Jeremiah 2:23–37, 3, 4, 5:1–19 Friends, do you know what people are slowest to fix? It's not the wrong action itself. It's the sentence, "I haven't done anything wrong." Near the end of chapter 2, God says this to Judah: "Yet you say, 'I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me'" (2:35). They had worshipped idols, abandoned God, and run about like a restless camel chasing after other gods — and yet the words that came out of their mouths were not repentance, but "I ha

[2 Kings 21:1, 6b; 2 Chronicles 33:12-13; 2 Kings 20:19] "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign... And when he was in distress, he... humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty." Friends, Hezekiah wept and begged for fifteen more years of life as he lay dying. Manasseh was born within those fifteen years. But the son born from his father's tearful prayer for more life became the very man who rebuil

[Isa 66:2, ESV] All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Introduction Let me start with a strange question. Have you ever ignored your sat-nav, even when it was showing you the safest and quickest route, and taken a different road anyway? Why do we do that? It is not because we do not know the way. It is because that road d

Hebrews 10:35–39 When we set out to do God's work — or when we are already in the middle of it — things sometimes arise that trouble our hearts or make no sense to us. This is because it is, in the end, a spiritual matter — Satan is trying to steal our hearts, and trying to steal the many fruits, the growth, and the maturity that come through our service. It might be that just as we are about to go and worship, something happens to wound our hearts. It might be that just as w

Psalm 100:2–5 Psalm 100:2 says, "Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!" Serving the Lord is a joyful thing. And at the same time, serving the Lord must be done with joy. If there is no joy in serving the Lord, then it is not true service, and it is not true faith either. Nor is it a sign of being in a good relationship with him. Whenever we serve the Lord, it must be done with joy. So when is it possible to serve someone with joy? It is possible w