Our church service could not take place as usual due to social restrictions linked with the corona virus. The recording above was by our pastor at home.
A Jonah moment
Shocking drowning incidents occur at a number of places in the Bible. The Flood is the first and most terrifying (Ge 7). There is also the crossing of the Red Sea (Ex 14) and the frightening storm on Galilee (Lu
Change your way of thinking
Paul is finishing his defence in the Caesarean court. He’s using his own conversion story to do so, in a form shaped to challenge King Agrippa, which includes a summary of his gospel call (v20). That call has three elements:
Prodded by the Lord
We like to tell anecdotes: stories from our lives which stand out. They aren’t simply factual records. Rather, we shape them to be striking, memorable and suited to the effect we want them to have. Sadly, due to our sin,
Missing resolutions
When a new year dawns we may resolve to change our lives. Some of those resolutions may work out well; others not so well. But we should also look for the missing resolutions. The changes that we ought to make
Rotten royals
Many love a gossipy royal story, especially when it involves immorality, corruption, power and greed. Well, those were certainly part of the lives of the family of Herods who appear for the last time in Scripture here with King Agrippa
Slave to love
Jesus is God’s eternal Son (He 1:1-4). Yet his life on earth was slave-like (Ph 2:6-7), lived under the brutal authority of worldly powers and often utterly exhausting. Why? In order to save his people from sin (Ph 2:8; 1Jo
The church before the world
How did the first Christians see their relationship with the society around them? Here in Acts 24, we see three things in Paul’s words and actions which give a partial answer to that question Firstly, they saw themselves as witnesses
Final justice
God is triune, three who are one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hence, when God made man in his image, he made us not simply as solo creatures but for community. This means that others affect our behaviour. In our
Tertullus
Caesarea was a lavishly built port which King Herod developed on Judea’s coast. A very Gentile city, it was the main residence of the Roman governor of the land. At the time of Paul’s arrest this is Marcus Antonius Felix