Nehemiah 4. Wonderful chapter. It was the part that I was looking for and now I can truly understand why the Mrs chose the name she did. Here are some ordinary people who are doing ordinary things for God and they are threatened by a powerful force. What do they do? They stand in that wall and are prepared to fight and die for what God wants them to do. Definitely a new favourite chapter for me.

As for Acts 9. This contains one of the funniest as well as most important parts of Scripture. For the funny - Ananias is told by God to go and talk to Saul. Imagine his face! He turns to God and says 'are you sure?' I truly love that exchange.

Important- the birth of Paul and look at what he did ...

I read three chapters today. One of them was a whole book!

Nehemiah 3 was a detailed but somewhat dull passage. What I mainly got from it was the ways in which so many people helped out. There were people from all different walks of life and with different skills, all doing their bit. It sounded like the church should be. God needed something doing, he gave some people the authority and desire to do it and others followed their lead. Yes there was some opposition but the main thing is, it got done.

Acts 8 was as good as I thought it would be. Full of excitement and wonder. Peter and the sorcerer, Philip and the Ethiopian. Wonderful stories. I really loved the passage that the Eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53. It tells, so movingly, the story of Jesus' walk to the cross and the wonder of his sacrifice.

A message that God seems to have been putting on my heart lately is that nothing ever changes. Again and again I have seen God that what happened to the apostles and the early church, happens to us. Today's was a message from 2 John. In verse 7 he writes that 'many who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

Now, I am sure that there are many different theological perspectives, maybe John was talking about a particular heresy but to me it is simple. All too often we hear people on the internet saying that 'Jesus never existed'. It is such an obvious falsehood but it is becoming very tempting for many in the modern world. More and more people are being convinced that Jesus wasn't real. This is a deception and a message from the antichrist.

Luckily (well, predestined good fortune rather than luck of course, we are Christians), there is an even better message in 2 John. If we are obedient to Christ, we will be walking in love and as we all know; God is love. Be obedient, ignore the deceivers and you will be walking with God.

That's a message eh!

I came across an interesting website today. Proof that you really can find anything you want on the internet. I am very interested in word-clouds and find them a very nice way to visualise the messages of the Bible. Anyway, this website

http://www.66clouds.com/index.html

has word clouds for each book of the Bible as well as each testament and the whole Bible. I am going to use them as much as I can to help with my devotionals. 

Here is the one from the whole bible

What a fantastic piece of work. I am very very grateful to the people at 66clouds.com and wish to thank them for helping me do something that I have been trying to do for a while.

An interesting pair of chapters tonight. On the surface, they could be seen to be very boring. Nehemiah 2 sees him getting upset and gaining permission to go back to Jerusalem. It just is full of language and nuance though. Little parts show the evident truthfulness of the chapter and the warmth of the King and his wife to Nehemiah is lovely to see.

Another potentially boring passage was the speech given by Stephen to the Sanhedrin. Taken out of context (oh how often does that happen when discussing the Bible with our opponents!) the speech is merely a re-telling of the history of Israel. However, this epic has a sting in the tail. Stephen recounts all the times that the Israelites ignored God and ignored the prophets he sent. Then there is his final point. The Sanhedrin are as guilty as anyone else. They rejected Jesus and that's the most heinous of all rejections.

This is followed by one of the most beautiful scenes in all of Scripture. Stephen is taken out to be stoned and he looks up to heaven and sees Jesus standing there at the right hand of God, waiting for him. Dying and in pain and ready to meet God, what does Stephen do? He prays for his torturers and for their forgiveness. What a hero.

Tomorrow we see the church persecuted and spread about. I am looking forward to reading that chapter ...

I see them out and about in town and I really want to engage with them. Problem is, what is the right way to (ahem) witness? I am thinking of doing some research into this topic over the next couple of days. Hopefully I will be able to post about it and then actually do it ...

This is what our pastor is talking about on Sunday. It is an interesting question and on that we definitely need to get the right answer to.

Churches in Fort William are going from strength to strength. Their buildings are full and there are new pastors and new preachers in abundance. Scotland used to be known as the land of the book. At least we may still be a page in that book.

Problem is though, that we need to make sure we are not being complacent and resting on our laurels. They aren't our laurels after all! So what does God want? We live in a difficult world where the church is not relevant to many people. This is a shame. In our little town there are a myriad of different churches. Some have music, some don't. Some allow a guitar and some don't even allow a piano. Some are high in their liturgy, others are a little more relaxed. They all have something in common though. All of them worship the same Jesus, just in slightly different ways. People should be seeing these churches as beacons. Are they?

Don't get me wrong. I am not now nor ever will be a universalist. I know that there are doctrines of some churches which are wrong. I don't agree with the Roman Catholic veneration of Mary or their ideas about intercession. Doesn't stop Jesus shining out from their churches though. I definitely don't agree with the Free Church and the emphasis it places on membership and the way they do communion. Yet, anyone who goes to their church will hear a powerful exposition of the Good News. Which Christian wouldn't want that?

So, we, as a church, need to be getting Jesus' message out there. Show the people that He is relevant and there are different places and ways in which he can be met. It isn't that we have a mission remember. It is that God has a mission; he also happens to have a church ...

Acts 6 and Nehemiah 1. Both wonderful chapters. Very inspiring. I like the descriptions of Stephen in Acts. When I get to heaven, I am so gonna wait in line to see that man with the face of an angel.

I was also moved by the prayer of Nehemiah about Jerusalem. I love that city dearly. It is a beautiful and moving place. I know how Nehemiah must have felt

Here is something that I knocked up after reading the chapter this evening ...