Author: Paul

For me the temptation to let the busyness of church become the thing that drives and consumes me is very real. It is difficult to pursue a proper connected relationship with Christ when I am always thinking about the next thing I need to be doing or the next problem that needs addressing. It seems […]

Sadly Mike Plant was away this morning so couldn’t give the second lecture on Calvin at the Teesocs Plus course. I had the dubious privilege of filling in and came across a great quote from Calvin on the heart that I thought I would share: “Its like a man who thinks he has made a […]

Lots of things lately have got me thinking about what I am thirsty for in life. I mean by that what kind of things do I give my time and effort and money to and how far short do they come of what really satisfies. I remember before I became a Christian the feeling of […]

I find it a difficult thing to know how honest I can be with God when I talk to him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that I want to tell him lies or try and pull the wool over his eyes (as if I could), but rather I just don’t always know how […]

Due to our incredible denseness God speaks some things over and over and over again. Sometimes the symphony of sources that speak the same word is deafening but still we are not listening. I hear it and then dismiss it as just coincidence. I even rebel against the words of encouragement as if I don’t […]

Reading the account of Hezekiah over the last few days made me realise again how mixed he was. He finds himself under siege from the army of Sennacherib and does the thing that seems to natural and so right. Isaiah 37v14-17 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up […]

Last night we were asking the kids that come to one of our youth groups what they were afraid of. The answers were interesting: spiders (obviously), darkness, dying, adults shouting and so on and so forth. Interestingly when we got home our reading in Isaiah 33 had two verses that talked about fear but spoke […]

Thinking yesterday evening about the comments in John 15 from Jesus about why people hate him got me thinking about the type of things that Jesus said that got people annoyed. John 15v22-23 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse […]

Reading Isaiah again last night and I found myself challenged by the words that he spoke about a change that would happen with Gods people. Isaiah 29:23-24 ESV 23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of […]