Are you shopping for Christmas gifts today? (Or hoping you’ll get some?) How carefully did you decide on what gifts you gave? Check out this video about the best gift to receive: Christmas Message
Do they really exist? Most Christians will surely believe they do, because the Bible speaks about them. But what does it say? Artists’ impressions abound, but do they do justice to the real thing? You may wish to check out a series of articles on this topic in our Resources section. Just click HERE.
For those who have been following our Bible reading plan, you will see we have re-started our three-year long task, and begun again at Genesis! Well done for keeping up. We shall next move to the Book of Moses, reading in Exodus.
We encourage you to adopt the discipline of daily reading of God’s word. Our suggested outline will hopefully match the commitment of time you are able to make. We do provide a daily Bible text of course, at the top of our blog each morning. But those random verses need supplementing with a spiritually healthy daily routine that enables you to see each verse in its broader context.
So congratulations to all those who have completed the 3-year task, and for those still on the way, don’t give up! We must all allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of what we need to know from God’s word, so let us not make His task difficult.
When Covid came it meant the house church was more limited in meeting with people. So we looked for ways we could still provide clear Bible teaching, with all its good news and without being hidden behind a mask! One initiative was to accept the kind offer of Wightman Community TV to include broadcasts of our church services weekly on the TV.
So this is an unashamed plug for those broadcasts. First, if on Saturday evenings at 8:00pm you have a minute or two, you can watch them live on Wightman Channel 6. But you may not be able to receive Wightman TV, nor be able to watch at that particular time. So our second suggestion is to check out our Youtube channel HERE. We post each broadcast after they have appeared on TV, so you can catch up whenever it is convenient to you, on whichever screen you prefer to use.
Another benefit of using recorded videos is that we can invite people from far away to speak to the church here, or to provide recordings of their singing (which are usually better than ours!). Whether the message comes from near or far, you can be sure it is Bible-based, and aims to fulfil what the Bible says about itself , in 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16,17, as one of the more modern versions puts it:
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. (2 Tim.3:16-17 NLT)
It’s all very well to say the choice between war or peace is obvious. But what do we do when we want peace but we are surrounded by those who want war? The Psalmist of the Bible was in exactly that position; he said: “I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!” You’ll have to check out Ps.120:1 to see the correct response.
If we read Ps.22 or Ps.69 we can immediately see they describe the violent opposition that Jesus faced. And the prophet Isaiah gives His response (Isa.53):
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Jesus taught we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt.5:43,44). It is in times of war that this teaching is really tested. When we see the brutal treatment of innocent sufferers, who would not wish to stop it? The big issue of taking up arms is addressed in our comments HERE. Those written statements are now put to the test.
What should we do? What would make a real difference? If the people who are acting so cruelly became true Christians, obedient to Christ, that would be the real solution. Have we prayed for the rulers and generals who are making war, that they would be saved from an eternal punishment for their actions and completely changed, so that they instead seek peace and pursue it (Ps.34:14)?
If you are using an Android mobile device, you may not be receiving the daily updates to our website. Each day there is a new Bible Text for Today, and usually a new post below it. Each week, the Bible reading Plan is updated. These updates are automatically seen on Apple devices.
It appears our web hosting service (GoDaddy) has changed its “CDN” (Content Delivery Network) code, which should speed up page displays. However, for users with Android devices who have bookmarked our page on their Chrome browser, some are now only seeing outdated information, instead of receiving and displaying page updates.
For the time being, the workaround for such Android users appears to be to clear the cache in Chrome and delete history. Hopefully, this problem will not last long!
To some Bible readers, Leviticus is quite a challenge. It seems to be very detailed, and also mainly a record of God’s expectations of His people Israel. But in fact, those details can be very revealing, even for us as 21st century Christians.
We have therefore added, in our Resources Section, an extract addressing this subject from Bible Studies magazine. Although originally published in 1938 the content should stir the mind of anyone wanting to see Christ “in all the Scriptures” (Lk.24:27). Click HERE to check it out. The advantage of reading this online is that all the Scripture references can be seen just by clicking on them.
Allow yourself plenty of time to review this material, and be prepared to meet a few expressions and spellings that are less used today than they were in the 1930s. We expect you will, however, agree that the subject matter, and the thought-provoking treatment of the topics by Dr Doodson are well worth the extra effort.
For those who prefer to read on Kindle, click here for a link to this material on that device. There is more information about the author in the preface to the Kindle book.
Our usual calendar text seems so appropriate today, even though in the normal production process the calendar is prepared a year or two in advance. What do you think?
This question may have occurred to you, even though it wasn’t on your mind when landing on this page! Please check out this short video (Opposite of Christianity? ). If you find it helpful, please share it with those you think will benefit from watching it. If it raises further questions in your own mind, then by all means share those questions with us (using the Contact link in the top menu)
