Closer Day By Day

Gospel - Acts 7-8

Bible Passage:  Acts 7 and 8 In Chapter 7, Stephan delivered a long sermon to the Sanhedrin. In this story, the audience differed from the group that received Peter’s testimony. These people in the Sanhedrin were made up of the rulers, elders and teachers of the law; people who had high positions in the jewish religious organization. It was also these people who accused Jesus of blasphemy...

Prophecy - Nahum

How many of us know a lot about Nahum? Hands up! There, I knew it, it seems like we’re mostly in the same boat. Nahum is made up of 3 chapters and is a fairly short book in the bible. Yet, it turns out that it isn’t a popularly quoted book for perhaps a few reasons. In any case, we’ll read Nahum today: Bible Passage:  Nahum 1 - 3 After reading, what are the immediate thoughts that...

Poetry - Proverbs 31

Although we have come to the last chapter of Proverbs today, this does not mean that our journey with the Proverbs will end today.  Despite reading through it together and sharing our little insights and learnings from this book of Wisdom, there is still so much more wisdom for us to discover and put these lessons into our hearts and practice. Let us resolve to continue learning from the Word of...

Psalm - Psalm 120-121

“The hurts that are done to the flesh are more bearable than the hurts that afflict the inner man. The wounds on the flesh may heal easily, but the wounds that are in the hearts remain open.” Many people would not disagree with this fact of life. Where do all these hurts and wounds come from? They are from the evil intents of man’s hearts which are being shot out as poisonous darts...

History - 2 Chronicles 21-24

I think no one has mentioned this before - Chronicles emphasises more on the religious and spiritual aspects of Israel’s history, as opposed to the political, prophetic and moral emphasis of 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Most believed that the Chronicles was written after the Jews returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile - so we can see that the records are written to help the...

Law - Deuteronomy 1-3

The Book of Deuteronomy has a special place in my heart for a few reasons. Firstly, it is written by Moses, one of my all-time heroes. Next, it contains his last words to the Israelites, so you can imagine how moving, earnest and significant it is. Lastly, but most importantly, it describes the God that he believes in wholeheartedly with such simple yet poignant depictions that every time I read...

Epistle - Hebrews 11-13

We have come to the end of Hebrews and I must say Hebrews is one of my favourite books in the Bible. These last three chapters contained so many valuable lessons that I have a hard time deciding on which one to focus on. Bible Passage:  Hebrews 11-13 Faith is… Chapter 11 is our famous chapter on “Faith”, and examples were quoted extensively from the Old Testament, but I have to...

Gospel - Acts 5-6

Bible Passage:  Acts 5 to 6 In the past few chapters we see the mighty working power of the Holy Spirit.  We see the Holy Spirit working mightily in the apostles and transforming them into vessels of courage and of power in the testimony of Christ.  We see thousands of people being moved into repentance, knowing their error in crucifying Jesus and that baptism in the name of Jesus will forgive...

Prophecy - Micah

How long do you take to read a book, say something like a novel? Depending on various factors, such as how exciting or well-written the book is, some of us need just a few days, while the busier ones might take a few weeks. All in all, we do try to finish what we start reading, don’t we? The books we’ve read pack a lot into the hundreds of pages - the setting, characters, plot, twist,...

Poetry - Proverbs 29-30

Yesterday was a busy but fun day.  Some of us went paintballing for the first time and although some left the game with bruises and bruised egos, we all had a load of fun.  And personally, I hope this will not be the last time for me. Here’s a picture of the motley crew… What has this to do with Proverbs? As I was reflecting on the paintball activity on the long taxi ride back to church,...