(December 10, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares enlightening truths…
I know that there are some Christians who hold Christmas celebrations in contempt, but I am not one of them. While I do not appreciate many of the secular and commercial exploitation of the event, I like to celebrate this Christian festival. And I appreciate the fact that we have the freedom to honour the birth of Jesus Christ and be thankful for His coming to us.
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(December 05, 2024) Brian Bell shares… and encourages—
As we are now in the season of Advent, I share a few thoughts taken from Luke’s gospel. Chapter 1:1-4NLT shows that Luke is very specific about his purpose: ‘to reassure you of the truth of all you were taught.’
Now Luke was not one of the first early disciples called by Jesus, he was not writing from a personal meeting with the Lord Jesus. And he wrote his gospel for the benefit of a person named in verse 1 as ‘the most honourable’ Theophilus who also didn’t have a personal meeting with Jesus… and that makes Luke’s message very relevant for you and me today.
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(November 29, 2024) Wayne Swift once again calls it as it is…
Often our speech is filled with promises, hopes, and New Year resolutions— all of which are soon forgotten or deliberately ignored or broken, especially the latter! And the older we get the more we’ll stay safely within the parameters imposed on us by our upbringing and experiences. ‘Breaking-out’ is a term for the often midlife crises.
I actually want to share with you about breaking-out from certain rules, not promises, hopes or resolutions! Deliberately stepping out and intentionally going against some rules that are imposed on us takes a special sort of attitude.
Now many people break rules every day— road laws perhaps by speeding or using mobiles while driving. Many an adult breaks even simple dietary rules. Every day TV news tells of rules being broken not just by adults but even by students, by teenagers regarding certain things.
Some rules when broken create a sense of guilt, some a sense of freedom. But… before you work out which rules you might be guilty of breaking today, let me share about the sort I think should be broken.
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(November 12, 2024) Dr Richard Winter challenges…
A reality so often overlooked is this— we have no excuse for wrong decision-making regarding God, His wishes and invitations!
Luke 14 tells that one-time Jesus went to a prominent Pharisee’s home for a meal and someone at His table commented, ‘Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God’ (v15).
The eyes of all the other guests were on Jesus (v1) and He immediately took the opportunity to tell a parable of a great (megas… exceedingly big!) banquet…
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(November 06, 2024) Dr Jim McClure shares…
The Old Testament has a collection 12 books called the ‘Minor Prophets.’ They are named ‘Minor’ not because they are unimportant but because they are short, the shortest of all being ‘Obadiah,’ also the shortest book in the Old Testament. Consisting of only one chapter of 21 verses it is easily ignored as not being particularly important.
However, rather than being ‘unimportant’ it is, in fact, a hidden gem but admittedly it can be difficult to follow without knowing the following underlying facts.
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(October 28, 2024) Editorial note: Although it’s been many, many years since Dr Jim McClure explained about this Hebrew word we find that many readers keep discovering his article and appreciating it. So here is a reprint that we’re confident will bless many.
Dr Jim shares…
Christians often use the word ‘glory’ but usually do not have much idea of what it means! The Hebrew word for glory, kabod, is found 200 times in the Old Testament and its development is interesting.
Development
The root of kabod actually means ‘heavy’ and is associated with the liver (Exodus 29:13), which is the heaviest of the internal organs. The use of the word as ‘heavy’ is seen in a number of Old Testament passages such as Psalm 38:4KJV, ‘For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.’
(October 26, 2024) Dr Richard Winter very clearly shares a great truth…
Well… can he? Can the devil read your mind?
We all know that Satan is our adversary who seeks those whom he may devour. And I must confess that in our spiritual battles sometimes we give the devil too much credit! We so often blame him or ascribe to him power and authority that he simply does not have.
One of those areas deals with when we ask ourselves, ‘Can Satan read our minds?’ and fear creeps in. You will be happy to know the answer to this question is no, he can’t!
But… just saying ‘No, he can’t’ is not enough. We need to consider scripture to understand this topic better and be aware of the following three ploys of the devil.
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(October 10, 2024) Brian Bell shares encouragely—
It was August 2024 when I last shared some thoughts about Deborah the prophetess who became a judge in Israel. By way of context, and to briefly refresh the background—
Following their entrance into the promised land the children of Israel began to take possession and subdue the occupants, but this proved difficult. In addition, the people of Israel also went through ongoing cycles of sinful disobedience to the Lord. Despite this when they cried out to God for help, He raised up a series of people to be their leaders who were known as judges of which Deborah was one.
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(September 18, 2024) Wayne Swift once again calls it as it is…
Picture this scenario — a young man like many young men feels a strong and ambitious call to change the world. He lives in a safe environment, and has been privileged compared to the rest of the world’s population. He has been well educated, and people like him, even admire him. But so far he hasn’t yet carried a great deal of responsibility.
Then one day as he’s out and about his impetuous nature compels him to begin the process of changing the world and he does so by buying into disputes that are not his to buy into. Worse still his inability to control himself leads him taking the life of another while trying to sort out a dispute. Character flaws were very quickly unveiled in the heat of a battle. The very next day another dispute occurs before his eyes and suddenly before he can take any remedial action both parties in the dispute turn to him and accuse him of murder.
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(September 15, 2024) Dr Jim McClure concludes this series on The Greatest Story…
What lies ahead of us? We are all keen to know what the future holds. Even Jesus’ disciples were curious and one day they asked Him, ‘What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ (Matthews 24:3). In reply Jesus gave them a glimpse of some of the things that will happen in the future.
We shall explore this further but before we do, let us be clear about this. Despite the disclosure Jesus gave to His disciples and the information that Paul, Peter, John and others have given in the Bible about the end, we do not know precisely when those events will take place nor can we be wholly certain about their order!
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Connecting with You! 