4–10 March 2018. Proverbs 4 (click to read). It’s so frustrating when people don’t listen to us. Husbands complain that their wives don’t listen, wives complain their husbands don’t listen; parents complain their children don’t listen, and children complain that no one listens to them at all! How many times have we shouted out in […]
25 February – 3 March 2018. Exodus 36 (click to read). In Exodus we read how the Israelites aimed to create a wonderful tabernacle, a beautiful place where they could meet together with God. But if they were going to do this, they would need skilled people to help. Bez’alel and Oho’liab were skilful workers. […]
18–24 February 2018. Exodus 26 (click to read). For those of you who have been lucky enough to live in Europe or go on holidays there, you will know how wonderful it is to enjoy their great cathedrals. Every day tourists from all over the world flock to those ancient churches, walking through those historic […]
11–17 February 2018. Exodus 16 (click to read). The Hebrew slaves in Egypt knew what it was like to be oppressed through work. Under the harsh rule of their masters they were abused, forced to work long hours every day, used up, and then thrown aside when they couldn’t work anymore. But through Moses, God […]
4–10 February 2018. Exodus 5–6 (click to read). One of the most common worries that people share with me is their worry about work. That’s not surprising given how stressful the work situation is here in Taiwan. Jobs here aren’t easy to find, and when one does have a job, the work is stressful, long, […]
28 January – 3 February 2018. Mark 14:53–72 (click to read). In Mark 14 we find a story of two trials. Inside the home of the High Priest, Jesus is on trial before the chief priests, elders and scribes. We watch sadly as the council plots and lies together, beating Jesus, abusing him, and condemning […]
21–27 January 2018. Mark 11:1–19 (click to read). In Jesus’s day, many Jews looked forward to a messiah who would come to free Israel from the Roman Empire. They dreamt of a kingly messiah who would ride into Jerusalem as a new ruler, someone who would defeat the Roman enemy and chase the foreign soldiers […]
14–20 January 2018. Mark 7:24–37 (click to read). We often divide people up into those who are our friends and those who aren’t; we then treat both groups very differently. When our friends need something we are happy to help. But when others want something from us we turn away, pretend not to hear, or […]
7–13 January 2018. Mark 4:1–20 (click to read). In Mark 4 we find one of Jesus’s great parables. In this story, a farmer takes handfuls of seeds and scatters them all around him. But the seeds fall onto four different types of ground, with each producing very different results. Some seeds fall on a hard […]
31 December 2017 – 6 January 2018. Isaiah 64 (click to read). When Isaiah looked at the world around him, he wasn’t happy. On all sides, there were disasters, suffering, and evil. Empires were going to war, the strong ruled, the weak were oppressed, and even the Israelites – who were supposed to be good, and […]