Coach House Talks and Beacons

Imagine being given an instruction or asked to do something and then taking 15 years to get round to it. It must be pretty frustrating to be waiting for the end result, especially if the way had been made for the job to be done in the first place.

We have some sayings, or idioms in our language: a pain in the neck- when there is a nagging problem, usually a person, or stiff necked- meaning someone who is proud, arrogant and unbending, not willing to change or compromise. Neither of these are descriptions we would wish to be used by others about us. They are not positive or flattering.

In this parable the word used for “weed” is the Greek word zizanion, which is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word zonin. Now zonin was a kind of ryegrass that to begin with looks just like real wheat. The significant difference is that it is poisonous! The difference can’t be seen until the heads appear as the plants approach full maturity.

Before the recent international scandal and demonstrations,I wonder if people thought consciously about racial equality in their day to day activities and in their interactions with their neighbours or strangers on the street

There are many scriptures that warn and encourage us to abandon sin for the sake of knowing and seeing God, which brings its own reward and many other rewards as well – I often think of passages such as ‘blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’, or ‘blessed is the one who endures temptation…’

Gates are generally used to control access. If your sole purpose was to keep people out then you would just build a wall, but a gate allows access or egress. It allows you allow in what you want, it is under your control and it is your choice when it is open or closed.

There are some of us who are quick to bring up, at the earliest opportunity, what friends and family did to hurt us in the past. I know of Bible believing, Holy Spirit filled prayer warriors who deliberately keep on living in the past: either in their own past, or reminding others of their past.

Over the last few weeks we have been working on the church. I have sat working on planning lessons or painting while Jamie and Andy go under the floor or in the ceiling to fix and update the church. This week, while they’ve been working, they have found that some lights have been wired incorrectly and then the mistakes have been hidden away with more bad wiring. The lights look like they work on t...

No doubt in the last few days you will have seen and heard the weather outside your homes. It has been quite some time since I have heard thunder and experienced the lightning flashes illuminating the sky with such dramatic effect. As a kid we were told that thunder was the sound of God moving His furniture around!

If I stand on the shoreline in Anglesey and look out to sea, then I can see a blue marker buoy in the middle distance, and a lighthouse on the rocks towards the horizon. From where I look, the blue buoy looks like small triangular shape and it also looks like I could kayak over to it easily.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to meet God face to face? I don’t mean after death, but here and now whilst still alive in this world? Now we believe that Jesus was God incarnate, and during the time that He lived on earth God was walking about amongst people, only they didn’t know it at the time.

When you think about mud ,what do you associate it with? Is it dirt, something you try to stay away from or something like nourishment, or healing ? Mud treatments in a good spa are a very pleasant experience aren’t they?

Sober thoughts are difficult to come by. They are the thoughts you have when you are seeing reality clearly, uninterrupted by outside influences whether it’s (literally) one drink too many or late night thoughts about getting your life together that evaporate when the morning comes.

Hear the Call

As you enjoy your own garden, or maybe sit in the garden at church, remember the promise of that eternal garden in which you will one day rest, and give Him thanks.

To become a soul winner, we must make it a part of our duty and obligation to do. Many think they must wait for some sign, before they go and witness, but this is not right. When we receive Christ, we are commanded to go and witness for Him.

The story of the prodigal son is a story told by Jesus to make a point to the religious leaders of the time. There were also tax collectors and sinners around that were listening in. Jesus was speaking to both of them and turned the narrative of the day on its head.

Have you ever started something and then a little later found yourself saying I wish I’d never started? I’m sure that this is familiar to a lot of us. I want to tell you about an instance where the job started looked far too big to complete, and the tools I had were not up to the task uncovered.

Do you have objects that you treasure? They may or may not be worth a lot of money but they are of value to you. Maybe it’s a set of coins you’ve collected. I have some thre’penny bits and sixpences in a tin together with ha’pennies, shillings and half crowns that were given to me as a Christmas present by my Nana

The reason I’m fascinated by this story is because I’ve always wondered what happened to this widow who entered the Temple virtually destitute and who left it absolutely destitute! Did she go and lie down in some out-of-the-way place and wait to die?

The Babylonians were set to take over the world; they prospered through the misfortune of others ; they killed and looted the nations they were invading , taking the locals as slaves

Today I want to encourage you to try again. I like attempting to play games that take skill and effort and one of my favourites is called ‘Dark Souls’ and it’s famously difficult.

God spoke to me directly. I believed, as so many do, that this world was created by “accident”. A “big bang” followed by billions of years of accidental chemical reactions all bringing us to where we are now. God just asked me the question “Do you really think all this happened by accident?”

The issue in this passage is not about drinking alcohol. The Bible only prohibits the misuse of alcohol. As a matter of fact, Jesus turns over 180 gallons of water into wine in this miracle. This is enough alcohol to get them plastered. But they had already drunk wine up until now.

Elijah really was a man of God, and because he listened and acted so faithfully God blessed him by allowing him to get involved in His plan and see some amazing things. It will not always work in this way. God doesn’t work with recipes and we can’t control God or make Him do anything, but He is able