[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during November 2025]
November starts with a period of remembrance – first we remember a guy who efforts came to naught and then we remember those whose efforts were instrumental in protecting and maintaining the freedoms that our society values.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Philippians 3 v8 [KJV]
It is surely no coincidence when a word of Scripture fits our plans or experiences. When Charles Spurgeon chose to quote that verse when writing his series of daily reflections[1] he had, of course, no idea about what I would be doing some 160 years later but nevertheless the verse did turn out to be appropriate.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]
In this world you will have trouble …
John 16 v33 [NIVUK]
These words come from the final discourse that Jesus had with his disciples shortly before his betrayal and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane, as recorded in John’s gospel.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]
“A tax is the best means of defence”. So said Frank Wiesel, the political adviser to the right honourable Jim Hacker, the Minister for Administrative Affairs in the TV series ‘Yes, Minister’.
We live at a time when taxes and tariffs figure as prominently in our daily news reports as they do in our everyday transactions. Indeed, the idiom that ‘the only two certainties in life are death and taxes’ is often quoted when the topic comes up in conversation. The phrase itself is usually attributed to US statesman Benjamin Franklin in 1789 but the sentiment had several earlier incarnations.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during September 2025]
Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away.[1]
Do you know what time it is? A seemingly straightforward question for which a glance at a nearby screen or timepiece should provide a simple answer. However, as our opening quotation might suggest, there is more to it than that.
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[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during August 2025]
About two months ago[1] we considered the impact that the news of Israel’s defeat by the Philistines in 1070BC had had on Eli, the high priest at that time. Israel’s most important religious artefact had been captured and two of Eli’s sons had perished in the battle. Their deaths were a punishment for the disreputable way in which they had discharged their responsibilities as priests.
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