Episodes

  • June 8th - Acts 2:16-17

    June 8th - Acts 2:16-17
    Jun 8 2025
    Acts 2:16-17 What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.’ When Peter spoke these words, he was addressing huge crowds of Jews who had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the harvest festival known as Pentecost. On that day, the first fruits of the wheat harvest were offered to God. It was known as Pentecost because it occurred 50 days after the Sabbath that followed the Passover. It was one of three annual pilgrimage festivals, so Jerusalem would have been heaving with people. On that particular Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus’ 120 followers. An enormous wind roared and flames appeared to settle on all the believers. Then, as the Spirit filled them, they started speaking in tongues, which meant that the pilgrims who had come from many neighbouring countries were all able to hear God being praised in their own languages. It isn’t surprising that onlookers struggled to know what to make of these events. Some people thought the only possible explanation was that the believers were drunk, and Peter began his sermon by referring to this suggestion. He pointed out that it was far too early in the morning for that to be the case. Because he knew that his listeners were all Jews, he then pointed back to their scriptures and showed that what had happened was exactly what God had promised. In the last days, God would pour out his Spirit on all people, and that’s what they were witnessing. It was going to be a brand new era for God’s people. The Day of Pentecost can be considered the birthday of the Church. Without the Holy Spirit, there can be no Church. Fired up by the power and wisdom of the Spirit, we can go forward with confidence and strength. Question In what ways does the Holy Spirit give you confidence? Prayer Loving God, thank you for sending us your Holy Spirit. Help me to allow him to occupy every part of my life. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 7th - Psalm 59:17

    June 7th - Psalm 59:17
    Jun 7 2025
    Psalm 59:17 O my Strength, to you I sing praises, for you, O God, are my refuge, the God who shows me unfailing love. Is your life a struggle at the moment? I’m really sorry if so, but I want you to know you’re not alone. In this psalm, like many others, David pours out the detail of his struggles. He feels physically threatened and compares his opponents to vicious dogs, snarling as they prowl the streets. He also reflects on the curses and lies they keep hurling at him. There seems to be no limit to the challenges that he faces. Whether you are struggling or not, we should all listen to how David faces up to his situation with brutal honesty. When life is difficult, and we all experience that from time to time, it’s so important for us to be honest about it, especially with God. He already knows the whole story. He knows the kind of people we are and our history, so he is perfectly able to understand whatever we are up against. Like David, we need to make sure our prayers express exactly how we are. It’s also important that our prayers in church reflect the fact that we all experience difficulties. There can be a temptation in some churches for the prayers to be so full of victory and celebration that there is no space to offer to God our struggles and disappointments. Our worship needs to reflect the whole of life, not just our edited highlights. On two occasions in this psalm, David burst out in praise, affirming that God was his strength and his refuge. Amid the troubles of his life, he didn’t forget that God was always with him, giving him the encouragement and protection that he needed. When we face times of difficulty, however bad it gets, we can always praise God that he is standing with us, keeping us strong and secure. Question How do you cope with the struggles that you face in life? Prayer Loving God, thank you that you are always able to strengthen and help me, however hard times might be. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 6th - Psalm 57:8-9

    June 6th - Psalm 57:8-9
    Jun 6 2025
    Psalm 57:8-9 Wake up, my heart! Wake up, O lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. I have always loved singing and have sung with many choirs over the years. Many of you may have had a similar experience. You will know what a joy it is to contribute your little sound to the united voice of a choir. It isn’t surprising that singing has always played such a major role in worship. It takes our words to another level as we seek to express our love for God and our devotion to him. It is wonderful that God’s people have sung through thousands of years. Whether they have been experiencing poverty or wealth, war or peace, sickness or health, there have always been songs on their lips. Not everyone is able to sing. Some people are tone deaf and the noise that comes out of their mouth could never be described as pleasant. It feels very unfair that some people have the ability and others don’t. However, I believe that the focus of singing in the Bible is not so much upon tunefulness as upon the heart. What God is looking for is people who have a heart of love for him and want to bring him their praise, whatever noise comes out. The last thing God wants to hear is beautiful melodies from a heart that is standing in opposition to him. Early on in my ministry, I was serving in a church where there were three men who were always enthusiastic in their worship but unable to sing in tune. I derived huge pleasure from hearing them sing. They would never have won a recording contract, but the noise they made declared where their hearts were. I hope you find this encouraging whether you are a wonderful singer or not. God wants to hear your heart and we should enjoy one another’s singing ,whatever it sounds like. Question In what way does singing bless you? Prayer Thank you, Lord, that you always give us much to sing about. Help me to find ever-increasing joy in singing your praises. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 5th - Psalm 56:8

    June 5th - Psalm 56:8
    Jun 5 2025
    Psalm 56:8 You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Everything seemed to be going wrong for David when he wrote this psalm. He was being attacked continually by the Philistines. They were constantly slandering and spying on him, looking for an opportunity to kill him. But amid it all, David affirmed his confidence in the Lord, knowing that with God on his side, he couldn’t lose. He had a deep conviction that his all-knowing God had not only kept track of all his woes, but had stored them up. We all experience times of difficulty and tragedy. Such times are woven into the fabric of life and there is no avoiding them. When we are in the dark valley of suffering, it is wonderful to know that God doesn’t merely know we are there and accompany us, but also takes our tears and anger seriously. He doesn’t try to jolly us along and urge us to sing a few uplifting songs of worship to get over it. He sits with us in our sadness and recognises the pain that we feel. He won’t ever forget what we’ve been through. The writer to the Hebrews speaks of how Jesus is able to perfectly understand the struggles that we face because he experienced them himself. He cried out to his heavenly Father with loud cries and tears (Hebrews 5:7). It is very tempting to put on a brave face when we confront difficulties, but God would encourage us to be honest and to share our frustrations and sadnesses with him with the sure knowledge that he not only understands our difficulties but comprehends them more completely than we ever will. Question In what ways do you find it helpful to know that God remembers all your times of struggle and sadness? Prayer Loving God, thank you that you take my times of struggle so seriously, and understand them completely. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 4th - Psalm 56:1-3

    June 4th - Psalm 56:1-3
    Jun 4 2025
    Psalm 56:1-3 O God, have mercy on me, for people are hounding me. My foes attack me all day long. I am constantly hounded by those who slander me, and many are boldly attacking me. But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. On a number of occasions, I have stayed in Benedictine monasteries in this country and in France. The monks’ way of life is very different from my own, but I have been incredibly blessed by the opportunity to worship with them. Honesty forces me to admit that I didn’t attend all eight of the daily services! What I found particularly impressive was that they read psalms at every service, and the whole book is read every week. There is huge value in reading all the psalms because they explore so many different themes. If you stick with your top five favourite psalms, you may come away feeling that they are all about praising and glorifying God, and you might overlook that many of them reflect times of agony, rejection and threat. The psalmists met God in every kind of situation. In this particular psalm, David was reflecting on a time when the Philistines were pursuing him. He was in Gath, the home of Goliath, and he was so afraid of the reaction of Achish the king that he pretended to be insane. The king decided that he wasn’t so short of madmen that he needed to meet him, so David was able to escape. I can hardly imagine what it must have been like for David to live with such continual threat, but he had worked out that if he had the living God on his side, he didn’t need to be fearful. Hopefully, your life is less pressurised than David’s, but life presents an amazing range of challenges to us all. We need to be clear all the time that God is our true security and no one, and nothing, can take that away from us. Question What is the biggest challenge that you have had to face, and in what way did you experience God’s presence with you? Prayer Thank you Lord, that you are always with me and that with you on my side I never need to be afraid. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 3rd - Psalm 52:8-9

    June 3rd - Psalm 52:8-9
    Jun 3 2025
    Psalm 52:8-9 But I am like an olive tree, thriving in the house of God. I will always trust in God’s unfailing love. I will praise you forever, O God, for what you have done. I will trust in your good name in the presence of your faithful people. This passage begins with a ‘but’ because David is contrasting himself with Doeg the Edomite, who had been seeking to stir up trouble for him with Saul. David has some harsh things to say about Doeg who had been bent on David’s destruction. He reflects that he had decided to live his own life very differently. His desire was to be like an olive tree, which was not only famous for surviving well in a demanding and hot climate but also for its longevity. Olive trees often survive for over 1,000 years. They only have a shallow root system, but their tap roots keep them supplied with moisture even in the harshest terrain. Like David, many of us will have met people like Doeg, who see it as their business to trip us up. It’s really tough when that happens. However, the reality of life in a sinful world is that we are bound to run into challenges, so we all need to know that we have an extensive root system that is able to give us the nourishment and strength that we need. David found his strength from God in various ways. He was often nourished by reading the word of the Lord. It’s good to remind ourselves that, for David, this was the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. He also loved to worship with other people as they met together in the Tent of Meeting that he had brought up to Jerusalem. Above all, he had a continual conversation with God in prayer. God can strengthen us in an endless variety of ways. Our task is to make sure that we have put down tap roots that will continually give us God’s nourishment to sustain us, however tough the opposition. Question If you have experienced troublemakers in your life, how did you find strength to cope? Prayer Loving Father, thank you that you are constantly wanting to nourish me as I face the challenges of my life. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 2nd - Jeremiah 29:4,5,7

    June 2nd - Jeremiah 29:4,5,7
    Jun 2 2025
    Jeremiah 29:4,5,7 This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce…And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” God’s people refused to listen to Jeremiah. They continued in their sinful ways, and in 597 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded Jerusalem and took over 3,000 people into exile. This was total humiliation for the self-confident and godless people of Jerusalem. To be transported to a foreign country about 1,000 miles from home was a horrific form of punishment, but Jeremiah wanted the people to know that God still had good plans for them. In his letter, Jeremiah told the people to accept their new home. They needed to settle down and bring up their families there. As they did so, they were not to fight against their new homeland but to pray for it. If they listened to God and obeyed him, then, after 70 years, they would have the opportunity to return to Jerusalem. God’s words to them were: “For I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). In the New Testament, we are often told that we too are exiles. This world is not our true home because, as Paul wrote: “we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives” (Philippians 3:20). Paul often spoke of his longing to get to his true home, but in the meantime, we have responsibilities here on earth. Like the exiled people in Babylon, we shouldn’t sit here counting the days, but should give ourselves wholeheartedly to whatever God wants us to do. Question How does the fact that you are a citizen of heaven affect your daily life? Prayer God our Father, we thank you that you have good plans for us both in this life and in the one to come. Amen
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    3 mins
  • June 1st - Jeremiah 18:1-4

    June 1st - Jeremiah 18:1-4
    Jun 1 2025
    Jeremiah 18:1-4 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. My own attempts at pottery were a miserable failure. When I saw my teacher doing it, it all looked so simple. He just threw the clay onto the revolving wheel and within moments he was shaping a beautiful pot. What could possibly go wrong? As soon as I had a go, the clay seemed to acquire a mind of its own and I never managed to get the hang of it. On a number of occasions, while I was sitting at the wheel with my hideous misshapen pot, he would put his hands round mine and, incredibly, a wonderful pot would emerge. How did he do it? The sight of a potter sitting at their wheel would have been a familiar one in Jeremiah’s day. God used this everyday experience to convey a very clear message to the prophet. God had tried to shape his people, but they had resisted. They had chosen to go their own way, so he’d had no option but to bring judgement upon them and to crush them into a lump of clay. Every day, we are being influenced from innumerable directions. The media, advertisers, employers, family, friends and our community are continually making subtle suggestions about how we should think, live and spend our money. Amid those different voices God himself is seeking to place his hands upon us and shape us in a way that will be glorifying to him. Just like my pottery teacher, he wants to place his hands upon our lives and shape them into something that is beautiful. Question In what specific ways has God been seeking to shape your life recently? Prayer Loving Father, thank you that you offer to place your hands upon my life and make me into the person you created me to be. Amen
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    3 mins
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