Revelation chapter 5 offers a profound glimpse into the worship that unfolds in the heavenly realm. It depicts heavenly beings and the redeemed uniting in an awe-inspiring symphony of praise to God...

The historian and moralist known as Lord Acton held the opinion that a person’s sense of morality diminishes as their power increases. You have probably heard quoted some version of his statement,...

Philippians chapter 3 contains one of the most heartfelt autobiographical accounts written by the Apostle Paul. It tells of his own spiritual journey and what he came to realise was of far greater...

When it comes to making choices in life, very few can be labelled as one and done. Life is full of change. I often tell myself not to get too comfortable with the way things are, as nothing ever stays...

As a Grace Communion International pastoral resident, I was challenged with the idea of narrowing down the places where we ate, studied, had coffee, etc. The consistency would enable us to develop...

I bought a small plant with pink blossoms all over it, but before the blossoms could open, they dropped off one by one. My heart sank with every loss, but I soon figured out that the plant had not...

In his recording of the revelation of Jesus Christ, John calls him the ‘faithful witness’. The Greek word for ‘witness’ is martus, from which we get the word ‘martyr’. Originally, the word...

In the 2008 musical comedy Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog the titular character, Dr. Horrible struggles to explain his motivation for being a villain and wanting to disrupt society. He tells the...

Crucifixion was final. It was effective and permanent. Nobody came back from that, but then it’s claimed that Jesus did. Jesus had promised that death could not hold him (Matthew 16:21) and the...

In the opening of what is often referred to as ‘the resurrection chapter’, the apostle Paul makes a surprising statement: ‘I declare unto you’ he announces to his audience,...

The darkness of the tomb has been shattered. The silence of death has been broken by the triumphant cry, ‘He is risen!’ On the glorious Easter morning, we gather to celebrate the resurrection of...

Yogi Berra, the famous baseball legend, said a lot of things that made people scratch their heads and sometimes laugh. In 1973, when his team was way behind, he came up with the phrase, ‘It...

Many years ago, a little village in Austria was about to be taken by Napoleon’s conquering army. It was Easter morning. At dawn the bells of the village pealed out across the countryside,...

Mary Magdalene was distraught. She had gone up to Jesus’ tomb very early on the first Easter Sunday, along with Joanna, Salome, and Mary the mother of James. They were carrying spices with which to...

Holy Saturday is the day that lies between. It is a time of waiting. On the day before – Good Friday – we remember the horrors of Jesus’ crucifixion and mourn his death. We consider the part we...

Late in the evening the phone rang and with it came the news that my mother-in-law had passed away. It wasn’t unexpected, but still incredibly sad. We only lived 10 minutes away from the nursing...

Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, put through an illegal trial, and delivered to Pilate in order to obtain his death. Pilate has seen through the machinations of the Jewish delegation but he finds...

Like Jesus, we also have a journey to the cross. Just as it is part of who God is, so the cross becomes part of who we are, as we follow Jesus and live in the Spirit.  Ours is a bit different...

‘I hate one-upmanship’ said my brother. ‘Yeah, well, I hate it more’, I replied. This is a silly joke, I know, but it appeals to me because we are often oblivious to our own failings. It is...

There’s a lot of shouting going on around Pilate’s HQ when Jesus is brought before him. There’s a crowd and there’s nothing like a crowd to get behind a good collective chant. Pilate comes out...

The letter of 1 Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul, directed to the church in Corinth but recorded in scripture for our own exhortation. In chapter 10, verses 1-13 we are reminded that the...

When we decide to go on a trip, we usually make a lot of plans – how to get there, where to stay, what to do and how long it will last. We might begin making plans six months or even a year in...

John is trying to paint a vivid picture of the Son of God. The NIV says that God appeared, he became visible. The NLT uses the word reveal, the ESV the word manifest. He had always been there, but our...

One of my grandchildren is four years old, and two of them are three years old and often I’ll hear them say, ‘My daddy can do this’ or ‘My mummy can do that’. It’s cute when they say such...

Have you ever been to a place you’d call a wasteland? Perhaps the depths of a junkyard or the parched ground of a dry riverbed? Isaiah 43 brings some similar imagery to mind, talking about Israel in...

One of my favourite names of God is ‘Yahweh Shammah.’ (Ezekiel 48:35). It means ‘The Lord is there.’ Throughout Scripture, God reveals himself — who he is and his character. But the Son is...

In 1918 the hymn writer Helen Lemmel was handed a religious pamphlet entitled Focussed written by Lilias Trotter, a missionary to Muslims in Algeria. Although Helen’s own eyesight was failing, she...