Posts Tagged: ‘1 John’

There’s Really Only One Kind of Love

[This reflection by Dennis Ginter was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 16/Feb/2025]

Martin’s teaching last Sunday was very challenging! Especially his closing remark that what the Father wants of us is to “follow Jesus”.

In our home group on Monday we explored that together. I drew our attention to 1 John 4 v7-8. The phrase that puzzled me was in verse 7: ‘… everyone who loves is born of God and knows God‘. Everyone? That brought us to Martin’s question about me being In or Out of God’s Kingdom.
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Contributor: Dennis Ginter
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A Spiritual Adventure

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge’ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during December 2024]

Each morning I tune in to the daily reflection from All Saints’ Cathedral, Nairobi (an Anglican church that I used to attend in the early 1960s). This week the theme is an introduction to Advent,[1] using the lighting of candles as a visual aid to the explanation of the four personal characteristics that that particular denomination emphasises during this season. The four candles represent hope, peace, joy and love – sentiments that we promote at Christmas but which should be part of our life year-round. (more…)

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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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Categories: Christmas Contemplations, Tuesday Challenge ~ Tags: , , ,

Words Are All I Have

[A ‘Tuesday Challenge’ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2024]

Last week we thought about the type of image that might come to mind when we hear mention of ‘God’. Starting in the 12th century, religious art shows a tendency to picture God in a dominant, authoritarian way and this often influences modern thought, but the apostle Paul saw things differently:

He is the exact living image [the essential manifestation] of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible], the firstborn [the preeminent one, the sovereign, and the originator] of all creation.
Colossians 1 v15 [AMP]

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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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The Bread, the Stone and the Nails

[A devotional reflection originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during September 2024]

Recently I overheard a telephone conversation between a young boy, who was on holiday, with his father who was at work. The conversation, more accurately the monologue, consisted entirely of a list of the things he wanted when he got home: a long ladder with a slide, a tree-house and, for Christmas, a present “costing 300 pounds”. (more…)

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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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The Maleficent Seven

[A devotional reflection originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during May 2024]

During the past eight weeks our Sunday morning preachers have been deeply into sin. Pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth have all found their way into the centre of the church’s life but it should be added by way of clarification that the preachers have been researching these sins rather than indulging in them. We now know much more about sin after hearing what they had to say. (more…)

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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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When Love Died

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during March 2024]

In 1952 the Eurasian author Han Suyin published her semi-autobiographical novel “A Many Splendored Thing”. It describes a romance between two people of different cultures, both of whom had experienced the loss of their previous relationships. The principal male character is separated from his wife, the principal female character is a widow. Although those circumstances are very different, they are both examples of ways in which love has, in practical terms, died.
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Contributor: Steve Humphreys
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