23 December Jesus’ birth: Luke 2:1-38, Matthew 2:1-12 These verses in Luke and Matthew remind me about God’s plans for His people and that He has always had a plan for salvation. The birth of Jesus is a major step in that plan and God has revealed elements of that plan in the Old Testament, for example Micah foretold that Jesus would…
22 December Jesus’ birth foretold: Matthew 1: 1-17, Luke 1 A number of years ago my son and I visited a very distant relative, who had researched our family tree on my father’s side. He had put aside a whole room for his work, which was displayed on the walls and we went on to have a very interesting afternoon as he talked about what he had…
21 December Daniel 6 -7 “I want to be a lion tamer!” Michael Palin passionately expresses to John Cleese, his career adviser in a well-known Monty Python sketch. Unfortunately, little does Michael know that lions are not the brown, small creatures that track down ants with their long noses, but are in fact ‘savage beasts’ about…
20 December Exile: 2 Chronicles 36:15-21; Zechariah 9:9-17 When I was approached to write a blog for Advent. I thought of all the passages about the coming of the Messiah. Passages about angels, shepherds and wise men. I was very surprised to get these two passages as they do not immediately spring to mind at Christmas.…
19 December Isaiah 52-53 A few weeks ago, I was having a coffee with my good friend and mentor Doug Lanksford and we were discussing whether it was even necessary for a Christian to read the Old Testament; as I believe there is a school of thought which suggests that we don’t have to. We both agreed…
18 December Isaiah: Isaiah 9:1-7, Isaiah 11:1-11, Jeremiah 31:27-40 Our puppy lives in a perpetual state of hope. We only have to touch the coat cupboard door for her to get extremely excited. Her hope is based on experience- when coats and boots go on, we are going out. Her only concern is whether or not she is coming…
17 December Micah 5-7 Growing up I had this amazing cousin of mine who was honestly my favourite person; he could do no wrong in my eyes – he was my hero, but I remember one day he promised me that if I got ready in time on this particular Saturday, he would take me to the Zoo. So that morning I got…
16 December Elijah: 1 Kings 18 Here we see God performing a remarkable miracle through the prophet Elijah. He was the only one of the Lord’s prophets left and the situation was desperate. Elijah called upon all Israel to make a decision – ‘How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow…
15 December Israel’s Broken Kingdom: Kings and Prophets Solomon: 1 Kings 8-9 My mother has always wanted to become a nurse, and she commenced her nurse training in her younger years. Unfortunately, life got in the way and she had to give up her training and passion. Growing up I have always heard that I would continue what my mother had started. So, it was. Reading through…
14 December King David: 2 Samuel 5, 7 I’m definitely no scholar and so when reading 2 Samuel 5, there was a lot of drama I wasn’t quite understanding. Thankfully I looked up commentaries and would seriously encourage those that don’t understand the Bible to just look up some explanations. In some ways it’s a…
The Jubilee Community Centre is a 44,000 square feet building in East Grinstead, bought and refurbished by the generosity of church members, which not only meets the needs of all church activities but also provides a modern and flexible resource for the local and business communities.