| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 46 secs | 0 Comments
Storms A while back, Ellie (my younger daughter) drew me this picture: Ellie tells me that the face just left of centre is mine. I’m in the middle of a storm, and I’m smiling. The face in the top right hand corner is God’s, who is also smiling. Of course, I’d love to say that […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 1 sec | 0 Comments
Increase In today’s reading Jesus is teaching his disciples about the kingdom. There are really two things he teaches us. At the end of chapter 3 Jesus’ family comes to ‘see’ him, and at first it seems like Jesus’ reaction is unnecessarily rude. However if you put this in the context of verse 21 – […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 26 secs | 0 Comments
Escalating conflict and the unforgivable sin Mark gets straight down to business. In 16 chapters, he doesn’t have a lot of column inches to build the tension! To the Pharisees and even John’s disciples, following Jesus looked like an easier deal. The Pharisees had added to the once a year prescribed fast during the day […]
| By Andy Moyle | 1 min 56 secs | 0 Comments
While it was still dark… This passage shows how popular and busy Jesus was becoming and how the crowds followed Him, but what struck me most was one particular verse, Mark 1:35 says: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 30 secs | 0 Comments
The silence is broken As a teenager I once took part in a ‘sponsored silence’ event at school on a Saturday morning. The lack of conversation, for what seemed like endless hours, was very eerie and it was a massive relief when we could finally chat again and listen to one anothers’ stories. For humans, […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 2 secs | 0 Comments
Resurrection It was the biggest and most important miracle on the face of the earth. My attention goes to the first thing the resurrected CHRIST said – “Go and tell my brothers.” What a glorious progress in relationship between CHRIST and his disciples from being called friends and now brothers!!! Wait a minute! Brothers??? I […]
| By Andy Moyle | 3 mins 14 secs | 0 Comments
Dark days It was a dark day – between the sixth hour (3pm) and the ninth hour (6pm), there was darkness over the land. There’s not a lot of corroboration of that from outside the Bible – but 8th Century Syncellus cites a book from 220AD by Julius Africanus who cites Thallus from around 52AD who tried […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 32 secs | 0 Comments
The Cross Jesus before Pilate Jesus’ silence before his accusers is the best modelling of the endurance under persecution that He commands. In Matthew 10:17-18 Jesus had told the disciples “They will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and […]
| By Andy Moyle | 2 mins 13 secs | 0 Comments
Peter’s failure Peter’s failure is complete and utter. Having vociferously denied that he would deny Jesus, he does so, three times, including oaths and swearing to be sure. He may have imagined his boldness in the moment, standing with Christ against the Sanhedrin. Then it turns out that when a servant girl asks him if […]