Episodios

  • April 25th - Colossians 1:13-14

    April 25th - Colossians 1:13-14
    Apr 25 2025
    Colossians 1:13-14 [God] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins. Paul was absolutely clear that when someone becomes a Christian, their whole life changes completely. We move to a new country! The kingdom of darkness is now behind us and we have entered the kingdom of light with Jesus Christ standing at the centre of it. In that new country, we experience freedom for the first time in our life, having been set free from all those things that conspire to enslave us. Slavery was an everyday part of Roman society. Paul often spoke of life before becoming a Christian as being like a form of spiritual slavery. Without Christ, we are slaves to our own selfish and ultimately destructive will, but through Christ, we can be set free. Under Roman law, it was possible for a slave to be freed. It was a process called manumission, and one of the ways of achieving it was for the slave to pay his master compensation. This was obviously rarely possible for a slave, but in our case, God himself has set us free by paying the price we could never afford when Jesus died on the cross. Everyone wants freedom. If you have ever had your freedom limited by illness, addiction or imprisonment, you will know what it means to have a deep longing to be free. I have visited people in prison on many occasions and I’ve always been amazed by the numbers of locked doors I had to pass through. Every prisoner I have ever met longs for freedom and is eager to talk about what they will do when they are released. We all want freedom, and that is what Jesus came to do. He came to set us free from our slavery to sin so we can enjoy the sweet taste of freedom. Question In what way has Jesus set you free? Prayer Lord Jesus, I thank you that you came into this world to give me freedom. I confess that I have often gone my own way and ask you to forgive me and set me free. Amen
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  • April 24th - Colossians 1:11-12

    April 24th - Colossians 1:11-12
    Apr 24 2025
    Colossians 1:11-12 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. Life can be incredibly tough. Paul often spoke of the challenges he had faced which involved rejection, betrayal, shipwrecks, imprisonment, beatings and much more. He also knew that the Colossian church was going through a difficult time and needed huge strength to keep going in a godly way. They needed to know how to endure and be patient when they were under extreme pressure. Most people who face attack will fight back, but Paul knew that this was not what God wanted. The word for patience used to be translated as ‘longsuffering’. Being patient is tough enough, but to be longsuffering is beyond all of us. The only way we can keep on being patient is with God’s help. He helps us to be kind towards people who are rude and obstructive. He shows us how to face rejection with love and understanding. He enables us to stand up to the foolishness of other people with grace. None of those responses come naturally to us. But as the Holy Spirit is allowed to take control of our lives, he enables us to endure with patience and to come through long periods of suffering with joy. It’s the word ‘joy’ that is particularly startling in this verse. Endurance and longsuffering patience don’t sound joyful at all. They sound like very hard work. But whenever the Holy Spirit is at work, there is joy. Even in the face of brutal opposition, which has been the experience of many Christians over the years, there is a bubbling of holy joy. I don’t know what challenges you are facing at the moment, but I’m sure there are situations in which you need the strength to endure and be patient. All of us face such challenges, so we need to open ourselves afresh to God’s Spirit and invite him to give us strength that is well beyond our own. This is how we can be the gracious, resilient and patient people that he wants us to be. If you do that, I promise that you will experience God’s joy. Question In what situations are you needing the power to endure and be patient at present? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. Fill me afresh right now to enable me to face every situation with your strength and grace. Amen
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  • April 23rd - Colossians 1:9

    April 23rd - Colossians 1:9
    Apr 23 2025
    Colossians 1:9 We have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Recently, I heard someone say that the situation they were facing was so desperate that all they could do was pray about it. They made it sound as if their circumstances were so hopeless that they were willing to grasp at any option, however daft. We need to be clear that the apostle Paul saw prayer in a completely different way. For him, prayer was not the last resort but the first. He prayed for the people in Colossae because, even though he didn’t know them, he cared about them and longed that they would thrive as Christians in a tough environment. Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Christians was that they would know God’s will. That always needs to be at the heart of our prayers. Prayer is never our opportunity to tell God what we think is best, or to ask him to implement the decisions we have made. Because God is all loving and all knowing, our prayers should always focus on seeking his will, because his will is bound to be best. God’s will is for us to have both wisdom and understanding. You can know everything there is to know about God and the Bible, but if you don’t apply it to your life, it is useless. People often think of prayer as being remote from normal life. They see it as a way of escaping from reality. In this verse, Paul makes it clear that prayer is exactly the opposite. It is the most practical and down-to-earth way in which we can engage with other people. If we truly love them, we will be praying for them. Prayer is the language of love, and I urge you to turn all your thoughts about other people today into prayers that they will find and do God’s perfect will. Question How does this verse challenge the way in which you pray for other people? Prayer Loving Father, thank you for the privilege of prayer. Help me to love other people so much that prayer will become increasingly central to my life. Amen
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  • April 22nd - Colossians 1:6

    April 22nd - Colossians 1:6
    Apr 22 2025
    Colossians 1:6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. Following Christ always involves radical change. James and John had to leave their boats and their fishing nets and follow Jesus. Zacchaeus, the tax collector, had to make things right with all the people he had defrauded. And Saul, the devout Jew who was determined to stamp out the Church, changed his name and his whole direction of life, becoming Jesus’ most passionate ambassador. Christ meets us as individuals, so the changes that take place in our lives will be unique. As a teenager, I heard many amazing testimonies from people who had been dramatically changed by Christ. I heard about people who had been on hard drugs for years and who had found new life and liberty in their newfound faith. I listened to people who had pursued a life of crime and then met Christ in prison. For some years, I felt awkward and guilty that I had such a comparatively dull story to tell. I had never been on drugs, never been kicked out of school, never been locked up, and my life had rarely caused anyone to raise an eyebrow. But I was, of course, missing the point. The point is that whoever you are and whatever your background, Christ brings change. He gave me new hope, peace and direction for my life. The moment of becoming a Christian is often one of dramatic change, but it doesn’t end there. The Christian life is full of continual change as we get closer to God and allow his Spirit to lead us. The apostle Paul was always abundantly clear that he still needed to grow. He wrote to the Philippians: “I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ first possessed me…I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:12-13). For the Christian, change is always here to stay. Question In what ways have you seen changes in your life since you became a Christian? Prayer Loving Father, I thank you that you accept me as I am and love me so much that you want me to change. Amen
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  • April 21st - Colossians 1:4-5

    April 21st - Colossians 1:4-5
    Apr 21 2025
    Colossians 1:4-5 We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. Having hope is incredibly important. Dostoevsky, the famous writer, said: “To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness.” Above the entrance to Dante’s hell was the inscription: “Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” The Colossian church were so confident of the future that God had for them that they were full of hope, and that inspired both their faith in Christ and their love for their Christian brothers and sisters. It was like an engine inside them producing nothing but blessing. Human life is often characterised by hopelessness. In 1850, Bishop Wilberforce said: “I dare not marry for the future is so dark and unsettled.” In 1851, the Duke of Wellington said: “I thank God I shall be spared from seeing the consummation of ruin that is gathering about us.” And, the following year, the Conservative politician Benjamin Disraeli commented: “In every department of our nation, industry, commerce and agriculture, there is no hope.” If you looked for similar statements of despair today, they wouldn’t be hard to find. Human life is always distorted by fear, sin and threats. This means it is essential that we deliberately focus our attention on the hope that God has given us in Christ. God doesn’t call us to run away from the harsh realities of this world, but he does encourage us to keep focused on the hope we have which will never be taken away from us. It is absolutely secure. Question What impact does your Christian hope have on the way you live? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the hope that you have given me, which is like an anchor for my life. Amen
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  • April 20th - Matthew 28:8-9

    April 20th - Matthew 28:8-9
    Apr 20 2025
    Matthew 28:8-9 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. The women who found the empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning must have experienced a riot of emotions. They had got up early to anoint the body of Jesus because this was the first opportunity to do so after the sabbath. Their astonishment that the stone of the tomb had been rolled away was compounded by meeting an angel whose face shone like lightning and whose clothing was as white as snow. The angel informed them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had promised, and told them to go and tell the disciples. As they ran off, Matthew records that they were very frightened but also filled with great joy. Then, amid this tumult of emotions, they suddenly met Jesus himself. The women could not keep the amazing news of the resurrection to themselves. It had to be shared, so they rushed off to pass it on to the disciples. That’s always the nature of good news – if you or a member of your family have just had a great success or happiness, you can’t wait to share it with others. That’s how the news of the resurrection has spread through the past 2,000 years. It’s so amazing that it has to be shared! Year by year, the number of people attending church in this country declines. This means we cannot rely on people hearing that Jesus rose from death in one of our churches. We need to share the message online, on the radio, in magazines, in newspapers and, most powerfully of all, by each of us telling our friends and families. We don’t need to be frightened like the women who heard this news for the first time. We have every reason to speak of the resurrection of Jesus with confidence and joy. Question In what ways do you find the news of Jesus’ resurrection joyful? Prayer Loving Father, thank you for raising Jesus from death. Help me to share this amazing news with those around me. Amen
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  • April 19th - Matthew 27:57-60

    April 19th - Matthew 27:57-60
    Apr 19 2025
    Matthew 27:57-60 As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left. We know very little about Joseph of Arimathea. The Gospel of Mark tells us that he was an honoured member of the high council of the Jews, and that he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. The Gospel of Luke comments that he was a good and righteous man, and the Gospel of John informs us that he was a secret disciple of Jesus because he feared the Jewish leaders. That’s all we know. However, this brief account of him going to Pilate asking for the body of Jesus reveals that he was a man of exceptional courage. This initiative could easily have exposed him to enormous risk both from the Romans and the Jews, but he knew it was the right thing to do and went ahead. It is never easy to be courageous. The pressure is always upon us to fit in with our society. We don’t like to surprise the people around us or to be thought odd or unusual. We certainly don’t like to expose ourselves to danger and risk. Joseph’s brave action shows the reality of his devotion to Jesus, and it is not surprising that he has been venerated over the centuries and that many legends grew up around him. Indeed, one of the most famous is that in the year 61 AD he was sent to England to preach the Gospel and came to Glastonbury in Somerset. It is very unlikely that any of the legends about Joseph have any historical basis, but it is good for us to recognise his courage and celebrate his godly example. When we are next tempted to say nothing about our faith in case people don’t appreciate it, or to say nothing about an injustice at work, we would do well to remember the courageous example of Joseph of Arimathea. Question In what situation do you need to be courageous at the moment? Prayer Lord God, I thank you for the example of Joseph. Help me to stand up boldly for you however unpopular it makes me. Amen
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  • April 18th - Matthew 27:54

    April 18th - Matthew 27:54
    Apr 18 2025
    Matthew 27:54 The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!” When Jesus died, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom and there was a great earthquake. It’s no wonder that the soldiers, tough as they were, were terrified. We need to be very grateful to the Gospel writers for recording so much of what took place, but there is so much more that we would love to know. I find it fascinating that the Gospel writers tell us nothing of the response of the religious people. We know that some of the Jewish leaders were very sympathetic to Jesus. I wonder what Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea thought. And what about the disciples? Wouldn’t it be fascinating to know what their reactions were on this most traumatic of days? Matthew only tells us about the reaction of one group of people. We would hardly have expected to hear any comment from them, because they were the people who had carried out the crucifixion – the Roman soldiers. Their response was to declare that Jesus was truly the Son of God. In his Gospel, Matthew continually points out that the good news of Jesus belongs to the world. It isn’t confined to a small religious group, or respectable people or the wealthy and successful. Jesus came to bring good news to everyone who will put their faith in him. Question Think of the people you are going to meet today. What do you think their reaction would be to the fact that Jesus died on the cross for them? Prayer Lord Jesus Christ, I praise you for showing your perfect love by dying on the cross. Amen
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