Noah

THE GREATEST STORY: Chapter 1 – The Beginning

(August 28, 2024) Dr Jim McClure succinctly shares some great truths…

I love reading.

And recently I was reading a book by one of my favourite authors and was quite enjoying it until I got to the end when I felt quite frustrated for the ending was so abrupt. It seemed that the author had run out of ideas about how to conclude his story.

A great story has a beginning which sets the scene, a middle that centres on the main theme, and an end which draws it all together.

This article is the first ‘Chapter’ of three in a series which I am calling The Greatest Story and  it is based on a book on that was written over a few thousands of years by around 40 writers. It contains history, philosophy, poetry and religion. It is a story of love and hatred, humility and pride, heroism and cowardice, generosity and greed. It reveals some of the best characteristics of people and some of the worst. All the various parts of the story blend together to uncover truly the greatest story ever told.

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THE PEOPLE GOD CHOOSES – PART 1

(July 27, 2024) Brian Bell shares some important points for our serious consideration…

Some years ago now, as I reached home one evening and began reversing my car into the driveway I heard these words on the Christian radio broadcasting channel to which I had been listening— ‘You can’t tell anything about God’s choices by the people He chooses.’

I didn’t get the name of the speaker, or hear any more of the broadcast as I locked the car and entered my home, but I wrote that phrase into a notebook. As the phrase has recently come back to my memory I am sharing with you the first in a short series of articles about some of the people God has chosen.

In Genesis 6:9 (NLT1996 version) the record tells us about Noah— that he was ‘… a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.’ 

A Question to Ponder
As Noah lived long before there was any written scripture record and that leads me to ask the question, how did Noah get to know God in this faithful and intimate way?

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HOW GREAT IS GOD!

(August 15, 2023) Dr Jim McClure challenges readers… 

Around 3500 years ago something occurred that still impacts our lives today – God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. 

Let me give you a brief background here. After the people of Israel had spent 400 years in Egypt God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. Early in their journey to the Promised Land God gave them the Ten Commandments which are a brief summarise the basic life values which are just as relevant today as they were when God first revealed them to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1-21).    

While those commandments have repeatedly been broken throughout history, today we are witnessing a deliberate and defiant disregard of them!

As I was reflecting on this and considering how they tell us much about the fallibility of human nature, I was aware that they also reveal something about the breathtaking character of Almighty God.

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AMOS THE LORD’S MESSENGER (Part 3)

(July 29, 2023) Brian Bell continues sharing his meditation in Amos… 

When I began looking at Amos it was for my own ‘personal’ study and I did not expect the Holy Spirit to lead my thoughts into what is now the third article and which is meant to be the ‘final’ in a short if unexpected series!

In this meditation I bring your attention to Amos 8:11 and 9:9-15 and encourage you to consider the –

Famine of God’s word
Chapter 8:11 reads ‘I will send a famine … not a famine of bread … but of hearing the words of the Lord.’

In writing his gospel account, Luke records the Lord Jesus as saying the following words in response to the temptation to turn a stone into bread… ‘The scriptures say people need more than bread to live.’

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SO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

(July 12, 2022) Richard Winter brings a timely challenge…

History records both good and bad times that humanity lives through! And we don’t need anyone to tell us that were living in difficult days today… we know! Indeed, bad times these days offer us a perspective of worse times to come!

This was true in the times of Jesus too! And one day He gave His disciples ‘a scripture memory test’ about Noah’s times, linking it to the end of time and His return from heaven.

Most people know the story of Noah and the ark Jesus referred to. Indeed everyone should take note of His Matthew 24:37-38 warning, ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage, up to the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood took them all away.’

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NOAH, JESUS and NEW BEGINNINGS

Robert and Maureen McQuillan write:

Seen the movie Noah yet? It has attracted much attention everywhere. Good casting, very creative, well thought out, full of godly righteous principles and attention-gripping all the way.

But it’s Hollywood style and only a little biblical, like DeMille’s Bible-inspired The Ten Commandments. Diehard ‘black and white only Christians’ eyebrows have been raised and it’s felt that ‘far too much artistic licence has been taken.’ Any who dare suggest believers should see the movie have been slammed. (more…)