Revelation 2:4 Many of us will be more familiar with an earlier translation of these words which ran: “you have lost your first love”. The truth is that the Christians in Ephesus had done so well. They had been strong in the face of oppositio...
Revelation 2:2 These words come from the first of the seven letters to the churches, and they were addressed to the church in Ephesus. Pergamum was the capital city of the province of Asia, but Ephesus was in every way the greatest city. It had t...
Revelation 1:12-14 In order to understand these amazing verses, we need to appreciate that the Church at the time was very small and facing the brutal and powerful opposition of the Roman Empire. This must have been incredibly scary. It looked as...
Revelation 1:10-11 For many years after Jesus’ earthly ministry, his followers continued to meet on Saturday, and those from a Jewish background maintained their attendance at the temple or local synagogue. However, by the beginning of the 2n...
Revelation 1:9 Unfortunately, we cannot be sure who this John was. Some people have thought of him as being the disciple who wrote the fourth Gospel, but that is highly unlikely. The style of the writing in Revelation is very different fr...
Revelation 1:8 Everybody is interested in the future, and the book of Revelation is designed to help us as we prepare ourselves for it. If you are looking for a map, or a timetable of events, you will be sadly disappointed. But what this book doe...
Psalm 113:5-7 When you hear that God is enthroned on high, it’s easy to assume that he must therefore be totally disconnected from the harsh realities of our world. The psalmist makes it clear that the opposite is true. Mighty and exalted as he u...
Psalm 112:4 I will never forget my visit to Ruby. She was dying and knew that her end was very near. It was late in the afternoon when I went to see her in her cottage and the light was fading. But my overwhelming memory of that visit is of her r...
Psalm 111:1-2 It is, of course, possible to praise God anywhere. But there is something incredibly precious about getting together with others to worship him, and it is wonderful to think of God’s people doing that for thousands of years. Whe...
Mark 1:16-18 I will never forget the first time I saw the Sea of Galilee. I was with a friend and we had been travelling for a couple of hours up the Jordan valley. It was incredibly hot and our little car didn’t have the blessing of air con...
Mark 1:14-15 We all know what we need to do when we are driving in the wrong direction. We need to turn around. I did it only yesterday! I was carefully following the instructions of my satnav but ended up taking the wrong turning off a large roun...
Mark 1:12-13 We would all like to think that if our lives were totally led by the Spirit - like Jesus’ was - then we would be able to avoid all challenges and difficulties. Life would be one long succession of blessings and smiling, happy peo...
Mark 1:9-11 Here, in a gentle but spectacular way, we see God the Trinity at work. Having been baptised by John, Jesus saw the Holy Spirit descending upon him and God the Father spoke from heaven confirming his identity. As Jesus stepped into...
Mark 1:7-8 It’s always great to see people who know what their job is in life and are happy to get on and do it. I am thinking of the carpenters, car mechanics, ministers, nurses, carers, office workers and teachers that I know. All sorts of peop...
When Mark put together his Gospel, he had a very clear purpose. You might have thought he was going to take us through the life story of Jesus, but he doesn’t. He totally disregards the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. He doesn’t tell us about Jesu...
