[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during November 2026]
Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
Luke 22 v46 [NIVUK]
The change of the clocks at the end of last month gave many people in the northern hemisphere an extra hour overnight. Anecdotally, it seems that this is often used as an excuse for an additional hour’s sleep, but that may not be the best use of the time.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2026]
For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth.
Malachi 2 v7 [NIVUK]
In some Christian churches the weekly sermons are called ‘Messages’. The understanding is that the words of the preacher have been inspired by the Holy Spirit, albeit that they are being delivered by a fallible human.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during February 2026]
And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
Joshua 2 v1 [ESVUK]
Is it not a little curious that these two men should choose such a place for their overnight stay? Surely, it is not what we would expect from men who were undertaking a mission from God.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during September 2025]
It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem, and laid siege to it.
Jeremiah 52 v4 [NIVUK]
Have you ever wondered why our tenth month is called October when ‘octo’ is a prefix that is usually associated with the number eight? A similar question could be asked about Septem(7)ber, Novem(9)ber and Decem(10)ber.
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[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during April 2024]
When we look back at the events of Easter we can picture the central characters of the story: Pilate, Herod, the chief priests, the indifferent soldiers, the frightened disciples, the manipulated mob and, of course, Jesus himself. However, as Dazz reminded us,[1] there are many characters whose role seems secondary but yet without whom the story would be incomplete. (more…)