W. Shakespeare wrote “What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet;” The suggestion is that the name one gives to something doesn’t actually matter that much.I’d have to disagree! I think na...

“We were right. We just weren’t listened to.”These were the heartbreaking reflections of the engineer who knew the danger that the Space Shuttle Challenger was heading into. The tragedy is now taught in various forums as an illustration ...

Christ is better. That is the most repeated message in the epistle to the Hebrews, and I would suggest that this is a message we really need to hear today.We really need to hear it today because every week, everywhere, us believers are maki...

One of the coolest guys in the bible has to be Eleazar... one of David’s mighty men, one of his top 3 guys, the man who fought so long and so hard that his hand clave to his sword.That is cool.What is even cooler, is when we see the pic...

John Wesley was a minister in the Church of England. He was very devout; he was very disciplined; he was very knowledgable in the scripture; he prayed, preached and fasted regularly.There was only one problem: he was lost.When he ...

We want to be fruitful in our labour for the Lord, but the idea of bearing fruit can often come with some weighty questions:How do I bear fruit? Am I being fruitful? Am I bearing enough fruit? Or a big one: if fruit doesn’t seem to be c...

When the angel spoke to those shepherds all those years ago, they brought them good tidings of great joy. ('Good news of mega cheerfulness!')The good news about the good news is that it is very good news indeed. The bad news about the go...

Not all wisemen were wise. We know these wisemen were wise by how they responded to the information they heard about Jesus.Application for today: not all people are wise! What makes someone wise today is how they respond to the informati...

We've heard the Christmas story many times before, but we've missed a few things: how it is a true story from the past, how it is a story of prophesy, and how it is a personal story.Listen to the story again, and decide which role you wi...

Without effective mentoring, people fail.That's true in the world, in the Bible, in history, in our own lives, and in the Great Commission.The problem is not that we don't want to be effective  mentors, but rather we don't kn...

Winter is just around the corner and you know what that means: the common cold.We're going to get one, and we're going to spread it around to those near us. Not cool.But, what if I were to tell you that there is something else that you ...

When preaching on the book of Philemon, John MacArthur said “No one is ever more like God than when they forgive.”I think there is a lot of support for his claim, but I also think 'being forgiving' is easier said than done. Why ...

We want grace to be at work in our lives; the first sign of this according to Philemon is our love for other believers.Some people are very loveable, others not so much.What do we need to know to ensure we love the saints like Jes...

Martin Luther was right when he said about believers ‘we are all Onesimuses!’Today, we are going to see what exactly makes us 'Onesimuses'. We'll see that his life story is a picture of our life story, which will give us the big fat remi...

There are some great books in our New Testament: Acts is the first book of church history; Romans the backbone of Christianity, full of the power of the gospel & loaded with doctrine. We then have x8 church epistles, which instr...

Believers are not called to a pleasure cruise but to a prize fight. Not only are we to go, but we are to fight, and we are to win.Where does the power come from for this fight? How can I make sure I pack a punch?Let's

There are team sports and there are individual sports. Some individual sports include: boxing, swimming, running. Some team ones include: football, hockey, rugby, netball.What are the differences between the two?With individual sp...

As we reach (almost) the end of our series, we’ll see something extraordinary play out in Paul’s life. He's pretty old, alone, imprisoned, and he has to stand before an absolute tyrant of a ruler - a lion according to verse 17…But at the sa...

It’s important to be ready. If I want to get the bus to school, I have to be ready in time. If I want to succeed in that job interview, I need to be ready for it.There are many incidences in life where it is important to be ready, but no...

One thing we did a lot in my family growing up was huddle round the TV on a Saturday night for a TV show called Gladiators. An entertaining show, where contestants faced off against 'gladiators' in a range of events designed to test speed, agil...

Today we begin chapter 4 and the final obstacle: finishing strong. Based on chapters 3, 2 and 1… chapter 4 begins with an urgent charge from Paul to Timothy.What is that urgent charge?Part one: Timothy has to finish strong ...

The last days are perilous, but it is possible to be victorious in them. Here's the big secret as to how, ready... the big reveal... read the Bible.We've heard that before, but what we sometimes miss is the impact 'continuing in the scri...

Travelling overseas once, I got myself in a little pickle in Asia.The mix of travelling and the heat and quite a bit of physical exercise… plus the food that my body wasn’t used too… I actually became quite unwell on an overnight train…...

In policing terms, a good Safer Neighbourhood Team has (at least) two main responsibilities.They have to deal generally with the challenges of the area. This means keeping an eye on particular areas of concern, like outside the fast food...

Key to being successful in any endeavour is understanding what you’re up against. The sailor studies the weather before they set out, the boxer watches hours and hours of their opponent in the ring to see how they fight, the football team not o...