need “cleaning”, ie forgiveness of sins (symbolised by leprosy) and God and Jesus willingly want to forgive us, but a response is required for it to really mean something. Only the one leper came back to Jesus to praise him, verse 15-16, and Jesus commended him for it, verse 17-19. We are not told about the other 9, but presumably the 1 was more fulfilled and demonstrated the right attitude by praising Jesus. And when Jesus said that the “kingdom was within you”, verse 21, he means that someone with the right attitude is putting both God and Jesus first and trying to obey and follow them, rather than someone who wants to know the exact time so presumably they can leave their preparation until just before! This shows a wrong attitude, which is why we need to always think that Jesus will come at any time and always to live our lives accordingly. God is patient, God is forgiving but when Jesus comes back there will be not time to prepare so we have to always be prepared. Jesus gives some examples as to how quickly his return will be, verse 26-29, people will be carrying on with everyday life, without any thought for God and for Jesus. It will be the same for us when Jesus returns, verse 30-35, so the message is to prepare now. We must not replace God with “worldly things” and “idols” as the Israelites did, we must not cause each other to sin, we need to be prepared all the time by having the right Godly attitude and putting God first in everything. There have been cases in Africa, US and elsewhere where some church elders have said that Jesus is going to return at specific times, Jesus has a warning for them and for Christians who are convinced by what they are incorrectly told, verse 22-25. There will be no doubt when Jesus comes back, we will know.  If we have the right attitude now then we will be known by God and Jesus, so we should have no doubts or worries about being in the kingdom, or missing it! God has promised us the kingdom and we will be there if we continue in faith and with the right attitude. September

September 25th

1 Chronicles 8 lists some of the names from the tribe of Benjamin.  It is a very selective list, because we know that Benjamin had 10 sons (Genesis 46:21) and only two are mentioned here.  Evidently only a few became family heads.  The names in 1 Chronicles 8 are different from those mentioned in 1 Chronicles 7:7-12, who were heads of the fighting groups.  Chapter 8 particularly mentions the families of two famous Benjamites.  The first is the judge Ehud (verses 6-17) who saved Israel from the Moabites (Judges 3:12-30).  It is interesting that his family was deported (verse 7), persumably to Moab (verse 8).  Evidently his family returned to Israel because we find them living in Aijalon and capturing Gath (verse 13).  The second famous Benjamite was, of course, the first king of Israel, Saul.  The kingship passed temporarily to Eshbaal, also known as Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 2:8), before he was murdered.  Chronicles tells us that Saul’s family were not completely wipped out, but that some of Jonathan’s descendants survived.  Ezekiel 21 predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Many thought this would never happen, but both Psalms 74 and 79 predicted this too.  Although there were some righteous alive, their righteousness was not enough to prevent the destruction of Jerusalem or even themselves.  Ezekiel was told earlier that even if Noah, Daniel orJob were there, they would only be able to save themselves (Ezekiel 14:14). Much of the chapter graphically describes the sword of God, which in this case was army of Babylon.  God said that even if Babylon would consider going to fight the Ammonites instead of Jerusalem, God would make sure that Babylon came to Jerusalem (Verses 18-23).  God would do this by making sure that even when they examined the liver for guidance, this piece of superstition would direct them to Jerusalem (verse 21). God is able to work through any circumstance to bring about his will. The British Museum has a clay sheep’s liver with guidance on what each abnormality in the liver meant.  This was from Assyria and shows that this form of decision-making existed in these times.  The sceptre and kingship of Israel was destroyed by the Babylonians.  This was necessary because bad kingship could ruin any righteous who were left (Psalm 125:3).  The nation of Ammon was pleased when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and rejoiced (Ezekiel 25:3).  God would therefore send Babylon against them as well (Ezekiel 21:28-32).  The loss of the king of Israel meant that the people of later times were looking forward to a future king when the former greatness of Israel would be restored.  Ezekiel 21:27 promised this, as did many other passages.  Jesus taught about the coming kingdom.  This kingdom would not have the great fighters and army like previous kings of Israel.  It would have those who are like little children (Luke 18:17)!  In fact, all those who thought themselves great (the proud) would not be there. Only the humble will be in God’s kingdom (Luke 18:14).  Those who think they are righteous fall into the temptation of thinking that they are better than everyone else.  Jesus gave a parable about this (Luke 18:9-14).  The Pharisee told God how good he was compared to a tax collector.  The tax collector spoke humbly and prayed for forgiveness. This is the example of what our attitude should be like when we speak to God and what it should not be like.  God will decide who is acceptable to Him, not us.  The rich would not be in the kingdom (Luke 18:24-25). It will be for those who humble themselves and who keep the commands of God (Luke 18:20) and have faith (Luke 18:42).  The last king of Israel, Zedekiah, was killed because of his wickedness.  The true king of Israel, Jesus, was killed because of the wickedness of others.  In the end justice was done (Luke 18:8), as it was when Jesus was raised from the dead.  God will ensure the right thing is done – the right king is put on the throne and the right people are put in His kingdom.  We need to make sure we are there by living humbly and keeping the commandments so we can be there. September

September 26th

1 Chronicles 9 begins by saying that “All Israel was listed in the genealogies in the book.”  We are lead to think that God has all His people listed in His book, because this is what God says elsewhere (Psalm 69:28, Philippians 4:3).  But we are also led to think tha those listed in 1 Chronicles 9 were unfaithful, because this is what it says in verse 1.  Like other genealogies, the list is very selective.  For example, there are only 3 people mentioned from Judah out of 690.   What the chapter does provide us with is information on how the temple of God was organised.  The role of the gatekeeper was important.  Among other things, this job was to make the treasuries of the house secure (verse 26).  A large amount of gold and treasure donated to God had to be looked after.  The silver and gold bowls and articles were counted in and out (verse 28).  There were also stores of flour, wine, oil, incense and spices which were managed.   This is the only place where we are told that there was a key to the house of God (verse 27).  Access to God was controlled to prevent the wrong people approaching God.  In our times, the access is now managed by Jesus who has access to God (Isaiah 22:22, Revelation 3:7).  Access to the temple of God was granted at night to musicians who praised God day and night (verse 33, Psalm 134:1).  1 Chronicles 9 ends with a repeated genealogy of Saul’s family which was given at the end of the previous chapter.  It probably as an introduction to the next chapter about Saul, with the chapter break not occurring in the ideal place.  Ezekiel 22 describes the state of the nation of Israel at the time of Ezekiel.  God lists out the crimes that the people were committing.  All the 10 commandments were being broken and other commands in addition. God highlights each of the leaders for there part in this evil and He describes them using many animal terms.  The princes were like wild lions consuming what they wanted (verse 25).  The priests altered the law so that there was no difference between clean and unclean, right or wrong (vesre 26).  The officials were like wolves consuming the people (verse 27).  The prophets covered up the evil deeds of the people and taught falsehood (verse 28).  God looked for one man who could heal the sickness and solve the problem, but there was none (verese 30).  So God acted to remove the uncleaness – by scattering the people among the nations (verse 15).  Ezekiel was witness to this because he was among those who had been scattered.  The reference to wolves and lions reminds us of the culture of the nation at the time of Jesus.  But in the day of Jesus, God did find one man who could stand in the gap and heal the problem.  We are all grateful that Jesus was able to do this.  The tax collector Zacchaeus was one of those officials who were like wolves feeding off the people.  Yet when he met Jesus, he repented (Luke 19:1-9).  Jesus stated that Jesus had come to save the lost.  The people understood the saving role of Jesus and welcomed him as their king (Luke 19:28-40).  But Jesus rode a colt not a horse.  It was a joyful welcome, but Jesus knew it would not last.  The people wanted salvation their way, not God’s way.  This is a lesson to us to submit to God’s plan and God’s way because this is the only way that we can get lasting peace. Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they could not do this (verse 41-44).  Jesus knew what was coming to him personally and the city and the nation.  Jesus saw their love of money and corruption and he drove out the businesses from the temple (Luke 19:45-48).  Jesus gave them a parable to teach them that the kingdom of God would not come immediately (Luke 19:11-27).  The parable teaches us that we are expected to use what has been given to us, and we are expected to be found using this when Jesus returns.  Just like Jesus coming suddenly to the temple and judging it, so Jesus will come suddenly to his people and will judge it.  The only way we can live is to expect Jesus to come suddenly any time and to be always ready.  At that time those whose name is written in the book of life will be given access to fellowship with God.  May we be there, by the grace of God. September

September 27th

There is a verse in 1 Chronicles 10 that sums up the sad end of Saul, the first king of Israel. He was “unfaithful” to God, he did not “keep the word of the Lord” and he even went elsewhere “for guidance”, verse 13. He did not “enquire” of God, verse 14 and this is all why he lost the kingdom. The lessons are clear for us too in our daily walk today.  We need to be “faithful” in everything; we need to do what God wants us to do; we should only seek God’s guidance, and then we can be confident of being in the kingdom. The parable of the unfaithful adulterous sisters in Ezekiel 23 is very dramatic and graphic in details. The 2 sisters basically represent God’s people, ie Israel and Judah. They should have been faithful to God because it was God who rescued them when they were in slavery and influenced by the people in Egypt, verse 1-4. It was God who did everything for them to save them – Ezekiel 16:6-7 gives some idea how “dead” they were before God rescued them. But despite this, they were unfaithful and rejected God who gave them “life”. They preferred “human” things to godly things, but these “human” things did not save them or give them life, in fact all the things that they “lusted” after in the end destroyed them. It is the same for us now, the “human” things that we “lust” after will take us away from God and in the end destroy us. The very nations that God’s people trusted in were their downfall, verse 9-10 and 28-31. Like Saul they had forgotten what God wanted them to do, verse 35; they replaced God with other things, verse 38-39, and they corrupted the worship of God. Jesus gave a warning too about those who “corrupted” the ways of God, Luke20:45-47.  Jesus was talking about the “proud” religious leaders who loved human praise and Jesus says that they would be “punished most severely”. Jesus’ authority was always questioned by them, verse 1-8, and this is the sad situation when people dislike and then change what God wants. The parable of the tenants, verse 9-18, is a summary of how God, time and time again, tried to change the minds of his people back to him, he tried with Saul, the people who are described as the “adulterous sisters” and even in Luke’s time by sending Jesus, his son, yet everyone rejected God’s word. The human mind, the way we think, has to be carefully controlled by us because we can often convince ourselves that wrong things are right in the same way that the religious leaders in Luke’s time knew that Jesus was talking about them in this parable and instead of being repentant they wanted to arrest Jesus, verse 19. We have to try our very best to remain faithful to God and to his ways, always trying to reject those temptations that take us away from him. God is bringing us to the kingdom, via our faith and trust in Jesus, and we will be part of this wonderful time if we are “considered worthy”, verse 35-38, so we try to remain faithful.  September

September 28th

We have seen in previous readings how God’s people were punished and suffered the consequences of ungodly behaviour and although in 1Chronicles 11 we see the list of king David’s “mighty men” and examples of the things that made them appear mighty to fellow human beings, we also see the mention of God throughout this chapter. David was a godly man, he made mistakes, but he remained faithful and accepted his mistakes and repented and God consequently worked with him. David was recognised as godly by the people around him, and after Saul’s death David was the recognised replacement. The people knew that he was appointed by God, but also because of David’s actions he was seen by the people as the right replacement too, verse 1-3. A practical lesson here for us: if we profess to be godly then we need to be seen as godly too – in everything that we do. David’s strength was witnessed, but he became more and more powerful because God was with him, verse 9. The mighty men were “mighty” because God was with them, verse 14. David and his men respected God eg verse 18-19 and this I think is the point of a godly life – it is respect of God and understanding that our “might” is all down to God and he should be given the credit for all of our “successes”. David’s attitude was opposite to the ungodly attitude of God’s people at the time of the Babylonian invasion, these people were proud in their abilities and their own protection, Ezekiel24:21. This chapter shows us what happens when human pride and human lust is not stopped as soon as it starts. The parable of the cooking pot, verse 3-12 shows just how bad God’s people had become, they had replaced God with all of the bad human practices and God’s description of this in verse 13 is very critical of them. God tried to help them, but they refused to listen, they refused to even try and therefore provoked God to anger. God is clear that they will be judged by their own actions, verse 14, they would suffer the consequences of their own actions and ungodliness! The actual account of the death of Ezekiel’s wife, verse 15-19, shows just how bad the people’s situation was, as Ezekiel lost his wife whom he loved, so the people would lose everything that they loved and would not be able to mourn. This is a terrible situation and Ezekiel suffered this heart breaking loss of his wife as God tried desperately to change the people’s attitude. Luke 21 is the description of another pending destruction of God’s land and city and the dispersal of his people, again because they would not listen, verse 22. This chapter is another very dramatic description of pending destruction and how everyone is affected. It is a warning for us too because there will be a destruction again before Jesus comes back and some of this chapter applies very much to our time, verse 27. So the message that Jesus wants us to learn is that we have to be ready and waiting because we do not know when this will happen, verse 34-36. We have to be careful not to get “distracted” and allow human activities and lusts and desires to take over our lives as all the examples we have seen in the old testament have shown. We appear to be living in the time when Jesus will come back soon, for this we are grateful, it looks as if the nations of the earth are becoming so arranged that Jesus’ return is imminent, verse 29-31. But we do not know when, so we have to be ready at any time. There is fear in the world at the moment and verse 25-28 is a great symbolic description of how people are thinking now and fearful about what the future holds. So Jesus says to all of us “be careful” and “watch” – watch how you live your lives – do not be proud and always give credit to God. September

September 29th

1 CHRON 12: We see in this chapter how David, a fugitive, grew in strength. Verses 1—22 record those who came to him before Israel made him king at Hebron. What caused them to change allegiance from Saul to David ? There were probably many different reasons that had the same root cause or question.. “ Who do I have faith in, who can I commit my life to ?”. The only one who we can commit our lives to is the Lord, and His chosen one. At that time, it was clear that God was with David. In verse 18, the spirit came upon Amasai and he spoke for all by saying; “ We are yours, O David….. for your God helps you”.. and David received them. Verses 23-40; We have a record of all  of those who came to make David king at Hebron. In v38 we see fighting men who volunteered to serve and… “all the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind to make David king”. Three days of eating and drinking followed in celebration of a joint commitment, a commitment made by different tribes, with different skills, but all one in the purpose of God and His chosen king. Each person’s faith, joy and commitment would have contributed to the building up of each other’s faith and love… and the joint desire to serve all. We too, all of us , can SERVE. This vision of the people with their king reminds me of some verses in Isa 25:6-9.  .v7-8 clearly speaks of a future time with Jesus and his father..v6 shows that the Lord will prepare “a feast for all peoples”  and .v9 “This is the Lord, we trusted in Him: let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation”. EZEKIEL 25: Ezekiel (as other prophets before him) prophesied to the nations, and in this chapter we have the words of warning to Ammon, Moab, Edom and the Philistines. Ammon and Moab were the descendants of Lot (Abraham’s nephew). Edom were descendants of Esau ( Abraham’s firstborn who despised his birthright and sold it for a meal to Jacob). Historically, these 3 nations were linked to Abraham.. according to the flesh.. but not according to the spirit (they did not have the same faith ). If they had remembered the promises given to Abraham and his seed (according to faith), and had lived in faith of those promises, and hence witnessed their commitment to the only sovereign Lord they would be save,  for example Ruth (a Moabitess). However, these nations (and others) were constantly against Israel who were meant to be God’s witnesses. These nations either did not know the one God, or they didn’t believe the words that they had heard from God. That is why , in this chapter, The Lord repeatedly says “This is what the Sovereign  Lord says “  and  these things will happen so “you will know that I am the  Lord”. By coming to know God beforehand they could be saved (God’s will).. by not coming to God they denied Him, His word, His will and chose death. We look forward to the time when another repeated verse and promise will be fulfilled.. “ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea”  Hab 2:14. Luke 22:19   “This is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me”. 1 Cor 11:25    “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me”. In Luke 22 we see Jesus with his disciples one day before the crucifixion. We know that Jesus knew of all  the suffering that he would have to willingly endure in the next 24 hours or so . The hatred, violence, shame, pain etc. Despite this, Jesus spends a lot of his time speaking to his disciples, to help them to be able to manage the “now” and the “future”. Just remembering 2 of his words is very helpful  “remember me”. Those words are especially revealing when each of us remember Jesus AND contrast ourselves with Jesus. Judas remembered what happened that night; how he had betrayed Jesus with a kiss, how he had planned Jesus’ arrest (and worse). All of those incredible times with Jesus had been put to one side and considered as of no value… Jesus washing his feet, Jesus’ words to the people, his love and compassion, his forgiveness when the disciples repeatedly got things wrong, etc (the list would be endless!). Judas did remember Jesus. Judas was remorseful and said “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” Matt 27:3. But he didn’t remember the willingness of Jesus to die for him !!( Jesus didn’t resist arrest) .Judas didn’t remember (or understand) the words  that Jesus shared with his disciples (at least 3 times !) concerning his death AND “ on the 3rd day raised to life”. Peter would have remembered that day.. how Jesus was in complete control (No one else was !) despite Jesus  knowing what was to happen. The plans for the last supper had been organized by Jesus beforehand, so that Jesus could have valuable time with his disciples before his terrible murder. Peter would remember Jesus’ patience, his love, his guidance, his serving by washing their feet, the prayers (in this chapter and John 17 ) .. and much more.. this is all contrasted in Peter’s mind with Peter’s dispute with the other disciples over who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom, and contrasted with his own self-confidence, his later denials and cowardice.. and all of these failings in contrast to Jesus who willingly died for him. Surely, the first few words of a tearful Peter would have been “ forgive me Lord”. None of the disciples did any better.. truly Jesus, when remembered, humbles people, humbles us… not that we should end our lives like Judas.. but so that we might find forgiveness and  live a new life .. in Jesus. There are many enemies of Jesus in Luke 22:  chief priests and scribes,, captains of the temple, elders, high priest, soldiers, etc. All of them would have remembered Jesus, some of what he did, what he said…. And they would have remembered what they did to Jesus. Jesus would have wanted them to “ remember me”. If they did remember Jesus, and kept looking and reasoning about all the things that had happened and the words that were said.. then they had a chance of finding salvation “ seek and you will find” And some of those “enemies” were changed by the witness of the disciples, the resurrection of Jesus and by reading their scriptures anew with their faith in the risen Lord. I think it is significant that Jesus wants us to “remember me”.. BEFORE we think of ourselves.. because our true situation is how we are in contrast to Jesus. So when we take the bread and wine and “examine ourselves”.. we should BEGIN by remembering Jesus – his willingness to give all, even to die for us.. but not only that, we remember a living Jesus.. When we remember a LIVING Jesus and all he has done, especially in contrast to ourselves.. then our first few words are sincere and said with true humility… “Lord, forgive me “ (we wouldn’t naturally say these words to someone who was dead). When we sin we are either forgetting Jesus, or even worse.. choosing to forget! So, everyday (and continually), hear the voice of Jesus saying to you “Remember me”.. and sometimes understand that the 2 words might be a timely question:  “Remember me ?”. September

September 30th

1Chronicles 13 and 14 have some practical help for us today. David had the idea to bring the ark to Jerusalem but he acknowledged that it would happen “if it was God’s will”, 13 verse 2. This has to be how we plan to do things, we have to acknowledge that we will do things “God willing”. David and the people had the right mind when they started to transport the ark of God, 13 verse 6-8, so this was a joyful and happy occasion. However, they were not doing things properly because they should not have carried the ark on a cart and when the oxen stumbled and the ark started to fall, Uzzah did what anyone of us would do; he tried to stop the ark from falling, verse 9. But this was not what should have happened and God was angry because Uzzah touched the ark, 13 verse 10. We must take the lesson from this – we have to always be sure what God wants, we must not just assume we are doing things in the way that God wants, this is why we have to continually read the Bible to check. God was clearly with the ark as he “blessed” the house of Obed-Edom, 13 verse 14. God was also clearly with David and the people as God was establishing David and the land, 14 verse 2. David also respected God, 14 verse 10 and 14 and God worked in their lives, 14 verse 17. But we have to still understand what God wants us to do, if David and the people had done what God wanted then Uzzah need not have died because he would not have been in the position to have needed to have touched the ark. The ark remained in Obed-Edom’s place for 3 months and it seems that David and the Levites used this time to research how to do it. It is important to always respect God and his ways, and even if God has punished people and nations we, as human beings, must not be happy about their destruction, an example of this is in Ezekiel 26. Israel/Judah was punished for their ungodliness but the people of Tyre gloated over their destruction, verse 2, God was going to punish them, verse 3-6. The prophecy is a good prophecy to confirm the accuracy of the Bible but the lesson for us is clear that we should not gloat, or rejoice, over the humbling of, or destruction of anyone or anything, even if they or it was evil. All judgement should be left to God and we should not be involved in any rejoicing of the bringing down of anyone.  Luke 23 confirms that the trial of Jesus was based on lies as the religious leaders plotted to have him killed, even the ungodly and weak Pilate found no basis for the charges against him, verse 4, 14 and 22. However, he bowed to the people’s request and had Jesus condemned to death, verse 25. Herod and his soldiers ridiculed Jesus and showed complete disrespect for him when Jesus did not answer or give them what Herod wanted, verse 8-11. Terrible things happened to Jesus during his trial and he suffered a terrible death yet Jesus still asked his Father for forgiveness for them, verse 34. Even while Jesus was on the cross he still made a difference to others’ lives, eg the 1 criminal, verse 42-43, when Jesus promised that he would be in the kingdom when Jesus came back. All of the old testament history and God’s plan was leading to this. Jesus willingly subjected himself to his father’s will, he never disobeyed, he never sinned and we thank God that this then started the new phase of God’s purpose, ie life through Jesus. Jesus gave everything to his father, even his life, verse 46. The women who wanted to anoint Jesus’ body did not do it on the Sabbath because they showed complete respect for God’s law, as it was before Jesus. Unlike the first attempt to move the ark, the women knew the teachings and would not break them even though they would have been able to justify their actions by caring for Jesus’ body. It is a lesson for us to check what God wants us to do and not to just do what we think is best. Jesus died for us, he gave everything for us.  So all we need to do is to try our best to do what he and his father want us to do.  September